I hadn’t spotted Marion Cotillard during the red carpet show for tonight’s BAFTA Awards so I figured she wouldn’t be making an appearance. Imagine my surprise then when Jonathan Ross announced last year’s winner for Leading Actress to present the BAFTA for Leading Actor – so a fresh & sexy Marion appeared and handed the coveted statuette to Mickey Rourke. I will have pictures up shortly.

If anyone caught any red carpet footage of Marion, could you please send it in?

036 The Orange British Academy Film Awards 2009
003 The Orange British Academy Film Awards 2009 – Afterparty

[edit Feb 10:] Added 4 more pictures of Marion at Harvey Weinstein’s After Party at the Double Club in London

As reported by The Hollywood Reporter (and many other news outlets) the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has sent out this year’s invitations to invite new people as voting members. The Academy is each year selecting the winners at the Academy Awards also known as the Oscars. Not surprisingly, Marion Cotillard – who was named best actress at this year’s ceremony – is among the 105 artists and executives who received such an invitation. Other invited actors are Sacha Baron Cohen, Josh Brolin, Ruby Dee, Allison Janney, Jet Li and Ray Winstone. To find out who the other 105 new members of the Academy are click here.

The membership policies that the Academy adopted in 2004 in order to slow the growth of the organization would have allowed a maximum of 137 new members in 2008, but the various branch committees endorsed fewer candidates than that. With the new infusion of members, voting membership is expected to hold steady at just under the 6,000 mark.

New members will be welcomed into the Academy at an invitation-only reception at the Fairbanks Center for Motion Picture Study in Beverly Hills in September.

As previously announced Marion Cotillard was nominated for a Czech Lion in the category ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’. At today’s awards ceremony she was indeed named a winner! Congratulations! As she’s currently doing some preparation work for ‘Public Enemies’ in Chicago she couldn’t be present herself but her friend Pavlina Nemcova – who played the journalist in La vie en Rose – was there to accept the award on her behalf. The film itself also won awards for best music and for best sound. Many thanks to Lucie, jns, and Olga for the information!

First of all my apologies for all the downtime you are currently experiencing with the site. It is all because of the massive increase of visitors since Marion’s historical moment at the 80th Academy Awards. I hope the site’ll soon work a lot better again. I myself am still trying to get some much needed sleep here and there and am feeling totally out of my usual rhythm. But thinking of Marion Cotillard’s win at the Oscars is still making me smile so much! She was only the second French actress ever to receive the coveted statuette as Best Actress and also only the second actress – after Sophia Loren for an Italian film – to receive an Oscar in the Best Actress category for a performance that isn’t in English. Oh, and of course she is also the first and so far only winner of an Academy Award for a performance in the French language.

Wasn’t her speech adorable? While her BAFTA acceptance speech was dominated by genuine surprise and shock I felt she seemed almost fragile and definitely overcome by emotions when accepting the César in her home country. But at the Oscars she was simply full of joy! And I loved her ‘poetic’ reference to the angels.

Oh — thank you so much. Olivier, what you did to me, Maestro Olivier Dahan, you rocked my life. You truly rocked my life. Thank you so much to Picturehouse for your passion, members of the Academy, thank you so, so much. And — wow. Well, I’m speechless now. I — I — well, I — thank you life, thank you love, and it is true, there is some angels in this city. Thank you so, so much.
Special online thanks Hylda, Bryna, Mara, Laurent, Bastien, I love you!
source: Oscar.com

Canada.com named this the best acceptance speech of the evening – giving it a grade A-.

Length: 47 seconds
Quote: “Thank you life, thank you love, and it is true, there is some angels in this city.”
Wins marks for: Her display of pure joy. Witness her thanks to La Vie En Rose writer/director Olivier Dahan: “Olivier, you rocked my life. You truly rocked my life!”
Loses marks for: Saying she was “speechless” in the middle of her, um, speech and then continuing to go on. Aaah well, English ain’t her first language.

In addition to the already added clip of the Thank You Cam – where Marion quickly says a few thank yous in French – I’ve now also added the full video of the Pressroom interview. She answers questions about her performance and about the now finished awards season. She says that she’s totally overwhelmed with joy and sparkles and fireworks and everything that goes like ‘boom boom boom’, names Peter Sellers, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett and Toni Colette among others as her favourite actors and concludes by choosing the song ‘Padam’ by Edith Piaf as the one that best describes her feelings at the moment. And she sings a few notes of the song. Be sure to download the video – it is a must-see!

President of France Nicolas Sarkozy congratulates Marion Cotillard in an official statement (Full statement on AmbaFrance):

I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to Marion Cotillard, who has just received the Oscar for Best Actress for her masterful interpretation of Edith Piaf in “La Vie en Rose”, directed by Olivier Dahan.

Half a century after Simone Signoret, a French artist has received the Best Actress award at the Oscars. It was a good omen that Catherine Allegret, Simone Signoret’s daughter, herself had a role in “La Vie en Rose”.

Marion Cotillard embodies an Edith Piaf who is unsettling in her realism, emotion and passion. Her interpretation brings to life the story of a woman who gave French song its acclaim and authenticity; a singer, too, who closely united France and America.

I have almost 300 additional pictures from the Oscars saved to my computer. I will soon upload them to the site – so stay tuned!

4.30 pm/1.30 am: Marion Cotillard has been spotted on the red carpet! She’s looking absolutely glamourous and beautiful in a low-cut white dress and a kind of an old-Hollywood hairdo!

4.37 pm/1.37 am: The fashion lady from E! loves Marion’s dress! It’s Jean Paul Gaultier by the way. In the interview she talks about living in the presence and enjoying every minute as well as about her American accent for her role of Billie in ‘Public Enemies’.

