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‘The King’s Speech’ wins top Oscars

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“The King’s Speech” was crowned best film at the 83rd Academy Awards on Sunday night.

Nominated for 12 Oscars -- the most of any film -- it won four statuettes, including for Colin Firth for lead actor, Tom Hooper for director, and David Seidler for original screenplay.

“I have a feeling my career just peaked,” Firth deadpanned as he accepted the honor. It capped off a phenomenal year for Firth, who won practically every award out there for playing George VI’s attempts to overcome his stuttering before he assumes the throne of England.

Meanwhile, Natalie Portman danced away with Oscar for playing a prima ballerina spinning into madness in “Black Swan.” It has been a magical awards season for Portman, who had swept nearly every honor she was nominated for, and she has glowed every step of the way: Pregnant, Portman met her now fiance on set.

“This is insane. ... I’m so grateful to do the job that I do,” Portman said.

“The King’s Speech” and “Inception” were the big winners at the Kodak Theatre, with four Oscars apiece. “The Social Network,” which was the biggest rival to “The King’s Speech,” went home with three Oscars. “Toy Story 3,” “The Fighter” and “Alice in Wonderland” all won two apiece.

Overlooked was “True Grit.” Joel and Ethan Coen’s revisionist remake of the classic Western had earned 10 nominations, including best film, director, adapted screenplay, actor and supporting actress.

While audiences flocked to the movie and critics lauded it, it went home empty-handed. But the academy and the Western genre have always had an uneasy relationship, with only three Westerns ever winning best picture.

Christian Bale won supporting actor for his role as the drug-addicted former boxer in “The Fighter.” “What the hell am I doing here in the midst of you?” Bale said, referring to all the talent in the room. He singled out his co-stars, including Melissa Leo, who earlier had won for supporting actress for playing his mother in the film. But, Bale joked, “I’m not going to drop the F-bomb like she did.” (Leo later apologized for the emotional slip.)

Bale and Leo were considered shoo-ins, and it was just two of many awards that went as expected.

Adapted screenplay went to Aaron Sorkin for “The Social Network,” and original screenplay went to David Seidler for “The King’s Speech.” “Toy Story 3” won animated film and original song for Randy Newman’s “We Belong Together.” Art direction went to production designer Robert Stromberg and set decorator Karen O’Hara for “Alice in Wonderland.” Cinematography went to Wally Pfister for “Inception.” Director Susanne Bier became only the third woman to win in the foreign language film category for Denmark’s “In a Better World.” (Bier had won the Golden Globe.) Original score went to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for “The Social Network,” and “Inception” won for sound mixing and sound editing. Makeup went to “The Wolfman,” and costume design went to Colleen Atwood for “Alice in Wonderland.”

Other honors given out were short subject documentary, which went to Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon for “Strangers No More,” a film about a Tel Aviv school for children struggling to overcome adversity. Live action short went to “God of Love” by Luke Matheny, who thanked his mother for doing craft services during shooting the film about a modern-day Cupid.

A buxom Oprah Winfrey handed out the Oscar for documentary feature to Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs for “Inside Job,” about what caused the country’s economic crisis. Ferguson noted that three years after the crisis, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, “and that’s wrong,” he said.

A surprise appearance by Billy Crystal, considered by many to be the best Oscar host over the past 20 years, earned a standing ovation. He introduced a tribute to the late Bob Hope, who had hosted the awards 18 times. Through movie magic and some crafty dubbing, Hope was projected, hologram-like, at a podium to crack wise and introduce presenters Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. The pair handed out Oscars for visual effects (“Inception”) and editing (“The Social Network”).

To lure younger audiences, the academy chose James Franco, nominated for lead actor for “127 Hours,” and Anne Hathaway, nominated two years ago for lead actress for “Rachel Getting Married,” as emcees.

The pair kicked off the show with a clever montage in which they were injected into the top Oscar-nominated films, including “Inception,” “True Grit,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “The King’s Speech” and more. After taking a trip “Back to the Future,” the couple ended up onstage for banter with each other -- and their mother and grandmother. A bit long perhaps but otherwise nonoffensive and kind of sweet.

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Oscars 2011 winners: 'King's Speech' rules the night

Image Credit: Mark Ralston/Getty Images The 83rd Academy Awards belonged to The King’s Speech , which won four Oscars from its 12 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Colin Firth), Best Director (Tom Hooper), and Original Screenplay (David Seidler). The complete winners list below:

BEST PICTURE

The Fighter

The Kids Are All Right

WINNER: The King’s Speech

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

Winter’s Bone

Javier Bardem, Biutiful

Jeff Bridges, True Grit

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

WINNER: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

James Franco, 127 Hours

BEST ACTRESS

Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole

Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

WINNER: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

BEST DIRECTOR

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Joel & Ethan Coen, True Grit

David Fincher, The Social Network

WINNER: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

David O. Russell, The Fighter

“Coming Home,” Country Strong , Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey

