The 76th Annual Academy Awards
Several days have passed, and people are still excited about the 76th Annual Academy Award, especially The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (ROTK) making a clean sweep by winning all 11 of its nominations: Art Direction, Costume Design, Visual Effects, Makeup, Sound Mixing, Original Score, Film Editing, Original Song, Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Motion Picture. It tied with Titanic and Ben-Hur for 11 Oscars, and The Last Emperor and Gigi for winning (9 out of 9) all their nominations. Still, it breaks the record in numbers. It’s about time the Oscars recognized fantasy films.
There were other record ties. Sofia Coppola won Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation. Her grandfather (carmine) and her father (Francis Ford) also won Oscars, so the family tied with the Hustons (Walter, John, and Anjelica) for three generations of Oscar winners.
Reporters spoke to Peter Jackson and Elijah Wood before the Oscars. They also tried to introduce Keisha Castle-Huges to Johnny Depp. Billy Crystal san about the Oscar nominees as he began hosting. He was My Favorite Things melody for ROTK.
Sir Ian McKellan present ROTK for Best Picture with the coronation scene. They kept showing Jackson, Fran Walsh, Wood, Sean Astin, Dominic Monaghan, and Billy Boyd, as well as Depp. It was good to see many movie celebrities, as well as the joy and excitement.
Denys Arcand said it was fortunate that The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) is not qualified for Foreign Film as he won that category for The Barbarian Invasions, the first Canadian movie to receive an Oscar. Live Tyler presented the singers of Original Song for Cold Mountain and ROTK. I wish Annie Lennox had sung the whole song, and they had shown movie scenes during the songs, but it was good enough.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World only won 2 of its 10 nominations. Well, it kept losing to ROTK, and I found that movie somewhat boring because I’m not into history and war. Errol Morris own Documentary Feature for The Fog of War, which was about the Vietnam War. He stated, “40 years ago, this country went down a rabbit hole in Vietnam and millions died. I fear we’re going down a rabbit hole once again – and if people can stop and reflect on some of the ideas and issues in this movie, perhaps I’ve done some damn good here.”
Crystal replied, “I can’t wait for his tax audit.” Morris is right, but I think it also applies to the corrupt society in general.