Chicago's night
| • | And the winners are ... |
By David Germain
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The razzle-dazzle musical satire "Chicago" won the Academy Award as best picture yesterday, while top acting honors struck a more somber note: Adrien Brody as a Holocaust survivor in "The Pianist" and Nicole Kidman as suicidal novelist Virginia Woolf in "The Hours."
Associated Press photos
In a ceremony overshadowed by the U.S.-led war in Iraq, "Chicago" became the first musical since 1968's "Oliver!" to win the top Oscar and also took home the most trophies, six. Its other awards were supporting actress for Catherine Zeta-Jones, and four technical honors including costume design and art direction.
Adrien Brody took home the best-acting honor for his work in "The Pianist" at the 75th annual Academy Awards last night.
Veteran character actor Chris Cooper won as best supporting actor for his role as a scraggly-haired, toothless horticultural poacher in "Adaptation."
Brody's victory was something of a surprise, as was the awarding of the best-director Oscar to Roman Polanski, also for "The Pianist." Polanski has been an exile from the United States since fleeing 25 years ago to avoid sentencing for having sex with a 13-year-old girl.
"The Pianist" also won the adapted-screenplay award for Ronald Harwood, giving it a total of three, while Pedro Almodovar earned the original-screenplay prize for "Talk to Her."
World events sparked several emotional highlights, including Brody's tearful speech and an attack on President Bush by filmmaker Michael Moore, winner of the best-documentary Oscar for "Bowling for Columbine."
"Chicago" came in with a leading 13 nominations, followed by the crime epic "Gangs of New York" with 10. But "Gangs" was shut out in every category, including best director, where Martin Scorsese was a sentimental favorite.
The Oscar acting honors came at an emotional time for Australian actress Nicole Kidman, left, and British actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Zeta-Jones was the first performer to win an acting Oscar for a musical since Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey for 1972's "Cabaret." In "Chicago," Zeta-Jones played a jailed vaudeville scamp scheming for celebrity after slaying her husband and sister.
Due to deliver her second child with husband and Oscar winner Michael Douglas in a few weeks, Zeta-Jones joined co-star and fellow supporting-actress nominee Queen Latifah in the Oscar performance of "I Move On," the best-song nominee from "Chicago."
"My hormones are too way out of control to be dealing with this," Zeta-Jones said after winning.
Documentary winner "Bowling for Columbine" is Moore's alternately hilarious and horrifying examination of gun violence in America.
Amid a mix of boos and applause from the crowd Moore, a harsh critic of the Bush administration, said,"We are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame on you."
Producer Martin Richards kisses the Oscar after "Chicago" won for best motion picture of the year.
Kidman's Oscar win was a Hollywood ending for her after a turbulent couple of years. She had a miscarriage in 2001 and broke up with husband Tom Cruise, in whose shadow she had lingered throughout their 11-year relationship.
Kidman emerged as a big star in her own right later that year with "Moulin Rouge," which earned her a best-actress Oscar nomination, and the horror hit "The Others." In "The Hours," Kidman played suicidal author Virginia Woolf, wearing a fake nose to capture the writer's plain features.
"Why do you come to the Academy Awards when the world is in such turmoil," Kidman said. "Because art is important. And because you believe in what you do and you want to honor that, and it is a tradition that needs to be upheld."
Cooper played a man on a mission to preserve rare orchids in the film loosely based on author Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief."
"Lose Yourself," from the film "8 Mile" starring Eminem, won the best-song Oscar for the rap star and his co-writers, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto.
"I think he's going to feel great about the Oscar," Resto said backstage, after accepting the award for the absent Eminem. "He's very proud about the song."
The Japanese fantasy "Spirited Away" won the award for animated feature film. The movie, which had a limited U.S. release last fall and grossed $5.5 million, was a surprise winner against a field of nominees that included $100 million Hollywood hits "Ice Age" and "Lilo & Stitch."
ABC News twice offered a brief war update, then switched back to the Oscars.
Earlier, demonstrators on both sides of the war issue gathered near Hollywood's Kodak Theatre, site of the Oscars.
ABOVE: Michael Moore, who won an Oscar for best documentary feature for the film "Bowling for Columbine," took the opportunity to criticize the war in Iraq and said, "Shame on you, Mr. Bush. Shame on you." His attack on the Bush administration was met with boos and applause. RIGHT: Singer Paul Simon performs the original-song nominee "Father and Daughter" from the film "The Wild Thornberrys Movie."
LEFT: Chris Cooper won for best supporting actor for his role in "Adaptation."
ABOVE: After a few initial references to the war and its effects on the Oscars, host Steve Martin's opening monologue stuck to mocking nominees.