“I See the Light,” Tangled , Alan Menken, Glenn Slater

“If I Rise,” 127 Hours , A.R. Rahman, Dido, Rollo Armstrong

WINNER: “We Belong Together,” Toy Story 3 , Randy Newman

BEST EDITING

127 Hours , Jon Harris

Black Swan , Andrew Weisblum

The Fighter , Pamela Martin

The King’s Speech , Tariq Anwar

WINNER: The Social Network , Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Alice in Wonderland , Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 , Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi

Hereafter , Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell

WINNER: Inception , Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb

Iron Man 2 , Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Exit Through the Gift Shop , Banksy and Jaimie D’Cruz

Gasland , Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic

WINNER: Inside Job , Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs

Restrepo , Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger

Waste Land , Lucy Walker and Angus Aynley

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT

The Confession , Tanel Toom

The Crush , Michael Creagh

WINNER: God of Love , Luke Matheny

Na Wewe , Ivan Goldschmidt

Wish 143 , Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Killing in the Name (Nominees TBD)

Poster Girl (Nominees (TBD)

WINNER: Strangers No More , Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon

Sun Come Up , Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger

The Warriors of Qiugang , Ruby Yang and Thomas Lenno

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

WINNER: Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood

I Am Love, Antonella Cannarozzi

The King’s Speech, Jenny Beaven

The Tempest, Sandy Powell

True Grit, Mary Zophres

BEST MAKEUP

Barney’s Version , Adrien Morot

The Way Back , Eduoard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk, Yolanda Toussieng

WINNER: The Wolfman , Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

BEST SOUND EDITING

WINNER: Inception , Richard King

Toy Story 3 , Tom Myers and Michael Silvers

TRON: Legacy , Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague

True Grit , Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey

Unstoppable , Mark P. Stoeckinger

BEST SOUND MIXING

WINNER: Inception , Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, and Ed Novick

The King’s Speech , Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen, and John Midgley

Salt , Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan, and William Sarokin

The Social Network , Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick, and Mark Weingarten

True Grit , Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, and Peter F. Kurland

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

127 Hours , A.R. Rahman

How to Train Your Dragon , John Powell

Inception , Hans Zimmer

The King’s Speech , Alexandre Desplat

WINNER: The Social Network , Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

WINNER: Christian Bale, The Fighter

John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone

Jeremy Renner, The Town

Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Hors la Loi (Outside the Law) (Algeria)

Incendies (Canada)

WINNER: In a Better World (Denmark)

Dogtooth (Greece)

Biutiful (Mexico)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Another Year , written by Mike Leigh

The Fighter , Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson

Inception , written by Christopher Nolan

The Kids Are All Right , written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg

WINNER: The King’s Speech , Screenplay by David Seidler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

127 Hours , Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy

WINNER: The Social Network , Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin

Toy Story 3 , Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich

True Grit , written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

Winter’s Bone , adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

BEST ANIMATED FILM

How to Train Your Dragon

The Illusionist

WINNER: Toy Story 3

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

Day & Night , Teddy Newton

The Gruffalo , Jakob Schuh and Max Lang

Let’s Pollute , Geefwee Boedoe

WINNER: The Lost Thing , Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann

Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) , Bastien Dubois

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams , The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter , The King’s Speech

WINNER: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Hailee Steinfeld , True Grit

Jacki Weaver , Animal Kingdom

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Black Swan, Matthew Libatique

WINNER: Inception, Wally Pfister

The King’s Speech, Danny Cohen

The Social Network, Jeff Cronenweth

True Grit, Roger Deakins

BEST ART DIRECTION

WINNER: Alice in Wonderland , Robert Stromberg, Karen O’Hara

Happy Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 , Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan

Inception, Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Doug Mowat

The King’s Speech, Eve Stewart, Judy Farr

True Grit, Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh

Oscars 2011: The EW live blog

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Oscar Coronation for ‘The King’s Speech’

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By Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply

• Feb. 27, 2011

LOS ANGELES — “The King’s Speech,” the period drama about King George VI of Britain and his vocal coach, won best picture and three other trophies at the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday night. But in many ways the Oscars played out like the more populist and less prestigious Golden Globes: veering in multiple directions as voters sprinkled their attention among a half-dozen pictures, with no film walking away with a commanding sweep.

“The King’s Speech” did not make its presence felt until late in the night, with an unexpected victory for Tom Hooper as best director. David Seidler won for his original screenplay for this film, while Colin Firth took the best-actor prize.

“I have a feeling my career’s just peaked,” said Mr. Firth, who went on to joke that he was “experiencing stirrings” somewhere in the upper abdominal region, “which are threatening to transform themselves into dance moves.”

“Inception,” the blockbuster about dream invaders, also won four trophies, mostly in technical categories like sound mixing, while “The Social Network,” a contemporary story about the founding of Facebook, took three awards, including adapted screenplay for Aaron Sorkin.

A pregnant Natalie Portman won best actress for her role as a demented ballerina in “Black Swan,” that film’s lone prize. “The Fighter” and “Alice in Wonderland” each won two awards; even Universal Pictures, virtually AWOL through the Oscar season, won one: its “Wolfman” took the make-up prize, for the work of Rick Baker and Dave Elsey.

