Wall-E, The Dark Knight, and Heath Ledger shine at the Oscars
Wall-E, Heath Ledger and The Dark Knight win at the Oscars
The 81st Annual Academy Awards are over and the winners are in. There’s not a lot of science fiction stars in the Oscars mix, but there are two that managed to get past the usual snobbery: Wall-E and The Dark Knight.
Wall-E, arguably one of the biggest animated surprise stories of the year, won the Best Animated Featured Award. Wall-E Director, Andrew Stanton, accepted the award saying, “It’s been such an inspiration to spend time with a character who so tenaciously struggles to find the beauty in everything that he sees. It’s a noble aspiration to have at times like these. I dearly want to thank everyone that’s been on this film. The cast, the crew - everybody at Disney and Pixar Studios. I have to single out Ed Catmull, John Lasseter and Steve Jobs for creating a cinematic safe haven where only a film like Wall-E could be made.”
Wall-E was also nominated for Best Score, Best Music (Song), Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Writing (Original Screenplay) but failed to win either of these awards.
The Dark Knight, which was nominated for 8 awards, including Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, and Best Art Direction, only managed to pull in a two wins.
The first win it pulled in was for Best Sound Editing. But it was the second win that, although unsurprising to the world, stole center stage. This was of course the posthumous Oscar awarded to Heath Ledger for his amazing performance as the psychotic Joker.
His Best Supporting Actor Oscar was accepted by his family: his father, mother, and sister all spoke. “This award tonight would have humbly validated Heath’s quiet determination to be truly accepted by you here, his peers, in an industry he so loved,” his father said. His mother followed with, “Tonight we are choosing to celebrate and be happy for what he has achieved. His sister added, “We proudly accept this award on behalf of your beautiful (daughter) Matilda.”
Although his family accepted this Oscar, it is his daughter Matilda who will ultimately be its custodian. At 3 years of age she is too young to legally take custody of it but it will pass to her when she turns 18.
Ledger, who died of an accidental prescription drug overdose a little over a year ago, becomes only the second actor in history to win a posthumous Oscar (behind Peter Finch who won it for Network).
Although much of this years Oscar’s nominees and winners were, as usual, under debate (why was The Dark Knight not nominated for Best Score?), there was no debate that Ledger’s win turned the 81st Academy Awards into one of the most emotional Oscar’s ceremony yet. There were few people in attendance who were not moved by the win, and many with tears.
Congratulations to all involved with Wall-E and The Dark Knight, and most especially, congratulations to the family and friends of Heath Ledger. It was most certainly a well deserved win.
