Could it be that the Sunday telecast of the Oscars is irrelevant? Are the winners already out there in plain sight?
The answer is yes, if you believe some of chatter this week on movie industry blogs, which notes that a mysterious Web site materialized with the apparent intention of leaking the Academy Award winners.
That doesn’t necessarily mean a spoiler, but the blog has just as mysteriously been taken down, prompting some to speculate that it was too close to the truth.
So what may or may not be the big winner on Sunday? Spoiler alert: The “leaky” site predicted “Slumdog Millionaire” for Best Picture — which isn’t a huge stretch, since the movie about an Indian game show contestant’s quest for his true love is the presumed front runner for that top award.
An Oscar spokeswoman was unequivocal about the validity of the report.
“The document is a complete fraud,” Academy spokeswoman Leslie Unger told E! News, adding that only two people will know the results before the ballots are opened. Apparently, not even the Academy president knows despite the fact the site had a document that appears to have been signed by him.
Besides Best Picture, according to the site, Mickey Rourke wins for Best Actor in The Wrestler; Heath Ledger takes it for best Supporting Actor in The Dark Knight; Amy Adams wins for Best Supporting Actress in Doubt and Kate Winslet wins Best Actress in The Reader. For Best Director, Danny Boyle wins for Slumdog Millionaire.