HOLLYWOOD (AFP) – 1849 PST: Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson present the ideal sound mixing Oscar – Inception wins! It beats Salt, The King’s Speech, The Social Network and True Grit.

The pair then present the honor for accomplishment in Sound Editing – it’s another Oscar for Inception! It beats True Grit, Unstoppable, TRON: Legacy and Toy Story 3.

1847 PST: Australians Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman are on stage to announce the Oscar for ideal original score – and the winner is The Social Network! It beats The King’s Speech, Inception, 127 Hours and How to Train Your Dragon.

Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails fame) and Atticus Ross are on stage to accept their Oscar (they also won the Golden Globe). “To be standing up here in this company is humbling and flattering beyond words,” Reznor says.

1843 PST: Earlier – Hathaway’s third costume change – she’s in a tux and silvery stilettos belting out a musical number quite convincingly that attacks Hugh Jackman for not joining her on-stage (the pair performed a well-received number at the 2009 Oscars). And then, uh oh, Franco’s in drag – a pink strapless number and blonde wig. Hathaway is cracking up. “The weird part is I just got a text message from Charlie Sheen,” Franco announces. Very funny. And I didn’t think they’d be granted to go there…

1833 PST: And the ideal supporting mortal Oscar goes to Christian Bale. It is Bale’s first Oscar. He strides up the steps. “Bloody hell, wow. What a roomful of talented and inspirational people and what the hell am I doing in the midst of you?” The UK mortal thanks The Fighter director David O’Russell, his co-stars and the boxer brothers, Micky and Dicky, who the film is based on and? are in the audience. “I’m not going to drop the F-bomb like (Melissa Leo) did,” Bale says. “I’ve done that plenty before.” He thanks his wife “who’s my mast through the storms of life” and his daughter who’s “taught me so much more than I’ll ever be healthy to instruct her.” He looks genuinely choked up.

1832 PST: Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon is on stage to present the ideal supporting mortal Oscar. Will it be Christian Bale for The Fighter or one of his rivals – John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone); Jeremy Renner (The Town); Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech) or Mark Ruffalo (The Children Are All Right)?

1829 PST: Dame Helen Mirren and Russell Brand present the ideal foreign language film Oscar. Mirren and Brand’s introduction to the foreign language honor was fun – Mirren introduced the honor in French; Brand translated it as “my Queen was much more realistic than Colin Firth’s king.” Mirren states “I didn’t state that,” in French. Brand (Katy Perry’s husband)? responds: “I’m very flattered Dame Helen but I’m of course married.”

In a Superior World from Denmark wins! The film, which also won the Golden Globe, is the third Nordic film to win the foreign language Oscar. It beats Biutiful, Dogtooth, Incendies and Outside the Law.

1824 PST: The 73-year-old Seidler takes the stage to accept his award, his first Oscar (and first nomination). “This is terrifying,” states the white-haired screenwriter, who himself battled a stutter and waited decades until after the Queen Mother’s death before releasing his script. “My dad always stated to me that I would be a late bloomer,” he says. “I believe I am the oldest mortal to win this particular honor – ?I hope that record is broken swiftly and often.” The writer thanks his family and “the Queen for not putting me in the Tower of London for using the Melissa Leo F-word (which features several times in The King’s Speech). And I accept this on behalf of all the stutterers of the world. We have a voice and we have been heard, thanks to you, the Academy.”

1820 PST: Bardem and Brolin also announce the ideal original screenplay Oscar. And the winner is David Seidler for The King’s Speech!

1818 PST: And the Oscar goes to – Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network! It’s the West Wing writer’s first Oscar nomination and win. A bespectacled Sorkin takes the stage for a long list of thank-yous (the fade-out music is playing long before he’s done). “I wrote this motion picture but David Fincher prefabricated this movie…with ungodly artfulness,” Sorkin says. “?He prefabricated the motion picture of each screenwriter’s dream…(it will be) a source of pride for me for the rest of my life.”

1814 PST: Javier Bardem and Josh Brolin in white tuxedos! Penelope Cruz beams and claps from the audience as her husband takes the stage. The pair of actors are on stage to announce the ideal adapted screenplay Oscar. Will it be Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network?

1809 PST: No surprises in the Animated Feature category. Toy Story 3 was universally adored and is also among the 10 ideal picture nominees.

1806 PST: Justin Timberlake (The Social Network) and Mila Kunis (Black Swan) are on stage to present the Oscars for ideal animated short. Timberlake introduces himself as “Banksy” (the secretive UK graffiti artist). Kunis contradicts him. Timberlake finds an App on his phone to transform the backdrop into an animated set. The winner of ideal animated short is announced – it’s The Lost Thing! Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann take the stage to accept their Oscar.

