The Oscars
And the Academy Award goes to....
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And Best Live Action Short goes to... Curfew, which is available on iTunes now. Here's a trailer. Watch out for Shawn Christensen in future. My favourite previous winner of this award is Martin McDonagh's bleak, hilarious Six-Shooter.
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Best Picture favourite Argo has seen its fair share of controversy this year. Affleck was upfront about his film’s tinkering with the history of the Iranian hostage crisis. There was no “chase scene” in the true story. But the former Canadian ambassador depicted in the film is still a little testy about how much credit Affleck’s film gives to the Americans for the affair, at the expense of the Canadians.
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Even Lincoln managed to wind somebody up. Specifically, Connecticut congressman Joe Courtney, who complained to Spielberg that the film depicts two of his state’s representatives voting against the abolition of slavery. He wants it re-dubbed before the DVD is released.
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And the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature goes to Searching for Sugar Man. Great story, great film. Here's The Independent's conversation with its director, Malik Bendjelloul. -
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Anne Hathaway, seen there in her second dress of the evening, has graced this awards season with many a faux-shocked acceptance speech, and even thanked the long-dead Victor Hugo after her BAFTA win, which many agreed was her most egregiously cringe-making address so far. She’s nailed on to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Question is: can she top this?
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Answer: yes.
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FACT: According to the Hollywood Reporter, Harvey Weinstein, who this year produced Silver Linings Playbook, has earned five times more acceptance speech thank-yous from award winners this season than God. God, it should be noted, has only received one thank-you, from Quvenzhane Wallis. Weinstein has five, three of them from Jennifer Lawrence, who might get another chance to thank him tonight. Lawrence’s stiffest competition for Best Actress comes from Jessica Chastain (ZD30) and Emmanuelle Riva (Amour).
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Well, there's one for Argo. Best Editing. William Goldenberg was also nominated for Zero Dark Thirty - which is better, IMHO...
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Silver Linings Playbook was an early favourite for Best Picture following its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last September, but its odds lengthened after the releases of Argo, Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty and Les Mis. David O Russell’s film is the first since Warren Beatty’s Reds in 1981 to be nominated in all four acting categories. If it doesn’t win much tonight, SLP can content itself with a big haul at last night’s Independent Spirit awards in Santa Monica.
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And the Award for Best Actress in a gif goes to... Sandra Bullock.
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This is interesting. The Oscar for Best Documentary Short went to Inocente, the first Academy Award winner to have been funded partly via Kickstarter.
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So Scarlett Johansson was nominated for an Oscar this year, just not for acting.
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If you've been baffled by Chicago's starring role in tonight's ceremony, here's your answer: they're produced by the same pair.
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With Affleck, Bigelow, Hooper and Tarantino all out of the running, Steven Spielberg is the favourite to take home his third Oscar for Best Director. But there may still be an upset: don’t bet against Life of Pi director Ang Lee winning a second Oscar – his first was for Brokeback Mountain in 2005.
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It goes to Daniel Day Lewis, obvs. That’s a record third Oscar for Best Actor for Day Lewis. His first two were for My Left Foot and There Will Be Blood. Jack Nicholson has won three Oscars as well, but his second was for Best Supporting Actor, in 1983’s Terms of Endearment. Seven actors have won two each: Tom Hanks, Marlon Brando, Gary Cooper, Sean Penn, Dustin Hoffman, Spencer Tracy and Fredric March (nope, me neither).
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That's all folks. I leave you with some Affleck wisdom: "Doesn't matter how you get knocked down in life; all that matters is that you gotta get up."
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