Robin Wright Penn files for divorce

Robin Wright Penn has filed for divorce from her husband Sean Penn, PEOPLE has learned. The papers, filed in Marin County, California, on August 12, state that “both parties have already agreed to [shared] custody” over their minor son, Hopper Jack, 16, and that “the estranged couple have already agreed to division of all property.” The reason for the split is listed as “irreconcilable differences.” Wright Penn, best known for roles in “The Princess Bride” and “Forrest Gump,” is not seeking spousal support.

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Number of best picture nominees doubling

The number of movies nominated for the best picture Oscar will double next year, a move apparently aimed at bolstering sagging ratings for the Academy Awards broadcast. “Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going allow academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize,” Sid Ganis, president of the Academy Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said. Doubling the nominations would make it more likely a viewer’s favorite movie is in the running for the top honor, which may make them want to watch the show, said Steve Pond, author of “The Big Show: High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards.” “This clearly is a reaction to declining ratings,” Pond said.

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Japan’s Double Oscar Victory

It’s not quite Slumdog’s tale of rags to riches — more like shining maggots to Oscar gold. The path that led Japan to take its first Oscar in Best Foreign Language film at this week’s Academy Awards started with the film’s lead actor, Masahiro Motoki, contacting author Shinmon Aoki to quote a passage of his novel Coffinman: The Journal of a Buddhist Mortician in the actor’s own travel diary. “Maggots are life, too,” the passage, in the voice of the novel’s protagonist, reads

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‘Slumdog Millionaire’ has six Oscars

"Slumdog Millionaire," the little film about a poverty-raised teaboy who goes on a game show as a way to find his lost love, leads all films at the Oscars with six Oscars at the 81st annual Academy Awards. “Millionaire” has won Oscars for adapted screenplay (Simon Beaufoy), score (A.R. Rahman), song (“Jai Ho,” co-written by Rahman), cinematography (Anthony Dod Mantle), sound mixing and film editing

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