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76th Academy Awards
Oscars2003.JPG
Date February 29, 2004
Site Kodak Theatre
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Preshow Billy Bush
Chris Connelly
Maria Menounos
Host Billy Crystal
Producer Joe Roth
Director Lou Horvitz
Highlights
Best Picture The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Most awards The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (11)
Most nominations The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (11)
TV in the United States
Network ABC
Duration 3 hours, 44 minutes
Viewership 43.56 million
26.68 (Nielsen ratings)
 < 75th Academy Awards 77th > 

The 76th Academy Awards ceremony honored the best films of 2003 and was broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on ABC beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST/8:30 p.m. EST, February 29, 2004 (01:30 March 1 UTC). The show was produced by Joe Roth and was hosted for the eighth time by comedian Billy Crystal.

The nominees were announced on January 27 at 5:38 a.m. PST (13:38 UTC) by Academy president Frank Pierson and actress Sigourney Weaver, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in the Academy's Beverly Hills headquarters. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King swept all 11 categories in which it was nominated. It matched the record 11 wins of Titanic and Ben-Hur and beat the previous record of Gigi and The Last Emperor for the largest sweep of every nominated category, both of which had achieved nine-for-nine.

The big contenders for the 76th Academy Awards (for the best achievement in film in 2003) included The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Lost in Translation, and in the highly competitive Best Actor category, with strong work from Johnny Depp, Sean Penn and Jude Law. Penn eventually won the award, after failing three previous nominations.

Contents

News and recap

Billy Crystal returned for the eighth time to host the presentation. His opening monologue poked fun at the change (or lack thereof) between the time he had hosted the ceremony in 1991, and the current one: "Things were so different then. You know how different it was? Bush was president, the economy was tanking and we'd just finished a war with Iraq."

However, the bulk of Crystal's good-natured barbs—and the comments of many of the presenters and award recipients as well—were directed at New Zealand and Return of the King, which dominated an evening lacking in surprises. The front-runner (or near front-runner) in every nominated category turned out to be the actual winner, although The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was the first ever film of the fantasy genre to win Best Picture. Despite the lack of "drama" due to an "Obvious Winner" ceremony, the show attracted an audience of 43.56 million, breaking a low-ratings streak which had started back in 2001 due to the popularity of the best picture winner.

The television broadcast on ABC was aired live with a five-second tape delay, possibly because of the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction controversy during Super Bowl XXXVIII. It was shown live in many other countries around the world (satellite delays notwithstanding). Host Billy Crystal joked during the awards ceremony that Robin Williams was the cause of the 5-second delay.

Jack Black and Will Ferrell finally shed light (and lyrics) on the mysterious song that the orchestra would play whenever a winner would make a speech.

Notable quotations

  • (Riding Crush, the turtle from Finding Nemo) "IIIIIII CANT BELIEVE THE YANKEES GOT A-ROD!" – Billy Crystal during his opening montage celebrating about how his beloved Yankees just got reigning MVP Alex Rodriguez
  • (Being kidnapped in Mystic River) "What are you doing? This isn't how you get to the World Series!" – Crystal once again from his opening montage joking that he was being kidnapped in Boston.
  • "Things were so different then. You know how different it was? Bush was president, the economy was tanking and we'd just finished a war with Iraq." – Host Billy Crystal, remembering how things had been different thirteen years before, when he first hosted the Oscars.
  • "Pussy Galore! I just got it! That's vulgar!" – Billy Crystal, "reading" Sean Connery's mind.
  • "Forty years ago, this country went down a rabbit hole in Vietnam — millions died. I fear we're going down the rabbit hole once again." – Errol Morris upon receiving his Best Documentary Oscar for The Fog of War.
  • "I can't wait for his tax audit—scary times." – Host Billy Crystal, in response to documentarian Errol Morris's comment that he fears America in Iraq is "going down a rabbit hole once again."
  • "It's now official—there is nobody left in New Zealand to thank." – Host Billy Crystal, in reference to the numerous awards won by The Lord of the Rings, which was produced in New Zealand, and won the most awards that night.
  • "We're so thankful that The Lord of the Rings did not qualify for this category." – Denise Robert, wife of director Denys Arcand, in her acceptance speech for the Best foreign language film The Barbarian Invasions, also the Lord of The Rings reference was due to the numerous wins it got that night.
  • "If there's one thing that actors know—other than there weren't any WMDs—it's that there is no such thing as best in acting." – Sean Penn in his Best Actor acceptance speech.
  • "I'm so honored and touched and relieved that the Academy and members of the Academy have seen past the trolls and the wizards and the hobbits and are recognizing fantasy this year. Fantasy is an 'F' word that hopefully the five second delay won't do anything with." – Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, as he received his Oscar for Best Picture.
  • "...And he's wearing shoes, ladies and gentlemen!" – Billy Crystal commenting on Peter Jackson's appearance after the latter's acceptance speech.
  • "It's a clean sweep." – Steven Spielberg announcing the Best Picture Oscar for Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

