VH1's 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards Announces This Year's Presenters

BEST ACTRESS NOMINEE KATE BECKINSALE, BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR AND ACTRESS NOMINEES JOSH BROLIN AND MARISA TOMEI AND ACADEMY AWARD(R) WINNING ACTORS DUSTIN HOFFMAN AND FOREST WHITAKER ARE AMONG THE MANY PRESENTERS FOR THIS STAR-STUDDED SHOW

GALA AWARDS CEREMONY WILL BROADCAST LIVE ON VH1 THURSDAY, JANUARY 8, 2009 AT 9:00 PM (ET/PT)

NEW YORK, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) announced today some of this year's presenters for the 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards ceremony on Thursday, January 8, 2009. The 2009 presenters include Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Banks, Kate Beckinsale, Kristen Bell, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Josh Brolin, Rosemarie DeWitt, Aaron Eckhart, Dakota Fanning, Dustin Hoffman, Eva Longoria, Virginia Madsen, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Marisa Tomei, and Forest Whitaker. The awards show will feature the rock band Rooney as this year's house band.

"We are truly honored to have such a talented and charismatic group of presenters," said BFCA president Joey Berlin. "The Critics' Choice Awards kicks off the awards season and this year's show is going to be our best ever."

The largest film critics' organization with more than 200 members in the United States and Canada on television, radio and the Internet, the BFCA selected nominees for awards in each of 17 categories. The Critics' Choice Awards were created by the BFCA to recognize excellence in cinematic achievement. Eligible films were released in 2008. The accounting firm of Gregory A. Mogab tallied the written ballots. Historically, the Critics' Choice Awards are the most accurate predictor of the Academy Award nominations.

Counting down to the LIVE premiere of the Critics' Choice Awards, VH1 will air the "14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards Red Carpet Premiere Featuring Maria Menounos" pre-show LIVE on Thursday, January 8 at 8pm (ET/PT). Covering the excitement of the celebrity arrivals on the red carpet will be "KTLA Morning News" entertainment reporter Sam Rubin and No Good TV's Carrie Keagan. Interspersed throughout the red carpet arrivals will be pre-taped interviews with NBC and Access Hollywood's Maria Menounos as she sits down and speaks with some of today's hottest stars. The pre-show will be available on http://criticschoice.vh1.com later that evening.

VH1's "Critics' Choice Awards" site http://criticschoice.vh1.com, will be home to detailed information about the awards and will provide a forum for users to comment on this year's nominees. In the weeks leading up to the premiere VH1.com is asking users to express their opinions on who they would pick to win the major categories online via user comments and opinion polls. This information will be fed to an online ticker that will run during the red carpet special and the poll results will be included in bumpers during the broadcast of the show. VH1.com will also have a live blog running during the show and post show, commenting on all the celebrities and excitement. Exclusive video footage from the event will include celebrity interviews, red carpet footage and more. Additional multiplatform plans will be announced in the coming weeks. The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards are sponsored by Wal-Mart, AT&T and Crest Whitening Expressions.

The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards is executive produced by Bob Bain for Bob Bain Productions, Joey Berlin for Berlin Entertainment and Lee Rolontz for VH1.

MEDIA CREDENTIALS:

To request media credentials to cover this show you must email jfalkowitz@mprm.com.

If you have any questions, please contact Jamie Falkowitz or Kelly Krause of mPRm Public Relations at (323) 933-3399.

NOMINEES FOR THE 14TH ANNUAL CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS

Top Nods Go to:

Milk (Eight Nominations)

Best Picture, Best Actor, Two Best Supporting Actor Nominations, Best Acting Ensemble, Best Director, Best Writer, and Best Composer

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Eight Nominations)

Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Acting Ensemble, Best Director, Best Writer, and Best Composer

The Dark Knight (Six Nominations)

Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Acting Ensemble, Best Director, Best Action Movie, and Best Composer

Doubt (Six Nominations)

Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Acting Ensemble and Best Writer

Slumdog Millionaire (Six Nominations)

Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writer, Best Young Actor/Actress, Best Song, and Best Composer

BEST PICTURE

Changeling

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Doubt

Frost/Nixon

Milk

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

Wall-E

The Wrestler

BEST ACTOR

Clint Eastwood - Gran Torino

Richard Jenkins - The Visitor

Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon

Sean Penn - Milk

Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

BEST ACTRESS

Kate Beckinsale - Nothing But the Truth

Cate Blanchett - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married

Angelina Jolie - Changeling

Melissa Leo - Frozen River

Meryl Streep - Doubt

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Josh Brolin - Milk

Robert Downey, Jr. - Tropic Thunder

Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt

Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

James Franco - Milk

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Viola Davis - Doubt

Vera Farmiga - Nothing But the Truth

Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler

Kate Winslet - The Reader

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Doubt

Milk

Rachel Getting Married

BEST DIRECTOR

Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire

David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon

Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight

Gus Van Sant - Milk

BEST WRITER (Original or Adapted Screenplay)

Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire

Dustin Lance Black - Milk

Peter Morgan - Frost/Nixon

Eric Roth - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

John Patrick Shanley - Doubt

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Bolt

Kung Fu Panda

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Wall-E

Waltz With Bashir

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS (Under 21)

Dakota Fanning - The Secret Life of Bees

David Kross - The Reader

Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire

Brandon Walters - Australia

BEST ACTION MOVIE

The Dark Knight

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Iron Man

Quantum of Solace

Wanted

BEST COMEDY

Burn After Reading

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Role Models

Tropic Thunder

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

"John Adams"

"Recount"

"Coco Chanel"

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

A Christmas Tale

Gomorrah

I've Loved You So Long

Let the Right One In

Mongol

Waltz With Bashir

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

I.O.U.S.A.

Man On Wire

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Standard Operating Procedure

Young At Heart

BEST SONG

"Another Way to Die" - Jack White and Alicia Keys/Jack White - Quantum of Solace

"Down to Earth" - Peter Gabriel/Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman - Wall-E

"I Thought I Lost You" - Miley Cyrus and John Travolta/Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele - Bolt

"Jaiho" - Sukhwinder Singh/A.R. Rahman and Gulzar - Slumdog Millionaire

"The Wrestler" - Bruce Springsteen/Bruce Springsteen - The Wrestler

BEST COMPOSER

Alexandre Desplat - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Clint Eastwood - Changeling

Danny Elfman - Milk

Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard - The Dark Knight

A.R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire

    Contacts:
    Lori Bogin/VH1                         Scott Acord/VH1
    212-846-7131                           310-752-8075
    lori.bogin@vh1staff.com                scott.acord@vh1staff.com

    Jamie Falkowitz/Kelly Krause
    323-933-3399
    CCA@mprm.com