Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow was already in progress on an Osama bin Laden movie project when the news came on Sunday that the 9/11 terrorist mastermind was dead. The Osama bin Laden movie, reportedly titled Kill bin Laden is now expected to be fast-tracked to completion to take advantage of the raised level of public interest in such a project.
Kathryn Bigelow, winner of the best director Academy Award for The Hurt Locker last year, had allegedly launched into casting for the film just recently. The movie was reportedly to be based on an unsuccessful previous attempt by U.S. forces to kill or capture Osama bin Laden. The new version would likely be expanded to at least include a ‘celebratory ending’ according to MonstersandCritics.com.
Star Wars actor Joel Edgerton is allegedly being courted for a lead role in the Osama bin Laden movie. Kathryn Bigelow is partnered with screenwriting collaborator Mark Boal on the film. Megan Ellison, daughter of Oracle chief Larry Ellison, is reportedly on board to assist with funding for the project.
An adaption of the non-fiction book Jawbreaker, another bin Laden related story, was also in the works is reportedly in limbo at Paramount currently, according to Ugo.com.
Kathyrn Bigelow‘s The Hurt Locker may have been the big winner at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, but the Oscars show itself also claimed a major victory for the night. Sunday night’s Oscars event was the most watched in five years according to Nielsen estimates, drawing in over 41 million viewers for the evening.
Jeff Bridges accepting Oscar for Best Actor (ABC)
ABC’s Red-Carpet Pre-Show also scored a win for the night, pulling in its largest audience since 2007 with over 25 million viewers. Some of the increase in ratings is attributed to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decision to nominate 10 films for Best Picture this year, instead of the usual five. The contentious battle between James Cameron‘s blockbuster film Avatar and Kathyrn Bigelow’s Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker for the top prize also proved a major audience draw.
Luckily for the Academy’s ratings, more than 3 million customers of New York’s Cablevision were able to tune in to the awards show at the last minute. A fee dispute between Cablevision and ABC parent company Walt Disney kept many televisions in the New York area dark until just after the Academy Awards started.
In case you missed the action at the 82nd annual Academy Awards, we’ve got the complete list of winners from the evening for you. The Hurt Locker led the tally for the evening with six Oscars in total, including best picture and best director.
'The Hurt Locker' (Summit Entertainment)
Best Picture – The Hurt Locker
Best Actress – Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Best Actor – Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Best Supporting Actor – Christopher Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress – Mo’Nique, Precious
Best Director: Kathyrn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Best Animated Picture: Up
Best Foreign Film – El Secrecto de Sus Ojos (Argentina)
Best Original Screenplay – Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Best Adapted Screenplay – Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Art Direction – Avatar
Cinematography – Avatar
Sound Mixing – The Hurt Locker
Sound Editing – The Hurt Locker
Film Editing – The Hurt Locker
Visual Effects – Avatar
Costumes – The Young Victoria
Makeup – Star Trek
Best Original Score – Michael Giacchino, Up
Best Original Song” Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett for “The Weary Kind,” Crazy Heart
The best picture category at the 2010 Academy Awards came down to a classic case of David versus Goliath and just as in that ancient tale, the little guy (or in this case, girl) came out on top.
Director Kathryn Bigelow, cast and crew accepts award for best picture for 'The Hurt Locker' (ABC)
Not only did The Hurt Locker beat out “best-selling movie of all time” Avatar for the best picture Oscar, director Kathryn Bigelow made history by becoming the first woman to ever win in the best director category. We don’t feel too bad for James Cameron though, he has plenty enough cash from Avatar to buy a room full of trophies for himself if he feels like it.
Avatar may be the highest grossing film of all time, earning over $2.4 billion at the box office, but it won’t be taking any records home from the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq war drama was the true darling of the evening, landing six Oscars in total. In addition to best picture and best director, The Hurt Locker also landed Oscars for best original screenplay, editing, sound mixing and sound editing.
Kathryn Bigelow is only the fourth woman to ever be nominated in the best directory category and the first ever to win the Oscar. “The only way to describe it is that this is the moment of a lifetime,” Bigelow said in her acceptance speech for the award.
Although we kind of hoped Precious would win for best picture and Jason Reitman for best director, Bigelow was rather cute in her obvious nervousness during her acceptance speeches. We do have to applaud the Academy for awarding Avatar with the appropriate honors it was due – namely, for the film’s technical and artistic merit.
There may be 10 strong nominees for Best Picture at the 2010 Academy Awards, but only two of them are really considered to be in contention for the top prize. Most Oscar buffs have narrowed the true field of competitors for Best Picture down to Avatar or The Hurt Locker. We think it would be most delightful if the Academy Award voters surprise the hell out of us by awarding the Best Picture honor to a film that actually deserves it instead.
