The 81st Academy Awards Were Last Night

[via Wired.com]

Like the Mumbai orphan at the heart of its story, Slumdog Millionaire overcame stupendous odds and on Sunday won the 2009 Best Picture Academy Award. Producer Christian Colson said, "When we started out, we didn't have enough stars or enough money to do what we wanted to do, but we did have a script that inspired madness in everyone who read it, and we had a genius for a director."

Slumdog (pictured below) nearly became a straight-to-DVD release when its original financier, Warner Independent Pictures, went out of business.

Instead, the crowd favorite, picked up by Fox Searchlight, triumphed as the evening's top award winner, bringing in seven trophies. Colson added: "Our film shows if you have passion and belief, anything is possible."

The most moving moment of the awards telecast came when Heath Ledger won Best Supporting Actor for playing the Joker in The Dark Knight.

Ledger's father, sister and mother accepted on the late actor's behalf. Mr. Ledger thanked director Chris Nolan for "allowing Heath the creative license to create and explore this crazy Joker character."

Method actors bonded briefly when Robert DeNiro praised Sean Penn (pictured below) for his portrait of gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

A few minutes later, Penn took the stage as 2008's Best Actor. At the podium, he joked: "You Commie, homo-loving sons of guns.... I know how hard I make it to appreciate me, often."

Embracing the Milk message, Penn said "We've got to have equal rights for everyone."

Continuing on a political tangent, he said: "I'm very proud to live in a country that elected an elegant man for its president."

In a tip of the hat to the star of The Wrestler, Penn said, "Despite a sensitivity that has somehow brought challenges, Mickey Rourke rises again, and he is my brother."

After six Oscar nominations, Kate Winslet finally won Best Actress for The Reader, in which she played an illiterate Nazi guard who has an affair with a young German teenager before going on trial for war crimes.

"I think we all can't believe we're in a category with Meryl Streep!" Winslet (pictured below) said. "Meryl, you'll just have to suck that up."


Hugh Jackman's song and dance kicked off the 81st Annual Academy Awards Show, which quickly got down to business when Penelope Cruz (pictured below) picked up Best Supporting Actress Award for her role as Javier Bardem's insanely fiery ex-lover Maria Elena in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

"Has anybody ever fainted here? I may be the first one," Cruz said from the stage.

A few minutes, later Wall-E, as expected, won for Best Animation Feature.

Funniest bit: Uncommunicative Ben Stiller, in fake beard and sunglasses, impersonated Joaquin Phoenix.


Sweet segment: a restrained Queen Latifah crooned the old ballad "I'll Be Seeing You" in tribute to artists who died in 2008, including Bernie Mac, Michael Crichton, Harold Pinter, Cyd Charisse, Roy Scheider, Richard Widmark, Isaac Hayes, Paul Scofield, Stan Winston, Charlton Heston, Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack and Paul Newman.

Shut out: Iron Man, The Hulk and Wanted failed to win any awards in a variety of technical categories.

Other winners:

Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Foreign language film: Departures (Japanese)

Song: Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire

Score: Slumdog Millionaire

Documentary: Man on Wire

Sound editing: The Dark Knight

Sound mixing: Slumdog Millionaire

Film editing: Slumdog Millionaire

Visual effects: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire

Original screenplay: Dustin Lance Black, Milk

Adapted screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

Makeup: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Art direction: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Costume: The Duchess

For the complete list of winners, visit www.oscar.com/oscarnight/winners

Photos courtesy Fox Searchlight, Paramount, Warner Bros., Pixar

Sean Penn Wins for "Milk"