Oscar speech rescue: Editing out the wow's and thank-you's

After a string of fumbling, gasping and guffawing acceptance speeches, best actor nominee Forest Whitaker is finally getting some help preparing for the speech he's bound to give Sunday night. In fact, as we reported here earlier, the Oscars organizers have solicited speech writing aid for the nominees. Which is a good thing, because producer Laura Ziskin — who's trying to cut down on the televised thank-yous by putting a Thank-You Cam online instead — recently told them that if they write a bunch of boring speeches, the Oscars "will just go away." ...