A victory for “The King’s Speech” put the Oscar in the hands of a team of producers — Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin — from Britain and Australia. But the triumph belonged to Harvey Weinstein, a master campaigner whose Weinstein Company distributed the film in the United States. Mr. Weinstein, who left Miramax Films in 2005 with his brother Bob to form the Weinstein Company, last had a best picture with the musical “Chicago,” released by Miramax in 2002.

Mr. Firth made a deep verbal bow in the direction of Mr. Weinstein. “Of course, Harvey, who first took me on 20 years ago when I was a mere child sensation,” he said in extending his thanks.

Melissa Leo won best supporting actress for her portrayal of the chain-saw-tough matriarch in “The Fighter.” “Truly wow,” said Ms. Leo, before beginning a rambling and emotional speech that contained profanity. “I’m just shaking in my boots here,” she said. Asked by reporters backstage about the “stretching and stretching and stretching” done by the actor Kirk Douglas in his introduction and presentation, she replied: “He was doing us all a huge favor. The longer he strung it out, the calmer I got to be.”

“The Fighter” also scored in the supporting actor category, with an emotional Christian Bale, a first-time nominee, winning for his portrayal of a lovable crack addict and former boxer.

Mr. Sorkin, who won his first Oscar for his adapted screenplay for “The Social Network,” awkwardly spoke through music for a good share of his acceptance speech, which included a shout-out to his agents “who never blow my cover and reveal that I would do it for free.” Two titans of industrial rock, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, won best score for their work on that film.

In an expected victory, “In a Better World,” about families and their intertwined lives in Denmark and Africa, took best foreign-language film. Pixar won the best animated feature Oscar, for “Toy Story 3,” with its director, Lee Unkrich, accepting the trophy. Randy Newman, a winner for his song “We Belong Together,” from “Toy Story 3,” said he really didn’t want to bore the audience with gratitude. “I want to be good television so badly, as you can see,” said Mr. Newman, who reckoned he had been nominated 20 times and won just twice.

Unlike their tight-lipped approach of previous years, executives of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had allowed telecast details to pour onto blogs in the days leading up to the telecast, setting up the prospect of a show lacking suspense. For instance, the world was told last week, courtesy primarily of Deadline.com, that the show would open with a humorous video montage of the two youthful hosts, Anne Hathaway and James Franco, putting themselves into scenes from the 10 best picture nominees.

Red Carpet at the Oscars

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And it did, with Ms. Hathaway and Mr. Franco learning how to go into people’s dreams (like in “Inception”), practicing to throw a punch with Mark Wahlberg (of “The Fighter”) and, trading cowboy jokes with Jeff Bridges (a nominee for “True Grit.”). The seven-minute montage ended, somewhat inexplicably, with a segment from the 1985 movie “Back to the Future.”

The ceremony was shorter than in years past, clocking in at about 3 hours 12 minutes.

The Academy also demystified its own ritual by opening its show to live streams, Twitter feeds and other behind-the-scenes moments that sometimes diminished the magic. Commentators like the journalist and critic Ben Mankiewicz were booked to discuss the odds on the official red carpet program, describing Mr. Firth as a lock for best actor and Ms. Portman a sure bet for best actress. The net effect was to make the show itself feel a little superfluous.

In keeping with the “settled business” nature of the proceedings, the show producers actually played Mr. Firth’s climactic speech from “The King’s Speech” over a montage of scenes from the film’s competitors — as if they knew what was in that last envelope.

Hollywood has continued to talk about a need to shorten the awards season, which currently gets started with the Toronto International Film Festival in early September and grinds through Oscar night, a half-year later. Though no change is planned next year, the Academy , which grants the Oscars, has said it might consider moving the show to as early as January in the future.

Academy Award Winners

This year’s Oscar cycle pitted young against old — the college students of “The Social Network” versus the World War II-era royals of “The King’s Speech.” The same was true in the acting categories, with Ms. Portman vying against Annette Bening (“The Kids Are All Right”) and Mr. Franco (“127 Hours”) competing against veterans like Mr. Firth.

Oscar organizers played up this divide at the ceremony, which started as a heavily produced mash-up that touched on “Ben-Hur” and “Gone With the Wind” along with “Inception” and “Black Swan.” In a move that prompted some head scratching in Hollywood, producers picked two relatively untested stars — Mr. Franco, 32, and Ms. Hathaway, 28 — as hosts. To provide generational counterbalance, the mothers of nominees, called “mominees” in an Academy news release, were asked to participate (they commented on Twitter and appeared in videos), and old-school stars like Nicole Kidman, Helen Mirren and Tom Hanks were lined up to present.

