Red Carpet Rolled Up

Despite leaked stories yesterday that the producers of this year's Academy Awards are putting contingency plans in place for the show's postponement, the message from the Academy today is that while the show goes on, the 2003 Academy Awards will be a muted ceremony. 'We all understand that the country is on the brink of war and may be sending American men and women into harm's way almost as we speak,' said the show's producer Gil Cates in a statement released this morning. 'We must prepare for the show to be produced under those circumstances. 'Keeping in mind the world situation, the Academy has elected to prepare a more sober pre-show...The Academy is mindful that many of its celebrity guests would feel uncomfortable arriving at this year's Awards at the beginning of a major war to face a business-as-usual phalanx of interviewers and photographers... Therefore arriving guests will not stop for interviews or photographs.' Instead of interviews, the producers have arranged for some television coverage of arrivals to be shown. But given that the arrivals sequence is one of the most interesting parts of the show, this will be a big blow to many film fans and bound to make this year's Oscars one of the dullest shows in the ceremony's history.