76th Academy Awards

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76th Academy Awards
Date Sunday, February 29, 2004
Site Kodak Theatre
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Preshow Billy Bush
Chris Connelly
Maria Menounos
Host Billy Crystal
Producer Joe Roth
Director Lou Horvitz
TV in the United States
Network ABC
Duration 3 hours, 38 minutes
Ratings 43.56 million
26.68 (Nielsen ratings)

The 76th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best in film for 2003, was broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on ABC beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. EST, February 29, 2004 (01:30 March 1 UTC). The show was produced by Joe Roth and was hosted for the eighth time by comedian Billy Crystal

The nominees were announced on January 27 at 5:38 a.m. PST (13:38 UTC) by Academy president Frank Pierson and actress Sigourney Weaver, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in the Academy's Beverly Hills headquarters. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King swept all 11 categories in which it was nominated. It matched the record 11 wins of Titanic and Ben-Hur and beat the previous record of Gigi and The Last Emperor for the largest sweep of every nominated category, both of which had achieved nine-for-nine.

The big contenders for the 76th Academy Awards (for the best achievement in film in 2003) included The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Lost in Translation, and in the highly competitive Best Actor category, strong work from Johnny Depp, Sean Penn and Jude Law.

Contents

[edit] News and recap

Billy Crystal returned for the eighth time to host the presentation. His opening monologue poked fun at the change (or lack thereof) between the time he had hosted the ceremony in 1991, and the current one: "Things were so different then. You know how different it was? Bush was president, the economy was tanking and we'd just finished a war with Iraq."

However, the bulk of Crystal's good-natured barbs—and the comments of many of the presenters and award recipients as well—were directed at New Zealand and Return of the King, which dominated an evening lacking in surprises. The front-runner (or near front-runner) in every nominated category turned out to be the actual winner. However, it should be noted that The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King became the first ever film of the fantasy genre to win Best Picture. Despite the lack of "drama" due to an "Obvious Winner" ceremony, the show attracted an audience of 43.56 million, breaking a low-ratings streak which had started back in 2001 due to the popularity of the best picture winner.

Sofia Coppola's win for best original screenplay for Lost in Translation made the Coppola family (Carmine, Francis Ford, Nicolas Cage (born as Nicolas Kim Coppola), and Sofia) the second three-generation Academy-Award winning family, after the Hustons (Walter, John, and Anjelica).

The television broadcast on ABC was aired live with a five-second tape delay, possibly because of the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction Controversy during Super Bowl XXXVIII. It was shown live in many other countries around the world (satellite delays notwithstanding). Host Billy Crystal joked during the awards ceremony that Robin Williams was the cause of the 5-second delay.

[edit] Notable quotations

  • "(Riding Crush, the turtle from Finding Nemo)IIIIIII CANT BELIEVE THE YANKEES GOT A-ROD!"-Billy Crystal during his opening montage celebrating about how his beloved Yankees just got reigning MVP Alex Rodriguez
  • "Things were so different then. You know how different it was? Bush was president, the economy was tanking and we'd just finished a war with Iraq." - Host Billy Crystal, remembering how things were different thirteen years ago when he first hosted the Oscars.
  • "Pussy Galore! I just got it! That's vulgar!" - Billy Crystal, "reading" Sean Connery's mind.
  • "Forty years ago, this country went down a rabbit hole in Vietnam — millions died. I fear we're going down the rabbit hole once again." - Errol Morris upon receiving his Best Documentary Oscar for The Fog of War.
  • "I can't wait for his tax audit—scary times." - Host Billy Crystal, in response to documentarian Errol Morris's comment that he fears America in Iraq is "going down a rabbit hole once again."
  • "It's now official — there is nobody left in New Zealand to thank." - Host Billy Crystal, in reference to the numerous awards won by productions from that country.
  • "That felt good." - Blake Edwards, after rolling across the stage in a wheelchair and crashing into a wall.
  • "If there's one thing that actors know —other than there weren't any WMDs— it's that there is no such thing as best in acting." - Sean Penn in his Best Actor acceptance speech.
  • "I'm so honoured and touched and relieved that the Academy and members of the Academy have seen past the trolls and the wizards and the hobbits and are recognising fantasy this year. Fantasy is an 'F' word that hopefully the five second delay won't do anything with." - Peter Jackson, as he received his Oscar for Best Picture.

[edit] Major winners and nominees

This is a breakdown of only major winners. For a complete list of nominees and winners, see: 76th Academy Awards nominees and winners

[edit] Feature Films

Award Winner Producer
Best Picture The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Peter Jackson, Barrie M. Osborne and Fran Walsh
Best Foreign Language Film The Barbarian Invasions - Canada Denys Arcand
Best Documentary Feature The Fog of War Errol Morris and Michael Williams
Best Animated Feature Finding Nemo Andrew Stanton

[edit] Directing

Award Winner Film
Academy Award for Directing Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

[edit] Acting

Award Winner Film
Best Actor in a Leading Role Sean Penn Mystic River
Best Actress in a Leading Role Charlize Theron Monster
Best Actor in a Supporting Role Tim Robbins Mystic River
Best Actress in a Supporting Role Renée Zellweger Cold Mountain

[edit] Writing

Award Winner Film
Best Writing - Original screenplay Sofia Coppola Lost in Translation
Best Writing - Adapted screenplay Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

[edit] Breakdown

(Awards won/nominations)

11/11 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2/10 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
2/6 Mystic River
1/7 Cold Mountain
1/4 Finding Nemo
1/4 Lost in Translation
1/2 The Barbarian Invasions
1/1 Monster

[edit] Special honors

Blake Edwards received the Honorary Academy Award for his work on such films as Breakfast at Tiffany's, Days of Wine and Roses, Victor/Victoria and the Pink Panther series. Edwards is married to Oscar-winning singer-actress Julie Andrews.

[edit] In Memoriam

A special memorial was presented by Tom Hanks to legendary comedian and past Oscar host Bob Hope.

A second special memorial was presented by Julia Roberts to legendary actress and four time Oscar winner Katharine Hepburn.

The annual "In Memoriam" tribute was presented by Academy President Frank Pierson, starting with another legendary actor that died in the previous year, Gregory Peck. Peck is followed by a list of Academy members who had also died in the previous year: Wendy Hiller, David Hemmings, Hope Lange, screenwriter George Axelrod, Charles Bronson, Michael Jeter, screenwriter David Newman, Ron O'Neal, Art Carney, director Elia Kazan, documentary filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, Karen Morley, Buddy Ebsen, director John Schlesinger, filmmaker Stan Brakhage, producer Ray Stark, movie trailer innovator Andrew J. Kuhen, John Ritter, Hume Cronyn, Buddy Hackett, composer Michael Kamen, screenwriter John Gregory Dunne, Robert Stack, Alan Bates, Gregory Hines, Jack Elam, Jeanne Crain, Ann Miller, Donald O'Connor and finally Johnny and June Carter Cash.

[edit] Partial list of Presenters and Performers

[edit] Presenters

[edit] See also

Academy Award Portal

[edit] External links