"My kids are too old to remember this now, but when they were much younger, I swore to them if this miracle ever happened I would proceed in the spirit of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh, and that's what that was," Best Director winner Boyle said onstage after engaging in three vigorous hops while grasping his prize.
"I don't know what it looks like on television, but in the room it's bloody wonderful," the British filmmaker said as he thanked his wife, kids, colleagues and the people of Mumbai. "You dwarf even this guy," Boyle said, pointing at Oscar.
Scribe Simon Beaufoy won Best Adapted Screenplay for transforming the novel by Vikas Swarup, and Slumdog was also honored for cinematography, original score, film editing, sound mixing and song, "Jai Ho" by A.R. Rahman and Gulzar.
"We have been so truly overwhelmed by the honor and respect being bestowed upon him with this award. Tonight we are choosing to celebrate and be happy for what he has achieved," added mom Sally Bell.
"Heath, we both knew what you had created in the Joker was extraordinarily special and had even talked about being here on this very special day," concluded sister Kate. We wish you were. But we proudly accept this award on behalf of your beautiful Matlida."
Peter Finch, who won for his supporting role in Network in 1976, two months after his death, is the only other actor to receive a posthumous Oscar.
Penélope Cruz was named Best Supporting Actress for her role as a dangerously sexy—and jealous—ex-wife in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the 34-year-old beauty's first win in two tries.
"It's not going to be 45 seconds. I can say that right now," an instantly emotional Cruz began her speech. "Has anybody ever fainted here? Because I might be the first one…Thank you, Woody, for trusting me with this beautiful character."
Talking about staying up late in Spain to watch the Oscars when she was a little girl, she said, "I always felt that this ceremony was a moment of unity for the world, because art in any form has is and will always be our universal language and we should do everything we can to protect its survival."
Aside from the identity of the presenters in general, one of the surprises kept so carefully under wraps by producers hoping to inject some see-it-to-believe-it pizzazz into the Oscar telecast, which saw viewership sink to an all-time low last year, was the gathering of five past winners per acting category to dole out honors to this year's deserving thesps—a touch that helped get the waterworks going before they even reached the stage.
Robert De Niro, Ben Kingsley, Anthony Hopkins, Michael Douglas and Adrien Brody drew quite a bit of applause before passing out Penn's award, while Shirley MacLaine, Halle Berry, Sophia Loren, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard rallied for Winslet.
Cruz accepted her Oscar from defending champ Tilda Swinton, Whoopi Goldberg, Goldie Hawn, Anjelica Huston and Eva Marie Saint, who picked up her little gold guy in 1955 for On the Waterfront.
Christopher Walken, Kevin Kline, Cuba Gooding Jr., Alan Arkin, and Joel Grey teamed up to fete Ledger. Missing from the ad hoc quintet was last year's winner, Javier Bardem, who had a work commitment in Europe.
Upping the hunk factor in Bardem's absence was a dashing, classic-tux-clad Hugh Jackman—tapped by producers to bring some old-Hollywood glamour back to the show, who kicked the festivities off with a splashy opening number, a regular bit when Billy Crystal hosted, but this time carried off by a Tony-winning singer and dancer who also happens to be the reigning Sexiest Man Alive.
Hence, it was quite charming. But it also encouraged Jackman to join Beyoncé for a lengthy tribute to movie musicals (which did, however, give Zack Efron and Vanessa Hudgens a reason for being there) that culminated in a frenzied river-dance to Mamma Mia!'s title song.
Jackman must have saved Baz Luhrmann's life in the bush or something, because the more-annoying-than-anything number was staged by the Australia director.
Some time was saved by having presenters handle two or more awards at a time, such as Sarah Jessica Parker and Daniel Craig, who handed out Oscars for costume design (The Duchess), art direction (Benjamin Button) and makeup (Button again), and Will Smith, who gave out four—film editing (Slumdog), sound editing (The Dark Knight), sound mixing (Slumdog) and visual effects (Benjamin Button).
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt may have gone home empty-handed, but the camera still panned to them plenty, perhaps most notably when Jennifer Aniston and Jack Black were onstage presenting Best Animated Feature to the Disney-Pixar hit WALL-E.
A far more shocking twist than Angie vs. Jen was the upset the Japanese film Departures scored over frontrunner Waltz With Bashir and festival darling The Class in the Best Foreign-Language Film category.
"This is a new departure for me. And I—we'll—be back, I hope. Thank you!" director Yojiro Takita proudly announced in charmingly broken English—although he couldn't top the sentiment Kunio Katô offered when he won Best Animated Short for La Maison en Petits Cubes.
"Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto," he concluded.