Few Surprises at the Oscars
Posted 02.28.11 by reelz
If you haven't heard yet, a little movie about a guy with a stuttering problem was named the Best Picture at Sunday night's Academy Awards. As predicted by almost everyone, The King's Speech reigned supreme at the Kodak Theater, taking home Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Colin Firth), Best Director (Tom Hooper), and Best Original Screenplay (David Seidler). The movie didn't take home all the awards it was nominated for (it was also nominated for Sound Mixing, Original Score, Editing, Costume Design, and Art Direction), The King's Speech's competitors had to share the leftovers. The Social Network, which was the early heavy favorite, had to settle with three Oscars (Best Original Score, Film Editing, and Adapted Screenplay).
Melissa Leo, who won for Best Supporting Actress for The Fighter, arguably gave the most surprising speech of the night when she used the F-bomb in her acceptance speech. After that, the speeches were mostly predictable though Natalie Portman, who won Best Actress for Black Swan and Firth gave touching speeches (pregnant Portman said that her fiance Benjamin Millepied gave her her most important role - being a mother).
But unlike years' past, there was no streaker or no surprise smooch like the one Adrien Brody gave Halle Berry. Even youthful stars Anne Hathaway and James Franco proved little to blather about the day after. Alas, maybe next year.
Performance by an actor in a leading role
- Colin Firth in The King's Speech
- Jeff Bridges in True Grit
- Javier Bardem in Biutiful
- Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network
- James Franco in 127 Hours
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
- Christian Bale in The Fighter
- John Hawkes in Winter's Bone
- Jeremy Renner in The Town
- Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right
- Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech
Performance by an actress in a leading role
- Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right
- Natalie Portman in Black Swan
- Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole
- Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone
- Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
- Amy Adams in The Fighter
- Helena Bonham Carter in The King's Speech
- Melissa Leo in The Fighter
- Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit
- Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom
Best animated feature film of the year
- How to Train Your Dragon: Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
- The Illusionist: Sylvain Chomet
- Toy Story 3: Lee Unkrich
Achievement in art direction
- Alice in Wonderland — Production Direction: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 — Production Direction: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
- Inception — Production Direction: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
- The King's Speech — Production Direction: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
- True Grit — Production Direction: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
Achievement in cinematography
- Black Swan: Matthew Libatique
- Inception: Wally Pfister
- The King's Speech: Danny Cohen
- The Social Network: Jeff Cronenweth
- True Grit: Roger Deakins
Achievement in costume design
- Alice in Wonderland: Colleen Atwood
- I Am Love: Antonella Cannarozzi
- The King's Speech: Jenny Beavan
- The Tempest: Sandy Powell
- True Grit: Mary Zophres
Achievement in directing
- Black Swan: Darren Aronofsky
- The Fighter: David O. Russell
- The King's Speech: Tom Hooper
- The Social Network: David Fincher
- True Grit: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Best documentary feature
- Exit Through the Gift Shop
- Gasland
- Inside Job
- Restrepo
- Waste Land
Best documentary short subject
- Killing in the Name
- Poster Girl
- Strangers No More
- Sun Come Up
- The Warriors of Qiugang
Achievement in film editing
- Black Swan: Andrew Weisblum
- The Fighter: Pamela Martin
- The King's Speech: Tariq Anwar
- 127 Hours: Jon Harris
- The Social Network: Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
Best foreign language film of the year
- Biutiful: Mexico
- Dogtooth: Greece
- In a Better World: Denmark
- Incendies: Canada
- Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi): Algeria
Achievement in makeup
- Barney's Version: Adrien Morot
- The Way Back: Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk, and Yolanda Toussieng
- The Wolfman: Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
- How to Train Your Dragon: John Powell
- Inception: Hans Zimmer
- The King's Speech: Alexandre Desplat
- 127 Hours: A.R. Rahman
- The Social Network: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
- "Coming Home" from Country Strong: Tom Douglas, Troy Verges, and Hillary Lindsey
- "I See the Light" from Tangled: Glenn Slaterl
- "If I Rise" from 127 Hours: A.R. Rahman, Dido, and Rollo Armstrong
- "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3: Randy Newman
Best motion picture of the year
- The King's Speech
- Black Swan
- The Fighter
- Inception
- The Kids Are All Right
- 127 Hours
- The Social Network
- Toy Story 3
- True Grit
- Winter's Bone
Best animated short film
- Day & Night
- The Gruffalo
- Let's Pollute
- The Lost Thing
- Madagascar, a Journey Diary
Best live action short film
- The Confession
- The Crush
- God of Love
- Na Wewe
- Wish 143
Achievement in sound editing
- Inception: Richard King
- Toy Story 3: Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
- Tron: Legacy: Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
- True Grit: Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
- Unstoppable: Mark P. Stoeckinger
Achievement in sound mixing
- Inception: Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
- The King's Speech: Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
- Salt: Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
- The Social Network: Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
- True Grit: Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
Achievement in Visual Effects
- Alice in Wonderland: Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas, and Sean Phillips
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1: Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz, and Nicolas Aithadi
- Hereafter: Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski, and Joe Farrell
- Inception: Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, and Peter Bebb
- Iron Man 2: Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright, and Daniel Sudick
Adapted screenplay
- 127 Hours: Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
- The Social Network: Aaron Sorki
- Toy Story 3: Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich
- True Grit: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
- Winter's Bone: Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
Original screenplay
- Another Year: Mike Leigh
- The Fighter: Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Keith Dorrington, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson
- Inception: Christopher Nolan
- The Kids Are All Right: Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
- The King's Speech: David Seidler