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The
Host
Oscar-winning
actor Whoopi Goldberg hosted the fourth Academy Awards telecast
on March 24, 2002.
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74th awards show producer Laura Ziskin
stated "I am thrilled to have Whoopi Goldberg as
the host for this year's Academy Awards Show. Whoopi has
great warmth, wit, humor, humanity and a social conscience,
all qualities that I feel are essential for this year's
show. She is both an Oscar winner herself and an Oscar
tradition, this being her fourth stint as host over the
last ten years." Wright choice Whoopi ensured a meaningful
and entertaining evening for all the nominees, for the
audience in the new Kodak Theatre and for the millions
watching at home."
In 1998, Goldberg hosted the 71st Awards Presentation,
and previously hosted the 66th and 68th telecasts, both
of which earned her Emmy nominations. "I'm delighted
to have been asked to once again host the Academy Awards,"
Goldberg said. "It'll be the first broadcast done
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new home and I
love a housewarming. And this broadcast, in my opinion,
carries a different weight, because it says that we as
filmmakers, actors and technicians worldwide will continue
to do what we do best and celebrate it. And who wouldn't
want to front that?"
Goldberg has won numerous awards and considerable acclaim
for her work in film, television, recordings and theatre.
She is equally well-known for her tireless humanitarian
efforts on behalf of children, the homeless, human rights,
education, substance abuse, the battle against AIDS, and
many other causes and charities.
Born and raised in New York City, Whoopi Goldberg has
been performing in front of audiences since the age of
8, when she first appeared onstage at the Helena Rubinstein
Children's Theatre in New York City. By the mid-1970s,
she had appeared in the choruses of several Broadway musicals,
including "Hair," "Jesus Christ Superstar"
and "Pippin."
As an adult, Whoopi worked in theatre and improvisation
in San Diego and the Bay Area,
where she performed with the Blake Street Hawkeyes theatre
troupe. It was there that she created the characters which
became "The Spook Show" and evolved into her
hit Broadway show, Grammy Award-winning album and the
HBO special that helped launch her career.
Whoopi made her motion picture debut in Steven Spielberg's
film version of Alice Walker's THE COLOR PURPLE, for which
she earned her first Academy Award nomination. Her performance
in GHOST earned her the 1991 Academy Award for Best Supporting
Actress. Whoopi has also appeared in such films as JUMPIN'
JACK FLASH, CLARA'S HEART, THE LONG WALK HOME, THE PLAYER,
SISTER ACT,THE LION KING, STAR TREK: GENERATIONS, BOYS
ON THE SIDE, GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI, HOW STELLA GOT HER
GROOVE BACK, GIRL, INTERRUPTED, KINGDOM COME and RAT RACE.On
television, Whoopi appeared for five seasons on "Star
Trek: The Next Generation," she co-starred with Jean
Stapleton in "Bagdad Café" and hosted
her own late-night talk show, "The Whoopi Goldberg
Show." She has appeared in numerous made-for-television
movies, including the Emmy-nominated HBO drama "In
the Gloaming," and "Rogers & Hammerstein's
Cinderella." Goldberg has also appeared in eight
"Comic Relief" telecasts with Billy Crystal
and Robin Williams.
Goldberg currently executive produces "Hollywood
Squares" and the Lifetime series "Strong Medicine"
and has produced original movies for Showtime, Lifetime
and TNT. Other producing projects include the featurex
films THE PIANO MAN'S DAUGHTER and THE MAO GAME, and the
forthcoming Broadway musical "Thoroughly Modern Millie."
Whoopi has placed prints of her hands, feet and braids
in the forecourt of the famed Grauman's Chinese Theatre
and recently received her star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame, in front of the new Kodak Theatre. |
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The
Winners
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ACTOR
-- LEADING
Denzel Washington
TRAINING DAY
ACTOR -- SUPPORTING
Jim Broadbent
IRIS
ACTRESS -- LEADING
Halle Berry
MONSTERS BALL
ACTRESS -- SUPPORTING
Jennifer Connelly
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
SHREK
Aron Warner
ART DIRECTION
MOULIN ROUGE
Catherine Martin (Art Direction)
Brigitte Broch (Set Decoration)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
LORD OF THE RINGS
Andrew Lesnie
COSTUME DESIGN
MOULIN ROUGE
Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie
DIRECTING
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
Ron Howard
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
MURDER ON A SUNDAY MORNING
Jean-Xavier de Lestrade
and Denis Poncet
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
THOTH
Sarah Kernochan and Lynn Appelle
FILM EDITING
BLACK HAWK DOWN
Pietro Scalia
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
NO MAN'S LAND
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Bosnia &
Herzegovina
Directed by Danis Tanovic
MAKEUP
LORD OF THE RINGS
Peter Owen and
Richard Taylor
MUSIC (SCORE)
LORD OF THE RINGS
Howard Shore
MUSIC (SONG)
MONSTERS, INC.
