76th Academy Awards

Sunday, February 29, 2004 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California

Preshow: Billy Bush, Chris Connelly & Maria Menounos
Show: Billy Crystal

Producer: Joe Roth
Supervising Producer: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Lost in Translation, and in the highly competitive Best Actor category, strong work from Johnny Depp, Sean Penn and Bill Murray.

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 became only the third movie —with nine or more nominations— to sweep every nominated category, following Gigi and The Last Emperor, which both went nine-for-nine.

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 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.

Sofia Coppola's win for best original screenplay for Lost in Translation made the Coppola family (Carmine, Francis Ford, and Sofia) the second three-generation Academy-Award winning family, after the Hustons (Walter, John, and Anjelica).

The television broadcast on ABC was aired live with a five-second tape delay, possibly because of the Janet Jackson breast-baring Super Bowl incident. It was shown live in many other countries around the world (satellite delays notwithstanding).

Notable quotes

• "Bush was president, the economy was tanking and we'd just finished a war with Iraq." - Host Billy Crystal, remembering how things were different 13 years ago when he also hosted the Oscars.

• "For the very, very first time, we're being simulcast in Aramaic." - Host Billy Crystal said jokingly, referring to the ancient language used in Mel Gibson's new film, The Passion of the Christ.

• "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 productions from that country.

• "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.

• "That felt good." - Blake Edwards, after rolling across the stage in a wheelchair and crashing into a wall.

• "Do you know that people are moving to New Zealand just to be thanked?" - Host Billy Crystal.

• "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 honoured 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 recognising fantasy this year. Fantasy is an 'F' word that hopefully the five second delay won't do anything with." - Peter Jackson, as he received his Oscar for Best Picture.

Winners

See also: 76th Academy Awards nominees

Feature Films

• Best motion picture of the year: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, Producers
• Best foreign language film of the year: The Barbarian Invasions - Canada
• Best documentary feature: The Fog of War - Errol Morris and Michael Williams
• Best animated feature film of the year: Finding Nemo - Andrew Stanton

Directing

• Achievement in directing: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Peter Jackson

Acting

• Performance by an actor in a leading role: Sean Penn in Mystic River
• Performance by an actress in a leading role: Charlize Theron in Monster
• Performance by an actor in a supporting role: Tim Robbins in Mystic River
• Performance by an actress in a supporting role: Renée Zellweger in Cold Mountain

Writing

• Original screenplay: Lost in Translation - Written by Sofia Coppola
• Adapted screenplay: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson

Music

• Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score): The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Howard Shore
• Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song): Into the West from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Music and Lyric by Fran Walsh and Howard Shore and Annie Lennox

Technical

• Achievement in art direction: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Art Direction: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Dan Hennah and Alan Lee
• Achievement in cinematography: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Russell Boyd
• Achievement in costume design: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor
• Achievement in film editing: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Jamie Selkirk
• Achievement in makeup: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Richard Taylor and Peter King
• Achievement in sound editing: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Richard King
• Achievement in sound mixing: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek
• Achievement in visual effects: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke

Short Films

• Best documentary short subject: Harvie Krumpet - Adam Elliot

Breakdown

(Awards won/nominations)

Special honors

Blake Edwards received the Honorary Academy Award for his work on such films as Breakfast at Tiffany's, Days of Wine and Roses, Victor/Victoria and the Pink Panther series. Edwards is married to Oscar-winning singer-actress Julie Andrews.

Bob Hope, Katharine Hepburn and Gregory Peck had special "in memoriam" montages.

See also

• Academy Awards
• List of Academy Awards ceremonies