Ms. Hathaway used her hosting duties to show off her range, singing a Broadway-style number and even cracking an ad-lib joke after Kirk Douglas’s appearance. (“It’s the young and hip Oscars!”) Mr. Franco, on the other hand, at times appeared ill at ease and offered up one of the more awkward moments of the night, appearing in full drag. (Marilyn Monroe circa “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.") “The weird part is, I just got a text message from Charlie Sheen,” Mr. Franco said to nervous laughter from the crowd.

In a high-risk move, the academy brought in Billy Crystal for a monologue halfway through the show. The audience jumped to its feet, as Mr. Crystal, a beloved past host, brought a whiff of the seemingly impromptu Vaudeville spirit that marked successful past shows. “So, where was I?” cracked Mr. Crystal, before going into some schtick that wound up with some video of Bob Hope, an even more revered host from the past.

About 41.3 million people in the United States watched the Oscars ceremony last year, a 14 percent increase from the year before. The increase was mostly attributed to the Academy’s somewhat controversial decision to double the number of best-picture nominees to 10, opening the door to popular pictures like “The Blind Side,” “Up” and “District 9.”

Preshow here at the Kodak Theater on Sunday, the red carpet came alive with a strong turnout of stars and executives, some of whom in past years avoided the ceremony in silent protest over of the Academy’s turn away from splashy, big-budget pictures in favor of the arty and small. The weather played along, but just barely. Frost advisories and hail, both highly unusual for Southern California, were a subject of cocktail party chatter over the weekend.

An article on Feb. 28 about the Academy Awards ceremony, at which the co-host James Franco appeared in drag as Marilyn Monroe, misidentified, in some editions, the movie in which she wore a similar dress. It was “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” not “Some Like It Hot.”

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‘The King’s Speech’ tops Oscar noms

Weinstein Co. drama nabs 12 nominations

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‘The King’s Speech’ tops Oscar noms | Nominees list | Scorecard | Reactions

The Academy’s push to expand the Oscar best-picture race has paid dividends again. In the second year in which contenders number 10 instead of the traditional five, the field includes more films with proven mainstream appeal.

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Just as last year’s lineup of nominees, led by Fox’s juggernaut “Avatar,” dominated the box office, 2010’s contenders have earned more than $2.5 billion, with Disney-Pixar’s “ Toy Story 3 ” and Warner Bros.’ “Inception” among the top five worldwide grossers last year. Even the specialty films in best-pic contention have found wider audiences, with the Weinstein Co.’s “The King’s Speech” currently closing in on the $100 million mark.

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The contenders offer a decided contrast to a few years ago, when darker-themed, less widely seen films dominated the Oscar race. The more mainstream vibe should prove good news for producers of the 83rd Academy Awards , who are hoping to attract younger viewers to ABC’s Feb. 27 kudocast (they’ve already set James Franco and Anne Hathaway to serve as co-hosts).

Sony’s “The Social Network” had been the presumptive favorite based on other kudos-season wins heading into Tuesday’s nominations, which were presented by Academy prexy Tom Sherak and last year’s supporting actress winner, Mo’Nique. But the filmmakers behind the story of Facebook’s launch now find themselves facing renewed competition from “Speech,” which leads the Oscar race with 12 noms .

Paramount’s “ True Grit ” also emerged a strong contender, with 10 bids, after having been shut out of the Golden Globes. Warner Bros.’ “Inception” and “The Social Network” garnered eight noms apiece.

The film with the most noms has won the best picture prize in 14 of the past 20 years. But recent results — the top noms earner has won only twice in the past five years — suggest that this year’s race is far from over.

Oscar voters spread the nominations across a mix of films from the majors and indies — and not just titles that bowed during the fourth quarter of 2010. “Inception,” “Toy Story 3” and Focus Features’ “ The Kids Are All Right ” were released during the summer sesh, and “Alice in Wonderland” bowed in March.

Studio tallies of nominations numbers are always tricky, thanks to split rights, overseas deals and production partners. But in terms of domestic distribution, Paramount has 20 nominations, spread among “True Grit,” “The Fighter” and “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Iron Man 2.” “Fighter” also bears the Relativity brand, “Dragon” was produced by DreamWorks Animation, “True Grit” with Skydance Prods. and “Iron Man 2” with Marvel. Sony earned 17 (counting its Columbia, Classics and Screen Gems labels), while Warner Bros. and Disney came up with 12. Universal scared up one for the makeup work in “ The Wolfman .”

Among the indies, the Weinstein Co. led with 13 noms, for “King’s Speech” and “ Blue Valentine ,” followed by 11 for Fox Searchlight, seven for Sony Pictures Classics, six for Roadside Attractions and four for Focus Features. Lionsgate garnered one for “Rabbit Hole,” while Magnolia Pictures landed one for “I Am Love.” Miramax’s “The Tempest” was released by Disney.

Either way, the noms should help smaller films like toon “ The Illusionist ” and docu “Inside Job” get discovered by a broader audience “in a major way,” said Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics.

“The Kids Are All Right” producer Celine Rattray expressed a similar sentiment. “It took seven years, 13 financiers, and a 23-day shoot to make our film a reality,” Rattray said. “By recognizing ‘Kids,’ the Academy has not only honored us but has given hope and inspiration to the independent film community.”