"If I Didn't Have You"
Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
BEST PICTURE
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
Brian Grazer and Ron Howard
SHORT FILM -- ANIMATED
FOR THE BIRDS
Ralph Eggleston
SHORT FILM -- LIVE ACTION
THE ACCOUNTANT
Ray McKinnon and Lisa Blount
SOUND
BLACK HAWK DOWN
Michael Minkler, Myron Nettinga and
Chris Munro
SOUND EDITING
PEARL HARBOR
George Watters II and Christopher
Boyes
VISUAL EFFECTS
THE LORD OF THE RINGS
Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook,
Richard Taylor
and Mark Stetson
WRITING (ADAPTED)
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
Written by Akiva Goldsman
WRITING (ORIGINAL)
GOSFORD PARK
Written by Julian Fellowes
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"Lagaan"
Lost,
"No Man's Land" Won
Disappointment
greeted the news that a blockbuster Bollywood musical
failed to win India its first-ever Academy Award.
Only the third Indian
film ever to be nominated, "Lagaan' lost the
Oscar for best foreign film to Bosnia-Herzegovina's
violent war satire, "No Man's Land". A
dejected atmosphere hung over the office of film's
production unit in suburban Bombay. 'It is sad.
I would be lying if I said we weren't disappointed,'
said Amin Hajee, who played a mute caretaker of
a temple in the film. 'But it just means that all
of us have to work harder and have to make movies
that get better and better.' The film's director,
Ashutosh Gowariker, and Aamir Khan, the producer
who also plays the film's lead role, were in Los
Angeles for the ceremony. The initial gloom faded
when some actors spoke with Khan who called from
Los Angeles. 'He told me not to be upset because
in our own way we have achieved a lot,' said Hajee.
'Aamir said being nominated was a victory in its
own way, and that this was not a defeat.' Some 20
actors and crew met Gowariker's father and sang
songs from the movie at his residence. 'If there
is truth and determination in a person's mind, victory
will surely be his,' was among the favourite verses
the actors hummed. Gowariker also spoke to his son
after the ceremony. 'He (Ashutosh) told us not to
take it to heart. We too feel that being one of
five best films in the world is itself a big achievement,'
said Gowariker. The film, a box office smash in
India, was also a big hit in Britain and released
in the United States in May. 'Lagaan' is set in
rural Indian village in 1893 when the country was
under British colonial rule. Indian moviegoers cheered
as a group of illiterate villagers beat their English
rulers at a game of cricket to avoid paying an oppressive
land tax. The film mixes romance and music with
independence and cricket, potent themes for most
Indian. Millions of Indians tuned in to watch the
awards ceremony broadcast live and Indian newspapers
and television channels focused on 'Lagaan' as the
lead story of the day. Only two other Indian films
have been nominated for an Oscar, 'Mother India'
in 1957 and 'Salaam Bombay' in 1988. In the run-up
to the Oscars, advertising billboards in Bombay
carried messages wishing the cast and crew good
luck. One billboard showed caricatures of two actors
with one holding the Oscar statuette and the headline:
'Will it be our victory?_ a line from the film. |
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Oscar
Nominee Says
It's 'All In The Politics'
By
Corky Siemaszko
If
the members of the motion picture academy give him the
nod next month, Denzel Washington will be the first
black man since 1963 to win the best actor Oscar --
but he isn't counting on it.
The fact that he and two other black performers -- Halle
Berry and Will Smith -- are contenders for this year's
most prestigious acting Oscars does not mean the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has suddenly become
color-blind, Washington tells this week's Newsweek magazine.
"To
say that these nominations mean that African-Americans
are now getting the recognition they deserve is to give
a lot of power to people who don't have it," Washington
said. "Three nominations means three nominations
-- nothing more or less for black actors."
Julia Roberts, who co-starred with Washington in the
1993 movie "The Pelican Brief," said he should
have had three best actor Oscars by now.
"I cannot absorb living in a world where I have
an Oscar for best actress and Denzel doesn't have one
for best actor," she said.
The only black man with a best actor Oscar is Washington's
mentor, Sidney Poitier, who won in 1963 for "Lilies
of the Field."
Washington won a best supporting actor Oscar in 1989
for his turn in "Glory."
But three times, he has been denied the top Oscar.
"If they had wanted me to win the Oscar, they would
have given it to me," Washington said. "They
didn't."
Asked why, Washington insisted, "I don't worry
about a statue that doesn't look like me."
"It's all in the politics," he said. "It's
more about that than anybody knows."
Washington likened his plight to that of Al Pacino,
who made his mark in "The Godfather," "The
Godfather, Part II," "Serpico" and "Dog
Day Afternoon" but didn't win an Oscar until 1992,
for "Scent of a Woman." One of the actors
he beat that year was Washington, who was nominated
for "Malcolm X."
"Hey, at least I'm not 0-8 like Pacino," Washington
said, laughing. "Then I would be screaming bloody
murder."
This year, Washington received a fourth best actor nomination
for his wrenching performance as a crooked cop in "Training
Day."
Washington is also competing against Smith, who was
nominated for "Ali." Berry is up for the best
actress Oscar for "Monster's Ball." No black
actress has ever won that award.
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