A cross-eyed opossum called Heidi, who has filled the void left by psychic Paul the Octopus, has predicted that Natalie Portman will walk away with this year's Best Actress Oscar.
Heidi appeared via videolink from her zoo in Leipzig, Germany, on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", the US television show, to "select" her favoured candidate.
A cross-eyed picture of each actress in the category – Portman, Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lawrence and Michelle Williams – was taped to an Oscar statuette. Whichever statue Heidi touched with her paw first signified the winner.
She took a long time deliberating over Kidman, nominated for her role in Rabbit Hole, and Lawrence, who stars in Winter's Bone, before eventually choosing Portman, widely considered the favourite for this weekend's award ceremony.
Heidi is thought to be two and a half years old, and was abandoned outside an animal shelter in North Carolina in the United States, together with her sister Naira, and has been at Leipzig Zoo since May.
Her popularity is reminiscent of Paul the Octopus, who achieved global fame for correctly "predicting" the outcome of matches in last year's football World Cup. Paul died from natural causes in October.
Paul is to be honoured with a six foot statue on top of a football, however, in the middle of which will be a see-through window with the golden urn containing Paul's ashes.
對眼負鼠海蒂近日預測,娜塔莉•波特曼將摘走本屆奧斯卡影后的桂冠。海蒂被認為是神算章魚保羅的繼任者。
在美國電視節(jié)目“吉米•基梅爾聊天秀”中,德國萊比錫動物園的對眼負鼠海蒂通過視頻連線預測了奧斯卡評選結(jié)果。
獲得最佳女主角提名的幾位女星的“對眼”頭像被分別貼在“小金人”上,包括波特曼、安妮特•貝寧、妮可•基德曼、詹妮弗•勞倫斯和米歇爾•威廉姆斯。海蒂首先用爪觸碰的小金人就是它預測的該獎項得主。
海蒂在基德曼和勞倫斯之前徘徊了很久,最終選定了波特曼。波特曼也是本周末即將頒出的奧斯卡最佳女主角大熱人選?;侣虺鲅荨锻米佣础帆@得提名,勞倫斯因出演《冬天的骨頭》獲提名。
據(jù)悉,海蒂今年兩歲半,此前曾和姐姐奈拉一同被遺棄在美國北卡羅來納州的一家動物收容所外。自今年5月起,海蒂一直生活在德國萊比錫動物園。
海蒂的流行讓人想起章魚保羅。保羅因準確預測去年世界杯賽果而走紅全球,去年10月自然死亡。
為了紀念保羅,人們將為它修建一座6英尺高的雕像。在雕像中,保羅立于一只足球之上。足球中心是一個可透視的小窗,里面放著盛有保羅骨灰的金色的骨灰甕。