For prognosticators like me, the 85th Annual Academy Awards was a scary affair. The outcomes of so many of the major categories were up in the air. I was literally on the edge of my seat -- on the far right side of the first mezzanine at the Dolby Theatre-- as each category was announced.
Yes, we all knew Argo was going to win best picture, Daniel Day-Lewis was going to win best actor for Lincoln , Les Miserables' Anne Hathaway was going to win best supporting actress, Austria's Amour would be named best foreign-language film, Searching for Sugar Man was destined to take home best documentary feature, and Life of Pi was a shoo-in to pick up the trophy for best visual effects.
But anyone who tells you they were certain about the other big ones is lying: There were no guarantees that Ang Lee would beat Steven Spielberg to win best director; Jennifer Lawrence would beat Emmanuelle Riva to win best actress; Christoph Waltz would beat both Robert De Niro and Tommy Lee Jones to win best supporting actor; Argo' s Chris Terrio would beat Lincoln' s Tony Kushner and Silver Linings Playbook' s David O. Russell to win best adapted screenplay; Django Unchained' s Quentin Tarantino would beat Amour 's Michael Haneke and Zero Dark Thirty' s Mark Boal to win best original screenplay; or that Brave would beat Wreck-It Ralph to win best animated feature. None were sure things.
In the end, I'm gratified to say, I ended up correctly predicting 21 of the 24 winners, tying my all-time best score from seven years ago. And so another Oscar season -- the 12th that I've covered -- is now in the books. But before we all put it on the shelf, it'sworth taking a moment to consider what really happened.
Argo didn't win for the reasons many others have cited. It wasn't because Ben Affleck was screwed out of a best director Oscar nomination (although hecertainly was). It wasn't because DreamWorks bungled the Lincoln campaign (they got the film as far as anyone could have). It wasn't because Zero Dark Thirty was unfairly smeared (even far-left U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich acknowledged that much when I spoke to him at the Oscars). And it wasn't because Harvey Weinstein and associates couldn't make a convincing argument that Silver Linings was socially significant (although they gave it their best shot). No, Argo won because it was the most crowd-pleasing drama among this year's nine best picture nominees, just like recent winners Slumdog Millionaire (2008), The King's Speech (2010) and The Artist (2011). Period.
In a sense -- and this might sound counterintuitive given Hollywood is basically a politically liberal town -- this year's Oscar race could be compared to the 2012 Republican primary. Argo was Mitt Romney , out front from the very beginning -- just go back and read my reporting and that of other journalists who caught its first screening at Telluride in September. People looked hard for viable alternatives -- a Rick Santorum , Newt Gingrich , Herman Cain or Michele Bachmann , if you will -- and there were major spikes of excitement at the first screenings of Silver Linings at the Toronto International Film Festival, Pi and Lincoln at the New York Film Festival and Les Mis and Zero Dark Thirty over the Thanksgiving weekend.
But in the end, Academy voters kept coming back to the movie that was less abstract than Pi , had more vitality and a more polished resolution than Lincoln , seemed less frivolous than Les Mis and was less divisive than Zero Dark Thirty . And while it may not be one of the greatest best picture Oscar winners of all time, it is, for me, a worthy one. (It's also the second in a row in which Hollywood plays a starring role -- and everyone likes to be portrayed flatteringly!)
As for the director's race, Lee joined Spielberg in the elite club of directors who have won two Oscars because he stretched himself with Pi further than Spielberg did with Lincoln . Lincoln is Spielberg's best film in years -- in my view, a masterpiece -- but structurally and thematically it's not all that unlike his other (great) work. Pi , on the other hand, is unlike anything Lee has ever done before. He's a guy who specializes in intimate dramas but decided he wanted to venture into the new world of 3D and made a groundbreaking epic. He already had the affection of the Academy's acting branch, but with Pi he won the enthusiastic support of the tech branches, and I believe that made the difference and propelled the film to a greater accumulation of Oscars than any other film Sunday night. (I want to acknowledge that I was openly skeptical about Pi 's prospects after seeing it at the New York Film fest in October -- but I don't think that I was wrong, as some have suggested, because Lee subsequently returned to the editing room for several weeks. The finished film was considerably better than what I originally saw.)
