>> tonight, "nightline" does it oscar style. exclusive, crazy mad fun with the one and only host herself. >> it's my second time? uh-oh. >> ellen with the most competitive oscar season ever. >> that's what you need to be thinking about right now. >> they're so funny and so sex pi. >> who will walk away empty handed? >> it's not going to win best picture. >> it's not, no. >> go, go, go. >> i think best picture is -- >> "oscar confidential." a show so hot even oscar is staying up for th

good evening. as you can see, it's no regular night at "nightline." we're at abc's oscar headquarters all dressed up for this special occasion. our oscar confidential. it may be raining outside as we head into hollywood's biggest night, but it sure is heating up inside with the races in many categories neck and neck. so tonight, our hollywood insiders are eveal who will be going home with oscar. >> mission abort. repeat, mission abort. >> this year, an oscar race that's out of this world. >> we have to go, we have to go, go, go. >> stick together. and we'll be all right. >> the hottest stars of our generation. >> i prom you that i will try my very best. >> you're a damn liar. >> duking it out for oscar gold. >> i was becoming a legend. >> move over "hunger games" this is hollywood. >> beverly hills.

>> and nobody knows this town better than these three. are there big surprises this year, you guys? alinda wheat, christian ameer and our own chris connelly. >> we've got to get over on all these guys. that's what we need to be thinking about right now. "american hustle." how good a movie? >> it's top three of the year. >> top two for me. >> they're all awful people, but they're so funny and so sexy you can not stopwatching. >> you all love this mu veen yea -- movie and it's not going to win best picture. >> no. >> it's not going to win best actor is it? >> no. >> best actor? >> no. >> best director? uh-uh. >> is it going to win anything? >> sometimes it's just nice to get invited to the party. jennifer lawrence maybe could have won best supporting actress

if she had really wanted to. >> what do you mean if she really wanted to? >> i think she saw what happened to anne hathaway last year. i think anne hathaway was on so many awards shows people started to not like her. but i think people love her. she's not on screen all that much, but every time she is, it's explosive. >> you come here. >> i said come here! >> now you tell me all is lost? >> you want to survive, do and say as little as possible. >> the hardest thing in sports is to play with a lead. they had a lead ever since people first saw this movie. that's tough. everybody knows you're the top dog and people might get sick of it. or people might want a new

story. but still, this is the movie to be to beat. it's always been. >> should it when? is it the best picture? >> i think so, yes. it tells a story that hasn't been told enough. it's going to win. >> it's not my favorite movie of the year. i never want to see "12 years a slave" again. >> it's hard to sit through. >> it's so hard to sit through. >> i stink so much i make myself gag. 500,000 cotton day in and day out. more than any man here. and for that, i will be clean. >> is lupita going to win? she's become a breakout star on the runway. >> she's gorgeous. anything you put her in. and it is still a race with her and jennifer lawrence. i think she ekes it out.

>> "the butler" came up this year. and got nothing. >> this movie killed "the butler" dead in its -- not since cloou h clue has the butler died. >> was oprah snubbed? >> i think she was. >> she's great in it. >> oprah was not snub the, oprah was snubbed. >> you forget oprah can actually act. >> everything you are and everything you have because of that butler. >> she's amazing. >> i would call her out if i didn't think she was good. she's good. she's good. >> i've been looking for you, lone star. >> unless you've got more cash than your clients, i'm busy. >> you don't deserve our money. >> 5%. >> 25. take it or leave it. >> welcome to "the dallas buyer's club." >> there's a word for what matthew mcconaughey has done. between this and magic mike and mud and killer joe.

it's the mcconaussance. it's real, my friend. >> hold it, i think chris has a dissenting opinion. >> you do give him points. this is usually what happens in best actors. he goes back to sherr. look at sherr after she was snubbed for mask. she's going to win for moonstruck. >> look at charlize theron, she gained weight. >> we also love the personal story. >> will matthew mcconaughey win best actor? >> i think that there's a bit of a leonardo dicaprio resurgence, i think it's matthew mcconaughey's night. >> this has changed dramatically in the last two weeks. leo might have been the last guy to get the nomination when nominations came out but now he's in there to win it. >> my name is jordan bellfort.

the year i turned 26, i made $49 million, which really pissed me off because it was $3 million short of $1 million a week. >> i despised it. >> it's repettive. it's numbing after a while. sfwl there's a whole outcry, a whole backlash. people lost their homes and their fortunes and the lives. this is them celebrating that. >> what do i do? what do i do? >> i got you, i got you. >> best movie of the year. >> hold it. >> you would wish in your heart that somebody had done an uncredited polish on the screenplay before they made it. >> what's wrong with the screenplay.

>> what dialogue do you remember? >> pugrunting and the panting. >> houston, this is mission specialist ryan stone. i'm off structure pip'm drifting. do you copy? >> there's been lots of talk about best actress for sandra bullock. is she going to win? >> no, she won't win. nobody can stop cate blanchett. >> woody allen and dylan farrow coming forward, saying her father sexually assaulted her when she was 7 years old. he, of course, denies it and y saying in her open letter, cate blanchett, what if it was your child. did that hurt her? >> no. it hurts woody allen's at best original screenplay. >> cate blanchett has been given this award since july. anything that makes it seem less than inevitable is a disturbance in the force. >> i feel like the pope.

