Livewire

Oscars is going electronic. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said that a new online voting system will be used for the first time in its 85-year history for the Oscars that will be handed out in February 2013. In the past,Oscar ballots have been mailed around the world to Academy membersdirectors,actors,screenwriters,and producersand the results have been tabulated by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Industry watchers said the move to electronic voting could be difficult for some academy members,who have a reputation for being older and conservative. The online voting announcement followed the Academy giving the go-ahead last year to make copies of films available to members through online streaming,rather than on traditional DVDs.

Clint Eastwood starrer Trouble with the Curve,in which he plays a stubborn,baseball scout,was just a low-key fall movie till a month ago. After the Oscar-winners headline-making empty chair speech at the Republican National Convention in August,the film could be set for a box office home run. Eastwood,82,handed the directing reigns to someone else for the first time in 20 years for Trouble with the Curve. He plays a baseball scout with failing eyesight who has a fractured relationship with his strong-willed attorney daughter,played by Amy Adams.Not directing his own film was actually quite relaxing, according to Eastwood,who said that during downtime on set,he worked on his putting and played golf with actor and singer Justin Timberlake.

Saving Mr. Banks is the tale of how the worlds most beloved nanny,Mary Poppins,flew from the pages of a popular book onto the big screen starring Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson. The film tells of Walt Disneys 20-year pursuit of the film rights to author P L Travers novel Mary Poppins. Hanks will play Walt Disney,marking the first time the legendary animator and film producer has ever been depicted in a dramatic film. Thompson will play Travers,who reluctantly granted Disney the film rights while demanding script and character control that clashed with Disneys vision for the movie musical. John Lee Hancock,whose best-known films include The Rookie and The Blind Side,will direct Saving Mr. Banks. The film also stars Colin Farrell as Travers father and Rachel Griffiths as her aunt.