Guest Author - Peggy Maddox
After all the fears that the Writers' Strike would sabotage the 80th annual Academy Awards presentations, the big night came off without a hitch.
Jon Stewart was given a second crack at hosting and he did a presentable job of it. He showed none of the nervousness that marred his first effort in 2006 when the celebrities in the audience at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater did not find him very funny.
Both No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood received eight nominations, but No Country for Old Men, based on a Cormac McCarthy novel, is the one that took home four statuettes:
Best Directing - Ethan and Joel Coen
Best Motion Picture: Scott Rudin, Ethan and Joel Coen
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Javier Bardem
Best Screenplay based on another work: Ethan and Joel Coen
The Oscar for Best Original Sceenplay went to Diablo Cody for Juno. Diablo (real name Brook Busey-Hunt) thanked the people in her life for accepting her as she is.
The Bourne Ultimatum received three Oscars:
Best Film Editing: Christopher Rouse
Best Sound: Scott Millan, David Parker, and Kirk Francis
Best Sound Editing: Karen M. Baker and Per Hallberg
The 80th Awards present some interesting sidelights.
All four of the main acting awards went to actors from countries other than the United States:
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (Ireland) There Will be Blood
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard (France) La Vie en Rose
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem (Spain) No Country for Old Men
Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton (England) Michael Clayton
The films receiving most of the honors were almost all violent, gloomy stories:
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Michael Clayton
The Bourne Ultimatum
La Vie en Rose
Other 2007 films with dark themes:
3:10 to Yuma
American Gangster
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Someone, Stewart probably, remarked that things were pretty bad when the most cheerful film in the mix was about teen pregnancy! (Juno)
For the fun of it, here are the films and actors that took home the little gold man 70 years ago, in 1938:
Best Picture: You Can't Take It With You (comedy)
Best Director: Frank Capra, You Can't Take it With You
Best Actor: Spencer Tracy, Boys Town (Father Flanagan's mission to troubled youth)
Best Actress: Bette Davis, Jezebel (period piece dealing with self-sacrifice)
Best Supporting Actor: Walter Brennan, Kentucky (western)
Best Supporting Actress: Fay Bainter, Jezebel
Best Original Screenplay: Boys Town
Best Screen Adaptation: Pygmalion