1803 PST: Leo, 50, looks stunned beyond belief. She’s yet to smile. “Pinch me!” she states to Kirk Douglas when she reaches the stage and covers her mouth. “Oh my God. Oh wow, oh really really truly wow…I’m just shaking in my boots now.” She thanks director David O’Russell, the cast, fellow nominee and co-star Amy Adams. “Oh, I am kind of speechless…” Then she lets slip a swear word but it’s muted out and looks even more unsettled. It’s the first win for Leo, who was nominated in 2009 for Frozen River. She thanks the Academy because it’s about “selling motion photos and respecting the work. Thank you so much.”

1758 PST: Kirk Douglas presents the ideal supporting actress honor – labouring over the introduction of the five nominees – Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, Helena Bonham Carter, Hailee Steinfeld and Jacki Weaver. And Melissa Leo wins!!

1757 PST: Oooh what a great opening montage! Actually filled with tons of laughs. Anne Hathaway and saint Franco appear in snippets that inter-cut with real clips of many of the nominated films as they “go into (last year’s host’s) Alec Baldwin’s dreams and get some hosting tips”. We see them opposite an intense Leonardo DiCaprio in a Parisian restaurant in Inception (the street explodes); they’re on a plane with an Ambien-sipping Baldwin. Morgan Freeman narrates Baldwin’s dreams, the mortal says, because Baldwin likes his “soothing voice”.

“This might be even more confusing than Inception,” comments Franco. The True Grit cameo is great – Hathaway with double eye patches and pigtails on horseback with Franco in a bear suit. “I loved you in Tron,” Franco states to Jeff Bridges’s Rooster Cogburn. The pair are in Wembley Stadium alongside Firth’s George VI. “I have some news from the future,” an in costume Hathaway says. “Microphones get smaller.” Then she gives the future king a sexy “hi” and a wink. A great snippet with tortured Natalie Portman in Black Swan – Hathaway as “the brown duck” and Franco is all body white leotard. Then they’re in Back to the Future, climbing into the Delorean and racing towards Doc and “Marty” – “Michael, get out of the way,” yells Franco. “I don’t have insurance.” A very entertaining opening sequence – it bodes well.

1749 PST: Wally Pfister wins the cinematography Oscar for Inception! It’s his first win in four nominations. He beats nine-time nominated Roger Deakins (True Grit), Danny Cohen (The King’s Speech), Jeff Cronenweth (The Social Network) and Matthew Libbatique (Black Swan).

1746 PST: Tom Hanks introduces the first two awards. The first is for art direction – and the Oscar goes to Alice in Wonderland! (which was favourite to win)

1737 PST: The stars are all inside the Kodak Theatre and there’s less than five minutes to go. Steven Spielberg is mopping the brow of Bruce Cohen, the nervous looking Oscar telecast producer, and handing him bottled water. Tom Hanks, who will present the first award, is interviewed on stage and appears relaxed. It’s business as usual for the Oscar winner who reportedly joked with Colin Firth at a pre-Oscar bash last week that he hoped Firth had watched a DVD he’d sent to nominees to help them with their acceptance speeches. He also warned the likely ideal mortal frontrunner not to read out a list of study as it shows “us your bald spot.”Okay, here we go… the show is starting…

1726 PST: Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush keep the “bromance” fires bubbling, joking around on the red carpet. “It’s a shocking display, shameless,” admits Firth, 50, who is all but 100 percent certain to win an Oscar tonight. A bald Rush, who won an Oscar for Shine in 1997 and is nominated for ideal supporting actor, states even if The King’s Speech goes home empty handed it has “scored with audiences and it has scored in our working relationship.” Earlier fellow Australian Cate Blanchett commented on what an breathtaking year it was for Australian nominees – along with Rush, Nicole Kidman and Jacki Weaver are among the nominees.

1712 PST: saint Franco is caught backstage minutes before the ceremony begins. He seems a tiny distracted – is it nerves? He’s asked how he thinks it will go. “We’ll see,” states the ideal mortal nominee with a smile. The actor, who is also a postgraduate student at Yale, has been nipping back to LA at weekends to rehearse for the ceremony. Has he got extra credits for all his efforts? “There’s a class called Oscars and I aced it,” Franco jokes. He also reveals it won’t only be his co-host, “tons of energy” Anne Hathaway, who will be changing clothes. He will also be doing some costume changes of his own.

1708 PST: And finally Natalie Portman is here. The ideal actress frontrunner looks gorgeous in a v-neck purple dress by local designers Rodarte (who also designed some of the dancers’ costumes in Black Swan). Is she nervous? “I’m excited. I feel like it’s going to be a fun show to watch this year with saint and Anne hosting.” The 29-year-old mum-to-be also reveals she’s looking forward to the awards season being done with and how kicking back in “sweats with messy hair and no make-up is the biggest luxury of all.”

