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March 2, 2011
The Wichitan n 5
All hail ‘The King’s Speech’!
Academy Awards showcase a king, a fighter, an Fbomb and the worst Oscar hosts ever?
Christan Bale and Colin Firth won their first Academy Award on Sunday while Melissa Leo won Best Supporting Actress at what critcics are calling the worst Oscars ever, hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway. (Photos Courtesy)
John Horn MCT
man thanked the film’s financiers for daring to invest in a period drama about elocution. “It’s not,” The monarch may have stam- Sherman said, “an obvious film mered terribly, but Oscar voters to back.” But apparently, it was an easy spoke loudly and clearly Sunone to vote for. day night, handing “The King’s At every turn, “The King’s Speech” four Academy Awards, Speech” enjoyed extraordinary including best picture, best difortune: British filmmaker Tom rector and best original screenHooper, who directed the movie, play. discovered the tale only after his The come-from-behind mother attended an unrehearsed “King’s Speech” coup concluded a providential journey for reading of a play about the king the drama about Britain’s King at a tiny theater outside London. George VI (played by Colin Rush got involved only after a Firth, who won the lead actor producer’s assistant dropped off Oscar) and his unconventional the script at the actor’s front speech therapist, Lionel Logue door. Screenwriter David Seidler, (played by Geoffrey Rush). The 73, who had promised the Queen film beat out “The Social NetMother he wouldn’t write about work,” which had been considher stuttering husband in her ered the likely choice for best lifetime, waited 25 years before picture for much of the fall and moving ahead with his project. early winter, but ended up with Hooper, 38, whose bestthree Oscars despite many critiknown work heretofore was the cal plaudits. HBO mini-series “John Adams,” “What an incredible, incredible honor,” said “King’s Speech” thanked Firth and Rush — “I’m producer Iain Canning, picking only here because of you guys,” up the top trophy from the Acad- he said — and gave credit to his emy of Motion Picture Arts and mother for seeing the play and Sciences. Producer Emile Sher- suggesting it should be his next movie. “The moral of the story,”
Hooper said, “is listen to your mother.” Firth, who had been nominated in the actor category last year for “A Single Man” but lost, accepted his award and quipped, “I have a feeling my career’s just peaked.” Even though “The King’s Speech” won the top prize, no single film dominated the 83rd Academy Awards, emceed by actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway, two of the youngest hosts in recent memory. The duo joked about trying to attract younger viewers to the broadcast, though the show featured multiple homages to Hollywood history – including a surprise appearance by 94-year-old Kirk Douglas. The ceremony marked the second year that 10 films were competing for the best picture prize, up from five previously. The academy expanded the category in a bid to include more popular favorites, and this year, most of the films crossed the $100 million mark at the box office. Writer-director Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending thriller “Inception” took home trophies
for cinematography and in three technical categories. “True Grit,” the Western that came into the evening with 10 nominations (second only to the dozen for “The King’s Speech”), left the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood with none. Natalie Portman, who trained for a year to play an obsessed ballerina in “Black Swan,” won the lead actress Academy Award, fending off strong competition from Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right.” “This is insane,” a visibly moved Portman said. The boxing drama “The Fighter” dominated the supporting actor categories as predicted, taking trophies for Christian Bale, who played the film’s washedup, drug-addled pugilist Dicky Eklund, and Melissa Leo, who co-starred as the domineering matriarch. Bale appeared humble in his win despite being a heavy favorite for the prize. Leo said she was “shakin’ in her boots,” which may have explained why she dropped an expletive into her acceptance speech. The swear word was censored by ABC, but nevertheless
became a running joke throughout the rest of the ceremony. The writing wins also went as expected. Seidler, who had been working in television until “The King’s Speech” (his last film credit came 12 years ago), got a bit lost trying to find the microphone after his name was called for the original screenplay award. But his momentary confusion didn’t stop him from delivering a charming speech. “My father always said I’d be a late bloomer,” said Seidler, who was inspired to write the script because he himself stuttered – as a child he had listened to King George VI on the radio, knowing that the monarch had overcome a speech impediment. “This is to all the stutterers,” Seidler said. “We have a voice and we have been heard, thanks to the academy.” Aaron Sorkin won the adapted screenplay award for “The Social Network,” based on the book “The Accidental Billionaires.” Sorkin, best known for writing television’s “The West Wing,” said the prize “will be a source of pride for me every day for the rest of my life.”
Alternative rockers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross took home the prize for best score for “The Social Network,” beating out favorite Alexandre Desplat, who composed the score for “The King’s Speech.” “Toy Story 3,” which director Lee Unkrich described as a film about “talking toys that had something very human to say,” won for animated feature. “Toy Story 3,” the highest-grossing film of 2010, also won for best song, “We Belong Together,” by Randy Newman. Director Charles Ferguson and producer Audrey Marrs took home the Oscar for their documentary “Inside Job.” Two of the year’s biggest blockbusters, “Inception” and “Alice in Wonderland,” dominated the technical categories, with “Inception” winning for sound mixing, sound editing and visual effects in addition to cinematography. “Alice” walked away with two Oscars, for art direction and costume. “In a Better World,” from Danish director Susanne Bier, won the best foreign language prize.
This years Oscars were targeted toward a hipper demographic and young hollywood hit the red carpet dressed to impressed. Jennifer Lawrence, best actress nominee for Winter’s Bone, wore a simple yet dazzling bright red Calvin Klein Collection dressed made for her by Franciso Costa. Unfortunately for Oscar performer Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine), who wore Valenntion Haute Couture, she just didn’t get the job done in her dress. She redemed herself later on in the night with a perfect performance ‘If I Rise’ for 127 Hours. (Photos Courtesy) 2731 Southwest Parkway Wichita Falls, TX 76308 Corner of Kemp & Southwest Parkway (940) 692−1002
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