Nick-Davis.com: 2001 Oscar Winners

2001 Academy Awards:
Predictions and Winners

I watched the Academy Awards on a giant television screen in the fantastic Ithaca Sports Bar & Grill in Ithaca, New York—which means I was lucky enough to be in a genuinely public space in front of a larger-than-life image when Halle Berry and Denzel Washington scored their triumphant victories. Their very different but comparably affecting speeches were clearly the highlights of the evening, along with the eloquent, quietly subversive rhetoric of Sidney Poitier in accepting his honorary award. Notice how generous he was in sharing his award with the brave studio heads and responsible directors who worked with him—and notice, too, that all the people he could name are either retired or dead.

I am completely bored, put off, and unconvinced by snakish intimations that these actors only won because of the Academy's collective liberal posturing. If AMPAS were all that liberal, we wouldn't be celebrating our second and third lead-category Oscar winners of color in 74 years! For more than political reasons, I was thrilled by Halle and Denzel's victories and their remarks. Certainly compared with Jennifer Connelly's utterly lackluster reception of her Best Supporting Actress prize (is it too much to ask a practiced performer to raise her head?), the heartfelt emotion of the Best Actress and Best Actor winners was sincere, effusive, and memorable.

Of course, it still amazes me that in a year with three artistically venturous and impeccably produced Best Picture contenders—Gosford Park, Moulin Rouge, and The Fellowship of the Ring—the Academy was so reactionary as to pick a middlebrow biopic that is above-average, yes, but no better. (At least In the Bedroom was shut out.) I'm always happy when the Oscars distribute trophies across such a wide array of winners—11 different films collected the 19 major awards, with no picture winning more than four—but the Picture and Director announcements were palpable anticlimaxes.

A few other notes: clearly the worst lineup of Best Song contenders in years, which is saying something. I was one of few predictors who guessed that Randy Newman would break his streak, even if I named the wrong category, and even though neither his score nor his god-awful song had any business in these races. The decision to have actual filmmakers write the presenters' introductions was inspired, but deadly dull, especially since Cameron Diaz and Reese Witherspoon are the only actors in Hollywood who can read them with feeling. I would much rather have Julia Roberts rooting publicly for a friend (which many found unseemly) than the boatload of other presenters hypnotized by the TelePrompter. Hooray for Woody Allen's appearance and Whoopi Goldberg's entrance, and if Halle Berry and Kate Winslet had any challengers as Best Dressed, I must have missed them.

Who I Predicted

BEST PICTURE
A Beautiful Mind
Gosford Park
In the Bedroom
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Moulin Rouge

BEST DIRECTOR
Robert Altman, Gosford Park
Ron Howard, A Beautiful Mind
Peter Jackson, Lord...: Fellowship
David Lynch, Mulholland Drive
Ridley Scott, Black Hawk Down

BEST ACTRESS
Halle Berry, Monster's Ball
Judi Dench, Iris
Nicole Kidman, Moulin Rouge
Sissy Spacek, In the Bedroom
Renée Zellweger, Bridget Jones's Diary

BEST ACTOR
Russell Crowe, A Beautiful Mind
Sean Penn, I Am Sam
Will Smith, Ali
Denzel Washington, Training Day
Tom Wilkinson, In the Bedroom

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind
Helen Mirren, Gosford Park
Maggie Smith, Gosford Park
Marisa Tomei, In the Bedroom
Kate Winslet, Iris

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jim Broadbent, Iris
Ethan Hawke, Training Day
Ben Kingsley, Sexy Beast
Ian McKellen, Lord...: Fellowship
Jon Voight, Ali

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Amélie, G.Laurant/J.-P.Jeunet
Gosford Park, Julian Fellowes
Memento, Christopher & Jonah Nolan
Monster's Ball, Milo Addica/Will Rokos
The Royal Tenenbaums, W.Anderson/O.Wilson

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
A Beautiful Mind, Akiva Goldsman
Ghost World, D.Clowes & T.Zwigoff
In the Bedroom, R.Festinger & T.Field
Lord...: Fellowship, Walsh/Boyens/Jackson
Shrek, Elliott/Rossio/Stillman/Schulman

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Amélie, Bruno Delbonnel
Black Hawk Down, Slawomir Idziak
Lord...: Fellowship, Andrew Lesnie
The Man Who Wasn't There, Roger Deakins
Moulin Rouge, Donald McAlpine

ART DIRECTION
Amélie, Aline Bonetto
Gosford Park, Stephen Altman
Harry Potter...Sorcerer's Stone, Stuart Craig
Lord...: Fellowship, Grant Major
Moulin Rouge, Catherine Martin

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Affair of the Necklace, Milena Canonero
Gosford Park, Jenny Beavan
Harry Potter...Sorcerer's Stone, Judianna Makovsky
Lord...: Fellowship, N.Dickson & R.Taylor
Moulin Rouge, C.Martin & A.Strathie

BEST EDITING
A Beautiful Mind, M.Hill & D.Hanley
Black Hawk Down, Pietro Scalia
Lord...: Fellowship, John Gilbert
Memento, Dody Dorn
Moulin Rouge, Jill Bilcock

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
A.I. Artificial Intelligence, John Williams
A Beautiful Mind, James Horner
Harry Potter....Sorcerer's Stone, John Williams
Lord...: Fellowship, Howard Shore
Monsters, Inc., Randy Newman

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Jimmy Neurton: Boy Genius
Monsters, Inc.
Shrek

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Amélie (France)
Elling (Norway)
Lagaan (India)
No Man's Land (Bosnia/Herzegovina)
Son of the Bride (Argentina)

BEST DOC. FEATURE
Children Underground
LaLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton
Murder on a Sunday Morning
Promises
War Photographer

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"If I Didn't Have You," Monsters, Inc.
"May It Be," Lord...: Fellowship
"There You'll Be," Pearl Harbor
"Until...," Kate & Leopold
"Vanilla Sky," Vanilla Sky

BEST SOUND
Amélie
Black Hawk Down
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Moulin Rouge
Pearl Harbor

BEST SOUND EFFECTS
Monsters, Inc.
Pearl Harbor

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Pearl Harbor

BEST MAKEUP
A Beautiful Mind
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Moulin Rouge

Who Won the Oscar