Penelope Cruz Wins the Oscar

Penelope Cruz has again made Spanish film history by becoming the first Spanish actress to win an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, thanks to her performance in Woody Allen´s Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Penelope, who was competing in this category with Amy Adams in Doubt, Viola Davis in Doubt, Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler, joins Spanish actor Javier Bardem, who last year received the award for males in this category for the Cohen brothers’ film No Country for Old Men. However, against all forecasts, it was Tilda Swinton who gave her the award rather than Bardem, who is currently immersed in the filming of Biutiful by Alejandro Glez Iñarritu.

As far as the other awards of the evening, as was expected, the big winner of the night was the British film Slumdog Millionaire by Danny Boyle. This independent production, on which no distributer was prepared to hedge its bets a year ago, won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Directing (Danny Boyle) and Best Adapted Screenplay. On the other hand, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which had 13 nominations, had to settle for two awards in technical categories.

There were also no surprises about the awarding of the Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar to Kate Winslet for The Reader, Best Actor in a Supporting Role to the recently deceased Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight, or Best Animated Feature Film to Wall-E by Andrew Stanton.

However, the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role was rather unanticipated, going to Sean Penn for his performance a gay city councilor in My Name is Harvey Milk by Gus Van Sant, at the expense of the favorite and resurgent Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler. And, for Best Foreign Language Film, the Japanese Departures, pending release in Spain, displaced the big favorites, The Class and Waltz with Bashir.

At a ceremony presented by the actresses Eva Marie Saint, Tilda Swinton, Goldie Hawn, Whoopie Goldberg and Anjelica Huston, Penelope Cruz dedicated the award to Pedro Almodovar, Fernando Trueba, Woody Allen and Bigas Luna, and ended her speech in Spanish, expressing gratitude to Spanish actors.

“All of those in Spain are sharing this moment with me and feel that this is theirs, too; I dedicate it to them, as well as to all of the actors of my country,” Cruz said with great emotion upon receiving the award.

Almodovar’s reaction was one of not expecting Cruz to win. "I cried tears of joy when I heard her name after the classic, 'and the Oscar goes to'", he stated in a press release from his production company, El Deseo.

“Penelope’s Oscar is the reward for the talent, ambition, tenacity and extraordinary gifts she has for comedy. And, it also recognizes the courage of an actress who walked a tightrope without a safety net, with very risky roles, and at times without the dramatic background necessary, such as is the case of Allen’s film, which she took on with grace, heart and charisma,” Almodovar added.

List of Winners:

BEST PICTURE: Slumdog Millionaire

BEST DIRECTING: Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: Sean Penn - My Name Is Harvey Milk

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE: Kate Winslet - The Reader

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM: Departures - Japan

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

BEST WRITING (ORIGINAL): My Name Is Harvey Milk

BEST WRITING (ADAPTED): Slumdog Millionaire

BEST MAKE UP: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

BEST MUSIC (SCORE): Slumdog Millionaire

BEST MUSIC (SONG): “Jai Ho”- Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ANIMATED FILM: Wall-E

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Slumdog Millionaire

BEST EDITING: Slumdog Millionaire

BEST ART DIRECTION: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

BEST SOUND EDITING: The Dark Knight

BEST SOUND MIXING: Slumdog Millionaire

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: The Duchess

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Man on Wire

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Smile Pinki

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED): La Maison en Petits Cubes

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION): Spielzeugland (Toyland)

JEAN HERSHOLT HUMANITARIAN AWARD (HONORARY OSCAR): Jerry Lewis