On screen, Ellen Page has played a pregnant teen, an X-Man and a dark metaphorical cousin to Chris Hansen. And now she will play one of us. The 21-year-old actress has been attached to the feature film adaptation of Freeheld, the true story of a terminally-ill lesbian's struggle to pass her pension benefits to her partner.

Good As You reported on Friday that Cynthia Wade, the director of the Oscar-winning short documentary, was turning her film into a full-length feature with Ellen attached. Based on the life of Laurel Hester, Freeheld follows the New Jersey police detective lieutenant's fight after her cancer diagnosis to give her pension survivor benefits to partner Stacie Andree. Ellen would play Stacie.

Laurel Hester (left) and partner Stacie Andree

Laurel, a 25-year veteran of the police force, and Stacie were registered domestic partners. But because they were not and could not be legally married her county freeholders (like a county supervisor, but in Jersey) denied Laurel's request. So she fought them, while dying, for her rights. On Jan. 25, 2006, after extensive public outcry and Laurel's own hospital-bed appeals, the freeholders reversed their decision and granted Stacie full benefits. Laurel died 25 days later. … continue reading

Hey, did something happen in Hollywood last night? Oh, right; a bunch of people went home with shiny naked golden men. While some may quibble with a few of the winners, last night’s Oscars telecast was a night when Tinsel Town pretty much got things right. Sure, I would have loved for Juno to sneak in and steal No Country for Old Men’s Oscar for Best Picture. But that might have incurred the wrath of Anton Chigurh, and the last thing you want to do is to make a man with a Dorothy Hamill haircut and a compressed-air gun angry.

The evening was largely a classy affair, with lots of first-time winners, loads of heartfelt speeches and even a couple genuine surprises. So in the spirit of honoring excellence, here are a few awards of my own. May I have the envelope, please?

Best Straight Allies: Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth

The filmmakers won for their short documentary Freeheld, about a lesbian couple’s fight to win survivorship benefits. (Look for more details in Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. this Friday.)

Best Upset I Didn’t Know I Wanted: Marion Cotillard

I thought I’d be mad at Marion for upsetting my personal favorite Julie Christie for Best Actress, but after hearing her exuberant, charming and sincere speech, I’ve fallen in love instead.

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The nominees for the 80th Annual Academy Awards were announced this morning. The big question, though, is whether the Oscars broadcast will happen at all. It's slated for Feb. 24, which is, like, 5 minutes from now in writers' strike years. And the stakes are very high. As Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weekly puts it, "If putting the kibosh on the Globes put the hurt on NBC and made the world pay attention to the strike, imagine what stopping the 80th Annual Academy Awards would do?"

I hope they find a way for the show to go on. Meanwhile, here are the Best Picture nominees:

Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

That's right, Juno! Woo hoo! I still haven't seen Atonement. I liked Michael Clayton well enough, but not more than Juno. And I won't be seeing those last two very male-oriented films. So, yay, Juno!

Several other AfterEllen.com favorites nabbed some nods. Here are the actress categories: … continue reading