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When the new Batman movie "The Dark Night" began screenings last month before its U.S. debut on Friday, some moviegoers saw Heath Ledger as an instant Oscar candidate as the deranged villain, The Joker.

But Oscar watchers and veteran critics say the joke may be on fans creating mostly Internet-based buzz because an Academy Award for the Australian actor, who died of an accidental drug overdose in January, would be a rare event.

Only one actor has won an Oscar after death, Peter Finch for 1976's "Network."

"Dark Knight" is the type of comic book, action adventure that Oscar voters generally do not favor and there are many movies to see later this year, the experts said.

Still, Ledger's critically hailed performance may bring a nomination for the U.S. film industry's top award, to be presented next on February 22, 2009.

"All this Oscar talk is a phenomenon of the Internet age that I like to call 'a wish-fulfillment rumor.' If people say it often enough, they think it will happen," said Leonard Maltin, film critic for TV program "Entertainment Tonight."

"That's not to say it might not happen," he said, citing a "great performance" by Ledger. "But I assure you that the people who are spreading all this are neither Oscar voters nor (Hollywood) movers and shakers."

Tom O'Neil, a columnist for award-watching Web site The Envelope.com, said "it really looks good" for a nomination but was "a long shot" to win.

Hollywood has a long history of seeing big stars -- James Dean, Marilyn Monroe and Bruce Lee among them -- appearing in high-profile films released after their untimely deaths.

O'Neil said that when Finch died, Hollywood was in the middle of Oscar season and also in shock. Prior to that, Robert De Niro was sweeping the critics' awards for "Taxi Driver."

Veteran Oscar watcher O'Neil also sees parallels between the truncated careers of Ledger and James Dean.

"Like Heath, James Dean was a heartthrob star who was considered a serious actor, who died tragically young," O'Neil said. "He was nominated twice posthumously, for "East of Eden" and "Giant," and he lost both times."

Even the legendary Spencer Tracy was ignored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Oscars, after he died in 1967 just as "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?" was coming. And he was the front-runner, O'Neil said.

Tracy's co-star Katharine Hepburn did win best actress for "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?"

"That's how reluctant Oscar voters are to hug the dead," O'Neil said. "These awards are all about hugs and there's something creepy about embracing the dead."

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The obstetrician who delivered the twins, Dr. Michel Sussmann, told The Associated Press that the actress, the babies and Jolie's partner, Brad Pitt, "are doing marvelously well."

Sussmann said Jolie gave birth to a boy, Knox Leon, and a girl, Vivienne Marcheline, by Caesarean section on Saturday night.

He told the AP on Sunday morning that the boy weighed just over 5 pounds and the girl 5 pounds. The 33-year-old actress gave birth at around 8 p.m. on Saturday night, the doctor told the AP by telephone.

Pitt was there during the operation, said the doctor, who delivered the twins at the seaside Lenval hospital in Nice in southern France.

"Everything is going well," said Sussmann. "The mother, the babies, the father are doing marvelously well."

He said the Caesarean was moved forward from its originally planned date "for medical reasons" so that the babies could be born "in the best conditions." Sussman did not give details.

He said Jolie is expected to stay in the hospital for a few more days. The doctor said he believed the baby girl's middle name was chosen in honor of Jolie's mother, actress Marcheline Bertrand, who died in January 2007 after a 7 1/2-year battle with cancer.

Jolie and Pitt already have four children: Maddox, 6; Pax, 4; Zahara, 3, and Shiloh, 2.

Jolie had checked into the hospital late last month to rest and be monitored by her doctor before the birth.

Before that, she, Pitt and their children had moved into a large estate, Miraval, in the French hamlet of Correns, which is just a short helicopter ride from the hospital. Correns is about 60 miles from Nice, a resort on the Mediterranean.

Though the lenses of the world's paparazzi had been trained on maternity wards across the French Riviera, Jolie managed to slip unobserved into the clinic, which has magnificent views of the Mediterranean, reportedly arriving by helicopter on the hospital's rooftop helipad.

Pitt was seen coming and going after Jolie's hospitalization became public.

The first photos of the new twins are expected to fetch millions of dollars.

Paparazzi gathered outside the hospital in Nice on Sunday morning, hoping for a shot of Pitt.

Local newspaper Nice Matin, which first broke news of the birth, reported Sunday that the couple have sold rights for the first photo of their newly enlarged family to a U.S. publication, which it did not name, and that the proceeds would go to charity.

The newspaper gave no source for that information. But the doctor told the AP the couple decided to announce the birth to Nice Matin first because of its links to Nice. The newspaper called the twins "the most famous babies in the world." Read More......

Blonde, bright... and the daughter of Richard and Judy. That's the dizzy precipice on which leggy Chloe Madeley stands, aged 21, trying to carve out her own career as a TV presenter. In the August issue of FHM, on shelves now, is Ben Wilson's interview with the beautiful girl you see before you. Ben met Chloe at London Zoo, where they discussed otter bumming, swearing at photographers and why FHM is different to "those crappy little men's magazines out there".




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Charlize Theron (born August 7, 1975) is a South African-American actress and former fashion model. She is best-known for her portrayal as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the film Monster which won her an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Theron was born in Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa, the daughter and only child of Charles Theron and Gerda, who is of German descent and took over her husband's business after his death. Theron's first language is Afrikaans. She is also fluent in English and speaks some Xhosa. "Theron" is a Occitan surname (originally spelled Théron) pronounced in Afrikaans as "Tronn", although she has said that she prefers the pronunciation "Thrown". The pronunciation commonly used in the United States involves two syllables, with stress on the first.

