Mitchell Dorcas
The 83rd Annual Academy Awards: The King’s Speech, Natalie Portman, Colin Firth, Melissa Leo, Christian Bale are the big winners…
The 83rd Annual Academy Awards (Oscars), which took place at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday February 27, was hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway, who had seven outfit changes. The show opened with a montage of this year’s best picture nominees including Black Swan, The King’s speech, Toy story 3, The Fighter and The Social Network.
The first award was handed out by Tom Hanks. He awarded Alice in Wonderland with the Achievement in Art Direction category. Best Cinematography went to Inception. Melissa Leo won the first big award of the night. She won her first ever Oscar for Best Actress in a supporting Role for The Fighter, presented by Kirk Douglas. The Fighter also saw Christian Bale, who is also a first time winner, scooping the Best Actor in a supporting role gong.
The top acting award went to Natalie Portman in Black Swan and Colin Firth for The King’s Speech. The Social Network took home the Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing and Best Original Score, although many expected more for the film. The King’s Speech was ultimately the top winner, grabbing the Best Picture Oscar. There is a lot of interest in this film, which had 12 nominations, because it is a British film about royalty with a handicapped protagonist who overcomes his affliction whilst developing a friendship with a social outsider. For the most part, there were no surprises with The King’s Speech and True Grit also making a big splash, as well as The Social Network and Black Swan. The top acting awards went to Natalie Portman in Black Swan and Colin Firth for The King’s Speech, both actors were front-runners for all the awards season.
The show closed with a special performance of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by the kids of PS 22 in Staten Island. Over the holidays Anne Hathaway personally delivered the news that they would be performing on the broadcast. They were joined onstage by all of the night’s winners.
What the papers said about the outfits:
The Oscars 2011 lured a lot of stylish ladies, but red carpet fashion still saw a lot of red. That’s red, as in the color of some of the most smashing frocks to walk in front of the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, according to The Examiner. “For starters, co-host Anne Hathaway crept onto that notorious red carpet in a red Valentino gown before she took to the stage to run the Oscars 2011 show with James Franco. Then there was last year’s best actress, Sandra Bullock, who was also in red, with her strapless dress designed by Vera Wang.”
Cate Blanchett “pushed the proverbial boat out in this blush beaded floor length Givenchy Couture gown from the label’s spring 2011 collection,” according to My Fashion Life. “Flattering her frame to utter perfection, the cut and detail, especially the unexpected flash of yellow beads, shoot her straight to the top of our best dressed list, it said. The ever-beautiful Halle Berry looked picture perfect in this romantic nude Marchesa number. The fitted basque, all-over embellishment and mermaid tail design all added up to a truly jaw-dropping outfit on the night.”
Sandra Bullock certainly stole the show as the lady in red with this structured Vera Wang gown – the pillar box shade complemented her alabaster skin tone to true perfection, added My Fashion Life.
Penelope Cruz, who has just had a baby, wore a striking red gown that had so much spangle you almost thing you may be able to see the dress all the way over in her native Spain where this star is considered quite the fashionista, furthered The Examiner.
“And then there was Jennifer Hudson. Well, the former American Idol wasn’t wearing red. she was wearing tangerine, red’s hue cousin. But this Oscar winner had to be mentioned because she looked better at Oscars 2011 than ever before in her Versace getup. What an amazing transformation from her early small screen days as a struggling singer.”
IT WAS AMAZING!!!
