Legendary comedian Bob Newhart gushes over Canada's Ellen Page.

LOS ANGELES -- Legendary American comedian Bob Newhart is a fan of Jason Reitman's Juno, the only comedy up for best picture at Sunday's Oscars.

Newhart, 78, is just as enamoured with the film's breakout star, Ellen Page. She is the pixie-like waif from Halifax who is now Hollywood's 'It Girl' of 2008. Blessed with natural brilliance and skill, Page just turned 21 yesterday.

"I voted for them," Newhart tells Sun Media about his Oscar ballot. He checked off Juno as best picture, Page as best actress and Reitman as best director.

"I found it amazing," Newhart says of Juno in general and Page's performance in particular, "and it's not just because I'm talking to a Canadian. That is really the way I feel. I voted for her as best actress and I voted for Juno as best picture because I really feel it is head and shoulders above everything out there."

Page plays the witty teenager who gets pregnant in the film, an American production directed by Canadian-born Jason Reitman, son of Ivan Reitman.

"She was just remarkable, incredibly talented for her age," Newhart says of his excitement over Page's portrayal. "It was seamless. You were into the picture. This wasn't an actress 'portraying' somebody, it was her.

"And that is so hard to do, to lose yourself so completely in the role that you (the audience) can't tell the difference. So many actors become mannered. The actors I don't like are the actors who like to watch themselves act, you know. Getting back to Ellen, this was not somebody watching herself act, she was that girl."

While Newhart maintains his Academy membership and his Oscar voting rights, he has less of a personal stake in Sunday's outcome than he does at TV's Emmy awards. "I probably get more excited by the Emmys because I know more of the people at the Emmys than I do at the Oscars."

He is also concerned, as many Hollywood veterans are, that the Oscars have evolved into a marketing venture instead of a celebration of talent.

It is a question of economics, Newhart says. "If it gets best picture, then they know there is going to be a 10% to 20% increase (at the box office). The stars have to do a certain amount of publicity. So it has become a business as opposed to a recognition (of talent)."

Like many other actors, serious and comic, Newhart also believes it is impossible to truly compare one actor to another.

"It is like someone said -- I think it was Brando -- that you cannot compare. Unless everybody's playing the same role, unless everybody's playing Hamlet, how do you judge the best actor?"

Still, he voted, choosing the provocative comedy over the serious dramas up for best picture. He also feels confident in the best actress category. As a comedian, Newhart says, he can analyze a comic performance better than outsiders because the insider knows when the real magic happens.

"It's like a jazz musician watching another jazz musician or one magician watching another magician. So you're looking at it from a totally different point of view."

The Canadian way

Today, the Canadian Consulate in Los Angeles is honouring two Oscar-nominated Canadian features, Away From Her and Eastern Promises.

Expected to show for Away From Her are writer-director Sarah Polley, nominated for best adapted screenplay, and British star Julie Christie, front-runner for best actress. David Cronenberg, who directed Eastern Promises but was not nominated, cannot make it because of business. American star Viggo Mortensen is also iffy, although he is invited and will try to get to L.A. in time. Mortensen is up for best actor.

Cloudy, cold, rain likely

The weather forecast is bleak for Los Angeles on Sunday. A series of weather blasts have plunged Hollywood into a soggy, chilly misery. The latest storm is due to hit the left coast tomorrow night. Rain showers are predicted to continue throughout Sunday, including during red-carpet walk-ins for the Oscars.

That could mess up the elaborate hair-dos, make-up and frilly frocks on the women who have become the glamour focus of awards season. This is a bitter twist, because the Oscars narrowly averted being a star-less spectacle. Only the sudden settlement of the writers strike prevented a boycott similar to the one that turned the Golden Globes into a brass bust.