- Title: USA: Highlights from the 1996 Academy Awards ceremony
- Date: 25th March 1995
- Summary: (REUTERS) WIDE OF INTERVIEWS STEVEN SEAGAL SAYING THAT HE HOPES "IL POSTINO" WILL WIN
- Embargoed: 9th April 1995 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: USA
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
- Reuters ID: LVA3X2DOB43HRY8W2S88GLF6S578
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- Story Text: Mel Gibson, who has starred in some of the biggest box-office hits of all time but has always been ignored at Oscar time, finally won Hollywood's respect on Monday night, capturing Academy Awards for best picture and director for "Braveheart." Nicolas Cage won the Oscar for best actor for playing a suicidal alcoholic in the darkly haunting "Leaving Las Vegas," and five-time nominee Susan Sarandon was named best actress for her role as a crusading nun in the death penalty drama "Dead Man Walking." British actress Emma Thompson won for best screenplay adaptation for her interpretation of Jane Austen's genteel 19th-century romance "Sense and Sensibility." With an acting Oscar to her credit for 1992's "Howards End," she becomes the first person ever to have won for both writing and acting.
"Braveheart," a mediaeval battlefield epic, won the best picture Oscar against stiff competition -- "Sense and Sensibility," the lost-in-space thriller "Apollo 13," the Italian film "The Postman" ("Il Postino") and the Australian barnyard fable "Babe." Oscar voters were apparently impressed by Gibson's ability to juggle the vast logistics of the film's battle scenes with the demands of his lead acting role as 13th-century Scottish rebel hero William Wallace. "This is truly a wonderful evening for me," Gibson told a star-studded audience at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion as he picked up his director's Oscar.
The 40-year-old Gibson -- an international box-office star best known for acting in such blockbusters as the "Mad Max" and "Lethal Weapon" series -- has attempted in recent years to break out of the mould of heartthrob movie idol.
He now joins an elite club of well-known actors who went on to win Oscars for calling the shots behind the camera, including Woody Allen for "Annie Hall," Robert Redford for "Ordinary People," Kevin Costner for "Dances With Wolves" and Clint Eastwood for "Unforgiven." "Braveheart" led in the overall count with five awards, but this year's Oscars were spread around to a long list of movies. No film dominated like "Forrest Gump" did last year.
Kevin Spacey earned the Oscar for best supporting actor for playing a con artist in the thriller "The Usual Suspects." Mira Sorvino won best supporting actress for her role as a bubble-headed call girl in Woody Allen's "Mighty Aphrodite." Christopher McQuarrie won the Oscar for best original screenplay for "The Usual Suspects." "Babe" -- the whimsical tale of a talking pig who yearns to be a champion sheepdog -- was the surprise entry in the best-picture category, with a total of seven nominations. It only managed to win one award -- best visual effects -- and was subjected to a barrage of pig jokes from the podium.
"The Postman", the first foreign-language film to be nominated for best film since Sweden's "Cries and Whispers" in 1973, also picked up a single award for best dramatic score.
The evening was marked by two emotional high points.
In a last-minute addition to the programme, Christopher Reeve, best known for his role as "Superman," took to the stage in a mechanical wheelchair he has been confined to since a horseback-riding accident paralysed him from the neck down last May. His appearance -- to talk about Hollywood's responsibility to tackle social issues -- left many members of the audience misty-eyed.
Looking frail, his voice impaired by a recent stroke, screen legend Kirk Douglas -- best known for his tough-guy movie roles -- brought the Hollywood elite to its feet when he was given a lifetime achievement award. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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