Kathryn Bigelow makes Oscar history
History has been made. For the first time, a woman has won an Oscar for best director.
Kathryn Bigelow received the award for the gritty war drama “The Hurt Locker.” “There’s no other way to describe this, it’s the moment of a lifetime,” she said.
Moments earlier, a standing ovation greeted Sandra Bullock as she clutched her first best actress Oscar, for “The Blind Side.”
A few years back, Bullock decided to take a breather and, tired of all the frothy roles coming her way, decided to rexamine her career. It was the best move she ever made.
“Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down?” said Bullock, who won for playing a Southern wife and mother who took in a homeless African American teen-age boy and changes his life forever. She said she dedicated the Oscar to “Mom, who take care of all the babies no matter where they come from.” She broke into tears as she honored her late mother for guiding on her way.
Earlier, after having been nominated for an Academy Award five times — twice for best actor, three times for supporting actor — Jeff Bridges won his first Oscar, as best actor for playing a boozy country singer in “Crazy Heart.”
The win was all but guaranteed: Bridges has nearly swept every honor that came his way this awards season. The son of the late veteran actor Lloyd Bridges, thanked his father and his late mother, Dorothy, who urged him to join the family business. “Thank you, Mom and Dad, for turning me on to such a groovy profession.”
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences expanded the best picture roster from five nominees to 10 this years to try to make things more interesting, but the majority of the Oscars doled out have gone to just a handful of the nominees, including “The Hurt Locker,” “Avatar,” “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” “Up” and “Crazy Heart.”
The five films are the only ones to win at least two honors this evening.
“The Hurt Locker” is leading with five.
The war drama won for film editing for Bob Murawski and his wife, Chris Innis. It also won for sound editing for Paul N.J. Ottosson, who had barely left the stage when he was called back to receive the sound mixing award for the low-budget indie along with Ray Beckett. Earlier, the film won original screenplay for Mark Boal.
“Avatar” has three trophies, in technical categories. It won for visual effects for Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones. Art direction went to Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg and set decorator Kim Sinclair for the James Cameron blockbuster, which also won cinematography for Mauro Fiore.
Meanwhile, “Precious” and “Up” have two wins apiece.
Mo’Nique, considered the shoo-in for for supporting actress as the vile, abusive mother of a pregnant teen in “Precious,” took home the honor as expected. The comic talk-show host, who opted out of doing extensive campaigning this awards season, thanked the academy and said it proves that a win “can be about the performance and not the politics.” Moments earlier, Geoffrey Fletcher won for adapted screenplay for “Precious.” Holding back the tears, Fletcher said: “I don’t know what to say. This is for everybody who works on a dream every day.” His win was a surprise: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner were the favorites for “Up in the Air.”
“Up” won animated film and original score for Michael Giacchino.
Other honors handed out at the 82nd annual Academy Awards: Argentina’s “The Secret in their Eyes” won foreign language film. “The Cove,” about the secret slaughter of dolphins in Japan, won documentary. One activist involved in the film held up a sign urging audiences to text their support, but that is a no-no: The cameras quickly pulled away. Original song went to Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett for “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart).” Animated feature film went to “Up,” which is also nominated for best film. And as expected, Austrian actor Christoph Waltz danced away with supporting actor for playing a brutal Nazi Jew hunter in “Inglourious Basterds.” All three have dominated this awards season, winning practically every available honor.
Awards in the short-film categories were “Logorama” for animated, “Music by Prudence” for documentary and “The New Tenants” for live action. Costume design went to Sandy Powell for “The Young Victoria.”
Ben Stiller, decked out in “Avatar” Navi blue, complete with tail and braid, presented the makeup award to “Star Trek.”
The show kicked off with Neil Patrick Harris, who got rave reviews for hosting the Tonys and the Emmys last year, performing a musical number — “No One Wants to Do It Alone.” It was a reference to the hosts of the show, the wild and crazy Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, or, as Harris called them, “the biggest pair since Dolly Parton.”
And with that, the hosts came down from the heavens at the Kodak Theatre, holding hands.
The witty, salty banter that ensued included putting on 3-D glasses to spot “Avatar” director James Cameron in the audience and joking that Meryl Streep, with whom the two starred in “It’s Complicated,” is the most nominated performer in academy history. Or, as Martin said, the performer with the most losses. (Then they joked about having a threesome with Streep on the set.)
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