“Kids Are All Right,” Fox Searchlight’s “Black Swan” and Roadside Attractions’ “Winter’s Bone” were femme-dominated films that managed to hold their own among a more testosterone-heavy lineup of pics that muscled their way into the major categories, with boxers (“The Fighter”), cowboys (“True Grit”), a rock climber (“127 Hours”), mind-bending businessmen (“Inception”) and nerds (“The Social Network”) duking it out with the stuttering monarch of “The King’s Speech.”

Focus Features chief James Schamus was among those to point out the male-dominated year in film kudos. But, he said, “In a macho year, there were extraordinarily accomplished creative women driving the engine for ‘Kids.'”

Echoing last year’s race in which the toon “Up” made it into the best-picture race, Disney’s “Toy Story 3” made the final cut for the main category this year, but the Academy has yet to include a documentary or foreign-language film in its top 10.

As always, the awards season stirs buzz as to how films will perform at the Oscars, but voters of the Academy Awards always have surprises up their tuxedo sleeves.

Notable among the twists this year are the noms for Javier Bardem and John Hawkes in the acting categories for “Biutiful” and “Winter’s Bone,” respectively. There were also some surprise omissions, such as “Inception” helmer Christopher Nolan’s exclusion from the directing category (see separate story).

Scott Rudin is a double nominee in the picture race, for “The Social Network” and “True Grit.” It’s the first time since Francis Ford Coppola and Fred Roos enjoyed that status for 1974’s “The Conversation” and “The Godfather Part II.” (Before 1951, individual producers weren’t cited in the noms.) Among the year’s other double nominees are Nolan (as producer and co-screenwriter), Danny Boyle (“127 Hours”), Lee Unkrich (“Toy Story 3”) and Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey (“True Grit”). Joel and Ethan Coen are triple nominees, as writers, directors and producers of “True Grit.”

Of the 10 best-picture nominees, nine include at least one producer getting his or her first nom in that category. Only the trio of Rudin and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen are all vets with previous best-film bids.

The acting races also include a long list of first-timers, such as Jesse Eisenberg (“The Social Network”), James Franco (“127 Hours”), Christian Bale (“The Fighter”), Mark Ruffalo (“The Kids Are All Right”), Jennifer Lawrence (“Winter’s Bone”), Hailee Steinfeld (“True Grit”) and Aussie thesp Jacki Weaver. Weaver’s perf in “Animal Kingdom” first made a splash at Sundance last year.

“I’m in Sundance right now, and everything comes full circle,” said Sony’s Barker. “A year later, she is getting nominated.”

Nine of the top 10 best picture nominees also nabbed writing nods. The only pic left out of the original or adapted screenplay race was “Black Swan,” which lost out to “Another Year.” Last year, eight of the 10 best pic contenders nabbed screenplay noms.

Greg P. Russell scored his 14th nom, with the “Salt” sound team. He’s aiming for his first win this year.

The animation category wound up with just three pics — “Toy Story 3,” “How to Train Your Dragon” and “The Illusionist” — because the Academy ruled in November that just 15 pics were eligible. Five films fill out the category when 16 films or more are considered eligible. This year marks the third year that a toon is competing for the best picture prize, after 1991’s “Beauty and the Beast” and “Up.”

Music from toons took up half of the four song slots, with “Toy Story 3’s” “We Belong Together” and “Tangled’s” “I See the Light” up against “Coming Home” from “Country Strong” and “If I Rise” from “127 Hours.”

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and collaborator Atticus Ross are first-time nominees for their score for “The Social Network.” However, this is Randy Newman’s 20th nomination and Alan Menken’s 19th. Each were nominated for animated films.

“Salt,” “Hereafter,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1,” “Unstoppable,” “Tron: Legacy” and “Iron Man 2” received bids in various tech categories.

Franco’s “127 Hours” best actor nom and official duties as Oscar host put him in rare company. The last person to be both an honoree and host in the same year was Paul Hogan, who was a contender for original screenplay for 1986’s “Crocodile Dundee.”

Final Oscar ballots will be mailed Feb. 2 and are due back at PricewaterhouseCoopers’ offices Feb. 22.

The Oscarcast is set for Feb. 27 at Kodak Theater.

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THE KING'S SPEECH Wins Best Picture; Full List of Oscar Winners

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Every Transformers Movie, Ranked by Action

This underrated vampire horror movie doubles as a brutal apocalypse film, hugh jackman had a small but hilarious cameo as wolverine in this coming-of-age dramedy.

In what easily had to be one of the most painful, unfunny Oscar ceremonies in recent memory, The King's Speech finally reached the end of its inevitable march to Best Picture.  It was the first Best Picture winner to win less than five Oscars (it won four, including Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay). [ Correction: Crash, which won Best Picture in 2006, only won 3 Oscars ]  Does that make it more or less unworthy of the Best Picture crown?  I don't know.  I don't care.  I'm drained after live-blogging the awful show and 50 minutes of terrible pre-show.

