[A.j. Hammer, Co-host:] I`m A.J. Hammer in New York.
[Brooke Anderson, Co-host:] And I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. TV`s only live entertainment news show starts right now.
[Hammer:] On SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, the shot heard round the world. Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots his hunting companion. The media goes nuts, and the water cooler talk bubbles over. Tonight, what happened, the story and the spin. Oscar fever begins. It`s the start of the Oscar frenzy as the biggest stars in Hollywood gather for the annual Oscar nominees` luncheon. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is there.
[George Clooney, Actor/director:] I`m bringing Dick Cheney as my date. That`s overtly political. It`s so nice; he called me up to invite me to go hunting.
[Hammer:] Tonight, your ticket to the most exclusive luncheon in town. Virginia Madsen. Her new role, her new life. It`s been a year since she was nominated for "Sideways." She tells SHOWBIZ TONIGHT how it changed everything.
[Virginia Madsen, Actress:] I stopped for gas, and it took me a half an hour to leave, because all these people are like, "Oh, my God!"
[Hammer:] Tonight, Virginia Madsen in the interview you`ll see only on
[Showbiz Tonight. Madsen:] Hi, I`m Virginia Madsen. And if it happened today, it`s on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.
[Anderson:] Hi, there. I`m Brooke Anderson live in Hollywood.
[Hammer:] I`m A.J. Hammer, live in New York City. Brooke, certainly a big day in Hollywood. All of the Oscar nominees got together all in one room and around one pool.
[Anderson:] That`s right, A.J. They sure did. And SHOWBIZ TONIGHT had your front row seat right there, and we got one on one interviews with the biggest stars, of course, in Hollywood. And we will have that in just a minute.
[Hammer:] But first, everybody, of course, talking about Vice President Cheney and how he accidentally shot his friend while hunting. This is an unbelievable story. It`s making front page headlines coast to coast. It`s the top story online, if you`re out there surfing. It`s churning the 24- hour news wheels here and around the world. But the shocking part of the story, which is really getting the biggest buzz here, is how we all found out about the story behind the story. From radio to television to the blogs, everyone is talking about Vice President Cheney`s hunting accident. But more than just a buzz story, there`s a big controversy over how the news was disseminated to the national press.
[David Gregory, Nbc News Correspondent:] The vice president of the United States accidentally shoots a man. And he feels that it`s appropriate for a ranch owner who witnessed this to tell the local Corpus Christi newspaper and not be the White House press corps at large would notify the public in a national way.
[Hammer:] The questions came fast and furious today as reporters attempted to piece together the events of Vice President Dick Cheney`s hunting trip gone awry.
[Scott Mcclellan, White House Press Secretary:] Somebody was injured and needed medical care. And the vice president`s team was making sure he was getting taken care of.
[Hammer:] It all happened late Saturday afternoon when Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot this man, Harry Whittington, a Texas attorney. The two were on a quail hunting trip with a third unidentified hunter, here at the Armstrong Ranch in Texas. Whittington apparently didn`t signal Cheney that he was in the line of fire. But the real controversy comes not from the shooting but how the national media learned of the shooting, not from the press staff but from this woman, Katharine Armstrong, one of the owners of the ranch where the shooting occurred.
[Katharine Armstrong, Owner, Armstrong Ranch:] The vice president and the other hunter believed that Mr. Whittington was probably about 200 yards away at that time, still back there looking for the bird, and when in fact he was about 30 yards and a little behind the line.
[Hammer:] Turns out, Dick Cheney asked Armstrong to break the news to the press, not his own press staff. So on Sunday morning she called Corpus Christi`s local paper and told them all about it.
[Kathryn Garcia, Reporter, "corpus Christi Caller Times":] She was explaining to me what happened, giving me details, and she kept saying the vice president did this, the vide president did that.
[Hammer:] Garcia was the reporter at the "Corpus Christi Caller Times" that got Armstrong`s call. She told "Good Morning America" it was a call she wasn`t expecting.