Theron grew up on her parents' farm near Johannesburg (Benoni). She attended Putfontein Primary School (Laerskool Putfontein). At the age of thirteen, Theron was sent to boarding school and began her studies at the National School Of The Arts in Johannesburg. At fifteen, Theron witnessed the death of her father, an abusive alcoholic; Gerda shot him in self-defense when he attacked her. The police laid no charges against her.

Theron dated the lead singer of Third Eye Blind, Stephan Jenkins, from January 1998 to July 2001. They broke up after Jenkins failed to take her requests of marriage seriously. Theron now resides in Los Angeles in the home of late 1930s actress Helen Twelvetrees, with her long-time boyfriend Stuart Townsend, with whom she starred in the 2004 film Head in the Clouds, as well as in the 2002 film Trapped and uncredited 2005 Æon Flux; she, like Sarah Silverman, has said that they will not marry until same-sex couples are able to have their marriages recognized. Townsend recently stated he considers himself and Theron to be husband and wife. "We didn't have a ceremony," he said. "I don't need a certificate or the state or the church to say otherwise. So no there's no big official story on a wedding, but we are married. ... I consider her my wife and she considers me her husband".

While filming Æon Flux in Berlin, Germany, Theron had suffered a herniated disc in her neck, specifically the disc between the third and fourth vertebrae, which occurred as a result of her suffering a fall while filming a series of back handsprings. This required her to wear a neck collar for a month.

Theron is also involved in women's rights organizations. In 2006, Theron won GLAAD's Vanguard Award at the GLAAD Media Awards for increasing "visibility and understanding". Theron is a supporter of animal rights and active member of PETA. She recently appeared in a PETA ad for their anti-fur campaign. Read More......

Nicole Mary Kidman, AC, (born June 20, 1967) is an Academy Award-winning actress. In 2006, she was the highest-paid actress in the motion picture industry.[broken citation]

After making various appearances in film and television, Kidman received her breakthrough role in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm. Her performances in several films, such as To Die For (1995), Moulin Rouge! (2001), and The Hours (2002), have won her much critical acclaim. In 2003, Kidman received her Star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California. Kidman is also a UNIFEM and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and a singer. She is also well-known for her former marriage to the actor Tom Cruise and as her current marriage to the noted country musician Keith Urban. Because she was born to Australian parents in Honolulu, Hawaii, Kidman has dual citizenship of Australia and the United States of America.

In 2006, Kidman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, Australia's highest civilian honor.

Kidman was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her father, Dr. Antony David Kidman, is a biochemist, clinical psychologist and author, with an office in Lane Cove, Sydney. Her mother, Janelle Ann (née Glenny), is a nursing instructor who edits her husband's books and was a member of the Women's Electoral Lobby. At the time of Nicole Kidman's birth, her father was a visiting fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health of the United States. The family returned to Australia permanently when Kidman was four years old and Kidman's parents now reside on Sydney's North Shore. Kidman has a younger sister, Antonia Kidman, who is a journalist.

Not known as a singer prior to Moulin Rouge!, Kidman had several well-received vocal performances in the film. Her collaboration with Ewan McGregor on the song "Come What May" from the film's soundtrack debuted and peaked at 27 in the UK Singles Chart. Later she collaborated with Robbie Williams on the song "Somethin' Stupid", a cover of the old swing song on Williams' swing covers album Swing When You're Winning. It debuted and peaked at 8 in the Australian ARIAnet Singles Chart, and at number 1 for three weeks in the UK. It was the UK Christmas number 1 Single for 2001.

In 2006, she provided her voice for the animated movie Happy Feet, along with her vocals for her character Norma Jean's 'heartsong', which was a slightly altered version of "Kiss" by Prince.

Kidman met Tom Cruise on the set of their 1990 movie, Days of Thunder. Cruise was married to actress Mimi Rogers at the time, and later divorced her. Kidman and Cruise were married on Christmas Eve 1990 in Telluride, Colorado. The couple adopted two children, a daughter Isabella and a son Connor. They separated just after their 10th wedding anniversary. At the time she was 3 months pregnant and subsequently had a miscarriage. Tom Cruise filed for divorce in February 2001. The marriage was dissolved in 2001, with Cruise citing irreconcilable differences as the cause of the divorce. The reasons for the dissolution have never been made public. Also, in an interview for Marie Claire magazine, Kidman mentions that she had an ectopic pregnancy early in their marriage. In an interview in the June 2006 issue of Ladies' Home Journal, Kidman reported that she still loved Tom Cruise. Kidman told the magazine: "He was huge; still is. To me, he was just Tom, but to everybody else, he is huge. But he was lovely to me. And I loved him. I still love him." In addition, she has expressed shock about their divorce.


Nicole Kidman in August 2006The 2003 film Cold Mountain was plagued by rumours that an on-set affair between Kidman and co-star Jude Law was responsible for the breakup of his marriage. Both vehemently denied the allegations, and Kidman eventually won an undisclosed sum from the British tabloids that published the story. She donated the money to a Romanian orphanage in the town where the movie was filmed. Robbie Williams confirmed that they had short 'romance' on her yacht in summer 2004. Shortly after her Oscar win, there were unconfirmed rumours of a relationship between her and fellow Oscar winner Adrien Brody. She met musician Lenny Kravitz in 2003 and dated him into 2004. Nicole has recently revealed in an interview she was secretly engaged when her divorce from Tom Cruise was legalised and before she met Keith Urban. She declined to reveal who her fiance was, but considering Kravitz was her only major relationship between her two husbands, one could assume it was him. Read More......