Kate Winslet accepts the Best Actress Oscar for, The Reader
LIVERPOOL-BORN Culture Secretary Andy Burnham has paid tribute to the British Oscar-winning talent that rounded off a bumper crop of awards season success.
He said Kate Winslet’s Best Actress win and the eight Oscars secured by Slumdog Millionaire – including Best Picture and Best Director for Lancastrian Danny Boyle – “sets a high bar of cultural excellence that can only serve to inspire the next generation of actors and film-makers.”
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the British film industry is “leading the world.”
Sean Penn upset the odds to win the Best Actor award, beating favourite Mickey Rourke, who wore a locket around his neck sporting a picture of his recently deceased Chihuahua, Loki.
There was a Best Supporting Actor award for Heath Ledger for his role as the Joker in Batman movie The Dark Knight.
But Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt left empty-handed. His hotly-tipped film, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, picked up just three minor Oscars.
Winslet, 33, who won for her performance as an illiterate former Nazi concentration camp guard in powerful drama The Reader, has endured five unsuccessful nominations in the past.
But there was no repeat of the gushing speech she gave on winning two Golden Globes earlier this year.
Accepting the Oscar for best director, Boyle jumped up and down excitedly in front of Hollywood’s finest.
He explained that it was to honour a pledge he made to his children.
“I swore to them that, if this miracle would ever happen, I would receive it in the spirit of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh,” he said.
But, in the aftermath of the ceremony, all eyes yesterday were on the sartorial choices from the red carpet, with fashion commentators left underwhelmed by the low-key efforts of the A-listers.
Asymmetrical and strapless gowns in shades of black, white and grey dominated.
Full list of 2009 Oscar winners >>>
