Road To Oscar®

(CBS)  CBS News' 48 Hours and Entertainment Weekly collaborate on "The Road to Oscar®," a pre-Academy Awards primetime special to be broadcast Wednesday, Feb. 18, at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

The hour examines what it takes to make an "Oscar-worthy" film, from both the stars in front of the camera and the people behind the scenes. Mark Harris, Entertainment Weekly's editor-at-large, also contributes to the broadcast.

The story behind the making of "House of Sand and Fog," the recipient of three Oscar nominations, is perhaps more dramatic than the film itself. It is the debut feature for director Vadim Perelman.

Correspondent Peter Van Sant goes back with Perelman to his roots in Kiev, where he lived in squalor as a child after his father was killed in a car accident.

When Perelman and his mother left the Ukraine in search of a better life, he took to the streets to survive, even committing crimes.

Years later, after he had become a successful television commercial director, he read the novel "House of Sand and Fog" -- a story about refugees who were stripped of everything, yet were determined to prove their worth -- and turned it into a film.

"I really believed that if I couldn't tell this story," says Perelman "I didn't know what story I could tell."

His star, Sir Ben Kingsley, has been nominated for Best Actor. Newcomer Shohreh Aghdashloo is nominated for Best Supporting Actress.

Two of the stars of "Cold Mountain," Jude Law and Renee Zellweger, say a key secret to their Oscar-nominated performances can be found in the work of unsung heroes -- costume designer Ann Roth and art director Dante Ferretti.

"Through her costume design, [Roth] brings you a personality, a quirk, a detail and it starts you on your process of discovering this role," says Law to Correspondent Susan Spencer.

Zellweger, nominated for best supporting actress, says: "It's difficult to describe what it's like to put your wood buttoned shirt on in the morning, but it makes a difference, I'm sure of it. It's definitely part of the life, a hard life."

Nicole Kidman says of Ferretti's work, "I think what could get missed in this film is his work because it's so believable. He built every house... the towns... the battlefield. Every single thing was his creation."

In fact, Ferretti had 14 fiberglass trees built in two days because director Anthony Minghella suddenly realized there weren't enough. "I defy you to look at the scene and say which of those trees he made and which are real trees," says Minghella. "And that to me is a kind of magic. He's a magician."

Anchor Lesley Stahl has intimate interviews with Academy Award nominees Diane Keaton and Clint Eastwood about the struggle to make their films. Keaton, who stars in "Something's Gotta Give," says she doubted the studio would agree to cast her for the part.

And Eastwood told the studio he would defer his salary so he could make "Mystic River." Stars Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden also describe how Eastwood's unique directing style brings out Oscar nominated performances.

In addition, Stahl interviews Tom Cruise at length about the high stakes and pressure he experienced as the star and producer of "The Last Samurai."