Hollywood Digest

WHAT'S NEXT FOR OSCAR WINNERS?

Now that Halle Berry, Jennifer Connelly and Jim Broadbent are Oscar-winners, ad campaigns for their future projects can benefit from mentioning their new, elevated status in the world of film.

Look for studios to point out Connelly's supporting actress Oscar win for "A Beautiful Mind" in ads for director Ang Lee's big screen adaptation of "The Hulk," scheduled for a release in summer 2003.

Ads for the upcoming James Bond picture, "Die Another Day," might not make much of Berry's best actress Oscar, since marketing of Bond movies tends to rely more on action quotient than Academy Award bona fides. Besides, any movie fan who doesn't know about Berry's Oscar just isn't paying attention.

If Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" ever gets a release, ads might highlight Broadbent's supporting actor Oscar for "Iris." Broadbent plays the legendary corrupt New York politician, Boss Tweed in a cast headed by Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz and Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis.

AND YOU THOUGHT THE MOVIE WAS LONG

When "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" comes out on home video Aug. 6, consumers will be able to buy the PG-13 version of the movie that grossed in the neighborhood of $290 million in U.S. theaters -- but when an extended version comes out Nov. 12, it will offer more than 30 minutes of added footage.

It's likely that the extra scenes will be graphic enough to earn the longer home video product an R-rating. That version will be in stores just five weeks before the scheduled release date of the second installment of producer-director Peter Jackson's "Rings" trilogy -- "The Two Towers."

The sequel is due in theaters Dec. 18.

The four-disc DVD package will feature more than six hours of supplemental material. The double-disc PG-13 DVD will feature a unique selling proposition of its own -- two hours of extras including a 10-minute preview of "Two Towers."

"Fellowship of the Ring" was nominated for 13 Oscars and won four -- for cinematography, makeup, original score and visual effects.

OSCARS GOOD, SO-SO FOR ABC

ABC reaped some rewards from the Oscars telecast on Sunday, even if it was the lowest rated Oscars show ever.

With an audience estimated at 41.8 million, the Academy Awards finished the week as the No. 1 show, just ahead of a half-hour pre-Oscars special on ABC. The one-two finish helped the network finish in first place for the week.

ABC was also able to take advantage of the large audience to promote its new mid-season scheduled. The 74th Academy Awards telecast is expected to end up as the highest-rated entertainment event on TV in 2002.

PRESERVING 'ORPHAN FILMS'

The National Film Preservation Foundation has designated 39 films -- including cowboy star William S. Hart's first feature, "The Bargain," and a 1918 Harold Lloyd short, "The Tip" -- for inclusion in the foundation's film preservation program.

The list of so-called "orphan films" -- pictures that do not have the backing of a commercial interest for their preservation -- also include 1947 footage of Jewish refugees aboard the ship Exodus

The federally funded grants will also be used to preserve "Bermuda to Baltimore," a 1937 film about the inaugural flight of Pan Am's Bermuda Clipper, and a series of home movies by the family of photographer Ansel Adams family in 1929.

JIM CARREY'S NEXT

According to published reports in Hollywood, Jim Carrey will star in "Bruce Almighty" as a man who complains about his lot in life -- and suddenly is imbued with all power for one day, so he can learn a lesson about how hard it is to run the world.

The project reteams Carrey with Tom Shadyac, who directed Carrey's breakthrough hit "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," and Steve Oedekerk, who wrote and directed the sequel, "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls." Shadyac is set to direct "Bruce Almighty" from a script he has been working on with Carrey and Oedekerk.

HOLLYWOOD MOURNS LOSS OF TOP SET DESIGNER

Two-time Oscar-winning production designer Richard Sylbert -- best known for providing the distinctive visual styles for movies such as "Chinatown," "Dick Tracy" and "Reds," has died. He was 73.

Sylbert died Saturday of cancer at the Motion Picture & Television Fund hospital in Woodland Hills, Calif.

In a career spanning five decades, Sylbert earned six Academy Award nominations for art direction. He won Oscars for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1966) and "Dick Tracy" (1990). In 2001, he was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Art Directors.

Sylbert's other credits included "Splendor in the Grass" (1961), "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962), "The Graduate" (1967), "Rosemary's Baby" (1968), "Carnal Knowledge" (1971), "Chinatown" (1974), "Shampoo" (1975), "The Cotton Club" (1984) and "My Best Friend's Wedding" (1997).

His work for TV was on display every Thursday night for 11 years on NBC -- Sylbert was the designer on "Cheers."

Sylbert also worked for three years as production chief at Paramount, where he oversaw production of such features as "Looking for Mr. Goodbar," "The Bad News Bears" and "Bugsy Malone."