84th Academy Awards - 2012

The 84th annual Academy Awards or The Oscars took place at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles on Feb 29th 2012. The Artist and Hugo were the big winners on that night. Nine time host Billy Crystal was the host for this year’s Oscar too.

The list of winners for this years Oscars include:

Best Motion Picture : The Artist

Best Actor in a Leading role : Jean Dujardin for ‘The Artist’

Best Actress in a Leading role : Meryl Streep for ‘The Iron lady’

Best Actor in a Supporting Role : Christopher Plummer for ‘Beginners’

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Octavia Spencer for ‘The Help’

Best Director : Michel Hazanavicus for ‘The Artist’

Best Writing(Adapted Screenplay) : Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Community’s
Dean Pelton for 'The Descendants'

Best Writing (Original Screenplay): Woody Allen won for his screenplay for
‘Midnight in Paris’

Best Animated Film : Rango

Best Original Score : Ludovic Bource for ‘The Artist’

Best Original Song : Bret McKenzie for ‘Man or a Muppet’

Best Documentary : TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Rich Middlemas
for their documentary film ‘Undefeated’

Best Cinematography : Robert Richardson for ‘Hugo’

Best Animated Short Film : The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris
Lessmore

Best Short Film (Live Action) : The Shore

Best Art Direction : Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo for
‘Hugo’

Best Costume Design : Mark Bridges for ‘The Artist’

Best Make Up : Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland for ‘The Iron
Lady’

Best Foreign Language Film : The Iranian film..’A Separation’

Best Film Editing : Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall for ‘The Girl With
The Dragon Tattoo’

Best Sound Editing : Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty for ‘Hugo’

Best Sound Mixing : Tom Fleischman and John Midgley for ‘Hugo’

Best Visual Effects : Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann and
Alex Henning for ‘Hugo’

2011 Academy Award Nominations - The Other Nominations

Best Actor In A Supporting Role :
Christian Bale(The Fighter)
John Hawkes(Winter's Bone)
Jeremy Renner(The Town)
Mark Ruffalo(The Kids Are All Right)
Geoffrey Rush(The King's Speech)

Best Actress In A Supporting Role :
Amy Adams(The Fighter)
Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)
Melissa Leo(The Fighter)
Hailee Steinfeld(True Grit)
Jacki Weaver(Animal Kingdom)

Best Original Screenplay :
Mike Leigh(Another Year)
Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson.
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson(The Fighter)
Christopher Nolan(Inception)
Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg(The Kids Are All Right)
David Seidler(The King's Speech)

Best Adapted Screenplay :
Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy(127 Hours)
Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)
Screenplay by Michael Arndt. Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich(Toy Story 3)
Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen(True Grit)
Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini(Winter's Bone)

2011 Academy Award Nominations For The Main Categories

The nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards were announced on January 25, 2011.The following are the nominations for some of the main categories:

Best Picture:
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Best Actor In A Leading Role :
Javier Bardem (Biutiful)
Jeff Bridges (True Grit)
Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
Colin Firth (The King’s Speech)
James France (127 Hours)

Best Actress In A Leading Role :
Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)
Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)
Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone)
Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)

Best Direction:
Darren Aronofsky - (Black Swan)
David O. Russell - (The Fighter)
Tom Hooper - (The King's Speech)
David Fincher - (The Social Network)
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - (True Grit)

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart

Jeff Bridges won the Oscars this year for the Best Actor Award in a Leading Role for his role in ‘Crazy Heart’. In the movie , he portrays Bad Blake, a washed-up country-western singer whose encounter  with a young journalist helps him to turn his life around.He was nominated nearly 4 times previously for the Academy Awards and it’s the first  he has won the honors. His first nomination at the Oscars was for 'The Last Picture Show' ,way back in 1971.

The 60-year-old veteran is one of Hollywood's most identifiable and constantly bankable actors as well as an  element of an acting dynasty that includes his parents Dorothy and Lloyd as well as brother Beau.For Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges once again confirmed his skill as a musician to play the alcoholic Bad Blake, a man struggling against his interior demons as he battles to bring back his glory days.

It is said that Bridges, who remarkably played a pianist in 1989 in The Fabulous Baker Boys, initially passed on the script for Crazy Heart after realising that there was no music attached to it.But the participation of musician T-Bone Burnett developed  his interest in the project and he rapidly signed on for the role. Many of Burnett's songs performed by Bridges were written with the actor in mind.

Burnett also helped Bridges flesh out his character by teaching him in the sort of music Bad would have listened to at some stage in his formative years. In a latest interview Bridges said that Burnett did a really fantastic thing by giving him  a breakdown of the music Bad might  have listened to growing up in Fort Worth, Texas, where T-Bone also grew up.

Lately, Bridges has appeared in several successful films, including the Oscar-nominated Seabiscuit and 2008's hit Iron Man. He will next be visible in Disney's Tron Legacy, a sequel to the 1982 film in which he also acted.Bridges is also preparing to reunite with the Coen brothers for a remake of the western True Grit, where he will enact the character  of  Rooster Cogburn, the role made popular by John Wayne in the 1969 original.

In his acceptance speech,Bridges said "I thank my wonderful director for his ability to instill self-confidence in his actors. Thank you my wonderful team that kept me together. I also want to thank my gorgeous wife (Susan Geston) with whom I have spent more than 33 years and also my three girls without whom I wouldn't be where I am."

Oscar Nominations for Best Actress/Actor in a Leading Role

Actress in a Leading Role

Meryl Streep in 'Julie & Julia'
Gabourey Sidibe in 'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire'
Carey Mulligan in 'An Education'
Helen Mirren in 'The Last Station'
Sandra Bullock in 'The Blind Side'

Actor in a Leading Role

Jeremy Renner in 'The Hurt Locker'
Morgan Freeman in 'Invictus'
Colin Firth in 'A Single Man'
George Clooney in 'Up in the Air'
Jeff Bridges in 'Crazy Heart'