Oscar notes on Valley connections

Hollywood will turn up the glitz at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27 for the “83rd Academy Awards” to be presented at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. James Franco and Anne Hathaway are co-hosts. The show will be broadcast on KFSN, Channel 30.1.

And the Valley will be represented, both in the audience and among the nominees.

Local nominee

Brian Oliver, a 1991 Clovis West graduate, is in the running for an Oscar along with Mike Medavoy and Scott Franklin as producers of “Black Swan.” The film is one of the 10 movies nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards.

Oliver is president of Cross Creek Pictures, the company behind “Black Swan.” He has just finished two more films: “The Ides of March” with Ryan Gosling and George Clooney; and “The Lady in Black” with Daniel Radcliffe.

Valley Oscar fever

Oliver and Hanford’s Larry Dias, who is nominated in the Art Direction category, have become part of a rich Oscar heritage for San Joaquin Valley residents.

William Saroyan won the 1944 Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story for “The Human Comedy” and Pamela Wallace picked up an Oscar in 1985 in the Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen category as writer of “Witness.”

Fresno’s Sam Peckinpah was nominated in the Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Material Not Previously Published or Produced category for his 1969 “The Wild Bunch” but didn’t win.

They only lived here for a short time, but both Cher and Kevin Costner have picked up golden statues.

Star gazers

Fresno’s Vince Garcia and Sara Quiring are going to the Oscars. The pair aren’t nominees – they won a pair of bleacher seats through a lottery held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

“They set aside several hundred seats in the bleachers above the red carpet. I saw online about the lottery and entered in September. I found out I had the tickets in October,” Garcia says.

The local IRS workers must arrive at 10 a.m. Feb. 27 at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. After an identity check, they’ll take their seats to await the arrivals that will continue until the 5:30 p.m. start.

Both hope to get a glimpse of Johnny Depp because they’re big fans.

After the last celebrity arrives, those in the bleachers will move to a special area to watch the awards.

By Rick Bentley / The Fresno Bee