We interrupt the war to bring you this: Chicago is Oscar's Best Picture.
Battles raged in Iraq, but the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences partied on as the National Guard and police in riot gear secured the Kodak Theater while antiwar protesters thronged the neighboring streets. Tonight's 75th B-day Oscar ceremony was by turns reflective and rollicking, and ultimately with a few Hollywood-style twists.
Predictably, the razzle-dazzle 'em Second City musical was second to none. Chicago, entering the night with a leading 13 nominations, left with six statuettes, including the aforementioned Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for a very pregnant Catherine Zeta-Jones. Chicago is the first musical since 1968's Oliver! to claim Best Picture.
A teary Nicole Kidman won the Best Actress race for her proboscis-enhanced portrayal of Virginia Woolf in The Hours. "Why do you come to the Academy Awards when the world is in such turmoil?" asked Kidman, widely rumored to be a no-show at the ceremony. "Because art is important and you believe in what you do."
Pulling off two of the night's biggest shockers were The Pianist's Roman Polanski and Adrien Brody. In the night's biggest jaw-dropper, Polanski, living as a fugitive in France since fleeing Los Angeles in 1978 after pleading guilty to a statutory-rape charge, beat sentimental fave Martin Scorsese and Chicago's rookie helmer Rob Marshall to win Best Director for his semiautobiographical Holocaust story. Polanski's victim had recently come out and said his work should be considered for its artistic merits not his sordid past, and the audience seemed to agree, joining in loud applause when his name was read.
Earlier, Brody--not Oscar pool picks Jack Nicholson or Daniel Day-Lewis--was named Best Actor. The stunned Brody then stunned Halle Berry by planting a big, wet kiss on her before claiming his trophy.
Ronald Harwood's script for The Pianist won for Best Adapted Screenplay, giving the film a troika of trophies.
Meanwhile, Eminem (yes, that Eminem) won an Oscar (yes, an Oscar) for Best Song for 8 Mile's "Lose Yourself," besting the likes of Paul Simon and U2. Eminem was MIA, though, and cowriter Luis Resto accepted on the rapper's behalf.
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Despite calls for a more "subdued" and "sober" show, the ceremony didn't seem any less ostentatious than usual as Hollywood saluted itself along with the Academy's diamond anniversary. As host Steve Martin cracked upon taking the stage flanked by towering Oscar statues, "Good thing they cut back on the glitz."
The show included several montages of previous film and acting winners, as well as "Oscar's Family Album," a segment collecting dozens of Oscar'd thespians, including this year's crop of Brody, Kidman, Zeta-Jones and Chris Cooper, named Best Supporting Actor for Adaptation.
Joining them was the night's Honorary Award winner Peter O'Toole. O'Toole received a thunderous ovation upon receiving the statuette--a trophy he initially considered turning down. "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride--my foot! I finally have an Oscar to stay with me to death us do part," O'Toole said, beginning a touching speech on life, death and motion pictures.
With the red carpet mothballed, some celebs opted for understated attire, a common accessory being peace pins. Most winners avoided mentioning the Iraq conflict, but a few used their moment in the kliegs as a soapbox.
Most notably, Bowling for Columbine's Michael Moore took the stage to claim his Best Documentary Feature prize flanked by his fellow nominees. "We like nonfiction, and we live in fictitious times...We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons, we are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you!"
The speech ended abruptly in a hail of boos.
Others were a bit more understated. "I'm accepting this award at a strange time," said Brody. "Let's pray for a peaceful and swift resolution."
"In light of all the troubles in this world," Cooper said. "I wish us all peace." Susan Sarandon briefly flashed the peace sign to the camera before making her presentation.
Twice during the ceremony ABC News' Peter Jennings cut in to give Iraq updates.
As for the awards not won by Chicago, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers captured two technical awards, for visual effects and sound editing, and Frida also pulled a double, for makeup and score.
Pedro Almodóvar won Best Original Screenplay for Talk to Her--a film Spain chose not to submit for Best Foreign Language Film.
Germany's Nowhere in Africa was named tops in the Foreign Language Film race. Disney's animé import Spirited Away won the second Best Animated Feature Oscar.
And late, great cameraman Conrad L. Hall, who died January 3 at age 76, won a posthumous Oscar for Best Cinematography for Road to Perdition. It was the third of his illustrious career.
The night's biggest loser was Gangs of New York. Up for 10 awards, Scorsese's sprawling epic about 19th-century thug life was completely shut out and might have suffered backlash in recent days over Miramax's shameless campaigning. Also going home empty-handed was Julianne Moore, despite the rare twofer of being nominated for Best Actress for Far from Heaven and Supporting Actress for The Hours.
Despite all the 75th anniversary hoopla, Martin and producers did a decent job of keeping things rolling, avoiding the marathon snoozers of years past. The ceremony ended just after midnight.
Complete list of winners