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| The cast and crew of Slumdog Millionaire accept the Oscar for Best Picture at the 2009 Academy Awards ceremony. |
The 81st Academy Awards
Ceremony date: February 22, 2009
Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Best Director: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor: Sean Penn for Milk
Best Actress: Kate Winslet for The Reader
In the pre-Twitter days, live blogging meant literally that:
updating your blog in real time while watching a live event. This was the first
year I tried that. I did it again in 2010, and that was that. Live blogging the
Oscars is not for me. I love the show too much. I do not want to be dealing
with the site or checking my Twitter feed constantly while I am trying enjoy my
favorite night of the year. You can find those live blogs on the site still.
They are interesting little time capsules of my younger self trying to figure
out this whole website thing.
At the 2009 ceremony, the producers attempted to program the
awards to reflect the filmmaking process. They started with the screenplay
awards, then art direction, etc., all the way up to the finished product. If
you really think about that, though, it does not make much sense. So much of
filmmaking is simultaneous creation. Craftspeople of all disciplines are on set
every day, making a film work. The producers and director are there from the
start. It is a whole jumble. Points for trying to give the show a loose
structure, but the thread was tenuous from the start.
Two things stand out from this show: Heath Ledger’s
posthumous Best Supporting Actor win for The Dark Knight and the near
sweep by Slumdog Millionaire. Ledger’s victory was a foregone
conclusion. As much as I might have preferred Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt,
or the not-nominated Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Dev Patel (Slumdog
Millionaire), it is hard to begrudge Ledger the Oscar, and certainly, no
one would want to lose the moment Ledger’s family accepted the award on his
behalf.
Another of the big experiments the producers of this
ceremony tried was to have past acting winners in each of the four categories pay
tribute to each of the nominees before announcing the winners. This is a fun
idea in theory, but in practice, it was a bit of a drag. My feeling is that if
you are going to give seven minutes-plus to each of the acting categories on a
show people already complain is too long, then just let the winners talk for
however long they wish.
The speeches are the best part of the show, the thing that
makes the Academy Awards unique. It has never made sense to me the
consternation over lengthy speeches. Playing people offstage at the biggest
moment of their lives seems needlessly cruel. Of all the places to cut time in
the show, the speeches should be the last.
The triumph of Slumdog Millionaire still seems odd in
retrospect. Throughout the season, it became a juggernaut. It could not be
stopped. It is hard to say why or how except that it is, at its core and
despite delving into real darkness, a feel-good movie made by a group of
delightful people for whom you want to vote.
The story of the movie nearly being dumped straight to DVD
then being rescued by Fox Searchlight also helped make it the kind of underdog
everyone wants to see win. And win it did, to the tune of eight awards. No
movie since has won as many. Gravity came closest in 2013 with seven
wins but no Best Picture. I think it would be difficult in the current era of
the Academy to match the number put up by Slumdog Millionaire.
This was the last time the Academy had just five nominees
for Best Picture. After this ceremony, they would go to 10 nominees, then
at-most-10 nominees, which is where we are today. Folks paying attention at the
time will remember this as a response to the lack of a Best Picture nomination
for either The Dark Knight or Wall-E. The Academy, it was feared,
was losing relevance when artistically accomplished box-office champions could
not compete for the top award. We can talk about how that has worked out in
future installments of this series.
Quick notes: Kate Winslet finally wins an Oscar,
though I preferred her work in Revolutionary Road to her performance in The
Reader. Just happy to see her with a statue. … The Mickey Rourke comeback
tour stalled out here with Sean Penn taking home Best Actor. My favorite of the
nominated performances was Richard Jenkins in The Visitor. … Looking
back on my predictions from this year, I actually did pretty well. Not counting
the shorts, which I had not seen, I went 17 for 21. Those are numbers I would
kill for now.
Next time: I throw my first Oscars party and The Hurt
Locker takes down Avatar as the Academy paradigm shifts.
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