Lawrence won -- becoming the second youngest best actress winner in history -- for several reasons: She was great (like all of her fellow nominees), she campaigned (as hard as any of them), and she's the young, fun, sexy "It" girl of the moment. She's kooky but lovable and reminds me of Diane Keaton , who won the best actress Oscar 35 years ago for Annie Hall . And while there's absolutely nothing wrong with turning out like Diane Keaton, just keep in mind that Lawrence's fellow nominee Jessica Chastain might well turn out be Meryl Streep , and that if Riva spoke English, was based in the U.S. and cared a little more about winning, she might well have been the one who prevailed. But Lawrence won, and congratulations must be given to her ID-PR publicist Bryna Rifkin , who has now quietly but deftly helped to guide four clients to Oscar wins in the last five years, with Lawrence's win following those of Marion Cotillard ( La Vie En Rose ), Natalie Portman ( Black Swan ) and Jean Dujardin ( The Artist ).
In the case of best supporting actor, not even The Weinstein Co., which distributed both Django Unchained and Silver Linings , believed that Waltz had a better shot than De Niro, who hasn't won in the last 32 years and was being championed for his return to serious acting. But I predicted Waltz's win for several reasons. He gave the biggest performance, in terms of screen time, among the the nominees; in fact, he was originally going to be pushed for best actor, which is the category in which he truly belonged. He is likable enough (whereas De Niro and Jones can be pretty prickly). Even if they were embarrassed to admit it, most people really enjoyed his movie (unlike Philip Seymour Hoffman 's The Master , which was just a bit too weird for many).
And he was the clear standout in his film's ensemble (whereas Alan Arkin could just as easily have been replaced by either of his Argo castmates Bryan Cranston and John Goodman ). Waltz has won two Oscars in four years, something that can be said for only 10 other actors or actressesin film history, an impressive group that consists of Walter Brennan , Bette Davis , Olivia De Havilland , Jodie Foster , Tom Hanks , Katharine Hepburn , Glenda Jackson , Luise Rainer , Jason Robards and Spencer Tracy . Amazing.
Moving on to adapted screenplay, Terrio was the victor because Argo was most people's favorite film, in no small part because of his adaptation of a magazine article and book about CIA operative TonyMendez 's remarkable caper in Iran. He turned that true story into a genre-blending/geography-jumping thriller that made audiences laugh and cry and sit on the edges of their seats even though they already knew the ending.
It was no small compliment to award him the Oscar over Kushner and Russell, two of the greatest writers of dialogue working today. Tarantino, meanwhile, prevailed over Boal for several reasons. Tarantino previously won 18 years ago, for Pulp Fiction , whereas Boal won just four years ago, for The Hurt Locker. Tarantino is a more affable guy. And Zero Dark Thirty never recovered after its historical facts and agenda were first called into question, whereas Django , for all the criticism it received, was never about historical facts (the KKK that it depicts didn't even exist until after the Civil War), and it had no agenda except to entertain.
As for the Oscars show itself? It was a great thrill to be in the room for the second time. And...
I thought that Seth MacFarlane was OK. The opening bit ran too long. The jokes didn't provoke belly-laughs. The closing musical number was a bit stupid and in poor taste.
But he sang, he danced, he made voices, he kept the audience engaged and amused, and I have no doubt that he brought in many younger viewers without losing many older viewers, which is precisely what the Academy hired him to do. Sure, some of his cracks were tasteless, but I'd rather watch a host live on the edge than play it right down the middle. In my opinion, he deserves a return invite. (If he doesn't get one, though, they should consider Seth Rogen and Andy Samberg , both of whom I had my doubts about until they absolutely killed it at the Independent Spirit Awards last year and last Saturday, respectively.)