Hit the jump for the full list of winners.

BEST PICTURE: The King's Speech

BEST DIRECTOR: Tom Hooper, The King's Speech

BEST ACTOR: Colin Firth, The King's Speech

BEST ACTRESS: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christian Bale, The Fighter

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Toy Story 3

BEST ART DIRECTION: Alice in Wonderland

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Inception

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Alice in Wonderland

BEST DOCUMENTARY: Inside Job

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Strangers No More

BEST EDITING: The Social Network

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: In a Better World

BEST MAKE-UP: The Wolfman

BEST SCORE: The Social Network

BEST SONG: Toy Story 3

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: The Lost Thing

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT: God of Love

BEST SOUND EDITING: Inception

BEST SOUND MIXING: Inception

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Inception

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Social Network

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: The King's Speech

• Christian Bale

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'king's speech' rules at the 83rd oscars.

• NEW: "King's Speech" wins best actor, picture, director and screenplay Oscars
• NEW: Colin Firth sweeps best actor honors
• Natalie Portman wins the best actress Oscar
• "Inception" wins 4 Oscars

Los Angeles (CNN) -- The story of a king overcoming a speech impediment to lead his people through World War II took top honors at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards.

"The King's Speech" won the best picture, best actor, best director and best original screenplay Oscars at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre Sunday night.

The saga of how a college student created Facebook, which is now credited helping citizens overthrow their leader in the Mideast, lost out on the big awards, but "The Social Network" did win Oscars for best musical score, film editing and best adapted screenplay.

Natalie Portman, who played a ballet dancer in "Black Swan," was given the best actress Academy Award. Portman also won Golden Globe and SAG best actor trophies in recent weeks.

When "King's Speech" director Tom Hooper accepted the best director Oscar, he noted that it was his mother who found the script for him.

"The moral of this story is listen to your mother," Hooper said.

"King's Speech" writer David Seidler pointed out that at 73, he was the oldest person to ever win best original screenplay.

"My father always said to me I would be a late bloomer," Seidler said, noting that at 73 he is the oldest winner ever in the category. "I hope that record is broken quickly and often."

Colin Firth, who portrayed the stuttering King George VI in "The King's Speech," completed his sweep of best actor honors with the Oscar win."I have a feeling my career has just peaked," said Firth, who also won a Golden Globe and the SAG award.

Christian Bale repeated his Golden Globe and SAG award wins by taking the best supporting actor Oscar for his role in "The Fighter."

Melissa Leo, who played the mother and manager of two boxers in "The Fighter," completed her trifecta of major awards when 94-year-old Kirk Douglas handed her the best supporting actress Oscar. Leo also won Golden Globe and SAG best actress trophies.

Douglas, who walked with a cane and spoke slowly with slurred speech, managed to upstage Leo with his humor, jokingly delaying reading what was in the envelope. His stand-up routine was rewarded with big laughs.

Leo, whose acceptance speech included a censored expletive, used Douglas's cane to walk off stage.

"Inception, " a film that explores the human mind and dreams, won four Academy Awards, including for cinematography, sound mixing, sound editing and visual effects. The film was also a best picture contender, although most of its eight nominations are in the technical categories.

Two awards went to "Toy Story 3" for animated feature film and best original song. It is also a best picture contender.

"The Lost Thing" won for short animated film.

"True Grit," based on the same book as the 1969 John Wayne film, failed to win in any of the 10 categories for which it was nominated.

"Alice in Wonderland," which was not among the 10 best picture nominees, was rewarded Sunday night with two Oscars, for costume design and art direction.

"Inside Job, a film about the 2008 financial system meltdown, won the best feature documentary Oscar. Producer Charles Ferguson used his acceptance speech to say that "not a single financial executive has gone to jail and that's wrong."

The short documentary Oscar went to "Strangers No More, a film about an Israeli school that includes students from 48 countries.

The romantic comedy "God of Love" won the live action short film Oscar.

A Danish movie, "In a Better World," won the best foreign language film Academy Award.

The Oscar for best makeup was given to "The Wolfman."

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OSCARS 2011 | “The King’s Speech” Sweeps

Brian brooks.

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“The King’s Speech” was crowned Best Picture tonight at the 83rd Academy Awards in Los Angeles, with Tom Hooper taking Best Director and Colin Firth winning Best Actor. Natalie Portman won Best Actress for her role in “Black Swan,” “Inside Job” took Best Documentary, while Christian Bale won Best Supporting Actor for “The Fighter” and Melissa Leo received Best Supporting Actress. Also taking home an Ocar, Denmark’s “In a Better World” won best foreign language film, while “Toy Story 3” Animated Feature. Best Original Screenplay went to David Seidler for “The King’s Speech.”

