"The Lord of the Oscars!"
by Scott Mantz

Feels like the first time! Renee Zellweger, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Charlize Theron celebrate their Oscar wins at the "76th Academy Awards"

Citizens of Middle-earth, rejoice!

To the surprise of almost no one, the third time was indeed the charm for “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. After embarking on the biggest gamble in movie history more than 5 years ago (with an 18-month shoot, a $315 million budget and no big name stars), director Peter Jackson’s incredible cinematic odyssey finally came to a triumphant close at the 76th Academy Awards.

And the timing was perfect. A week after “The Return of the King” became only the second film in box office history to cross the $1 billion mark worldwide (1997’s “Titanic” was the first), the third and final chapter of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved fantasy series also made Academy Awards history as well. The movie tied with “Titanic” and 1959’s “Ben Hur” with the most Oscar wins (11), but unlike those films, “King” made a clean sweep in every category for which it was nominated.

Other notable milestones…

• All of the Acting categories featured first-time winners.
  
  
• “The Return of the King” became the first sequel to win Best Picture since 1974’s “The Godfather Part II.”
  
  
• “King” is the 10th film to win the top prize without any acting nominations.
  
  
• With Sofia Coppola’s win for “Lost in Translation” (Best Original Screenplay), the Coppolas became the second three-generation family of Oscar winners (after the Hustons).

Otherwise, it’s safe to say that the ceremony itself was kind of boring! What else do you call it when the night’s biggest surprise came in – of all places – the Best Adapted Screenplay category, when “The Return of the King” beat predicted favorite “Mystic River?”

Even the much-hyped return of Billy Crystal as Oscar host turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Despite his mildly entertaining song-and-dance routine and a few timely jabs at Mel Gibson’s controversial religious epic “The Passion of the Christ,” Crystal was more or less running on auto-pilot for most of the show. If anything, the biggest laugh of the night came from Adrien Brody, who freshened his breath right before presenting the Best Actress Oscar to Charlize Theron (a fun nod to the surprise kiss he planted on Halle Berry last year when he won for “The Pianist”).

Sealed with a kiss! Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens plant one on director Peter Jackson after winning Best Adapted Screenplay for "The Return of the King"

That’s too bad, because a year after the Oscars were forced to play second fiddle to the outbreak of war in Iraq, this year’s ceremony had every reason to pull out all the stops and remind movie fans why they love the Academy Awards in the first place. On the outside, the glitz and glamour made a welcome return to the red carpet, but on the inside, it was business as usual. That’s not to say that the show was particularly bad; it was just uneventful. Then again, that may have been the point, as first-time Oscar producer Joe Roth left the night’s biggest moments to Charlize Theron (for her moving acceptance speech after winning Best Actress for “Monster”) and Sean Penn (who received a standing ovation after winning Best Actor for “Mystic River”).

Despite moving tributes, the honorary award to Blake Edwards, and other fine speeches by Tim Robbins (Best Supporting Actor for “Mystic River”) and Renee Zellweger (Best Supporting Actress for “Cold Mountain”), it was quite obvious that the night belonged to Peter Jackson. As winner after winner gave their respective kudos to the master filmmaker, it became clear that “The Return of the King” was on its way to taking home the Big One. And who better to present the award for Best Picture than Oscar-winner Steven Spielberg, whose science fiction masterpieces clearly must have served as an inspiration for Jackson.

Alas, perhaps the true emotional moment of the Oscars hasn’t even sunk in yet. That’s because after three straight years of having “The Lord of the Rings” movies to look forward to (both at the box office and at the Oscars), it really is the end of the road. Even Jackson is moving on from hobbits to giant apes (he starts filming his remake of “King Kong” in August), which means that next year, it will be open season at the Academy Awards…which, by the way, will be here before you know it.

And the Oscar went to…

PICTURE
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (New Line), Wingnut Films

DIRECTOR
Peter Jackson, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

ACTRESS
Charlize Theron, "Monster"

ACTOR
Sean Penn, "Mystic River"

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Renee Zellweger, "Cold Mountain"

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Tim Robbins, "Mystic River"

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Sofia Coppola, "Lost in Translation"

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"The Barbarian Invasions" (Canada), Cinemaginaire (Miramax)

ANIMATED FEATURE
"Finding Nemo" (Buena Vista)

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"The Fog of War" Sony Pictures Classics

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Russell Boyd, "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"

FILM EDITING
Jamie Selkirk, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

ORIGINAL SCORE
Howard Shore, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

ORIGINAL SONG
"Into the West", "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" - Music & Lyrics by Howard Shore, Fran Walsh, Annie Lennox

VISUAL EFFECTS
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (New Line) - Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke

ART DIRECTION
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" - Art Direction: Grant Major (New Line); Set Decoration: - Dan Hennah and Alan Lee

COSTUME DESIGN
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (New Line) - Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor

MAKEUP
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (New Line) - Richard Taylor and Peter King

SOUND EDITING
"Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" (20th Century Fox) - Richard King

SOUND MIXING
"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (New Line) - Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
"Harvie Krumpet" A Melodrama Pictures Production - Adam Elliot

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
"Two Soldiers" A Shoe Clerk Picture Company Production - Aaron Schneider and Andrew J. Sacks

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
"Chernobyl Heart" A Downtown TV Documentaries Production - Maryann DeLeo

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