There were a lot of cool moments, but the one that I may remember longest is watching the greatest living actress, Meryl Streep, present the greatest living actor, Day-Lewis, with an Oscar -- and, in so doing, make him the first man to ever win three best actor Oscars. (He's also the first man or woman to be recognized with an Oscar for a performance in a Spielberg film.) At the Governors Ball after the show,Day-Lewis, clutching his statuette, smiled and told me, "I know that you believed in me, but I make a point of never assuming anything." I think it's safe to assume that Day-Lewis, who is only 55, might yet extend that new record even further.
The tie for best sound editing was also pretty thrilling. There have been five other ties in Oscar history , but not during the years that I've been watching the Oscars, so to be there to witness one was awesome. To be honest, I initially thought Mark Wahlberg -- who I'd run into him before the show at Ralphs -- was joking when he first revealed the situation, since the odds of one happening when more than 6,000 people are voting are obviously not very high.
And to be there in the audience for the return of my favorite actor, longtime Oscar staple Jack Nicholson , who has been away from the show for a few years, was very special.
I'm a huge fan of President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama , but I'm not sure why the first lady was asked to present best picture, especially if she couldn't do so in person -- it felt a little weird. Maybe just because there were a lot of nominees about American history and society this year, such as Argo , Beasts of the Southern Wild , Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty ? If so, that connection was never really established.
Still, it was cool to witness history-- only once before had the White House directly addressed an Oscars ceremony, and that was in 1941, when President Franklin D.
Roosevelt gave a six-minute address over the radio.
I give big props to Charlize Theron and Channing Tatum for not only nailing their dance number, but for agreeing to do it in the first place. They are big stars who didn't need to expose themselves to criticism or ridicule, but did so anyway. Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were quite good as well with their less complicated number.
The celebration of movie musicals from the past decade turned out to be terrific, and proved, as the Grammys do year after year, that people love watching live performances during awards shows. Catherine Zeta-Jones was as sexy and nimble as ever re-creating her decade-old "All That Jazz" number from Chicago . Jennifer Hudson rocked the house with her rendition of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," the song which single-handedly won her the best supporting actress Oscar for 2006's Dreamgirls , and she received a thunderous standing ovation that seemed to catch even her by surprise.
And the Les Mis team did a great job with their medley -- even Russell Crowe got a big ovation.
The other performances were a mixed bag. Barbra Streisand did a nice job with her "The Way We Were" tribute to the late composer Marvin Hamlisch , although it focused a disproportionate spotlight on Hamlisch and kept several worthy members of the community from being included in the "In Memoriam" segment (among them Harry Carey, Jr. , Andy Griffith , Larry Hagman , Lupe Ontiveros , Ann Rutherford ).
Norah Jones did a nice job with best original song nominee "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" from Ted . But the most anticipated performance of the night for many, Adele 's rendition of the title song from Skyfall (for which she would end up winning the best original song Oscar to go with her Grammy and Golden Globe wins from the past month), proved fairly disappointing. She seemed to be holding back her voice for some reason, and she did not receive a standing ovation.
A lot of attention was paid during the show to 9-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis , the youngest best actress Oscar nominee in history, and rightly so. But,when you think about it, there were also a lot of oldies but goodies in the house who deserve shout-outs, too: 66-year-old Sally Field and 75-year-old Jane Fonda looked fabulous; 76-year-old Dame Shirley Bassey and 70-year-old Streisand sounded great; and Riva was there, on her 86th birthday, as an Oscar nominee, and received a birthday wish from Lawrence, the actress 64 years her junior who beat her. That was nice. (But where was the dude who has always escorted winners up the stairs to the stage? Thank God it was young Lawrence who fell -- and bounced right back up -- and not Riva!)
It's a shame that the Academy wasn't able to reunite all of the actors who have played James Bond -- all six are still alive. I've heard that they tried, but that Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan were holdouts,denying all of the rest of us what would have been the moment of the night.
This Piece was Written by Scott Feinberg....
