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Blanchett wins supporting actress Oscar
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-28 10:35
Cate Blanchett won the supporting-actress Academy Award on Sunday for her
role as Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator." Morgan Freeman won the
supporting-actor Oscar for his portrayal of a worldly wise ex-prizefighter in
Clint Eastwood's boxing saga "Million Dollar Baby."
Best supporting
actress nominee Cate Blanchett arrives for the 77th Academy Awards Sunday,
Feb. 27, 2005, in Los Angeles. [AP] |
Freeman
became just the ninth black actor to win out of nearly 300 recipients in the
77-year history of the Oscars, joining such supporting-performer winners as Cuba
Gooding Jr. for "Jerry Maguire," Whoopi Goldberg for "Ghost" and Louis Gossett
Jr. for "An Officer and a Gentleman."
"I want to thank everybody and anybody who ever had anything at all to do
with the making of this picture. But I especially want to thank Clint Eastwood
for giving me the opportunity to work with him again," said Freeman, who
previously co-starred in Eastwood's "Unforgiven."
Freeman's win set up a record-tying night for black performers, with Jamie
Foxx expected to take the best-actor prize for the Ray Charles tale "Ray." It
would be only the second time blacks have won two of the four acting Oscars,
following Denzel Washington and Halle Berry's triumph three years ago for
"Training Day" and "Monster's Ball."
"The Aviator" won for best art direction, and "The Incredibles," won best
animated feature.
Unlike last year, when "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
dominated the awards as expected and flat-out front-runners took all four acting
prizes, the 77th Oscars shaped up as a mixed bag, with only Foxx a virtual lock
to win.
With no huge hits among top nominees, Oscar organizers worried that TV
ratings could dwindle for the live ABC broadcast. The Oscars tend to draw their
biggest audiences when blockbusters such as "Titanic" or "Return of the King"
are in the mix, stoking viewer interest.
Producers of the show hoped the presence of mouthy first-time host Chris Rock
might boost ratings, particularly among younger viewers who may view the Oscars
as too staid an affair. Rock had mocked the Oscars a bit beforehand, calling
awards shows "idiotic," but he was on his best behavior in his opening
monologue.
Rock chided some celebrities by name and included one mild three-letter word,
but his routine was fairly clean for the comedian known for a foul mouth in his
standup act.
"The only acting you ever see at the Oscars is when people act like they're
not mad they lost," Rock said. He recalled the year when Halle Berry won and
fellow nominee "Nicole Kidman was smiling so wide, she should have won an Emmy
at the Oscars for her great performance. I was like, if you'd done that in the
movie, you'd have won an Oscar, girl."
Organizers also tried to spice up the show with new presentation tactics,
including herding all nominees on stage at the same time, beauty-pageant style,
for some awards.
The first prize of the night, for art direction, was awarded that way, with a
total of nine nominees from five films spread across stage behind presenter
Berry. The Oscar went to "The Aviator," which led contenders with 11
nominations.
"The Aviator, Martin Scorsese's gloriously rendered Howard Hughes saga, and
"Million Dollar Baby," Eastwood's emotionally piercing prizefight saga,
presented the evening's key matchup for best picture.
The other contenders were "Finding Neverland," a fanciful look at playwright
J.M. Barrie's inspirations in writing "Peter Pan"; "Ray," a hearty portrait of
the loves, lusts, failings and musical triumphs of singer Charles; and
"Sideways," the critics' darling about a dour wretch whose road trip with a
buddy leads him to new hope for romance.
Scorsese and Eastwood's duel for best director carried almost as much drama
as the best-picture race.
One of American cinema's most esteemed filmmakers, Scorsese was in danger of
joining such luminaries as Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Altman as record holders
for Oscar futility: Five directing nominations, five losses.
Eastwood, a past directing and best-picture Oscar recipient for the 1992
Western "Unforgiven," beat Scorsese for both the Directors Guild of America
prize and the Golden Globe directing honor for "Million Dollar Baby." Those
prizes are solid indicators on who ultimately wins the best-director Oscar.
Scorsese also has never delivered a best-picture winner, though many in
Hollywood believe his 1980 masterpiece "Raging Bull" should have won that honor
and the best-director prize. Robert Redford's "Ordinary People" took both those
awards that year.
At the 1990 Oscars, Scorsese's "GoodFellas" lost both categories to Kevin
Costner (news)'s "Dances With Wolves." If Eastwood prevails, it would be the
third time a superstar-actor-turned-director had skunked Scorsese on Oscar
night.
Eastwood also scored a best-actor nomination for "Million Dollar Baby,"
though Foxx was considered one of the strongest favorites in Oscar history for
his exceptional emulation of Charles, a portrayal so eerily believable it jolted
even the late singer's friends and family.
Hilary Swank, an Oscar winner for "Boys Don't Cry," had the edge for
best-actress for her role as a bullheaded boxer in "Million Dollar Baby," but
Annette Bening was a serious rival for the theater farce "Being Julia."
On Hollywood Boulevard outside the Kodak Theatre, excited fans packed into
bleachers along the Oscars red carpet after waiting for hours to get in.
"It's American royalty," said Barbara Doyle, 57. "We don't have the queen. We
have actors and actresses."
"I've always wanted to do this," said 48-year-old Pam Ford, who won front-row
seats from a TV station and brought three friends. "To win and sit in the front
row, it's beyond comprehension, anything I ever dreamed of. I could die
tomorrow."
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