1702 PST: It’s a first – an Oscar presenter is being interviewed on the red carpet. Anne Hathaway, the show’s youngest ever host in “archival Valentino” reveals that Shirley MacLaine told her to “change clothes as often as possible” and she intends to take that to heart. “I could not feel more like a princess, a motion picture star and the luckiest girl in the world.”

1700 PST: Annette Bening, a ideal actress contender for The Children Are All Right and four-time Oscar nominee, keeps up the smiles despite predictions she’s likely to again go home empty-handed – last night’s Independent Spirit Awards was just the latest ceremony at which Natalie Portman beat her to the ideal actress prize. She arrives with husband Warren Beatty. The mortal is asked what makes his wife such a fantastic actress? “You don’t know the half of it,” he replies. “Not only that she’s the ideal actress in the world, you can’t envision what a mom and wife and the whole thing… I’m in awe.”

1653 PST: You’d never guess Christian Bale was from Wales. The ideal supporting mortal nominee – favourite to win for his role as a crack-addled former boxer in The Fighter – sounds more like a Cockney: his speech is littered with “cheers, Mates” and “know what I means?” The bearded actor, famous for going to physical extremes for film parts, is asked if there’s anything he won’t do for a role. He states audiences deserve it and he’s “totally happy to go the distance”. Do his relatives ever get worried about the lengths he goes to, he’s asked. “Nerr, they know I’m a stubborn git and they know I’m going to do it anyway.”

1645 PST: Other stars arriving: a tousle-haired Scarlett Johansson in Dolce and Gabbana; a tanned-looking (or is it make-up?) Gwyneth Paltrow in metallic Calvin Klein nervous about performing tonight (she’ll do a song from her film Country Strong) – “I hope I don’t absolutely mess it up”; last year’s ideal actress winner Sandra Bullock in strapless red Vera Wang chilly from the cold; Halle Berry in pale strapless Marchesa…

1636 PST: Helena Bonham Carter is here and wearing her trademark round sunglasses but what on the grappling of it appears to be a surprisingly normal-looking gown – it’s black and fitted with a huge bustle and 19th century feel. Asked if she had been worried about the “fashion police”, she describes her outfit as “something I got together with costume designer Colleen Atwood. I thought it would be nice to celebrate film not fashion…I’ve got a bit of a complex about my bum so thought I’d make it even bigger.”

E!’s fashion pundit Kelly Osborne gushes she’s “obsessed” with Bonham Carter and adores her outfit. The actress responds: “Thanks, Kelly” before clocking her hairdo: “You’ve gone blonde, Jesus!” Bonham Carter stated she first realised The King’s Speech could be a hit when it screened at Toronto and people were “laughing in the right places and even stood up at the end.” But she’s not anticipating the film to “sweep tonight. It’s just fun to be here.”

1623 PST: Interesting tidbits we’re picking up from red carpet interviews: Mila Kunis was offered her role in Black Swan by director Darren Aronofsky via Skype. In fact, “all our meetings (before rehearsals began) were on Skype,” the actress says.

Best mortal nominee Jesse Eisenberg doesn’t own a TV and doesn’t have a Facebook account. “I really should have signed up this morning,” he says.

The King’s Speech began its journey to the Oscars in a brown paper envelope on Geoffrey Rush’s doorstep. The film’s British director Tom Hooper stated ideal supporting mortal nominee Rush found the then script for an un-produced play on his doorstep one Christmas morning. Amazingly he read it and called his agent to state he didn’t want to do it as a play but did want it to be his next film. Hooper remarks on “how democratic” the film’s reach has proved, with nine to 90-year-olds enjoying it (a message to the censors who originally slapped it with an R rating perhaps?).

1609 PST: Amy Adams is nervous in a dark blue sparkly L’Wren Scott dress. She states she’s rooting for fellow The Fighter star and fellow ideal supporting actress nominee Melissa Leo.

Jeremy Renner, a ideal supporting mortal nominee, arrives and is congratulated on his nomination by Kevin Spacey. Spacey’s tip for the night: “Just have fun and find the bar as swiftly as you can.”

E!’s Ryan Seacrest asks Spacey, a producer of The Social Network, about the film’s effect on Facebook. The mortal tells him that Mark Zuckerberg’s current appearance on Saturday Night Live with ideal mortal nominee Jesse Eisenberg (who portrays him in the film), indicates the website’s founder is “starting to accept the intent that actually the movie’s been pretty good for his company.” Spacey also alludes to the role of social networking in the current upheavals in the Middle East. “There’s no doubt as we look around the world…people are finding their voices (via social media) in many troubled places.” He continued, “I think it’s quite remarkable how it’s changed our world.”

