Katherine Bigelow’s ‘The Hurt Locker’ Wins Six Oscars

In a huge upset, Katherine Bigelow’s ‘The Hurt Locker’ won six Oscars.
Katherine Bigelow’s ‘The Hurt Locker’ Wins Six Oscars
Director Kathryn Bigelow (C), winner of Best Director award for 'The Hurt Locker,' with co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, onstage during the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
3/9/2010
Updated:
3/9/2010
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Katherine_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Katherine_medium.jpg" alt="Director Kathryn Bigelow (C), winner of Best Director award for 'The Hurt Locker,' with co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, onstage during the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)" title="Director Kathryn Bigelow (C), winner of Best Director award for 'The Hurt Locker,' with co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, onstage during the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-101202"/></a>
Director Kathryn Bigelow (C), winner of Best Director award for 'The Hurt Locker,' with co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, onstage during the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
In a huge upset, Katherine Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker won six Oscars including the most prestigious honors for Best Picture and Best Director. The win comes at the expense of the most successful box office hit in history, Avatar.

Moments after winning for Best Director, Bigelow returned from backstage to claim the award for Best Picture. She joined the film’s team on stage who were all in complete glee. As the show ended, Bigelow held her two statuettes beaming into the cameras as hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin brought the near four-hour telecast to its conclusion.

The show kicked off with a spirited song and dance number by Neil Patrick Harris donning a black sequined tuxedo jacket, and joined by a stage full of dancers. He then introduced co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, who descended from the ceiling on a platform for two. They then proceeded to crack jokes on the nominated actors and actresses as the camera singled them out.

Christoph Waltz won the first statue of the night when Penelope Cruz presented him the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his work in Inglourious Basterds. The Austrian actor made an analogy to the process of working on the film as being a voyage, with director Quentin Tarantino as the ship’s navigator. Waltz portrayed the ruthless Col. Hans Landa, in the film that creates an alternate ending to World War II.
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Bridges_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/Bridges_medium.jpg" alt="Jeff Bridges wins Best Actor Oscar for 'Crazy Heart' after being nominated four other times since 1971. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)" title="Jeff Bridges wins Best Actor Oscar for 'Crazy Heart' after being nominated four other times since 1971. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-101203"/></a>
Jeff Bridges wins Best Actor Oscar for 'Crazy Heart' after being nominated four other times since 1971. (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

Part of the fun of the evening was watching the clever interludes as awards were announced. One notable turn came from Tina Fey and Robert Downey, Jr. as they joked back and forth on the merits of writers vs. actors when they introduced the award for Best Screenplay. That Oscar was won by Mark Boal for the Hurt Locker. In his speech, he dedicated the Oscar to the troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and to his father, who had just passed away.

In another funny presentation, Ben Stiller wore blue paint, a wig, and tail to look like the Navi characters from Avatar.

Moments later, Geoffrey Fletcher choked back tears as he accepted the award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.

Following a short video presentation of the Governor’s awards. the entire room rose to its feet to applaud Lauren Bacall and Roger Corman for lifetime achievement honors.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/sandra_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/sandra_medium-284x450.jpg" alt="Sandra Bullock wins her first Oscar for her role in 'The Blind Side' based a true story of a mother who takes in a boy of the street and raises him as her own son. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)" title="Sandra Bullock wins her first Oscar for her role in 'The Blind Side' based a true story of a mother who takes in a boy of the street and raises him as her own son. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-101204"/></a>
Sandra Bullock wins her first Oscar for her role in 'The Blind Side' based a true story of a mother who takes in a boy of the street and raises him as her own son. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)
Mo'Nique won the Oscar for Actress in a Supporting Role, the second Oscar of the night for Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire. She thanked the Academy as well as Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry for signing on as executive producers. She was emotional, yet composed, as she thanked her husband for “showing me, sometimes you have to forgo doing what’s popular, in order to do what’s right, and baby, you were so right. God Bless us all! The film is an ultimately uplifting, but starkly realistic depiction of abuse and life in the inner city.

There was a classy tribute to the life of writer and director John Hughes, who passed away in 2009. Matthew Broderick and Molly Ringwald, both Hughes’s films veterans, introduced a montage of his films such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, and Sixteen Candles. They were then joined on stage by other Hughes veterans Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, McCauly Caulkin, and Anthony Michael Hall.

Later in the program, James Taylor performed as a tribute was played to honor others who had passed away, including David Carradine, Patrick Swayze, Dom DeLuise, Brittany Murphy, Michael Jackson, and Natasha Richardson.

Jeff Bridges won an Oscar for the first time after five nominations spanning back to 1971. Last year’s Best Actress Kate Winslett presented the award to Bridges, who likened the award as also being for his parents who were both actors.

A radiant Sandra Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar and singled out each of her fellow nominees individually. She thanked Leigh Anne Tuohy, whom she portrayed in the film The Blind Side. She then choked up as she gave thanks to her own mother.