5.35 pm/2.35 am: It’s getting earlier and earlier over here. But I’ve added 11 gorgeous HQ pictures to the 80th Academy Awards folder in the gallery.

7.13 pm/4.13 am: MARION COTILLARD WINS THE OSCAR!!!!!!

7.16 pm/4.16 am: Warmest congratulations again! I’m sooo happy! As luck would have it my internet connection decided to act weird in the middle of Marion’s speech Also I couldn’t get it recorded. Sorry! In the meantime I have some other interviews for you, incl. the interview by E! News:

10.13 pm/7.13 am: Thanks to Mycah we have a HQ clip of Marion’s acceptance speech:

It’s Oscar time! Forest Whitaker – last year’s winner for Best Actor – will hand out the trophy to whoever’s named Best Actress tonight. Will it be Marion Cotillard? The Mary co-star recently said he expects it to be her: “Marion Cotillard! Did you not see her in La Vie En Rose? She’s transforming! That’s it!”

Here some times to watch the ceremony live (all times are local):

United States: ABC – 5pm PT/8pm ET
United Kingdom: Sky One – Red Carpet Live 11.10pm (not sure about the actual ceremony)
France: Canal+ – 0.00 am (commented by Laurent Weil and Pretty Things co-star Patrick Bruel)
Germany: ProSieben – 0.30 am / Austria: ORF1 – 0.55 am

Arrivals and Red Carpet are covered by ABC and E! as of 3pm PT. Should Marion win she’s sure to appear in all the various Oscar Highlights that’ll air tomorrow everywhere. Since I have to work tomorrow all day I’m not sure how much of the night I’ll manage to stay up but I’ll try to bring you the first pictures and news as soon as possible. Good luck Marion – we’re keeping our fingers crossed! And we promise we’ll continue to love you no matter what happens!

Many thanks to Lucie for this information! Marion Cotillard is up for a Cesky Lev (which translates to Czech Lion) in the category ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’ for her performance in La Vie en Rose. Congratulations!

Remember, the movie was made as a Czech co-production (it was partly shot in the Czech Republic and some Czech actors play small roles in it), which made it possible for Marion to be nominated for a Czech award. The event will take place in Prague on March 1st. More information can be found at the awards’ official site. No word on whether Marion will be attending this event or not.

2 days to go till the Césars are handed out – and only 4 days till the Oscars are here. What will the weekend bring for Marion Cotillard? 99.9% she’ll win a César. How many French awards are out there? She won at the Cabourg Romantic Film Festival, was awarded 2 NRJ awards by the French public and won the Prix Lumière. However, fellow César-nominee Cécile de France won Best Actress at the Globes de Cristal and Marion had to share the Etoile d’Or – handed out by French critics – with another fellow César-nominee: Isabelle Carré. La Môme – or as it’s known internationally La Vie en Rose – came to French cinemas more than a year ago. Could it be that the French have already forgotten Marion’s excellent performance? I dare say they haven’t. And how could Marion not win the biggest award in her home country when she’s winning major awards abroad?

As for the Oscar I am still hopeful. All the votes are in and being counted right now. Who will be named Best Actress? All the ‘insider’ publications and ‘movie buff’ blogs say it’s going to be either Julie Christie or Marion Cotillard. Whenever the general public has a say in it Ellen Page comes up as well. I seriously think Marion has a chance of winning Best Actress and it would be very well deserved. Out of the many articles about Oscar predictions you can read online you might want to check out this Reuters article (thanks Asia) that puts Marion in the spotlight.

Whatever happens this weekend I’m sure Marion will savour every minute of it! Surely no win or loss can improve or lessen her magnifique performance. She’s always been a talented actress and regardless of what Film Academies and the like have to say now she will always continue to shine!

See a scan from British Evening Standard magazine about Marion’s fashion style this season here . Remember that all the scans and many other pictures in the gallery are HQ – but only registered and logged-in visitors are able to see the full versions.

Thanks to Mariana from Eva Green Web you can read the first batch of those quotes from the current French Première magazine in English here. Many thanks!

Since I hadn’t updated on this when it was hot news I hadn’t found the time to do so amidst all the frenzy surrounding Marion Cotillard’s win at the BAFTAs. But she was named Actress of the Year at the 28th Annual London Film Critics’ Circle Awards last Friday – beating fellow nominees Laura Linney, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Angelina Jolie and Anamaria Marinca. She looked fabulous in a Chanel dress:

Update Feb 16 Added a few HQ pics to the album bringing the total count up to 54

031 28th Annual London Film Critics’ Circle Awards

This is such happy news! Marion Cotillard won Best Actress at tonight’s BAFTA Ceremony in London! Congratulations!

Marion won over fellow nominees Cate Blanchett, Julie Christie, Keira Knightley and Ellen Page. This is what Keira Knightley had to say on the red carpet before the ceremony:

I don’t know how many awards we are going to win but I’m so excited the film has 14 nominations. I’m not going to say I’m confident about winning (best actress) because there are some really amazing inspiring performances. Marion Cotillard is my hero at the moment. She’s amazing in La Vie En Rose.

Read the rest of at DailyMail.

The ceremony should be airing right now on BBC One in the UK – and is being aired over in the US on BBC America, not sure about the times, though. It will also be available for viewing online. Not being able to see it right now I’m guessing it will only be made available online after the TV airing.

From the Press Release:

La Vie en Rose received the highest number of wins with 4 BAFTAs. Marion Cotillard received the BAFTA for Leading Actress for La Vie en Rose for her portrayal of Edith Piaf. The film also won awards for Music, Make Up & Hair and Costume Design, presented posthumously to designer Marit Allen.