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The 83rd Annual Academy Awards Happened!
By
Garth Johnston
Published Feb 27, 2011
Modified Feb 28, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Feb 27, 2011
Modified Feb 28, 2011
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Tonight's 83rd Annual Academy Awards spread the love around when it came to its awards. While The King's Speech, which had 12 nominations, took home the big awards (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director) it didn't sweep the field (not that its victory wasn't a homecoming for the film's producer Harvey Weinstein). The Fighter took home both of the Supporting acting awards, and The Social Network took home statues for Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin) and Original Score (how much fun is it that we can now type "Trent Reznor, Academy Award Winner?"). And Natalie Portman's role in Black Swan earned her a Best Actress statue. And at three hours and ten-odd minutes, the show wasn't even that long.
First-time hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway did an admirable, if somewhat low-key, job with their duties. The evening began with a video montage in which they "incepted" the dreams of Alec Baldwin for tips on hosting, leading to the lovely idea that the 30 Rock star has his dreams narrated by Morgan Freeman. While Franco mostly stuck to being cute and aloof, Hathaway got a little more room to show off her chops (if occasionally seeming a little over eager to us). So, for instance when Mia Thermopolis did a cute spoof of "On My Own" from Les Miz... Franco came out dressed in drag (and all we could think of was when Rudy Giuliani dressed as Marilyn Monroe).
Any list of the night's highlights would be remiss not to include the awesomeness that was the Best Supporting Actress Award. Not only did Kirk Douglas show up and steal the show with his never-ending announcement of the nominees and winner (after opening the envelope he took two lengthy pauses to say "You know..." before trailing off) but when Melissa Leo (The Fighter) got her statue she managed to slip in an F-bomb on national TV. Looking around she exclaimed "When I watched Kate [Winslet] two years ago it looked so much f----ing easier." She apologized for the slip the minute she got off stage.
After Leo's slip her co-star Christian Bale won for Best Supporting Actor and not only referenced her foul language, but also joked about own cussing when he said "I'm not going to drop the F-bomb like Melissa did... I've done that plenty". Also, was it just us or was Bale's plug of diceklund.com the first time someone has done that in acceptance speech for a major Oscar?
And for all of you "what does this have to do with New York" commenters out there... Not only did NYU get a shout-out in Luke Matheny's acceptance speech for his short God of Love but host Franco followed that mention up with a "NYU, what's up!" And at the end of the show Staten Island's PS 22 sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" as all the Oscar winners joined them on stage.
Other things we learned from the telecast? President Obama's favorite Best Song winner is "As Time Goes By," autotune doesn't automatically make things funny (but jokes about the Twilight boys not wearing clothes can still get a chuckle), we still don't know what Banksy looks like, Corey Haim wasn't famous enough to earn a spot on the In Memorium lineup, and even when hosting one of the biggest telecasts in the world James Franco can still manage to look dreamy and high.
What did you think of the awards? Would you want to see Anne Hathaway and James Franco host again? Or would you rather they bring back Billy Crystal?
Anyway, the winners!
Best PictureThe King's Speech
Best Director Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
Best Actress Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Actor Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best Actress in a Supporting Role Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Adapted Screenplay Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Best Original Screenplay David Seidler, The King's Speech
Best Song "We Belong Together" by Randy Newman, Toy Story 3
Best Animated ShortThe Lost THing
Best Animated Picture Toy Story 3
Best Foreign Language Film Denmark's In a Better World
Best Original ScoreThe Social Network
Best Sound MixingInception
Best Sound EditingInception
Best MakeupThe Wolfman
Best CostumesAlice in Wonderland
CinematographyInception
Art DirectionAlice in Wonderland
Best Visual EffectsInception
Best EditingThe Social Network
Best DocumentaryInside Job
Best Documentary ShortStrangers No More
Best Live Action ShortGod of Love
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83rd annual academy awards
academy awards
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Garth Johnston
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