http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2009/02/oscars-news-416.html
"Slumdog Millionaire" won eight Academy Awards. As is often the case at the
Oscars, these wins followed up on equivalent kudos from the respective guilds,
largely because the two sets of kudos share many of the same voters. But the
scale is hugely different. There are, for example, 1,240 members of the
academy's actors' branch, but more than 100,000 members of the Screen Actors
Guild. The academy contains 374 directors, but 13,000 helmers belong to the DGA
and most of them create TV shows, commercials and music videos instead of
feature films.
"Slumdog Millionaire" won with the Producers Guild of America and the cast won
with the Screen Actors Guild;
Helmer Danny Boyle won with the Directors Guild of America;
Script adapter Simon Beaufoy won with the Writers Guild of America;
Shooter Anthony Dod Mantle won with the American Society of Cinematographers;
Cutter Chris Dickens won with the American Cinema Editors;
Sound mixers Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke and Ian Tapp won with the Cinema
Audio Society.
There is no music guild that bestows equivalent kudos, but "Slumdog
Millionaire" composer A.R. Rahman did win a raft of precursor awards for his
score including the Golden Globe and the BAFTA. That his composition "Jai Ho"
took best song was more of a surprise given that "Down to Earth" ("Wall-E") won
both the Golden Globe and the Grammy.
Among the four Oscar acting champs, supporting actor winner Heath Ledger ("The
Dark Knight") had taken almost every precursor prize leading up to last night.
Lead actor winner Sean Penn ("Milk") won with the Screen Actors Guild, as well
as with the LA and Gotham critics and the Critics Choice. Penn lost the Golden
Globe, BAFTA and Independent Spirit awards to Mickey Rourke ("The Wrestler").
Lead actress winner Kate Winslet ("The Reader") won supporting actress with the
Screen Actors Guild as well as the Golden Globes before being bumped up to lead
actress and winning the BAFTA.
Supporting actress winner Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Cristina Barcelona") won with
the L.A. and Gotham critics, the National Board of Review, BAFTA, and the
Independent Spirits.
Among the other Oscar winners, original scripter Dustin Lance Black ("Milk")
won with the WGA; production designer Donald Graham Burt ("The Curious Case of
Benjamin Button") won with the Art Directors Guild; costume designer Michael
O'Conner won with the Costumes Design Guild; and the special effects team of
Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron ("Benjamin Button") won
with the Visual Effects Society.
David Watkin: cinematography winner, "Out of Africa" (1985)
James Whitmore: supporting actor nominee, "Battleground" (1949); lead actor
nominee, "Give 'em Hell Harry" (1975)
Richard Widmark: supporting actor nominee, "Kiss of Death" (1947)
Stan Winston: makeup and visual effects winner, "Terminator 2" (1991); visual
effects winner, "Jurassic Park" (1993); makeup nominee, "Heartbeeps" (1982),
"Edward Scissorhands" (1990), "Batman Returns" (1992); visual effects nominee,
"Predator" (1987), "The Lost World" (1997), "A.I." (2001).
