77th Annual Academy Awards Results and Commentary (2005)
©A.M.P.A.S.®
- Date of Ceremony: Sunday, February 27, 2005
- For films released in: 2004
- Host(s): Chris Rock (video)
Welcome to DigitalHit.com’s backstage coverage of the 77th Annual Academy Awards.
8:01 PM ET
They’re showing the pre-show back here in the pressroom. One minute in and I’m already sick of Billy Bush. Can we impeach him?
8:25 PM ET
Five minutes to go…
8:27 PM ET
Man, the food back here is good.
8:31 PM ET
And we’re underway with an opening clip segment telling us that movies can make us feel, make us think. We get our first view of the set which is comprised of a lot of spiralling video screens.
8:34 PM ET
Chris Rock takes to the stage. He gets a standing ovation. “Sit your asses down! Welcome to the 77th and last Academy Awards. We have four black nominees tonight, it’s like Def Oscar Jam. The only acting you see at the Oscars are the people pretending they’re happy to lose.”
“Have you ever seen a movie so bad you wondered about the actors finances? I saw Road Trip and sent Cuba Gooding Jr. a check for $80.”
“If you can’t get a star: wait. If you can’t get Russell Crowe, Colin Farrell won’t do. If you can’t get Denzel, don’t get me.”
“Right now, Michael Moore is thinking ‘I should’ve made Super-Size Me. I’ve done the research.’”
He also riffed heavily on George Bush. “Imagine applying for a job and while you’re doing it, they release a film showing how badly you suck at it.”
8:43 PM ET
Our first presenter tonight: Halle Berry.
The first category is Art Direction and it’s the first category to use the new technique of bringing all the nominees up on stage to announce the winner. And the Oscar goes to Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo for The Aviator.
“I would like to say thank you, first of all to Martin Scorsese. Great, great, great director, which we love very, very much.” – Dante Ferretti
8:47 PM ET
Rene Zellweger’s up next to present the first acting category of the night: Best Supporting Actor. And the Oscar goes to Morgan Freeman.
“I want to thank everybody and anybody who ever had anything at all to do with the making of this picture. But I especially want to thank Clint Eastwood for giving me the opportunity to work with him again. And to work with Hilary Swank. This was a labor of love. And I thank the Academy. I thank you. So very much.” – Morgan Freeman
8:54 PM ET
Robin Williams is up presenting the Best Animated Feature. “They tell me Spongebob is gay. Squarepants is not gay. Hot pants is gay. Bugs Bunny had more dresses than J. Edgar Hoover at Mardi Gras.” And the Oscar goes to The Incredibles. Brad Bird accepts.
“You know, animation is about creating the illusion of life. And you can’t create it if you don’t have one. So, I want to thank my wonderful crew for the creation. And I want to thank my mom, my dad, my wife Liz, and my kids Jack, Michael and Nick, for giving me my life. I love you. And thank you.” – Brad Bird
8:59 PM ET
Rock says, “This next presenter was so convincing as Katherine Hepburn that Sidney Poitier went to her house for dinner.”
Cate Blanchett presents the award for Makeup, which is using the new technique of presenting it to the people in their seats. There’s a microphone in the aisle. The winner is the team for Lemony Snickett, Valli O’Reilly and Bill Corso.
“This is an extremely fortunate event. I’d like to thank the Academy for making my parents so proud. Colleen Atwood for being such a good friend and always hiring me and inspiring me. Brad Silberling, Mitch, Kathleen, Medusah and Tonya for working so hard. And I’d like to formally apologize for all the actors for making them look so unfortunate. But it was worth it, wasn’t it?” – Valli O’Reilly
9:03 PM ET
Drew Barrymore introduces the first nominated song tonight. It’s Les Choristes “Look To Your Path (Vois Sur Ton Chemin)” and it’s sung by Beyonce and the American Boys Choir.
9:06 PM ET
Morgan Freeman’s back here in the pressroom. Big applause. A reporter asks what it means to African-Americans if he and Jamie Foxx both win. “It means that Hollywood is continuing to make history. Life goes on. Things change. They never stay the same. So we’re evolving with the rest of the world. That’s what it means.”
9:10 PM ET
In a taped segment, Rock heads to the Magic Johnson cinemas and talks to people. Their favorite films include Alien vs Predator, White Chicks, and Chronicles of Riddick. None of them had seen the Oscar nominees, except for Albert Brooks.
9:13 PM ET
Scarlett Johansson talks about the Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards that she hosted.
9:15 PM ET
Pierce Brosnan, whose voice is off tonight, welcomes to the stage all of the nominees for Costume Design. He is aided by the animated Edna Mole from The Incredibles. And the Oscar goes to The Aviator’s Sandy Powell. Her speech is short and sweet.
“So many people to thank, but most importantly, I’d like to thank my colleagues and partners in crime: Debbie Scott, Annie Hadley, John Cowell, Lisa Padovani and David Davenport. Also, a big, big thank you to Marty for being the inspiration for us all. Thank you.” – Sandy Powell
9:19 PM ET
“When this next actor isn’t dazzling us with his acting ability, he’s boring us with his politics,” says Rock as he introduces the next presenter, Tim Robbins. Tim is here to present the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. And the Oscar goes to Cate Blanchett for The Aviator.
“But most importantly, and on behalf of everyone I know on The Aviator, thank you to Martin Scorsese. I hope my son will marry your daughter.” – Cate Blanchett
9:26 PM ET
Chris Rock pays tribute to Johnny Carson. The segment includes a tribute from past host Whoopi Goldberg.
9:29 PM ET
Leonardo DiCaprio, a nominee tonight, strolls out onstage to present the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The pack of nominees join him onstage. And the Oscar goes to Born into Brothels’ Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski.
9:31 PM ET
Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom are out next to present Film Editing. And the Oscar goes to The Aviator’s Thelma Schoonmaker.
9:34 PM ET
Mike Myers introduces the Counting Crows’ performance of the nominated song “Accidentally in Love.”
9:36 PM ET
Brad Bird joins us backstage. When asked why he loves Pixar, Bird says, “They are a director-driven place. They don’t give assignments to directors. They find directors that they like, and they want to know what you’re passionate about making. So they are interested in passion projects. Even though these things are big and expensive and complicated, they are passionate about it. John Lasseter loves toys and loves cars. And Andrew Stanton, you know, put his relationship with his son in Finding Nemo. And Pete Docter wondered, if there is a monster in the closet, where does it go? So these films are personal films. And the other thing is that they empower you to make them, but they also push you very hard to make them better and better. So I just think they’re very enlightened.”
9:41 PM ET
Cate Blanchett’s in the pressroom now. Asked if she would have accepted the role if Katherine Hepburn was still alive, Blanchett says, “Yes. Well, she was when I accepted it, and unfortunately, she had passed away just as I was getting on the plane to start rehearsal. I had asked if I could meet her, and I was aware that she was very ill, so I was very sensitive not to be pushy about it.”
9:41 PM ET
They introduce Adam Sandler and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It’s actually a set-up for a bit where Rock plays an absent Zeta-Jones.
Sandler is introducing the Adapted Screenplay Oscar. And the Oscar goes to Sideways’ Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor.
“We love Fox Searchlight for letting us make a film with complete creative freedom. And last but not least, very quickly, I know I’m going to wrap up, I want to share my side of this award with the cast and crew of the film because we had a lot of fun. See ya later.” – Alexander Payne
9:46 PM ET
Jake Gyllenhaal and Ziyi Zhang are presenting the next award for Visual Effects. An army of nominees stands on the stage behind them.And the Oscar goes to Spider-Man 2’s John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier.
“What an honor to be singled out in a year with so much terrific work. Boy, am I glad there wasn’t a fourth episode of The Lord of the Rings” – John Dykstra
9:49 PM ET
AMPAS President Frank Pierson steps out and dedicated tonight’s broadcast to the men and women of the armed forces. He then introduces Al Pacino, who is here to present the honorary Oscar to Sidney Lumet, who directed Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon, which was written by Pierson.
“The script told me to rob a bank. Sidney told me how to do it,” says Pacino.
We get a clip package of Lumet films like 12 Angry Men, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Bye Bye Braverman, Fail-Safe, The Hill, Serpico, Prince of the City, Network, The Wiz, Deathtrap, Family Business, The Verdict, etc.
9:57 PM ET
A standing ovation greet Lumet as he takes to the stage. “When I made my first movie, I fantasized about Oscar.”
“I mean, how do I thank Spielberg and Scorsese and Coppola? How do I thank Jean Vigo, Carl Dreyer, Willie Wyler, and Kurosawa, and Buster Keaton? And I’m not mentioning the ones I really stole from. What about the Epsteins for writing a line like, “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid?” Or Wilder and Diamond for, “Well, nobody’s perfect.” Or Faragoh for, “Mother of God, is this the end of Rico?” So, what I guess it comes down to, I’d like to thank the movies. I know that sounds general. But it’s very real to me. I’ve got the best job in the best profession in the world. So, I just want to thank all of it.” – Sidney Lumet
10:01 PM ET
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor are here. More later…I need two more arms and ears to write what’s happening onstage and in the pressroom.
10:04 PM ET
Emmy Rossum saunters out in a lovely red dress to introduce Beyonce and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s performance of “Learn to be Lonely.” Didn’t Beyonce used to have a last name? Did her hand cramp writing it?
10:08 PM ET
Rock says Beyonce has sung two more songs than Janet and nothing has come out yet. He then introduces Jeremy Irons, who reacts to a loud noise in the hall by saying “I hope they missed.” He presents the nominees for Live Action Short who remain in their seats. And the Oscar goes to Wasp’s Andrea Arnold. “In England we’d say this is the dog’s bollocks.”
10:11 PM ET
Laura Linney quickly moves in to present the Animated Short Oscar. And the Oscar goes to Ryan’s Chris Landreth. The lack of a long walk does give him some more time to make a detailed speech thanking his pals back at the NFB in Canada.
10:14 PM ET
Kate Winslet, a nominee tonight, is presenting the Oscar for Best Cinematography. And the Oscar goes to The Aviator’s Robert Richardson. His mother’s in hospital and he thanks the doctors and nurses taking care of her.
10:19 PM ET
Sidney Lumet’s back here and he says Vin Diesel, who he’s currently working with, is a glorious actor.
“He’s one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with. It’s an interesting thing that develops about how we get blinded by the way people become stars. Being an actor, as you may have gathered, is a rather desperate occupation. And you try to make it work for you, whichever way you can. And making it work for you means becoming financeable. That’s what it means. Vin got his break as a muscled car racer. First picture that did, 50 million, 60 million. And he’s been relegated to that. He’s — people think that that’s what he is. He’s a glorious actor, if you’ve seen some of his other work. He’s beautifully prepared technically; knows what he’s doing. A character actor, believe it or not, as opposed to a leading man. Well, I’m not going to — I’m not going to oversell it, but hopefully, in September, you’re going to see what he is. And I think you’re going to be wonderfully surprised. Gratifyingly surprised.” – Sidney Lumet
10:20 PM ET
Rock says, “You won’t be able to take your eyes off these next four presenters: Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek.” They’re presenting Best Sound Mixing. And the Oscar goes to Ray’s Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer and Steve Cantamessa.
10:24 PM ET
Why send the gorgeous Hayek and Cruz away when you can have them present the Sound Editing Oscar as well? And the Oscar goes to The Incredibles’ Michael Silvers and Randy Thom.
“Certain Academy Awards like Sound and Visual Effects and Editing are sometimes referred to as technical awards. They’re not technical awards. They’re given for artistic decisions. And sometimes we make them better than others, and I guess we made a couple of good ones on this one.” – Randy Thom
10:26 PM ET
Apparently the TV audience can’t get enough of Salma Hayek’s breasts and she now introduces the song from The Motorcycle Diaries, “Al Otro Lado Del Ro”. The first-ever Spanish language song to be nominated, it’s performed by Carlos Santana and Antonio Banderas.
10:33 PM ET
They’re serving dessert now. Remember, I’m doing this for you. It’s research.
10:35 PM ET
Natalie Portman’s presenting the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject. The nominees join her on stage. And the Oscar goes to Mighty Times: The Children’s March’s Robert Hudson and Bobby Houston.
10:38 PM ET
The pair get played off. Rock says “Ah, c’mon, they got their Oscar onstage. Next they’ll give it to them in the parking lot.” He then introduces “Oprah’s favorite white person” John Travolta. He’s here to present Best Score. And the Oscar goes to Finding Neverland’s Jan A.P. Kaczmarek.
10:42 PM ET
Martin Scorsese, a nominee tonight, is here to present the Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Roger Mayer. Besides his work taking care of people in the industry, Mayer is also a force in the world of film preservation.
“As for film preservation, I must give credit to the six board chairmen, seven production heads during my 25 years at MGM, who either backed our endeavours or weren’t quite sure what we were doing, so let it happen anyway. And then came Ted Turner and his cohorts in Atlanta, who understood the importance of all this and kept it going when funds were pretty short. Preservation and restoration are now led by the studios and organizations nationwide such as the Museum of Modern Art and Eastman House in New York, UCLA, and our own Academy Archives here in Los Angeles, and most particularly, the Library of Congress.” – Roger Mayer
10:47 PM ET
Annette Bening introduces Yo Yo Ma who plays along with the In Memoriam segment.
10:55 PM ET
Rock introduces Sean Combs. “So this is the Oscars? It’s nice.” P. Diddy then introduces the nominated song from The Polar Express. “Believe” is sung by Josh Groban and tonight’s go-to singer, Beyonce.
10:59 PM ET
Rock says “Jay-Z, I wouldn’t trust my woman with Josh Groban.” He then introduces Prince to present Best Song. And the Oscar goes to The Motorcycle Diaries’ “Al Otro Lado Del Ro” by Jorge Drexler.
11:03 PM ET
Sean Penn’s here. He comments on Rock’s ribbing of Jude Law and then gets ready to present Best Actress. And the Oscar goes to Hilary Swank.
“I don’t know what I did in this life to deserve all this. I’m just a girl from a trailer park who had a dream. I never thought this would ever happen, let alone be nominated. And a working actor, for that matter. And now, this. I thank the Academy. I’m eternally grateful for this great honor. I would also like to acknowledge my fellow nominees, Annette, Imelda, Kate, and Catalina, your work inspires me beyond words.” – Hilary Swank
After a list of thanks, the band starts to play but she cuts them off by saying “You can’t do that. I haven’t gotten to Clint yet! I saved him for the end.”
11:12 PM ET
“The first woman to ever breast feed an apple. Gwyneth Paltrow”
Gwyneth is here to present the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. And the Oscar goes to Spain’s The Sea Inside. Among others, Alejandro Amenbar thanks Javier Bardem.
11:16 PM ET
Samuel L. Jackson, who hosted the Spirit Awards yesterday, is here to present Original Screenplay. And the Oscar goes to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’s Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth.
11:22 PM ET
We’re in the final stretch. Last year’s Best Actress winner, Charlize Theron, is here to present Best Actor. And the Oscar goes to Jamie Foxx for Ray. He gets an ovation as he takes to the stage.
“I got so many people to thank tonight. First I want to start it out with Taylor Hackford. Taylor, you took a chance, man. I mean that love for Ray Charles was deep, down in the earth. It’s cracked open. And it’s spilling. And everybody’s drowning in this love. I thank you for taking a chance on this film. And thank you for waiting 15 years to get me to do it. I want to thank you. “ – Jamie Foxx
Foxx chokes up as he talks about his late grandmother and how she brought him up to be a “Southern gentleman.” Foxx says, “She still talks to me now. Only now, she talks to me in my dreams. And I can’t wait to go to sleep tonight because we got a lot to talk about. I love you.”
11:32 PM ET
Julia Roberts prepares to hand out the Academy Award for Best Director. And the Oscar goes to Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby. Julia gives him a big kiss and then wipes the lipstick off his face.
“I’d like to thank my wife, who is my best pal down here. And my mother, who was here with me in 1993. She was only 84 then. But she’s here with me again tonight. And she just — so, at 96, I’m thanking her for her genes. It was a wonderful adventure. It takes a — to make a picture in 37 days, it takes a well-oiled machine. And that well-oiled machine is the crew — the cast, of course, you’ve met a lot of them.” – Clint Eastwood
11:36 PM ET
Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand have the final task of the night: presenting the Academy Award for Best Picture. Dustin reads the nominees, but Babs wants to do the winner. She forgot her glasses, so Dustin whispers it to her. And the Oscar goes to Million Dollar Baby.
“Actually, this is the third award ceremony we’ve gotten to in this category. And tonight, we won. And I would tell you every time I started going to this thing, I’d say I’m going to enjoy myself whether I win or lose. But believe me, as Arnold said, “It’s better to win!” I love it. Thank you, everybody. Now — this is a great honor that celebrates the talent of Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, and the genius of Clint Eastwood. Now, one other quick — I want to thank Anjelica Huston, who introduced me to F.X. Toole, and Paul Haggis for writing a brilliant screenplay. And the only thing left for me to do in my life now, is thank my wife, who believed when I was worried. My two great children. I’m going to sit down, and get a piece of lemon pie with the real filling. I’m going to look at this. And then, I’m going to die and go to heaven.” – Producer Albert S. Ruddy
11:40 PM ET
“Goodnight, Brooklyn,” shouts Rock as he winds up the show. Three hours and eleven minutes. Not too bad.
11:41 PM ET
Okay, the telecast is over but we’re still waiting for the final winners to hit the pressroom. It’s usually a flurry of people so we’ll toss in some quick notes and flesh things out later.
11:59 PM ET
Chris Rock joins us in the pressroom. He says that he felt the controversy surrounding his hosting seemed to be made up. “I do concerts all over the country. My fans are white, black, gay and straight.
A reporter asked if has a built in control for not swearing in this situation. “My mother was front and center. I can’t curse in front of Rose Rock.”
“An audience is an audience, it’s just what you’re allowed to do in front of that audience, “ said Rock. Since his mother wasn’t in the room, Chris had no problem swearing in front of us.
12:08 AM ET
Jamie Foxx is back here now. A reporter asks what his daughter thought of the show.
“You know what’s amazing about this is that, she’s 11 years old. She said, dad, okay. After this, can we go to the big awards? Which is the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award. And then — a ten and eleven-year-old — she just turned eleven. You would expect that. Now, she may not know everything — she may not know the significance of everything that’s going on tonight, but years from now, she will be talking to her friends and say, me and my dad one night had a great time.” – Jamie Foxx
12:16 AM ET
Hilary Swank joins us in the pressroom.
“I think that the truth is after doing Boys Don’t Cry, I realized how few and far between the great roles are, and I’m beyond thankful for finding Million Dollar Baby and the producers giving me this film five years later. And I thought maybe it’s one of a lifetime and there never will be a role like that again, and I’m lucky it’s only been five years.” – Hilary Swank
12:27 AM ET
Clint Eastwood and the producers of Million Dollar Baby are here. So is Flat Stanley.
“Thank you very much. I have Flat Stanley here. Flat Stanley is my child’s class project, so I have to have Flat Stanley.” – Clint Eastwood
We’d like to thank you for joining us this evening.
We’d like to give special thanks to Best Western and the Best Western Hollywood Plaza Inn for their generous assistance with our coverage stay.