[Garcia:] I mean, it`s a Sunday morning. It`s supposed to be incredibly slow at the "Corpus Christi Caller Times." And what ended up happening, afterwards, I said, "Are you talking about Vice President Cheney?" And she laughed a little bit and said yes, absolutely. And I thought, "Oh, my God. You`re going to have to repeat that story one more time."
[Hammer:] And it was press secretary Scott McClellan who had to repeat his story a few times today, under fire, so to speak, from national reporters, who found it hard to believe a private citizen would be cleared to break this news and not someone from Cheney`s staff.
[Unidentified Male:] Is it appropriate for a private citizen to be the person to disseminate the information that the vice president of the United States has been has shot someone?
[Mcclellan:] That`s one way to provide information to the public. The vice president`s office worked with her. I should say the vice president. The vice president spoke with her directly and agreed that she should agreed that she should make it public and that they would provide additional information.
[Unidentified Male:] Why should it be up to a private citizen?
[Mcclellan:] It came out it came out Sunday morning.
[Hammer:] But the controversy doesn`t end there. Turns out it wasn`t just the national press that was in the dark about the accident. So was the press secretary himself.
[Unidentified Female:] Saturday night, you didn`t know, the White House did not know that Vice President Cheney...
[Mcclellan:] No, there were details coming in throughout that night and into the morning. I mean, there`s additional information coming in at 3 in the morning, 4 in the morning and even after that. So...
[Unidentified Female:] But again, Saturday night you did not know the vice president was involved? You thought something from his someone from his hunting party?
[Mcclellan:] No, I personally was informed by the situation room that there had been a hunting accident and that it was a member of the vice president`s hunting party. But I didn`t have additional information on that at this point.
[Hammer:] McClellan says he learned the exact details of the shooting on Sunday morning around 6 a.m., nearly 12 hours after the actual incident. Well, Cheney`s hunting buddy, Harry Whittington, was shot in the face, the neck and the upper torso but apparently is doing very well at a local hospital. Coming up on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, the small town reporter who broke the worldwide story is going to join us live in a "SHOWBIZ Newsmaker" interview. Well, all the buzz around Cheney`s hunting accident actually made its way to Hollywood at the annual Oscars nominee luncheon, where three-time nominee, George Clooney, had a thought or two about Mr. Cheney.
[Clooney:] I`m bringing Dick Cheney as my date. If that`s overtly political. It`s so nice. He called me up and invited me to go hunting. And I was like, "Well, why don`t you come as my date." And then, so...
[Hammer:] Yes, Brooke, from what I understand, Dick Cheney actually has a response to Clooney`s invitation to be his date. We`re just not going to find out for about 12 hours.
[Anderson:] We probably won`t. That George Clooney, such a jokester. And I was backstage in the press room at the luncheon, A.J. And of his nominations, George Clooney said he doesn`t realistically think he`s going to win at all with a 21 percent chance. He said he wouldn`t bet on those odds in Vegas.
[Hammer:] Well, it`s his first time out. And I know he`s very excited about it.
[Anderson:] That`s right. He certainly is. All right. Tonight, everyone who is anyone, including George Clooney, was in Beverly Hills today for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences annual Oscar luncheon. Of course, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT was right there. Sibila Vargas joins us now live from the Beverly Hilton hotel, where we spoke to some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Hi, Sibila.
[Sibila Vargas, Cnn Correspondent:] We sure did, Brooke. And the Oscars aren`t isn`t until March 5, but boy were there winners here today. All the nominees were presented with nominee certificates by the academy. This place was wall to wall celebrities, and each of them glowing by the big news.
[Vargas:] SHOWBIZ TONIGHT was right there, along with Joaquin Phoenix, Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams, Jake Gyllenhaal, William Hurt, Philip Seymour Hoffman, even Spielberg at the hottest event in town, the Oscar luncheon. The traditional pre-Academy Awards gathering held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences brought more than 100 nominees from 24 categories together, all in the same room.
[Unidentified Female:] Hi, you all.
[Vargas:] SHOWBIZ TONIGHT had your front room seat in the luncheon press room and the contenders were still excited about the big announcement. Here`s "Transamerica`s" Felicity Huffman, a first time nominee.