Best picture Winner: “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company), A See-Saw Films and Bedlam Production, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers

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Performance by an actor in a leading role Winner: Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role Winner: Christian Bale in “The Fighter” (Paramount)

Performance by an actress in a leading role Winner: Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role Winner: Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” (Paramount)

Best animated feature film of the year Winner: “Toy Story 3” (Walt Disney), Lee Unkrich

Achievement in art direction Winner: “Alice in Wonderland” (Walt Disney), Production Design: Robert Stromberg, Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara

Achievement in cinematography Winner: “Inception” (Warner Bros.), Wally Pfister

Achievement in costume design Winner: “Alice in Wonderland” (Walt Disney), Colleen Atwood

Achievement in directing Winner: “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company), Tom Hooper

Best documentary feature Winner: “Inside Job” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Representational Pictures Production, Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs

Best documentary short subject Winner: “Strangers No More”, A Simon & Goodman Picture Company Production, Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon

Achievement in film editing Winner: “The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing), Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Best foreign language film of the year Winner: “In a Better World” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Zentropa Production, Denmark

Achievement in makeup Winner: “The Wolfman” (Universal), Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) Winner: “The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing), Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) Winner: “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3” (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best animated short film Winner: “The Lost Thing”, (Nick Batzias for Madman Entertainment), A Passion Pictures Australia Production, Ouat Media, Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann

Best live action short film Winner: “God of Love”, A Luke Matheny Production, Luke Matheny

Achievement in sound editing Winner: “Inception” (Warner Bros.), Richard King

Achievement in sound mixing Winner: “Inception” (Warner Bros.), Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick

Achievement in visual effects Winner: “Inception” (Warner Bros.), Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb

Adapted screenplay Winner: “The Social Network” (Sony Pictures Releasing), Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin

Original screenplay Winner: “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by David Seidler

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Oscars 2011: 'The King's Speech' wins Best Picture

• Published: Feb. 28, 2011, 3:36 a.m.
• Anthony Venutolo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

"The King's Speech" has won the Oscar for Best Picture. The film is a historical drama directed by Tom Hooper and starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter and Guy Pearce.

The biopic centers on King George VI (Firth), who suffers from unbearable stuttering. He seeks the help of Lionel Logue (Rush), an unorthodox speech therapist and soon, the two quickly develop a bond as Logue prep's the king for a career-making radio broadcast just before the onset of World War II.

This year, "The King's Speech" received 12 Academy Award nominations, more than any other film. They include Best Picture, Director (Tom Hooper), Cinematography (Danny Cohen) and Original Screenplay (Seidler) as welll as for principal performers Firth, Rush and Bonham Carter.

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Academy Crowns The King’s Speech

Morally uplifting drama tops 2011 academy awards.

The royal historical drama The King’s Speech , starring Colin Firth as England’s Prince Albert, later King George VI, was the biggest winner at the 83rd Academy Awards, winning four of its 12 nominations in an evening with few surprises and a poorly staged ceremony whose primary virtue was its comparative shortness.

Although one of the co-hosts made an early joke about 2010 being “a great year for lesbians” — primarily a reference to the same-sex “marriage” comedy-drama The Kids Are All Right — the Academy voters made it a great evening for marriage, honoring a popular film that, on the one hand, emphasizes the scandal caused by Albert’s egocentric brother Edward’s insistence on marrying his divorced lover in violation of social norms, and on the other hand celebrates the loving, supportive marriages of its protagonists, Albert and his speech therapist Lionel Logue. The Kids Are All Right had four nominations but won no awards. 

Winning for picture, director, leading actor (Colin Firth) and original screenplay, The King’s Speech bested all comers but did not outperform other recent Oscar favorites, including last year’s The Hurt Locker (six wins) and the previous year’s Slumdog Millionaire (eight wins). In earlier years, No Country for Old Men and The Departed both won four awards, but The King’s Speech had more nominations than either (12 nominations to No Country ’s eight and The Departed ’s five), and so The King’s Speech lost in more categories than both.

The King’s Speech was the first winner in recent years to be tied for number of awards: Inception also won four awards in technical categories, including special effects, cinematography and two sound awards. Inception writer-director Christopher Nolan was not nominated for best director, but was repeatedly honored during the evening by colleagues accepting Inception ’s four awards.

The year’s second-most nominated film, True Grit , ended the evening empty-handed, possibly because Academy Awards voters felt it was too soon since the Coens’ big year in 2008 with No Country for Old Men . If so, it’s a shame that their old-fashioned, religion-charged Western was undermined by its nihilistic contemporary predecessor. Winter’s Bone , a film with thematic connections to True Grit , also failed to win any of its four nominations.

Pixar, Hollywood’s top producers of family entertainment, had a decent evening, picking up two of five nominations for Toy Story 3 , including best animated feature, though their short feature “Day & Night” was bested by an Australian production called “The Lost Thing.” The evening’s other family-film winner was Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland , which won for art direction and costume design. How to Train Your Dragon and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 each had two nominations.

The ceremony was hosted by actors Anne Hathaway and James Franco in a transparent bid, acknowledged in an early joke by Hathaway, to appeal to a younger demographic. It was a poor decision; Hathaway showed some charisma but had little to work with, including her wooden co-host Franco, who showed none of the vitality of his nominated performance in 127 Hours .

