By Lisa Richwine

LOS ANGELES, March 2 (Reuters) - The Academy Awards, the highest honors in the film business, take place on Sunday with no clear frontrunner among "Anora," "The Brutalist," "Conclave" and other movies contending for the prestigious best picture prize.

Timothee Chalamet and Demi Moore are vying for their first Oscars at the red-carpet ceremony in Hollywood. The show will air live on Walt Disney's DIS.N ABC network starting at 4 p.m. Pacific time (0000 GMT on Monday).

Comedian and host Conan O'Brien said he planned to mix jokes, celebrations of filmmakers and serious moments including tributes to Los Angeles as it recovers from January's wildfires. He likely will address U.S. politics but not dwell on it, he said.

"Good jokes are really important, but there's also more than that," O'Brien told reporters last week as he prepared for his first Oscars hosting gig. "We're trying to go for different tones, different textures."

This year's Oscars race has featured twists and turns, and no movie has dominated the precursor film awards.

That will keep the drama going until the end of Sunday's show. Any of three films could score best picture, according to Oscars pundits. One is "Anora," the story of a sex worker with a shot at a Cinderella story. The other two are "The Brutalist," about a Jewish immigrant and architect chasing the American dream, and "Conclave," which imagines the secret proceedings for choosing a pope.

Others in the best picture field include blockbuster musical "Wicked," a prequel to "The Wizard of Oz," and "A Complete Unknown," the Bob Dylan biopic starring Chalamet.

Netflix NFLX.O musical "Emilia Perez" heads into the ceremony with the most nominations. But its chances of victory dwindled when offensive social media posts surfaced from star Karla Sofia Gascon. The actress, the first openly transgender person nominated for an acting Oscar, disappeared from the awards circuit but is expected to attend Sunday's ceremony.

Her co-star, Zoe Saldana, is the favorite to win the supporting actress trophy for playing a fixer who helps a Mexican drug lord (Gascon) transition to a woman and start a new life.

Winners of the gold Oscar statuettes are chosen by the roughly 11,000 actors, producers, directors and film craftspeople who make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Behind the glitz, Hollywood is fighting a battle to keep its place at the center of the global film business. None of the 10 best picture contenders were filmed in Los Angeles, home to most major film companies for more than a century.

MUSIC AND SURPRISES

Supporting actor nominee Kieran Culkin is the favorite for his role as a man who travels with his cousin to Poland to study family history in "A Real Pain."

Best actor could go to either Chalamet or "The Brutalist" star Adrien Brody, according to awards experts.

Brody became the youngest best actor winner when he landed the prize at age 29 for "The Pianist" in 2002. Chalamet is nine months younger than Brody was at the time.

Best actress is widely expected to go to Moore for "The Substance," though one pundit said the category could produce an upset win for Brazil's Fernanda Torres of "I'm Still Here." The academy has increased its international membership, which could favor Torres, said Ian Sandwell, movies editor at Digital Spy.

"She could well be a surprise and the only one to take it away from Demi on the night," Sandwell said.

Producers scrapped the annual tradition of having musicians perform each of the nominated original songs, saying they wanted to focus instead on the songwriters.

They do promise many musical moments, including a performance by "Wicked" stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo and a tribute to music producer Quincy Jones, who died in November.

Also, expect some previously unannounced guests.

"We absolutely love the element of surprise," executive producer Raj Kapoor said.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Mary Milliken and Howard Goller)

((lisa.richwine@thomsonreuters.com; Follow me on Twitter @LARichwine; 1-424-434-7324))