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Academy Awards Recap: Singing, Dancing, and Slumdog
by Alison Cox
 When the 81st Academy Awards got underway in Los Angeles on Sunday night, the “sexiest man alive,” Hugh Jackman, was dashing and debonair in his role as first time Oscar host as the Australia star dazzled the Kodak Theater crowd with an opening song and dance routine reminiscent of longtime Oscar host Billy Crystal. In what promised to be a revamped, more contemporary Oscars ceremony than in years past, the vibe of the 81st Academy Awards felt very much like the traditional gala we’ve already seen. There was singing and dancing, a cavalcade of stars, “as expected” predictability (except for one award), and the usual safe and sudsy atmosphere. However, since the filmmaking industry in India has been growing by leaps and bounds, the 81st Oscars opened the door for what will surely be an expanding relationship between Hollywood and Bollywood.
In customary Oscar fashion, the first award presentation kicked the 81st Academy Awards into high gear with Best Supporting Actress. However, the running presentation theme saw previous Oscar winners handing the categorical torch to new winners of the various awards. The first crop of five Best Supporting Actress saw Whoopie Goldberg, Goldie Hawn and Angelica Houston introduce the nominees before the Best Supporting Actress went to Penelope Cruz for her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, who graciously thanked Woody Allen for trusting her with such an award worthy character.
From there it was all uphill as the revamped Oscars got down to business with the award for Best Original Screenplay, presented by past SNL alumni Tina Fey and Steve Martin to writer Dustin Lance Black for Milk, the tragic yet rewarding story of Harvey Milk. On stage, in the spirit of the life of Harvey Milk, Black gave a heartfelt and sincere acceptance speech full of hope for the future of gay and lesbian rights. When it came time for the second writing award of the evening, the Best Adapted Screenplay honor went to Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire, which marked the beginning of a great night for the Danny Boyle directed film.
 When Jennifer Aniston and Jack Black walked onstage to hand out the next award as the cameras cut back and forth, none managed to give the tabloids fodder for a potential scandalous expression from Angelina Jolie who was sitting in the audience next to love Brad Pitt, ex-flame of Aniston. Instead, the cameras captured a classy, smiling Angelina Jolie as Aniston delivered her comedic lines. And when the envelopes were opened, longtime Pixar wizard Andrew Stanton accepted the award for Best Animated Feature for WALL-E while Best Animated Short Film went to the Japanese film Oktapodi.
Soon Sex and the City doll Sarah Jessica Parker and new 007 Daniel Craig presented the Oscar for Art Direction that went to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button before the Costume Design Oscar went to The Duchess. Faux pas – the music for the wrong movie was played, which was cleverly pointed out during the acceptance speech.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button picked up another award to keep pace with Slumdog Millionaire, this time for Best Makeup, which led into a warm segment of how romance looked in 2008 introduced by the delicious Twilight actor Robert Pattinson.
Natalie Portman led the way to present the Oscar for Cinematography to Slumdog Millionaire, looking pretty in pink alongside a grisly Ben Stiller, who took on the recent persona of the gum-chewing, sunglasses clad, beard-gone-wild Joaquin Phoenix from his recent appearance on David Letterman. The moment lightened the mood and garnered a sea of smiles and laughs from the audience since it was almost impossible to separate the made up Stiller from Phoenix on Letterman.
Actress Jessica Biel was given the task of
delivering the kudos to the Scientific and Technical
Awards presented at a separate event prior to
the Best Short Film – Live Action honor was
handed out to Spielzeugland (Toyland). Biel’s
presence paved the road for a true Oscar performance
that didn’t feel as forced and unnatural as
Oscar numbers in recent memory.
The evening hit a huge high note when a top hat-and-tails Hugh Jackman joined pop-diva Beyonce onstage for a lavish number filled with accompanying dancers as they Broadway-fashioned their way through a montage of famous musicals. Beyonce, strikingly voluptuous in her sparkling red showgirl body suit next to Jackman, helped her song-and-dance man cover everything from Singing in the Rain and Grease to Dreamgirls and Mama Mia with extra help from the talents of new teen musical stars Zack Efron and Vanessa Hudgens of the High School Musical movies.
