Ponderance

The Academy of the King

Well, it's official, Return of the King is one of the most awarded films of all time, receiving an Academy Award in every category it was nominated, for an extremely impressive haul of 11 Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Costume Design, Film Editing, Makeup, Music(Original Score), Music (Original Song), Sound and Visual Effects. Peter Jackson and crew are going to have very impressive trophy cabinets! There were no major surprises in what was perhaps one of the most true to prediction Oscars in a long while: Sean Penn got Best Actor, Charlize Theron took Best Actress, Tim Robbins Best Supporting with boy bits and Renee Zellweger Best Supporting with girl bits. Sofia Coppola took got her well-deserved nod for Best Original Screenplay for Lost in Translation and Pixar/Disney got Best Animated with Finding Nemo. For Australians Harvie Krumpet took Best Animated Short, while Peter Weir's Master and Commander got nods for Cinematography and Sound Editing. The full rundown:

76th Annual Academy Award
(Winners in Red)

BEST PICTURE
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Lost in Translation
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Mystic River
Seabiscuit

DIRECTING
Fernando Meirelles - City of God
Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Sofia Coppola - Lost in Translation
Peter Weir - Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Clint Eastwood - Mystic River

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Ben Kingsley - House of Sand and Fog
Jude Law - Cold Mountain
Bill Murray - Lost in Translation
Sean Penn - Mystic River

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Keisha Castle-Hughes - Whale Rider
Diane Keaton - Something's Gotta Give
Samantha Morton - In America
Charlize Theron - Monster
Naomi Watts - 21 Grams

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Alec Baldwin - The Cooler
Benicio Del Toro - 21 Grams
Djimon Hounsou - In America
Tim Robbins - Mystic River
Ken Watanabe - The Last Samurai

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Shohreh Aghdashloo - House of Sand and Fog
Patricia Clarkson - Pieces of April
Marcia Gay Harden - Mystic River
Holly Hunter - Thirteen
Ren�e Zellweger - Cold Mountain

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman - American Splendor
Braulio Mantovani - City of God
Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Brian Helgeland - Mystic River
Gary Ross - Seabiscuit

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Denys Arcand - The Barbarian Invasions
Steven Knight - Dirty Pretty Things
Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds - Finding Nemo
Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan and Kirsten Sheridan - In America
Sofia Coppola - Lost in Translation

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Brother Bear
Finding Nemo
The Triplets of Belleville

ART DIRECTION
Ben Van Os (Art Direction); Cecile Heideman (Set Decoration) - Girl with a Pearl Earring
Lilly Kilvert (Art Direction); Gretchen Rau (Set Decoration) - The Last Samurai
Grant Major (Art Direction); Dan Hennah and Alan Lee (Set Decoration) - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
William Sandell (Art Direction); Robert Gould (Set Decoration) - Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Jeannine Oppewall (Art Direction); Leslie Pope (Set Decoration) - Seabiscuit

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Cesar Charlone - City of God
John Seale - Cold Mountain
Eduardo Serra - Girl with a Pearl Earring
Russell Boyd - Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
John Schwartzman - Seabiscuit

COSTUME DESIGN
Dien van Straalen - Girl with a Pearl Earring
Ngila Dickson - The Last Samurai
Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Wendy Stites - Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Judianna Makovsky - Seabiscuit

FILM EDITING
Daniel Rezende - City of God
Walter Murch - Cold Mountain
Jamie Selkirk - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Lee Smith - Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
William Goldenberg - Seabiscuit

MAKEUP
Richard Taylor and Peter King - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Edouard Henriques III and Yolanda Toussieng - Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Ve Neill and Martin Samuel - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl


MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
Danny Elfman - Big Fish
Garbriel Yared - Cold Mountain
Thomas Newman - Finding Nemo
James Horner - House of Sand and Fog
Howard Shore - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
"Into the West" - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Music and Lyric by Fran Walsh and Howard Shore and Annie Lennox
"A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" - A Mighty Wind
Music and Lyric by Michael McKean and Annette O'Toole
"Scarlet Tide" - Cold Mountain
Music and Lyric by T Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello
"The Triplets of Belleville" - The Triplets of Belleville
Music by Benoit Charest; Lyric by Sylvain Chomet
"You Will Be My Ain True Love" - Cold Mountain
Music and Lyric by Sting

SOUND
Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Jeff Wexler - The Last Samurai
Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Paul Massey, D.M. Hemphill and Arthur Rochester - Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Christopher Boyes, David Parker, David Campbell and Lee Orloff - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Tod A. Maitland - Seabiscuit

SOUND EDITING
Gary Rydstrom and Michael Silvers - Finding Nemo
Richard King - Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Christopher Boyes and George Watters II - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

VISUAL EFFECTS
Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Daniel Sudick, Stefen Fangmeier, Nathan McGuinness and Robert Stromberg - Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Terry Frazee - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
Boundin'
Destino
Gone Nutty
Harvie Krumpet
Nibbles

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
Die Rote Jacke (The Red Jacket)
Most (The Bridge)
Squash
(A) Torzija ([A] Torsion)
Two Soldiers

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Balseros
Capturing the Friedmans
The Fog of War
My Architect
The Weather Underground

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Asylum
Chernobyl Heart
Ferry Tales

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Barbarian Invasions - French Canada
Evil - Sweden
The Twilight Samurai - Japan
Twin Sisters - The Netherlands
�elary - Czech Republic

And that wraps up the mainstream film awards circuit for another year ...