1559 PST: British comedian Russell Brand is having some fun on the red carpet with the American TV reporters. Asked if he’ll be sticking to the script when he presents an honor with Helen Mirren during the ceremony, he states that Mirren has encouraged him to “express myself creatively and not worry about censorship or any of the laws of the earth.” He’s brought along his mum as his date and she’s excited to see Colin Firth, tonight’s ideal mortal favourite. Brand, who states he went to the same drama school as Firth, describes his fellow Brit as “a great mortal with an capability to relay sensitivity and strength.”

Another British-born star rooting for Firth’s film is Elizabeth Taylor. The Oscar-winning film legend, who is in hospital from a heart scare, is rooting for The King’s Speech and will be watching tonight from her hospital bed with family and close friends, her spokesman said.

1548 PST: Anne Hathaway is spied arriving resplendent in a red strapless, huge bustled number – the first of no doubt numerous costume changes in store for the co-presenter tonight.

Black Swan star Mila Kunis is in a revealing lilac number cut low crossways the bust. Sexiest dress of the evening? It’s a “lace and chiffon neo-classical number”, Randolph Duke informs us. The actress, who is a presenter at the ceremony, is complimented on her capability to do both drama and comedy. She responds: “I mean, I hope so. I don’t ever want to be a one-trick pony!”

1537 PST: Melissa Leo, a ideal supporting actress nominee, is another primeval arrival. Leo, favourite for the prize for her portrayal of the hard-as-nails matriarch in The Fighter, is transformed from her character’s brassy bottle blond with soft hair and a huge lacy/silvery dress. The 50-year-old star has been cleaning up this awards season but admits she hasn’t been preparing an acceptance speech for tonight.

Her rival for the prize, True Grit star Hailee Steinfeld, 14, is not far behind. The teenager, who scored an Oscar nomination for her first ever film role in the Coen brothers’ Western remake, is told by several reporters her pale, fitted Marchesa dress (which she helped design) is “age appropriate” while “she talks so well” for someone her age. She’s brought along her “mummy, daddy and brother” to the ceremony.

1523 PST: It’s a crisp but bright winter Hollywood afternoon with no sign of yesterday’s rain or plastic carpet covering. Jennifer Lawrence, the 20-year-old star of indie hit Winter’s Bone and first-time Oscar nominee (best actress) is among the first to arrive. She’s wearing a stunning “simple washing suit style” (according to ABC’s fashion pundit Randolph Duke) red sheath dress and is immediately jumped on by interviewers. “This has to be the ideal moment in your life,” states one breathless reporter. “I think it’s pretty innocuous to say,” concurs the actress who states she’s usually watching the Oscars from her couch with a plate of linguini and vegetables “There’s a lot more sucking in tonight.” She states she’s not nervous and doesn’t seem flustered by all the hoopla and the questions about whether she did indeed skin a squirrel in the film. Yes, is the answer.

1500 PST: Welcome to AFP’s live report from the 2011 Oscars, the culmination of Hollywood’s epic awards season and the film industry’s biggest night. This year’s most anticipated showdowns include the ideal picture and director categories, where British period indie film The King’s Speech (with a leading 12 nominations) vies with David Fincher’s of-the-moment Facebook movie, The Social Network (eight noms).

The effort comes as the Academy makes its most blatant bid to connect with younger film fans and users of online media with Twitter and Facebook pages and a swath of world wide web extras and apps.

Its also recruited two of its youngest ever presenters – glamorous A-listers Anne Hathaway and saint Franco (also a contender for ideal actor) a surprising and dramatic gear shift after last year’s hosts, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, who pulled in the biggest audience since 2005.

Franco and Hathaway have been tirelessly promoting tonight’s show, the 83rd awards, with self-mockery and candor (Hathway originally rejected the offer while Franco even volunteered some refreshing irreverence for what many see as an overlong exercise in industry self-congratulation: “If it’s the worst Oscars show ever, who cares? It’s like, it’s fine. It’s one night. It doesn’t matter.”)

But the Academy is also keen to keep traditional fans and its older skewing membership on board – beloved veteran host Billy Crystal is rumoured to be joining the stage at some point. How will its bid to keep everyone happy fare?

Other huge questions of the night: will Helena Bonham Carter wear matching shoes? How will pregnant Natalie Portman (and likely ideal actress winner) accessorize her baby bump? Will secretive graffiti artist Banksy show up (he’s nominated for ideal documentary) and risk arrest for alleged current LA street art? And will anyone dare to crack a joke about Charlie Sheen? Let’s go the Kodak Theatre and find out!