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!

This is an alert for all the French Marion Cotillard fans! Can’t wait to hear news of tonight’s Oscar ceremony? Don’t know how to pass the time till the wee hours? Here’s something you can do. Watch La Guerre dans le Haut Pays tonight on Cinecinema Emotion at 10.55pm. To my knowledge the film, originally released in 1998, is only available on DVD in Switzerland as part of a very expensive and rare Ferdinand Ramuz DVD collection and is therefore really hard to catch. Marion’s portrayal of the passionate and young Juliette is sure to break your heart – and I bet you’ll be even more in awe of her talent after seeing this.

Air dates for ‘La Guerre dans le Haut Pays’ on Cinecinema Emotion:

Many thanks to joliechose for sending in HQ files of Marion Cotillard’s acceptance speech during the 33rd César Awards as well as her interview with Laurent Weil before the ceremony. I’ve thus been able to add really good quality caps of those to the gallery and as usual mq video clips to the Video Vault. Thanks to Paolo I’ve also added tiny bits of Marion’s interviews after her win as shown on France 2 and TF1 in their news reports. Additionally, there’s a small clip of Marion attending the César Nominees dinner a week ago as well as 2 French news reports: Journal d’Hollywood and JT13h.

108 Journal d’Hollywood, on Canal+, February 9, 2008
014 33rd César Awards – Nominees Dinner, February 13, 2008
015 JT13H, on France 2, February 22, 2008
085 33rd César Awards – Interview with Laurent Weil, February 22, 2008
142 33rd César Awards – Ceremony, February 22, 2008
031 ‘Après Césars’, France 2 & TF1, February 23, 2008

Video Links:
03 News segments etc > 2008 (Journal d’Hollywood, JT13h, Après Césars)
03 Public Appearances > 2008 (César Nominees Dinner, Interview Laurent Weil, César Awards)

The first pictures of Marion Cotillard at the César Awards in Paris tonight. Keep checking back for more and for news of the actual awards ceremony!

Update 11.25 pm Marion Cotillard won!!!!! Congratulations!

Update February 23 Added many more pictures – bringing the total count of the César Awards album up to 174. Check out the pictures at the end of the album where Mélanie Laurent is congratulating Marion and where Best Supporting Actress winner and Toi et moi co-star Julie Depardieu is greeting Marion and posing with her for photographers.

Mariana finished her translation of the many quotes of former coleagues of Marion Cotillard, as well as from friends, currently featured in French Première. Many thanks again! Read the full batch here

“Marion surprised me: she could have played in silent films. She has the simplicity and the openness that I expect from an actress. We shot Big Fish in Alabama – a special place, very crazy. In that kind of environment, it’s very important to work as a clan. The entire crew adored Marion.”
Tim Burton, director of Big Fish

Then, many thanks for US Premiere staff member Jenni Miller for the heads up on their Oscar coverage. They have a Marion interview up on their site, Up close with the Oscar Nominees.

And K found a quote by George Clooney, as featured in a recent interview with TIME Magazine:

The actor was also impressed by La Vie En Rose’s Marion Cotillard. “[She] does an old person trying to be young, instead of what everyone does – a young person trying to be old,” he says. “It’s a stunning performance.”
(source)

Remember to watch Canal+ if you live in France or else visit their website tonight at around 8.50pm European time for news of the César Awards. I can’t wait to see 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!

I’ve added my own scans of Marion Cotillard re-enacting a scene from ‘Psycho’ in the Hollywood issue of Vanity Fair. Also big thanks to joliechose who sent me scans of the new issue of French Premiere magazine. It features Marion on the cover and is full of lovely quotes from people who’ve had the privilege of working with her over the years, including Dikkenek co-star Mélanie Laurent. Again, is anybody able to send in a good translation of this? If not, I’ll be trying my own luck on it soon.

There’s also a preview of the upcoming documentary about Marion on the La Vie en Rose promotion tour ‘Mon Clown’. Strangely, it gives a different date for it: March 7 as opposed to the previously announced March 14. If anyone knows which is the ‘real’ date please do let us know!

And a new TV alert: French TV channel M6 will be airing a portrait documentary about Marion Cotillard on March 1, 11.30 am. (source)

07 Premiere (France) – March
02 Vanity Fair (US) – March

Today’s other update is all about Marion Cotillard’s recent Talk Show appearances. Of course there was the interview on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson back in January, which we finally have screencaptures and a clip of, and then 2 interviews on AMC’s programme Shootout. Big thanks goes to Mycah for recording the second of those – the Oscar Nominees Special – for the site and sending in caps & a clip. These are all very lovely clips so be sure to watch!

062 Shootout Palm Springs Film Festival, January 5, 2008 on AMC
180 The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, January 8, 2008 on CBS
117 Shootout Oscar Nominees Special, February 15, 2008 on AMC – screencaps by Mycah
003 Videos: Talk Shows – 2008