There's just five days to go until the 83rd Annual Academy Awards, so you'd better start hedging your bets now. And, no, not on whether Annette Bening will pull a Best Actress upset over Natalie Portman, but if Banksy will pull one over on the Oscar producers during the telecast.
It was reported earlier this month that the controversial street artist, who is nominated for Best Documentary for his whip smart, is-it-real-or-not-docu-comedy "Exit Through The Gift Shop," was causing a bit of anxiety for Oscar producers. So much so that Academy president Tom Sherak had allegedly met with "Exit" producer Jaimie D’Cruz to make sure that if the film did win, someone other than Banksy would appear on stage to collect the award.
Sherak and executive director Bruce Davis reportedly feared that Banksy -- who never reveals his face and often hides under a monkey mask -- would take the class right out of the joint if he were to make the Oscar stage his own piece of performance art in his simian get-up. As Davis explained it to Entertainment Weekly, "The fun but disquieting scenario is that if the film wins and five guys in monkey masks come to the stage all saying, ‘I’m Banksy,’ who the hell do we give it to?”
It seems like Davis and Sherak are sticking to their guns, at least according to the UK's Metro. They've reported that Banksy (who may or may not have left his mark on Los Angeles recently with paintings of Charlie Brown smoking a cigarette and pouring a can of gasoline), has had his request to the Academy chiefs to attend in disguise declined.
Things have been heating up for 

If anyone knows how to advise the drifter-genius that is
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'Harry Potter' Watch: 5 Franchises In Need Of Steve Kloves' Magic
Posted 2/18/11 2:58 pm EST by Josh Wigler in Commentary
When it comes to having the magic touch, there's no doubt that "Harry Potter" scribe Steve Kloves has it in spades.
As the screenwriter responsible for adapting every single "Harry Potter" film with the exception of "Order of the Phoenix," Kloves is understandably on Warner Bros.' good side—so much so, in fact, that the studio has tasked Kloves with bringing some of his "Harry Potter" magic to "Akira," the Albert Hughes-directed adaptation of the beloved anime and manga property.
Kloves is set to polish the screenplay for "Akira," and his new gig got us thinking… are there other developing franchises that could use the "Harry Potter" touch? Let's take a look after the jump!
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Tags akira, Harry Potter, Steve Kloves