Peace Train

Image credit: Julianne Moore: Scott Weiner/ZUMA Press/NewsCom

PEACE ON SHIRTS Moore will wear the Oscar pin

If Daniel-Day Lewis or Julianne Moore get to climb the podium at the Oscars Sunday night, they'll likely make a statement against the war in Iraq without saying a word. Along with U2, Kirsten Dunst, Adrien Brody, Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Ed Norton, Salma Hayek, Jim Carrey, Ben Affleck, and Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, the pair have requested a distinctive peace symbol pin to wear at the Oscars, according to the film producer who designed it. ''It's an activist statement to do this,'' says Julie Bergman Sender, whose credits include ''G.I. Jane'' and ''The Fabulous Baker Boys.'' ''The list [of participating celebs] is expanding by the hours -- this is a very serious effort.''

But David Bossie, president of Citizens United Foundation, which has sponsored a series of pro-war commercials that star former U.S. Senator and ''Law & Order'' star Fred Thompson, says that he hopes celebrities will reconsider their plans. ''Prior to the war, a healthy debate over what should be done is a great thing, but now they would be protesting the very soldiers who give them freedom of speech.'' He warns that entertainment consumers could boycott stars who wear the peace symbol. ''All you have to do is look at the Dixie Chicks,'' he says, pointing to radio stations who've stopped playing the group's music after they criticized President Bush and the then impending war.

Film producer Robert Greenwald, cofounder of Artists United to Win Without War, which is distributing the peace symbol pins, says that participating celebs hope to ''articulate our patriotism, and our support of the troops, but not the war that puts them at risk.'' At a fundraiser for the group Wednesday night in Los Angeles, Rob Reiner, Sally Field, and other celebrities affirmed they would continue to speak out against the war even as bombs fall, Greenwald says. He acknowledges, however, that ''when people are being killed is not necessarily the time you want celebrities holding press conferences.''