By Katie Martlew
The competition was as fierce as the frocks at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre on Sunday, with the crème de la crème of Hollywood battling it out for the chance to take home a gold statue of their own.
The awards show kicked off by introducing the best actress and actor nominees to the stage, followed by a grand musical performance by Neil Patrick Harris complete with glitzy tuxedo jacket, flashy showgirls, and clever references to all nominated films.
Hosts of the night Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin then dropped in from the ceiling holding hands on a feathered ring type apparatus. The duo made references to many of the nominated films, and complimented performances of everyone from Helen Mirren, to Meryl Streep, and the cast of Precious, before cracking jokes and donning some 3D glasses to spot Avatar director James Cameron in the audience.
Sandra Bullock took out Best Actress for her work in The Blind Side, beating Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia) Helen Mirren (The Last Station) and up and comers Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Carey Mulligan (An Education). After accepting the award from Sean Penn she said, “Did I really earn this or did I just wear you all down? I have so many people to thank for my good fortune in this lifetime and this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I know.”
Jeff Bridges won Best Actor for his role as a washed up singer in Crazy Heart, beating out fellow nominees George Clooney (Up in the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus) and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker). He let out some excited yelps before thanking his parents’ late veteran actor Lloyd Bridges and his mother Dorothy who encouraged him to join the business. “Thank you Mum and Dad, for turning me on to such a groovy profession”, he said.
Kathryn Bigelow not only picked up the Academy Award for Best Director, for her gritty war film The Hurt Locker, but also made history, being the first woman to ever win the accolade. “There’s no other way to describe this”, she said, “It’s the moment of a lifetime.”
(Rescu. scoop: Kathryn is our Celebrity Beauty Expert Glenn Nutley’s client! Glenn has been by Kathryn’s side for the past two weeks perfecting her makeup throughout the awards season interviews, parties and events!)
Hurt Locker took home a total of six awards from its nine nominations, including Best Picture- beating out fierce competitor Avatar, as well as nabbing awards for Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing awards. Avatar took home three awards out of its nine nominations, including Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction.
Christoph Waltz picked up Best Supporting Actor for his work as a sadistic Nazi officer in Inglourious Basterds and gracefully accepted his first Oscar by crediting everyone from Brad Pitt to director Quentin Tarantino for playing a role in his success. “This is your welcoming embrace and there’s no way I can ever thank you but I can start right now,” said Waltz.
Best Supporting Actress went to Mo’Nique, for her role as an abusive mother in Precious. After receiving a standing ovation, Mo’Nique fought back tears as she delivered her speech, thanking Oprah Winfrey, who co produced the film, her husband Sidney for advising her to do the film in the first place and the Academy Awards for choosing performance over politics. “First, I would like to thank the Academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics,” she said.
Molly Ringwald and Matthew Broderick presented a heartfelt tribute to late director John Hughes who passed away in 2009 from a heart attack, which included a montage of his famous works including Ringwald’s The Breakfast Club, Broderick’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Sixteen Candles and Home Alone, as well as touching personal speeches from some of the cast members of each film, such as Macaulay Culkin and Ally Sheedy.
“John always treated me with dignity, even the tiny, 9-year-old version of myself,” Home Alone star Culkin said. “Because that’s what he did- he treated people with respect.”
Tributes were also played for Patrick Swayze, Jean Simmons, Brittany Murphy and Michael Jackson, in the form of a touching montage set to a live performance of In My Life by James Taylor.
Providing some welcomed comic relief while presenting the award for Best Makeup, Ben Stiller appeared on stage with his face painted blue to replicate a Na’vi alien from Avatar. Mimicking the Na’vi language in the film, Stiller then translated the sentence: “That means… ‘This sounded like a better idea in rehearsals.”
See below for the complete Oscars winner list…
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, for Crazy Heart
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock, for The Blind Side
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, for The Hurt Locker
Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, for Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, for Precious: Based on The Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire
Best Animated Feature Film: Up
Best Original Song: The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart), music and lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett, for Crazy Heart
Best Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, for The Hurt Locker
Best Documentary Short: Music By Prudence
Best Makeup: Star Trek
Best Short Film (Live Action) The New Tenants
Best Short Film (Animated) Logorama
Best Adapted Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher, for Precious: Based on The Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire
Best Art Direction: Avatar
Best Costume Design: The Young Victoria
Best Sound Editing: The Hurt Locker
Best Sound Mixing: The Hurt Locker
Best Cinematography: Avatar
Best Original Score: Up
Best Visual Effects: Avatar
Best Editing: The Hurt Locker
Best Foreign Film: El Secreto de Sus Ojos
Best Documentary Feature: The Cove