Winners & nominees

Best Picture

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Mystic River - Sean Penn

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Monster - Charlize Theron

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Mystic River - Tim Robbins

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Cold Mountain - Renée Zellweger

Best Director

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Peter Jackson

Best Original Screenplay

Lost in Translation - Sofia Coppola

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Peter Jackson , Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens

Best Cinematography

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Russell Boyd

Best Art Direction-Set Decoration

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Grant Major , Dan Hennah and Alan Lee

Best Costume Design

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Christopher Boyes , Michael Semanick , Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek

Best Editing

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Jamie Selkirk

Best Sound Editing

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Richard King

  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Christopher Boyes, George Watters II
  • Finding Nemo - Gary Rydstrom, Michael Silvers

Best Visual Effects

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Jim Rygiel , Randall William Cook , Alex Funke and Joe Letteri

Best Makeup

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Richard Taylor and Peter King

  • Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Ve Neill, Martin Smauel
  • Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Edouard Henriques III, Yolanda Toussieng

Best Music, Original Song

Into the West - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Annie Lennox , Fran Walsh and Howard Shore

Best Music, Original Score

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Howard Shore

Best Short Film, Animated

Harvie Krumpet

Best Short Film, Live Action

Two Soldiers

Best Documentary, Short Subjects

Chernobyl Heart

Best Documentary, Features

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

Best Foreign Language Film

The Barbarian Invasions - Canada

Best Animated Feature

Finding Nemo

Breakdown

(Awards won/nominations)

11/11 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2/10 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
2/6 Mystic River
1/7 Cold Mountain
1/4 Finding Nemo
1/4 Lost in Translation
1/2 The Barbarian Invasions
1/1 Monster

Special honors

Director Blake Edwards received the Honorary Academy Award for his work on such films as Breakfast at Tiffany's, Days of Wine and Roses, and Victor/Victoria. The award was presented by Jim Carrey. During Carrey's presentation of the award, the 81-year-old Edwards was seen sitting in a wheelchair backstage, watching the presentation from the wings. When Carrey introduced Edwards, his electric wheelchair appeared to malfunction. The wheelchair, with Edwards, rocketed across the stage at high speed. As Edwards passed Carrey, he snatched his Honorary Oscar from Carrey's hand. The wheelchair then crashed through a wall on the opposite side of the stage. (Although it looked like Edwards in the wheelchair, this pre-arranged stunt was actually performed by veteran stuntman Mickey Gilbert.)

Edwards emerged, covered with dust and plaster, and clutching his award. Jim Carrey helped Edwards to the microphone. "That felt good!" quipped the director, referencing a line frequently used by Clouseau in the Pink Panther films. He concluded his acceptance speech with "My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, [referring to his wife, Julie Andrews] the beautiful English broad with the incomparable soprano, and promiscuous vocabulary thanks you, and I sure as hell thank you."

In Memoriam

A special memorial was presented by Tom Hanks to legendary comedian and past Oscar host Bob Hope.

A second special memorial was presented by Julia Roberts to legendary actress and four time Oscar winner Katharine Hepburn.

The annual "In Memoriam" tribute was presented by Academy President Frank Pierson, starting with another legendary actor that died in the previous year, Gregory Peck. Peck is followed by a list of Academy members who had also died in the previous year: Wendy Hiller, David Hemmings, Hope Lange, screenwriter George Axelrod, Charles Bronson, Michael Jeter, screenwriter David Newman, Ron O'Neal, Academy Award winner Art Carney, director Elia Kazan, documentary filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, Karen Morley, Buddy Ebsen, director John Schlesinger, filmmaker Stan Brakhage, producer Ray Stark, movie trailer innovator Andrew J. Kuhen, John Ritter, Hume Cronyn, Buddy Hackett, composer Michael Kamen, screenwriter John Gregory Dunne, Robert Stack, Alan Bates, Gregory Hines, Jack Elam, Jeanne Crain, Ann Miller, Donald O'Connor

Partial list of Presenters and Performers

Presenters

Presenter Award
Catherine Zeta-Jones Best Supporting Actor
Robin Williams Best Animated Feature
Ian McKellen The Return of the King Picture Segment
Chris Cooper Best Supporting Actress
Angelina Jolie Best Art Direction
Bill Murray Lost in Translation Picture Segment
Oprah Winfrey Mystic River Picture Segment
Tobey Maguire Seabiscuit Picture Segment
Will Ferrell
Jack Black		 Best Original Song
Francis Ford Coppola
Sofia Coppola		 Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay
Frank Pierson In Memoriam Tribute
Nicolas Cage Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Picture Segment
Tom Cruise Best Director
Steven Spielberg Best Picture
Jim Carrey Honorary Oscar

See also

Academy Award portal

External links








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