Hanks presents Best Documentary, Feature, to Taxi to the Dark Side. Director Alex Gibney notes that his father, a Naval interrogator, encouraged him to make the movie, angry over "what was being done to the rule of law." The film was picked up by HBO.
11:24PM Just a few more awards - Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Director and Best Picture. Let's bring this in before midnight! Harrison Ford comes out to present Best Original Screenplay - the winner is Diablo Cody, for Juno. She might be the Oscar winner to show off her sexy lady tattoo. She dedicates the award to the other nominees and thanks the production team, star Ellen Page, director Jason Reitman, and her family "for loving me exactly the way I am."
11:30PM Return from the commercial break directly into the Best Actor of Years Past montage. Dame Helen Mirren present the Best Actor Oscar to Daniel Day-Lewis for his role in There Will Be Blood. After kissing Mirren, he says, "That will be the closest I'll ever get to a knighthood." He gives a nice speech (thanks Paul Thomas Anderson, his co-stars, his wife) and pays tribute to his grandfather, father (former British poet laureate) and his sons. Guess George Clooney was right, when he called himself the "Hillary Clinton" in the Best Actor race, next to DDL's "Barack." So, was Johnny Depp John Edwards?
11:39PM Back from commercial to a clip of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau's Best Director introduction from a past telecast - god, were they awesome actors. And wow, now there's a montage of the past 30+ years of Best Director winners, which reminds everyone that the winners are typically white men (okay, Ang Lee won two years ago). Martin Scorsese comes out to present Best Director (aka "Best Achievement in Directing") to Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, making this the first time a pair of directors has won. In fact, back when Fargo received a Best Director nomination, the Academy (and Directors Guild) only allowed one person, so Joel Coen got the nod.
Denzel Washington comes out to present the Best Picture winner.... And it's No Country for Old Men. Joel and Ethan Coen come out of the wings, waiting for mega-producer Scott Rudin to come to the stage. Rudin, previously nominated for The Hours, is thrilled and thanks Cormac McCarthy, who had quite a 2007 (Oprah picked his book The Road for her Book Club). And we're loving the cuts back to Frances McDormand (Joel's wife), who is cheering and happy.
The show ends at 11:48PM. It was definitely an Oscars ceremony that paid tribute to the smaller, independent (with some studio aid) film, with No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, and Juno winning the major awards. It's great that the Academy is honoring well-made, interesting films, but the ceremony did feel a bit anti-climactic (save for wins for Tilda Swinton, Marion Cotillard and Once)sorce : www.gothamist.com