>> "philomena." >> i don't believe it belongs in the best picture category. it's lovely and surprising and surprising and dark and it has redemption. but i just don't think it's a best picture movie. >> so what you're saying is you're heartless. >> pretty much. >> i'm a truth teller. some people are antagonized by the truth. >> i can't believe we've talked about best actress and have not mentioned meryl streep. >> this is a terrible film, though. >> it's not a horrible film. it is over the top and -- >> it's high-falutin trash. >> and people are a little bored of meryl being nominated all the time. she gets nominated in years she didn't have a movie. >> as we impl ever close to the oscar night itself, is there going to be an upset. >> if there was an upset, it would be leonardo dicaprio for

best actor. >> i think best picture is where there could be a surprise. i think it's going to be "12 years a slave" but "gravity" could pull it out. >> this year is a real dog fight. that's great for hollywood. >> the oscars also reward what we think movies should be. >> the past is just a story we tell ourselves. >> they are encouragements to other filmmakers and actors to do what these movies have done. and this is a great year for that. >> when we come back, we're getting oscar dish from the host herself. how far will she go? >> i've got to step it up. ♪

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>> welcome back to abc's oscar headquarters. imagine the pressure of an oscar host. with a worldwide audience of

hundreds of millions of people, it's high stakes for this year's academy awards. the one and only ellen degeneres. robin roberts sat down with the woman leading the show. she said she's going to step up her game. but how? >> it's one of the catchiest oscar announcements in years. fun, lively, and oh, so ellen degeneres. strutting in a tux and her hallmark tennis shoes. but make no mistake. the pressure is on ellen. what's it look to look up and see yourself. >> that's normally in my yard. i moved it here to help them out. we just tweaked it and said oscars. driving here is the first time i saw it and it's enormous. >> indeed. this will be ellen's second time hosting the oscars. >> do you mind if i get a picture with you. >> make sure we're both in, steven.

>> reporter: her upcoming performances places her in a pantheon alongside soft of the best actors in history. steve martin to billy crystal. with some 40 million people watching, it's a light hearted role she does not take lightly. >> it will be fun and silly in some parts, but it should be honored and it should be classy and respected. it's not a standup gig. it's the oscars. i do take it seriously. >> this is a big deal. it's the oscars, by golly. >> if i don't take it seriously, it's disrespectful. this is an institution, this is the 86th year. the first year they did it people were probably in their living rooms going someone should invent tv. >> you've got to have this musicality, theatricality to be an oscar host. it's hard to pull it off and be successful. >> others who have stepped in have delivered some memorable highs and, well, lows. >> who would forget nine-time

oscar host billy crystal's infamous hannibal lecter skit in 1992. >> i'm having some of academy over for dinner. care to join me? >> whoopi goldberg was the first woman and the first african-american to host solo. >> there haven't been this many women sweating over one woman since heidi fliess. >> antihathaway and james franco caught flak. >> i must say you look so beautiful and so hip. >> oh, thank you, james. you look very appealing to a younger demographic as well. >> they had to go into hiding. people hated their hosting so much. >> last year, seth mcfarlane's humor left some dumb struck.

>> kristen stewart you saw your boobs. and monster, we saw charlicharlize charlize theron's. >> you know what they say. three time is a charm. twha? it's my second time? >> i want people to relax and i want people to have fun and i want people to think that three and a half hours went by like that. it's a hallmark style that comes to define her in her wildly popular talk show now in its 11th season. but ellen says despite all her tv hosting experience, hosting the oscars is more terrifying than anything else. >> hosting this is like bungee jumping. but you're in front of an audience all the time. what's the difference? >> it's not about me. i should be good enough that people talk the next day and go she was great. but i shouldn't stand out enough that it overshadows anything.

>> preparing for the larger stage, she say, is a welcome challenge. >> it's a different caliber of everything. i got to step it up. >> how are rehearsals going? >> now i'm wornging on what i'm doing through the whole show. isle be in the audience a lot. it's never been my humor to get a laugh at anyone el's expense. it's never going to be a mean joke. >> after last year's edgy but criticized host, ellen is setting a difference course. >> my intentions are to make people happy and my intentions are to have compassion. >> how is ellen expected to do in her oscar encore? >> she keeps things loose and fun and fresh. i think ellen is going to be a great host. i think she's going to knock it out of the park. >> she says she's honored to be part of oscar's history. >> i established more than i i could have ever dreamt to accomplish in my life. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm

robin roberts in hollywood. >> our special edition of "nightline's" oscar confidential continues.

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>> we all know that oscars is a big night. but just how big. we ask dan harris to add it up, our oscars by the numbers. >> we heerding down the final stretch to oscar night and the competition this year is hotter than metal in the microwave. >> what did you do that for? >> 10, that's the number of oscars "american hustle" and "gravity" are up for. if they won every award, they would still fall shy of "titanic" in '97. his number to beat this year, 544. that's the number of times they say leo and company drop the q-bomb. that's almost three a minute. ironically, the only x-rated movie to win best picture, "midnight cowboy" only dropped

one. dicaprio joins christian bale, matthew mcconaughey. oscar hammerstein was the first oscar to win an oscar. bruce dern and june squibb could become the oldest in their category. just kids compared to the actual state of nebraska. it turns 147 on oscar eve. and it wouldn't be the oscars if meryl wasn't nominated. >> again. >> yep, number 18. >> but whatever. >> not bad. until you consider that he's still 41 behind walt disney. by the way, the guy who played him this year, he's got two. finally, whether meryl takes .home her fourth, jennifer lawrence her second, or steve mcqueen her first, the number in the back of their mind must be 45. that's how many seconds each one has before conductor william

ross cues the music. alfred hitchcock only needed two. >> thank you. >> he woep yhope you join us fo academy awards. the red carpet starts 7:00 p.m. eastern. join all my colleagues right here breaking it down for you. good night, america, from los angeles.

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