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But the buzz over which movie would cop the big prize, or how soon into the marathon broadcast host Chris Rock would get bleeped only heightened as show-biz's biggest day of the year wore on.
Fans were screaming in the bleachers as limos deposited their celebrity passengers to the red carpet, from nominees Leonardo DiCaprio, Hilary Swank, Don Cheadle and Catalina Sandino Moreno to presenter Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and performer Beyonce Knowles.
Going into the ceremony (which airs at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC), Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes film bio, The Aviator, leads the race with 11 nominations, though most bets are on Clint Eastwood's somber boxing drama Million Dollar Baby to win the lion's share of Oscar gold.
"It's a great honor," Best Actress nominee Hilary Swank told E!'s pre-show hostess Star Jones. "I'm in heaven, I'm living my dream and I'm grateful. I'm just trying to take it all in."
Sideways Best Supporting Actress nominee Virginia Madsen noted: "I dreamed of this when I was 5 years old."
The night's biggest sure thing is Jamie Foxx as Best Actor for his portrayal of Ray Charles in Ray. Host Rock has even gone so far as to say that if Foxx doesn't win, he'll snatch the Oscar out of whoever's hand it does go into and hand it over to Foxx.
Yet besides the inevitable questions about who will win and how outrageous Rock might get, the big puzzle is whether the Golden Globes and SAG Awards have diluted Oscar's TV audience. Ratings are thought to be problematic, which accounts for Rock and a chart-topper such as Beyonce delivering four of the nominated songs.
Last year, with The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King as the frontrunner, the show attracted 43.5 million viewers, up from 33 million the previous year (when Chicago won), but still far from the 55.3 million who tuned in for 1998's victory of Titanic.
This year's controversy over Rock might boost ratings, if only because of curiosity value. Still, the debate over Rock continued right up until showtime, as evidence by a cover story in Sunday morning's Los Angeles Times Magazine.
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Note that this week’s cover of PEOPLE may differ regionally
