Oscar poster a font of famous film lines

LOS ANGELES - The new Oscar poster was unfurled Tuesday, and there are lines everywhere. Famous lines from 70 years of famous films. "I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!", "I'm the king of the world!", "I'm ready for my close-up" and "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" are among the quotes that share space with an image of the Oscar statuette on the 79th Annual Academy Awards poster.

"What we have is a failure to communicate," joked Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who told Associated Press Television that the idea of movie lines stood out among the dozens of potential Oscar-poster concepts for this year's version.

"We saw it in rough (form) and thought, `There's an idea.' ... `Yes, the force is strong with this one'."

At first the designers were only going to use lines from Oscar winners, Ganis explained, "and then they broadened the field to Oscar nominees." All but one of the lines were gleaned from films that received an Academy Award nomination for best picture, writing or both from 1936-2005.

"And, of course, we had to include what is probably the most quoted movie line, `I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse,'" Ganis said of the famous "Godfather" comment.

The concept and design for the poster were created for the academy by the Los Angeles ad agency TBWA-Chiat-Day.

Photographer Albert Watson shot the Oscar statuette. The poster employs a black canvas, with the quotes in gold metallic — each in a typeface in the spirit of the film from which it came.

The academy planned to send out the posters to the surviving writers of the lines. "It's a great way to say thank you," Ganis said, adding he was going to write each of the scribes a personal note.

Some 65,000 of the posters will be distributed worldwide. They're also available for purchase via the academy's Web site.

Nominations for the 79th Annual Academy Awards will be announced Jan. 23, with the Oscar ceremony set for Feb. 25.