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By Brent Lang
The Wrap
See a complete list of winners
Oscar voters endorsed a nostalgic look back to the early days of the movie
business on Sunday night, showering "The Artist" with five awards, including
Best Picture.
After starting slow and lagging behind "Hugo," the black-and-white silent
film came roaring back at the 84th Academy Awards, winning a Best Director Oscar
for Michel Hazanavicius and a Best Actor statue for Jean Dujardin in addition to
the night's top prize.
Its main rival "Hugo," which, like "The Artist," was deeply steeped in film
history, also won five awards. Yet its statues all came in technical categories.
It was an evening that was short on surprises and long on veteran talent.
Screen legends Meryl Streep and Christopher Plummer picked up statues for their
work, while Billy Crystal returned to host his ninth Academy
Awards telecast.
Despite the fondness for the tried and true, the largely unknown Dujardin
held off challenges from Hollywood stars such as George Clooney ("The Descendants") and Brad Pitt ("Moneyball") to win the honor for his
performance as a silent film star struggling with the advent of sound.
"I love your country," the France-born Dujardin said. He went on to thank
silent film star Douglas Fairbanks, saying the actor's joie de vivre inspired
his performance.
Perhaps the evening's sole unexpected winner was Streep, who many had
predicted would be left sitting in the audience while Viola Davis accepted an
award for her work in "The Help."
However, the shape-shifting actress picked up her first Academy Award in
nearly three decades on Sunday for her performance as doggedly determined
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady."
"This is such a great honor, but the thing that counts the most to me is the
love and the joy ... we have shared making movies together," Streep said.
It was her third Oscar, having previously received awards for "Kramer vs.
Kramer" (1979) and "Sophie's Choice" (1982).
"The Artist" director Hazanavicius thanked the film's cast, including its
canine star, Uggie.
He also paid tribute to the film itself, saying, "Its life is full of grace
and it brings to us joy and happiness."
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"Beginners" star Plummer captured a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his
performance as a gay man coming out of the closet late in life.
The 82-year-old Plummer became the oldest person ever to win an acting Oscar.
"When I first emerged from my mother's womb, I was already rehearsing my
Oscar acceptance speech, but it was so long ago ... mercifully I forgot it,"
Plummer quipped.
Plummer was the odds-on favorite entering Sunday's contest, as was Octavia
Spencer, who won Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of a maid in the
segregated South in "The Help."
The visibly emotional actress thanked her director, Tate Taylor, and her
co-stars.
"I share this with everybody," Spencer said. "Thank you, world."
Continuing the tradition of honoring veteran talent, Woody Allen won his first Oscar since 1986's
"Hannah and Her Sisters" for his screenplay for "Midnight in Paris." True to
form, the perennial Oscar no-show was not on hand to pick up his award.
Though some had expected George Clooney to win his first Best Actor statue
for his work in Alexander Payne's "The Descendants," the tragi-comedy won its
sole Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for the director and co-writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash.
Sending up the Old West did the trick for "Rango," which won a Best Animated
Feature award for Gore Verbinski. The director applauded the star of the
animated film and his previous collaborator on the "Pirates of the Caribbean"
films.
"I want to thank the real-world chameleon
Johnny Depp," Verbinski said.
In a night free of politics, the only nod to world events came as "A
Separation" captured Best Foreign Language Film.
With a nod to the tensions between his country and the Western world, the
Iranian film's director, Asghar Farhadi, thanked his fellow countrymen, noting
that many were "people who respect all cultures and civilizations and despise
hostility and resentment."
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In the Best Original Song category, Bret McKenzie won an Oscar for "Man or
Muppet" from "The Muppets."
"I was genuinely starstruck when I met Kermit the Frog, but once you get to
know him, he's a regular frog," McKenzie joked.
In addition to its awards for acting, directing and picture, "The Artist" was
honored for its 1920s costumes and for Ludovic Bource's score, the latter earned
despite a controversy involving the composer's mimicry of Bernard Herrmann's
work on "Vertigo."
The evening started off on a familiar note as Crystal took the stage at the
theater formerly known as the Kodak and revived his typical musical medley
featuring the top films vying for honors.
As he had done in eight previous hosting stints, Crystal gently ribbed
Hollywood egos and the event's pomposity, without really going for the jugular.
"Nothing can take the sting out of the world's economic problems like
watching millionaires present each other with golden statues," Crystal said.
With a nod to the Kodak Theatre's impending name change and the namesake
company's recent bankruptcy, Crystal quipped, "We're here at the beautiful
Chapter 11 theater."
It marked the Oscar staple's first hosting gig since 2004.
There were also performances by Cirque du Soleil and a humorous parody of a
test screening for "The Wizard of Oz" featuring Christopher Guest, Fred Willard
and Catherine O'Hara.
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See a complete list of the night's winners
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