The 83rd Annual Academy Awards created plenty of stir this year with 10 best picture nominees, including The King’s Speech and The Fighter. The Oscars became one of the most anticipated events for millions of viewers on Sunday.
Kicking off the evening, stars dazzled the red carpet with their lavish gowns and suits tailored by well known designers around the world. Mila Kunis appeared in a light purple flowing dress, that was simple yet classy. Meanwhile, Helena Bonham Carter, up for best female actress in a supporting role for The King’s Speech, made headlines with her black gothic look, complete with a pair of her trademark sunglasses and wild undone hair. Other notable actresses included Scarlett Johansson in a form fitting deep red dress and Natalie Portman wearing a maroon colored gown. However, Christian Bale received the most attention on the Red Carpet that night with a beard that led some to dub him as “Jesus Bale”.
The real entertainment began with an interesting opener made by hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco. They traveled through Alec Baldwin’s dreams which took them through all of the best picture nominees, Inception style. This included Franco dressed as a bear on horseback and a hilarious reference to the classic movie Back to the Future complete with a DeLorean. Eventually, they end up making it to the Oscars where Franco makes a shout out to his grandmother, sitting in the audience, while Hathaway is criticized by her mother for her bad posture.
Hathaway then livened things up with a performance of her interpretation of the song “On My Own,” which attacked Hugh Jackman for refusing to do a duet with her. Franco rejoined her on the stage soon after, dressed in complete Marilyn Monroe drag. He then took the opportunity to take a stab at Charlie Sheen, “You got to wear a tuxedo, so I wore this. Weird part is, I just got a text message from Charlie Sheen.” Other performances included Celine Dion singing “Smile” and Gwyneth Paltrow doing a song from her movie Country Strong. Although not her best live performance, Paltrow looked stunning as usual.
The night continued with wins, such as Toy Story 3 for Original Song and Best Animated Feature Film. In a Better World took home the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and The King’s Speech won Best Original Screenplay to name a few. Christian Bale received the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Dicky Eklund in The Fighter, while he fought back the tears towards the end of his acceptance speech.
However, the highlight of the night was old time actor Kirk Douglas, who was making jokes left and right before he actually got to naming Melissa Leo as the Best Actress in a supporting role. It wasn’t until she dropped the “f-bomb” in the middle of her speech that things got really interesting.
The most anticipated moment of the night however, were of course Best Actor and Actress. Best Actress, was presented by True Grit star Jeff Bridges as he announced Natalie Portman as the winner for her portrayal in Black Swan. After making an emotional acceptance speech, Portman noted her role in Black Swan as the most important role of her life. Presented by Sandra Bullock, Colin Firth took home the trophy for Best Actor in The King’s Speech.
The Award Show closed with a short montage of the Best Picture nominees played to the background of the famous speech, King George VI makes as they enter World War II in the film The King’s Speech. As most had probably already expected, The King’s Speech received the prestigious Oscar for Best Picture. Overall, the night was full of a few unexpected surprises, and some even more predictable outcomes.
