|
| |
2007 Oscar Wrap Up
26-Feb-2007
Written by: Courtney Thompson
Overcast skies couldn’t keep the stars from coming in droves to the 79th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. And it wasn’t the beige brigade or simple black dresses that are typical of such high end affairs. Some of Hollywood’s biggest starlets donned colored, bejeweled, and metallic gowns that made the audience sit up and take notice. Some of the most notable were Nicole Kidman’s red silhouette gown with a giant bow at the neck and Beyoncé’s green gown with a strand of stones over her shoulder.
Once inside the Kodak Theatre, Pan’s Labyrinth immediately won two awards for art direction and make-up. Funny guys, Jack Black and Will Ferrell, sang a John C. Reilly song, incorporating the nominees in between the movie’s wins. The two even went as far as calling Helen Mirren, best actress in a leading role for her dignified and serious role in The Queen, hot.
Pan’s Labyrinth later snatched a third Oscar for best cinematography.
The night was a success for The Departed, who walked away with four awards including best adapted screenplay, editor and picture. But the most earth-shattering award finally went to Martin Scorsese, who has been waiting for a best director Oscar for nearly three decades. The audience couldn’t make out Scorsese’s eyes from his smile being so huge when George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola presented him with the honor.
Dreamgirls was the biggest loser when the film only won two of its eight nominations for sound mixing and Jennifer Hudson’s best supporting actress role.
The Oscar’s didn’t stray from their “go green” theme on Sunday. Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth won best documentary and Melissa Etheridge’s “I Need to Wake Up” snatched best original song in a film. Etheridge performed the song in front of a screen flashing global warming advice and logos. The orchestra jokingly pushed Gore off the stage as he pretended to make an “announcement” for his run for the 2008 presidency in his acceptance speech.
Perhaps the cutest moment came when youngster actors Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) and Jaden Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness and actor Will Smith’s son) presented best live action short and Smith had to sound out West Bank Story after opening the envelope. Its director described the movie as a “comedy-musical about Israelis and Palestinians that takes place between two falafel stands.”
Little Miss Sunshine, the surprise indie hit, won for best supporting actor and original script.
Other honorable mentions of the night include Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest for best visual effects, The Lives of Others for best foreign-language film, Forest Whitaker’s role in The Last King of Scotland for best leading actor and Happy Feet for best animated feature film.
Talk to other readers about this story.
|
|
|
|
|
