“KANYE WEST” Moment
The night’s most surreal moment came during the presentation of the short documentary award to MUSIC BY PRUDENCE. Director Roger Ross Williams excitedly appeared on stage to accept the award and had already started his acceptance speech, when fellow filmmaker Elinor Burkett rushed the stage and, pulling a “Kanye West” moment, cut him off and pushed him away from the microphone, complaining that a man wouldn’t let a woman talk. The two were whisked offstage. WATCH:
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THE WINNERS
As expected, Mo’Nique won Best Supporting Actress for her work in the movie PRECIOUS, while Sandra Bullock beat out Mo’Nique’s PRECIOUS co-star Gabourey Sidibe for Best Actress in THE BLIND SIDE. Also, Jeff Bridges took home the Best Actor award for his work in CRAZY HEART.
The biggest surprise of the evening came as a double-whammy, when Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman ever to win Best Director for the film THE HURT LOCKER (beating out her former husband James Cameron), which also went on to win Best Picture, beating out Cameron’s AVATAR, which had been widely expected to win.
Every year mid-way through the evening, the Academy presents an “In Memoriam” moment to remember those who have passed away during the year. But while such actors as Patrick Swayze, Brittany Murphy and Michael Jackson were honored, the Academy inadvertently left Farrah Fawcett out of the montage. The result caused a plethora of Tweets from angry viewers who could not believe that Fawcett, who ironically died the same day as Jackson, was snubbed.
And incidentally, speaking of Gabourey Sidibe, the PRECIOUS star who was raised in Brooklyn, NY — how does she have an authentic Brooklyn accent in the movie, but an odd “Valley Girl” accent in real life? Which one is real and which one is acting? Hmmm…