[Felicity Huffman, Actress:] I have to turn to my husband several times a day and do that annoying thing. "Hey, I forgot to tell you." And he says, "What?" "I`m going to the Academy Awards."
[Vargas:] And no surprise George Clooney, nominated three times for two films, says he`s come a long way since his role on "The Facts of Life."
[Clooney:] Who would have thought after doing "The Facts of Life" that things would have worked out quite this way? You know, I didn`t think if you can survive a mullet you can survive anything.
[Vargas:] "Pride and Prejudice`s" Keira Knightley, who is currently filming a movie in the Bahamas, says she gets on-set ribbing for her Oscar nom.
[Keira Knightley, Actress:] Every single time I do a take, they go, "Was that an Oscar nominated take, then?"
[Vargas:] "North Country`s" Charlize Theron, who won Oscar gold for her role in "Monster," is still shocked.
[Charlize Theron, Actress:] It`s crazy. It really is. It`s insane. Because you know, it`s insane the first time around. Never in a million years would I ever have believed, if somebody said in a two year period you`re going to get nominated twice.
[Vargas:] The boys of "Crash," Matt Dillon and Terrence Howard, say it`s a dream come true.
[Terrence Howard, Actor:] The Oscar is the dream. You know, the Oscar is the fantasy that you`re afraid to believe in. But in the secrecy of your dark room, you dream and wait for it. Sitting in that room now will probably be the scariest day of my life.
[Matt Dillon, Actor:] Something like this does present you with more opportunities. And I`m looking forward to that. I hope I made sense. I haven`t had any coffee yet this morning.
[Vargas:] We`re sure there was caffeine for Matt at the luncheon, as the A-list stars were honored by the Academy. And after the luncheon, they joined me poolside for some revealing conversation. [on camera] Was there ever a moment that you thought, "Well, you know what? I don`t know if I can pull this off"?
[Huffman:] Every day I felt like I don`t know if I can pull this off. I`m serious. I woke up in in fear and anxiety, which I know is the enemy of art, along with being in general. Every day, I was frightened every day.
[Vargas:] Are you surprised at how controversial the film was?
[Jake Gyllenhaal, Actor:] I`m surprised in a way that it has become so mainstream and people have really fallen for it in such a deep way. But, then again, I fell for it when I read it.
[Vargas:] I heard your Mom is placing bets on this?
[Knightley:] Yes, she has put a ten pound bet on me at 33 to 1, which was the best odds that we could find. And my friends refused to put a bet on me, because they said there`s no way I was going to win.
[Vargas:] And the Oscar luncheon is a long-standing tradition that has taken place 25 years. Of course, the Oscars are March 5, and I know you`re going to be there, Brooke, and so am
[I. Anderson:] We will be there and we will enjoy it. All right. SHOWBIZ TONIGHT`s Sibila Vargas. Thank you so much. And we have more of Sibila`s interviews with Jake Gyllenhaal and Keira Knightley a little later on in the show.
[Hammer:] Brooke, I need you to clear something up for me. We saw Felicity Huffman there sitting with Sibila, very appreciative of her honor. I know you were there at the Oscar luncheon today. I heard a rumor that Felicity actually showed up early and was kind of helping out?
[Anderson:] She was the first one there, A.J. She arrived so early, she was joking to us that she helped set up the tables for the luncheon. So she was genuinely, genuinely excited. And she also told us that this past weekend, her entire family, including her six sisters, flew to L.A. to surprise her with a celebratory dinner. So she said it doesn`t get much better than that. Pretty fantastic.
[Hammer:] Good for her. All right, Brooke. Well, the Britney Spears car seat controversy will not go away. Tonight, some tough criticism from an unlikely place. We`re going to tell you of the government actually getting into the act. That`s coming up.
[Anderson:] Plus, why Conan O`Brien thinks he should get a political appointment in Finland. We`ll have all the steamy details of Conan`s field trip, coming up. Also ahead...
[Madsen:] It took me a half hour to leave. Because all these people were like, "Oh, my God."
[Hammer:] A new role for Virginia Madsen a year after her Oscar nomination changed everything. Virginia Madsen is coming up in the interview you`ll se only on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT.