'Lord' reigns the night

76th Academy Awards ends in clean sweep

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" emerged victorious from the 76th Annual Academy Awards Sunday night. The film was up for 11 Oscars, and won in every category in which it was nominated, including the coveted Best Picture and Best Director honors. LOTR took home 11 awards, joining "Titanic" and "Ben-Hur" for the record of most Oscars won in a single year.

LOTR also won awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Song, Best Score, Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup, Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing. There were long stretches in the evening during which hordes of New Zealander LOTR technicians paraded onstage for their accolades, and veteran emcee Billy Crystal joked at one point that there was no one left to thank in New Zealand, where the LOTR trilogy was filmed.

South African Charlize Theron took home the Best Actress award for her role in "Monster." Gaining 30 pounds and undergoing extensive makeup for the film, Theron's performance as prostitute-turned-serial-killer Aileen Wuornos unanimously was praised, and her win was considered a sure thing by critics.

Best Actor went to Sean Penn, his first win after previous nominations in three other films. Penn's role as a grieving, but vengeful father in Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" played on the actor's bottle-rocket sensibilities; it was a performance of carefully measured fire. The other front-runner in the category was Bill Murray for his work in "Lost in Translation." Murray has proven himself a brilliant tightrope walker of comedy and sadness in recent years, especially in Wes Anderson's "Rushmore" and in the sublime "The Royal Tennenbaums."

Tim Robbins collected a Best Supporting Actor statuette for his work in "Mystic River," where, as the boyhood friend of Penn's character, he lent nuance and complexity to the role of a damaged man trying to deal with his past. Predictors discounted Robbins' chances, not because of his performance, but due to his recent outspoken comments on the war in Iraq last year. Robbins' face wore a look of surprise and confusion as he accepted his award, and later walked the wrong way when headed to a press conference backstage. "I just want to go home," said the happy, but dazed actor at a press conference following the awards.

Renee Zellweger's third Oscar nomination ended in her first win. She collected a Best Supporting Actress Oscar as the feisty farmhand Ruby in Anthony Minghella's "Cold Mountain," a Civil War picture. Zellweger's speech was the quintessential acceptance speech — corny, genuine and boring as she addressed her parents: "Thank you for never saying 'don't try'."

Rookie director Sofia Coppola, daughter of famed "Godfather" filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay ("Lost in Translation"). Breaking the LOTR streak, Russell Boyd won an Oscar for his stellar photography in the Russell Crowe sea-faring adventure "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World." And, in perhaps the least surprising win of the night, Pixar's "Finding Nemo" found the award for Best Animated Feature. Honestly, though, did anyone expect otherwise?

As expected, the red carpet pre-show was a complete joke. Talking heads from "Access Hollywood" and "Entertainment Tonight" ran their usual fashion critiques and the actors looked shifty and uncomfortable. Overall, though, the 76th Academy Awards, or, dare it be said, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" Award Show, went out with a sigh and a shrug.