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'Lord of the Rings' crowned with 11 Oscars
Acting categories attract first-time winners in 2004
By: David Germain — The Associated Press
Issue date: 3/1/04 Section: News
LOS ANGELES - ''The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' won a record-tying 11 Academy Awards on Sunday, including best picture and director and becoming the first fantasy to win the top Oscar.
In the acting categories, all the winners took home their first Oscars: Charlize Theron won best actress for her transformative performance as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in ''Monster,'' and Sean Penn was named best actor for playing a vengeful ex-hoodlum who falls back on his criminal ways in ''Mystic River.''
Tim Robbins won the supporting-actor prize for his performance as an emotionally crippled murder suspect in ''Mystic River,'' and Renee Zellweger took supporting actress as a hardy Confederate survivor in ''Cold Mountain.''
After the first two installments of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy were shut out of major awards, ''Return of the King'' swept all 11 categories in which it was nominated. It matched the record 11 wins of ''Titanic'' and ''Ben-Hur'' and became only the third movie to sweep every nominated category, following ''Gigi'' and ''The Last Emperor,'' which both went nine-for-nine.
''I especially just lastly want to thank our wonderful cast who just got their tongues around this rather awkward text and made it come to life with such devotion and passion and heart,'' said ''Lord f the Rings'' director Peter Jackson, who shared the screenplay prize with co-writers Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh.
Composer Howard Shore took his second Oscar for writing ''Lord of the Rings'' music, having won two years ago on Part 1 of the saga, ''The Fellowship of the Ring.''
''Into the West,'' the wistful tune of farewell from ''Return of the King,'' won the best-song Oscar. The song was written by Fran Walsh, the film's co-screenwriter; Howard Shore, its music composer; and Annie Lennox, who sings the tune.
Zellweger won for playing a character in frumpy clothes and a layer of dirt from working the fields, a year after ''Cold Mountain'' co-star Nicole Kidman received the lead-actress Oscar for wearing a fake nose to simulate Virginia Woolf's plain-Jane features in ''The Hours.'' And best-actress winner Theron, in ''Monster,'' gained 30 pounds and was disguised behind dark contact lenses, false teeth and splotchy makeup.
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