Hi-tech Facelift for Oscars

This year’s Oscars will offer a hi-tech blast from the past.

Sky Movies will broadcast the 83^rd annual Academy Awards ceremony live in HD from 2.30pm on February 28.

Producers Don Mischer and Bruce Cohen have told The Hollywood Reporter the show will use digital projections instead of a traditional set to reflect Tinseltown’s history.

“We’re doing six or seven scenic transitions during the show, but they are each sort of a different concept,” Cohen says.

“In other words, one might be a scene from a film, one might be a more specific time in history, one might be a specific event, one might be a specific genre.”

Anne Hathaway and James Franco will host the telecast while among the presenters will be nominees Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Jeff Bridges (True Grit) and Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole) as well as 2005 winner Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line).

Sky Movies’ coverage will start at 2pm with Red Carpet Arrivals; there also will be red carpet coverage in SD on E! from midday (the Countdown will start at 8am).