Actors' protests bring changes to Oscar awards

The Oscar show will go on this Sunday, but with many modifications and with many actors wearing anti-war badges. A number of actors have cancelled plans to present awards and a nominated director who will also be absent published an open letter attacking the war.

Dustin Hoffman, Salma Hayek, Julianne Moore, Ben Affleck, Jim Carrey, Kirsten Dunst and writer-director Michael Moore will all wear pins provided by Artists United Against the War, the main coordinating group for actors opposed to the war.

Will Smith, who was to have been one of the night's presenters, has withdrawn from the ceremony, saying that it would be "inappropriate" to attend. Others who have cancelled appearances include Angelina Jolie and Cate Blanchett. The ceremony's organisers said that there were always last-minute withdrawals but normally they were not noted. The event itself has already been modified, with no long red carpet arrivals, no stands for fans and a toned-down show. Actors had contacted the academy to say that they felt uncomfortable about walking down a red carpet while a war was underway.

Aki Kaurismaki, the Finnish director of The Man Without a Past, which is nominated as best foreign language film, will not attend. "Cinema should live, but this chance should also be given to Iraqi civilians - children, women and men," he wrote in an open letter to the academy president, Frank Pierson.

Whether there will be political speeches from the stage is unclear. Presenters of awards have been encouraged to stick to the script but winners of awards are not so tied. "They have earned their 45 seconds in the sun and they can say what they like," said the show's producer, Gil Cates.

Michael Moore, whose Bowling for Columbine is nominated for best documentary, has just sent an open letter to President Bush. "There is virtually no one in America (talk radio nutters and Fox News aside) who is gung-ho to go to war," said the letter. If Moore wins, it seems unlikely he would turn down the opportunity to expand on this theme.

The traditional post-Oscar Vanity Fair party will go ahead but journalists who had been invited to attend the event all had their invitations withdrawn yesterday.