'The Hurt Locker' (Summit Entertainment)
That pretty much sums up how we feel about the Oscars this year in general. We’d like to see the films and actors that truly represent the best creations and performances of the year actually get credit it for it this time around. Too often, the Oscars go to films that got the most buzz or earned the most money at the box office. The actors win Oscars, many times, because of who the actors are, not how well they portrayed the characters they were supposed to be representing.
In light of this, we give you our list of 2010 Academy Award winners and losers if we had any choice in the matter – which, of course, we don’t. We’re sure you’ll probably vastly disagree with many of our choices, but hey, that’s what the comments section is for, right? So check out our picks and then flame away if you don’t like them. And tell us who you think deserve to be the real winners of the evening.
Writing (Original Screenplay):
Probably Win: The Hurt Locker Should Win: A Serious Man
Considering how pissed off some actual military service men are about how unrealistic The Hurt Locker screenplay is, we wouldn’t give it this prize. There is such a thing as creative license, but not when you are writing a film based on people who are losing their limbs and lives in real life.
Writing (Adapted Screenplay):
Probably Win: Up in the Air Should Win: Precious
Up in the Air was a great film and we feel it probably will not get much of the recognition it deserves this year at the Oscars. However, Precious wasn’t just a great screenplay, it was a shockingly amazing screenplay. Every word in it packed a punch to the gut and we think it really deserves this prize.
Music (Original Song):
Probably Win: “Down in New Orleans” – The Princess and the Frog
Should Win: “The Weary Kind” – Crazy Heart
For some reason everyone loves that damn song from that terrible movie and keeps predicting it will win. We hope not. The song from Crazy Heart is by far the better choice here.
Music (Original Score):
Probably Win: Up Should Win: Up
Up deserves it, Up should win it. We won’t argue with this one.
Animated Feature Film:
Probably Win: Up Should Win: Up
Again, no argument here. The rest of the nominees don’t really even compare. Honestly though, Avatar should have been nominated in this category instead of Best Picture. Yeah, yeah, not all of it was animated, but enough of it was to make it a whole lot less about acting than digital manipulation.
Best Supporting Actress:
Probably Win: Mo’Nique – Precious Should Win: Mo’Nique – Precious
Most are predicting Mo’Nique will take this category, partially as a nod to the film itself because it will likely lose out on the bigger prizes. We feel that Mo’Nique deserves the Best Supporting Actress nod entirely on her own merit.
Best Supporting Actor:
Probably Win: Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds Should Win: Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds
Overall, we really didn’t like this film. It was a bit over the top macho BS and bad accents. But Christoph Waltz was a standout in the film and in the rest of the Supporting Actor pack. We’d give him the statue.
Best Actress:
Probably Win: Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
Should Win: Gabourey Sidibe – Precious
We love Sandra Bullock and have nothing against her, but seriously – her role in The Blind Side was not brain surgery. Gabourey Sidibe, on the other hand, was friggin’ awesome in Precious playing a role most well-seasoned actresses would fail at miserably. Hats off to Meryl Streep, who should have deserved the Oscar any other year, but our vote is with Sidibe.
Best Actor:
Probably Win: Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
Should Win: Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart
We hope the Academy will actually get this one right as most predict they will. Jeff Bridges knocked this one out of the park.
Best Director:
Probably Win: Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
Should Win: Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
Kathryn Bigelow will likely win this one because the Academy Awards loves “firsts”. As in, the first woman in history to win a Best Director Academy Award. We think that’s kind of sexist. Being Best Director for overly dramatic scene switches, awkward dialogue and carefully controlled explosions doesn’t impress us that much. Up in the Air, on the other hand, was a masterpiece of subtlety and detail thanks to Jason Reitman – what a real Best Director winner should be honored for.
Best Picture:
Probably Win: The Hurt Locker
Should Win: Precious
No, we did not choose Avatar as our pick for Best Picture instead of The Hurt Locker. The Hurt Locker has spurred so much ridicule and anger from every military service member we know, we can’t even stand to hear the film’s name. Avatar, on the other hand, is basically a bigger version of FernGully with a smattering of other ripped off ideas thrown into the mix. Just because it made a ton of money and everyone in the friggin’ world saw it does not make it the end all and be all of film-making. For real, gut-wrenching, heart-tearing, serious film artistry – we give it to Precious all the way around.
The 2010 Academy Awards kicks off at 8 PM EST/5 PM PST on ABC.