 Before long Christopher Walken, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Kevin Kline were among the past recipients who came out for Best Supporting Actor that fittingly went to the late Heath Ledger for his give-everything portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Night. Ledger’s family accepted on his behalf, expressing the Oscar experience to be “Ever so humbling,” while they thanked Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan for allowing Heath to explore The Joker character. Ledger’s family further described Heath as a “compassionate and generous soul” and informed everyone of their choice to celebrate and be happy for his achievements. Holding the golden statuette, the acceptance ended with, “We proudly accept this award on behalf of your beautiful Matilda,” Ledger’s daughter. And with that, hardly a dry eye could be seen among the audience.
Next comedian Bill Maher walked out to present both Documentary awards of the evening. The first for Documentary Feature went to the riveting Man on Wire, which chronicled the story of Frenchman Philippe Petit’s high-wire walk between the NYC Twin Towers in 1974. When Petit himself got to the podium, he jokingly thanked with, “The shortest speech in Oscar history….YES!” However, that wasn’t all as Petit let slip, “but I break my own rules” and continued his acceptance in true “real life” character by balancing his new Oscar on his chin. Not to be overshadowed, the second Documentary award for Short Subject was given to the film Smile Pinki.
 A dazzling montage of the best action sequences of the year was followed by an introduction to the Visual Effects award by action star Will Smith, with the award given to the Visual Effects team behind The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The best in Sound Editing was handed over to The Dark Knight while Sound Mixing and Best Editing belonged to the multiple nominated Slumdog Millionaire, which tugged at the heartstrings after Indian winner Resul Pookutty paid tribute to his country and people.
As the night progressed, Eddie Murphy presented the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to comedy legend Jerry Lewis. In the spotlight was Jerry Lewis’s lifelong cause and his passionate charity work for Muscular Dystrophy and his annual MDA telethon. “I’m going to see my kids better than they are today,” said a somewhat shaky but slim Lewis. The award reinforced how fabulous it was to see Jerry Lewis onstage once again who was honored as a humanitarian for helping those who need it most. “It will stay with me the rest of my life. Thank you and good night.”
The awards got back down to current cinematic business when Zack Efron and Alicia Keyes, also in a strapless pink gown, gave out The Best Original Score Oscar to Slumdog Millionaire. However, a poignant moment during the evening came from the acceptance for Best Original Song – Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire, with these words, “All my life I had a choice of Hate and Love. I chose Love and I’m here from this.”
Queen Latifah introduced a reflective montage of Hollywood lives lost in 2008, which fittingly ended with the image and career of the legendary Paul Newman. Liam Neeson presented the award for Best Foreign Language film to Japan’s Departures, which was followed by Reese Witherspoon, dressed in a ultramarine blue gown, who presented Best Director Danny Boyle with the golden statue for Best Director for Slumdog Millionaire. Before Boyle reached for the microphone, the director introduced his speech by performing a few steps and jumps for his kids. Significantly related, however, Boyle made a correction for an oversight in the film’s credits that “forgot the guy who choreographed the last scene,” claiming he only found out about the omission two weeks ago.
Introducing the Best Actress nominees were past winners Sophia Loren, Shirley MacLean, Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry and last year’s winner Marion Cotillard before the 81st golden statue went to Kate Winslet for her role in The Reader who graciously accepted the Best Actress award as compared to her emotional Golden Globes win.
 Previous Best Actors Michael Douglas, Robert DeNiro, Adrian Brody, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Sir Ben Kingsly walked onstage to introduce the Best Actor nominees, which ended with the biggest shocker of the night. In an arguably surprising twist of fate, Sean Penn beat out the heavily favored Mickey Rourke, for his portrayal of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the movie Milk. Weeping in the audience was Dustin Lance Black, winner of Best Original Screenplay for Milk, who looked on as Sean Penn delivered a politically driven and social conscious acceptance speech, stating, “We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone.” However, Penn also made mention of fellow nominee Mickey Rourke by referring to the comeback and ending with “he is my brother.”
How do we feel about the Best Actor award? See here for our thoughts.
To close out the 81st Academy Awards, director Steven Spielberg presented the final award of the evening, which didn’t catch anyone by surprise as Best Picture was awarded to Slumdog Millionaire. Given the explosion of filmmaking within India, Bollywood played a huge role at Hollywood’s biggest gala, which was inevitable, and certainly a preview of what’s to come in future Oscar ceremonies.
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