The biggest surprise at the Oscar 2008 ceremony was Javier Bardem's best supporting actor Oscar win for No Country for Old Men. Joke! (Bardem, shown above next to Jack Nicholson, is not applauding himself.)
The second biggest surprise was Marion Cotillard's win. I was expecting Julie Christie. In fact, I wanted Julie Christie, though Cotillard (right) was surely just as deserving. Cotillard, who now apparently believes in angels (she said as much in her very emotional acceptance speech), also won the French Academy's César a couple of nights ago. (I still say they should have an Oscar for Best Accent, given to people like Marion Cotillard.)
For the books: Cotillard is only the third individual — and the first native French speaker — to win an Oscar for acting in a non-English-language film. The other two are Italians Sophia Loren, for Two Women (1961), and Roberto Benigni, for Life Is Beautiful (1998).
The third biggest surprise was Alex Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side best documentary feature win. I (and, really, just about everybody else) was expecting that other Iraq War nominee and multiple-award-winner, Charles Ferguson's No End in Sight, to to take home the golden statuette.
The fourth biggest surprise was Tilda Swinton's win for Michael Clayton. I was expecting Ruby Dee, or perhaps Cate Blanchett or Amy Ryan. But not Swinton, even though she also took the British Academy's best supporting actress award a week or so ago. She, herself, looked as surprised as I was.
The fifth biggest surprise was that Transformers didn't win for best sound. The best sound editing award went to Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg (above) for The Bourne Ultimatum, while the best sound mixing award went to Scott Millan, David Parker, and Kirk Francis, also for The Bourne Ultimatum. So much for my theory that the loudest movie always wins. (And too bad for Transformers' Kevin O'Connell, who went home for the 20th time empty-handed.)
The sixth biggest surprise is that I still haven't had dinner. Time to go grab a bite.
Ah, before I go…
My Oscar predictions have been spot-on! I only missed 12 (out of 24) wins. In other words, I got right a full half (as opposed to an empty half) of the total results. Awesome. A record.
Photos: Darren Decker (Bardem, Stewart, Cotillard, Hansard, Rouse), Michael Yada (Landers), Greg Harbaugh (Swank). All photos: © A.M.P.A.S.