A limp opening montage inserting the co-hosts into the nominated films set the tone for an evening of lame jokes, which included Franco dressed as Marilyn Monroe and Hathaway singing a gag song slamming past host Hugh Jackman for backing out of a proposed duet — neither remotely funny. The hosts were repeatedly upstaged by walk-ons, including hosting favorite Billy Crystal; 94-year-old presenter Kirk Douglas, projecting charisma and comic wit despite a debilitating stroke; and the late Bob Hope, appearing via archival footage and some dubbing effects.

Franco was even upstaged by his own grandmother, whom he pointed out in the audience early in the show and who got the first decent joke of the evening by chortling, “I just saw Marky Mark!” (i.e., Mark Wahlberg, nominated for The Fighter ). Hathaway also pointed out her mother in the audience.

Mothers were acknowledged repeatedly during the evening, most notably by The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper, who reported that his mother had found the screenplay for The King’s Speech for him. “The moral of the story,” Hooper concluded, is “always listen to your mum.”

The King’s Speech marks the sixth consecutive year that the Academy’s top award has gone to an R-rated film — in this case, largely due to a speech-therapy scene in which Lionel makes Albert, who has a bad stammer, use bad language, including the F-word. Anticipating the film’s Oscar wins, the Weinstein Co. has announced a PG-13 version of the film to replace the R-rated version now in theaters. Instead of cutting footage, the new version mutes most of the bad language. Director Hooper and star Firth, among others, were reportedly opposed to editing the film, but the box-office success of the R-rated version combined with Oscar gold has the distributors anticipating even broader appeal with a PG-13 version.

It’s good to see Hollywood acknowledge the superior box-office appeal of the PG-13 rating, though, in my own opinion, the original R-rated language, in context, is neither gratuitous nor offensive. The vagaries of stammering are such that some speech acts, including singing — and cussing — may come more fluidly than others, so there’s a legitimate reason for the scene, which emphasizes Albert’s discomfort with such language. Still, many viewers understandably don’t appreciate such language under any circumstances and will be grateful for a chance to see a PG-13 cut on the big screen.

More inexcusable was an F-bomb dropped by supporting actress winner Melissa Leo ( The Fighter ) during her acceptance speech. Leo’s showy performance as the mother of Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale beat out competitors, including The Fighter co-star Amy Adams and young Hailee Steinfeld ( True Grit ), but her rambling, awkward speech was among the evening’s worst moments, and by the time she dropped the expletive on global television (bleeped in the United States but broadcast elsewhere), the Academy was probably regretting its choice anyway.

Riffing on the off-color moment, The King’s Speech screenwriter David Seidler — himself a former stutterer and, at 73, the oldest winner of the original screenplay Oscar — cracked, “I would like to thank her Majesty the Queen for not putting me in the Tower for using the Melissa Leo F-word.” Leo reportedly apologized backstage.

Other than the deserving winners and a few well-spoken presenters (notably Jeff Bridges, whose warm tribute to the best actress nominees made every one of them look like winners) and accepters (including screenwriter Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network ), almost the only saving grace for the ceremony itself was the comparative brevity. Padding was kept to a minimum, and it was only six minutes past three hours when the last envelope was opened and The King’s Speech became the evening’s top winner. (No Oscar-cast in the last few years has run less than 20 minutes overtime; the 2007 ceremony ran nearly four hours.)

Still, brevity alone won’t make the Oscars watchable. Roger Ebert has observed that no good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough, and the same principle applies to the Oscars.

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Oscars 2011: The 83rd Annual Academy Awards

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'King's Speech' Shines, But Oscar Show Stutters

February 28, 2011 • The odds-on favorite won Best Picture and dominated Sunday night's Oscars — but the telecast itself suffered from lackluster hosting, odd musical numbers and disjointed production.

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February 28, 2011 • You can learn a lot from Oscar night: apologizing to older viewers, shooting everyone from the side, and always thanking Mom are among the most important lessons.

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February 28, 2011 • We eagle eye some of the Academy Award red carpet fashions and add commentary despite the fact that we aren't very fashionable.

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Oscar Stars Thank Muses And, Of Course, Moms

February 28, 2011 • The Oscars have all been handed out, and the winners' sound bites are in. In their acceptance speeches and backstage comments, this year's crop of Academy Award winners reveled in the limelight, thanked their mothers, ducked out for drinks and let loose some profanity.

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Movie Music 2011: Oscar-Nominated Scores

February 26, 2011 • Andy Trudeau returns for his annual review of the Academy Award nominees for Best Film Score. This year, he sorts out compositions for How to Train Your Dragon , Inception , The King's Speech , 127 Hours and The Social Network .

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February 27, 2011 • The Oscars will show off various artists' attempts at red-carpet perfection — even as the awards celebrate films that are all about the acceptance of imperfection.

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February 25, 2011 • The King's Speech is a good movie, but it might have been an even better movie if it had been about Geoffrey Rush's character rather than Colin Firth's.

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