Last night's Academy Awards was a lovefest for the Lord of the Rings, Return of the King. The movie tied the record for the most Oscars won with eleven. The two other movies that have accomplished this were Ben Hur and Titanic. Return of the King also won all eleven awards for which it was nominated.
I suppose this is cosmic redemption for Star Wars losing out to Annie Hall in 1977.
I'm glad that Peter Jackson and crew were rewarded for their contribution to pop culture. Still, my favorite movie of the trilogy, by far, was the Fellowship of the Ring (extended version).
Also, I noticed that the cast, with the exception of Ian McEllen, has been overlooked not only by the academy (deservedly so), but also by the makers of the movie. I heard little if no reference to the cast's dedication in acceptance speeches, which is odd in Hollywood awards shows. I remember hearing some news a while back about disgruntled cast members. Maybe some of the rumors are true.
Posted by Frank Yamada at March 1, 2004 06:51 PMAs to the cast comment: I don't know about any rumors of disgruntled cast members, but it's quite possible. I know from working on shows for only a month and a half that when you live and breathe it for the time, you can get irritable. Now, just imagine 7 years of that for some of those people! I did notice, however, there were some significant missing cast persons - Viggo Mortensen, Hugo Weaving, John Rhys-Davies, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean, Cate Blanchett, Andy Serkis, and Christopher Lee - just to name a few unsung heroes. You don't make a film like this without a significant and wonderful cast. Here's to them!
-R
Posted by: Ryan Whitley at March 1, 2004 11:46 PM