Breaking News, World News and Taiwan News.

Updated Wednesday, February 1, 2012 10:15 pm TWN, By Michael Thurston, AFP

Sponsors
▪	Get the best deals for Guangzhou Hotels or choose from more than 10,000 hotels in 499 Chinese cities.
▪	Find great real time deals on China Flights. Book flights to China or China domestic flights 24/7.
▪	Buy china wholesale products from reliable chinese wholesalers on DHgate.com!
▪	Save 75% for all hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and whole China. Lowest rates for Flights in China.

Fur flies as Scorsese goes barking mad over performing dog award

LOS ANGELES--A cute, trick-performing Jack Russell versus a snarling, orphan-chasing Doberman — a potentially ugly Oscars dog fight is squaring up on Hollywood's red carpet.

Even as Tinseltown's A-listers vie for Academy Award glory, a contest for the canine equivalent — the Golden Collar — which seemed sewn up, has been ripped wide open. And by Martin Scorsese, no less.

The clear frontrunner has long been Uggie, the hero of silent movie “The Artist,” which is snapping at Scorsese's heels with 10 nominations against 11 nods for “Hugo” at the February 26 Oscars show.

To add to Uggie's aaah-factor, his owners announced last week that the 10-year-old dog is retiring after his turn in “The Artist,” in which the four-legged friend notably saves his master's life from a fire.

But “Goodfellas” director Scorsese — no stranger to intimidation and graphic violence — has weighed in demanding that Blackie the Doberman from his top Oscar-nominated film “Hugo” be included as a last-minute nominee.

The snarling Blackie belongs to the station inspector, played by “Borat” star Sacha Baron Cohen, who chases parentless children to be sent to an orphanage in “Hugo,” set in Paris.

Scorsese admits that, while Blackie would win paws-down in a fight, he may have problems winning sympathy against the cute dog from French-directed “The Artist,” a tribute to the silent movie era.

“I have been cautioned against speaking out on this issue lest I create the appearance of churlishness. Well, I'm going to have to risk it,” Scorsese wrote in an open letter to the Los Angeles Times newspaper.

“One recent morning, I turned on the television, and imagine my surprise when I heard the nominations for the first Golden Collar Awards for Best Dog in a Theatrical Film.

“After all, we had Blackie the Doberman in our movie. How could she not be nominated? I listened in vain for Blackie's name to be called, and then to all the hullabaloo over a certain Jack Russell terrier named Uggie.”

Actually, he admitted: “Uggie is so adorable that he received two nominations for two separate pictures. Well done.”

But he continued: “OK, let's lay all our cards on the table. Jack Russell terriers are small and cute. Dobermans are enormous and — handsome.

1|2|Next Page>>