Hoffman, Hopper among Critics’ Choice presenters

January 4, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

LOS ANGELES — Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Hopper, Dakota Fanning and Sarah Silverman are set to join the star-studded list of presenters at the Critics’ Choice Awards.

Organizers said that Amy Adams, Common, Kristin Scott Thomas, Brendan Fraser, Laura Dern, Sally Hawkins and Melissa Leo will also help hand out trophies at ceremony Thursday in Santa Monica, Calif. Previously announced presenters include Marisa Tomei, Eva Longoria Parker, Josh Brolin and Forest Whitaker.

The Critics’ Choice Awards, presented by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, honor the best in film in 17 categories. “Milk” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” lead nominees with eight each. The ceremony will air live on VH1.

French actress heads Cannes festival panel

PARIS — French actress Isabelle Huppert will head the jury of the 62nd edition of the Cannes film festival in May.

Huppert, 55, who has starred in more than 90 films, has twice won the best actress award at the prestigious film festival on the French Riviera.

“I am very glad and very proud,” the actress said in a statement after organizers announced her selection Friday. “I’ve had a long relationship with Cannes and this next meeting will definitely seal my love for the festival and thus for global cinema.”

Huppert has sat on the jury at Cannes, presented the award ceremony and represented more than a dozen films in competition. She won best actress in 2001 for “The Piano Teacher” and in 1978 for “Violette,” directed by French director Claude Chabrol.

Huppert and Chabrol have worked together regularly, including on the 1991 film “Madame Bovary.” She has also worked with foreign filmmakers including Michael Cimino, Joseph Losey, Curtis Hanson, Hal Hartley and David O. Russell.

The Cannes film festival will run from May 13-24.

Today’s birthdays

Actress Dyan Cannon is 72. Country singer Kathy Forester of the Forester Sisters is 54. Guitarist Bernard Sumner of New Order (and Joy Division) is 53. Actress Ann Magnuson (“Anything But Love”) is 53. Country singer Patty Loveless is 52. Singer Michael Stipe of R.E.M. is 49. Actor Dave Foley (“NewsRadio,” “Kids in the Hall”) is 46. Actress Julia Ormond is 44. Country singer Deana Carter is 43. Harmonica player Benjamin Darvill of Crash Test Dummies is 42. Actor Jeremy Licht (“Valerie”) is 38. Actress Jill Marie Jones (“Girlfriends”) is 34.