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Fine-tuning the Oscars broadcast

With three telecasts behind him, director gets the right shots

Horvitz
Horvitz has directed 5,000 hours of TV programming, and he won an Emmy for his direction of the 70th annual Academy Awards two years ago  

March 21, 2000
Web posted at: 1:59 p.m. EST (1859 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Imagine keeping a billion people riveted by a TV show. For Oscar telecast director Louis J. Horvitz, it's more than imagination as he takes the director's seat for the March 26 telecast for the fourth straight year.

"I always call it the Holy Grail of television," Horvitz says. "It is, without exception I would think, the biggest awards show of all of them. I think it's huge. And it is very regal and royal because I think it has the greatest history. I think this is the hardest of the big shows."

He should know. Horvitz has directed 5,000 hours of TV programming, including the Kennedy Center Honors and the Emmys. He won an Emmy for directing the 70th annual Academy Awards two years ago.

Horvitz says his main goal for the show -- not surprisingly, given its length -- is to keep it moving "so that it doesn't become lethargic or slow down. I regenerate the energy by the speed at which I call the cue."

· Get the bios on nominated stars
· Review those nominated plotlines and movie trailers
· Cast your unofficial Oscar ballot
· Visit the Oscar message board
· ...and more!

Show highlights: Beatty tribute, Crystal, film clips

A half-hour Academy Awards preview will lead into the main show, which officially begins on ABC at 8:30 p.m. ET Sunday with Billy Crystal hosting for the seventh time. The broadcast, from Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium, is expected to wrap up around midnight.

In addition to the handing out trophies, the show also plans a variety of highlights, including scenes from the movies nominated as best films. The ceremony also includes a tribute to Warren Beatty, winner of the Irving C. Thalberg Memorial Award for his work as an actor, writer, director and producer.

Horvitz warmed up by directing the Oscar nomination show, but that may have felt like a breeze compared to the coming big show. For a grueling three-plus hours Sunday, Horvitz will scan dozens of monitors, looking for those memorable moments.

"That's when you really have to hope that God comes up to you and you rise to the occasion," Horvitz says. "And so far, we have."



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RELATED SITES:
ABC
The official Academy Awards site
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

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