Posted by Adam

Monday February 23, 2009

Kate Winslet, Sean Penn and the late Heath Ledger were among the winners at last night’s Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

Winslet, 33, won the Best Actress gong for her role in The Reader. Fellow nominees included Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married); Angelina Jolie (Changeling); Melissa Leo (Frozen River); and Meryl Streep (Doubt).

While accepting her award, Winslet joked that she wrote her first Oscar acceptance speech when she was 8, staring into a bathroom mirror. Holding the statuette, she added, “This would have been the shampoo bottle. Well, it’s not a shampoo bottle now!

“I feel fortunate to have made it from there to here!”

Penn was named Best Actor for Milk, in which he played 1970s gay activist Harvey Milk. Other actors nominated in the category included Richard Jenkins (The Visitor); Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon); Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button); and Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler).

“I did not expect this, and I know how hard I make it to appreciate me, often,” Penn said in his acceptance speech. “Mickey Rourke rises again and he is my brother.”

Ledger – who died last year – was named Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight. As the audience rose to its feet, Ledger’s family accepted his Oscar. Other nominees included Josh Brolin (Milk); Robert Downey Jr (Tropic Thunder); Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt); and Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road).

British flick Slumdog Millionaire swept the board, taking home a whopping eight Academy Awards – Best Picture and for its Director, Danny Boyle; Adapted Screenplay; Cinematography; Sound Mixing; Editing; Original Musical Score and Best Song (“Jai Ho”).

The full list of winners:

BEST PICTURE

Slumdog Millionaire

LEAD ACTOR

Sean Penn in Milk

LEAD ACTRESS

Kate Winslet in The Reader

DIRECTOR

Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Departures – Japan

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Dustin Lance Black for Milk

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire

ANIMATED FEATURE

Andrew Stanton for WALL-E

ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Kunio Kato for La Maison en Petits Cubes

ART DIRECTION

Donald Graham Burt for art direction and Victor J. Zolfo for set decoration on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

COSTUME DESIGN

Michael O’Connor for The Duchess

MAKEUP

Greg Cannom for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog Millionaire

LIVE ACTION SHORT FIRM

Jochen Alexander Freydank for Spielzeugland (Toyland)

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

James Marsh and Simon Chinn for Man on Wire

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Megan Mylan for Smile Pinki

VISUAL EFFECTS

Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

SOUND EDITING

Richard King for The Dark Knight

SOUND MIXING

Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty for Slumdog Millionaire

FILM EDITING

Chris Dickens for Slumdog Millionaire

ORIGINAL SCORE

A.R. Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire

ORIGINAL SONG

“Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire

Tags: oscars