Blanchett, Freeman Win Academy Awards

LOS ANGELES – Cate Blanchett of “The Aviator” and Morgan Freeman of “Million Dollar Baby” won Academy Awards as supporting players Sunday, the first Oscar wins for the two Hollywood veterans.

Martin Scorsese’s Howard Hughes epic “The Aviator,” which led contenders with 11 nominations, took four Oscars early in the show.

Freeman won for his portrayal of a worldly wise ex-prizefighter in Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby.”

“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,” said Freeman, who previously co-starred in Eastwood’s “Unforgiven.”

Freeman’s win set up a record-tying night for black performers, with Jamie Foxx expected to take the best-actor prize for the Ray Charles tale “Ray.” It would be only the second time blacks have won two of the four acting Oscars, following Denzel Washington and Halle Berry’s triumph three years ago for “Training Day” and “Monster’s Ball.”

“It means that Hollywood is beginning to make history,” Freeman said backstage. “We’re evolving with the rest of the world.”

Playing Katharine Hepburn in “The Aviator,” Blanchett had the spirit of the Oscars’ most-honored actress on her side. Hepburn, the love of Hughes’ life in the 1930s before she began her long romance with Spencer Tracy, earned 12 nominations and won a record four Oscars.

“Thank you, of course, to Miss Hepburn. The longevity of her career I think is inspiring to everyone,” said Blanchett. She added thanks to “Aviator” director Martin Scorsese: saying, “I hope my son will marry your daughter.”

Oscar host Chris Rock said Blanchett was so convincing that Sidney Poitier, Hepburn’s co-star in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” showed up at Blanchett’s house for supper.

The superhero action comedy “The Incredibles” won the animated-feature prize, beating 2004′s biggest box-office hit, the fairy-tale sequel “Shrek 2.” It was the second-straight animated Oscar for Pixar Animation, which won a year ago for “Finding Nemo.”

“I don’t know what’s more frightening, being watched by millions of people, or the hundreds of people that are going to be annoyed with me tomorrow for not mentioning them,” said Brad Bird, writer-director of the “The Incredibles.”

The latest win dabs salt on the Walt Disney Co.’s wounds over the looming expiration of its distribution deal for Pixar films, which ends after next year’s “Cars.” The back-to-back Oscars underscore Pixar’s growing ascendance and the weakening position of animation pioneer Disney, which has yet to win the animated-feature Oscar with any of its homegrown films and whose biggest recent cartoon hits have all been made by Pixar.

Unlike last year, when “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” dominated the awards as expected and flat-out front-runners took all four acting prizes, the 77th Oscars shaped up as a mixed bag, with only Foxx a virtual lock to win.

With no huge hits among top nominees, Oscar organizers worried that TV ratings could dwindle for the live ABC broadcast. The Oscars tend to draw their biggest audiences when blockbusters such as “Titanic” or “Return of the King” are in the mix, stoking viewer interest.

Producers of the show hoped the presence of mouthy first-time host Rock might boost ratings, particularly among younger viewers who may view the Oscars as too staid an affair. Rock had mocked the Oscars a bit beforehand, calling awards shows “idiotic,” but he was on his best behavior in his opening monologue.

Rock chided some celebrities by name and included one mild three-letter word, but his routine was fairly clean for the comedian known for a foul mouth in his standup act.

“The only acting you ever see at the Oscars is when people act like they’re not mad they lost,” Rock said. He recalled the year when Halle Berry won and fellow nominee “Nicole Kidman was smiling so wide, she should have won an Emmy at the Oscars for her great performance. I was like, if you’d done that in the movie, you’d have won an Oscar, girl.”

Organizers also tried to spice up the show with new presentation tactics, including herding all nominees on stage at the same time, beauty-pageant style, for some awards.

The first prize of the night, for art direction, was awarded that way, with a total of nine nominees from five films spread across stage behind presenter Berry. The Oscar went to “The Aviator,” which also won for film editing and costume design.

“The Aviator, Scorsese’s gloriously rendered Hughes saga, and “Million Dollar Baby,” Eastwood’s emotionally piercing prizefight saga, presented the evening’s key matchup for best picture.

The other contenders were “Finding Neverland,” a fanciful look at playwright J.M. Barrie’s inspirations in writing “Peter Pan”; “Ray,” a hearty portrait of the loves, lusts, failings and musical triumphs of singer Charles; and “Sideways,” the critics’ darling about a dour wretch whose road trip with a buddy leads him to new hope for romance.

Scorsese and Eastwood’s duel for best director carried almost as much drama as the best-picture race.

One of American cinema’s most esteemed filmmakers, Scorsese was in danger of joining such luminaries as Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Altman as record holders for Oscar futility: Five directing nominations, five losses.

Eastwood, a past directing and best-picture Oscar recipient for the 1992 Western “Unforgiven,” beat Scorsese for both the Directors Guild of America prize and the Golden Globe directing honor for “Million Dollar Baby.” Those prizes are solid indicators on who ultimately wins the best-director Oscar.

Scorsese also has never delivered a best-picture winner, though many in Hollywood believe his 1980 masterpiece “Raging Bull” should have won that honor and the best-director prize. Robert Redford’s “Ordinary People” took both those awards that year.

At the 1990 Oscars, Scorsese’s “GoodFellas” lost both categories to Kevin Costner’s “Dances With Wolves.” If Eastwood prevails, it would be the third time a superstar-actor-turned-director had skunked Scorsese on Oscar night.

—

On the Net:

http://www.oscars.org/index.html