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March 29, 2000
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S c r e e n American Beauty’ wins 5 awards at taboo-trouncing Oscars
R e it e r s
Once taboo sexual subjects —
homosexuality, sex with juveniles,
women who live as men — took
center stage at the Oscars Sunday as
“American Beauty” swept the main
awards and "B o y s D on’t C ry”
made a new star out o f an unknown
actress.
“American Beauty,” a tale o f a
dysfunctional family with its twin
plots o f repressed homosexuality
and adult fantasies o f sex with a 16-
year-old girl, was named the year’s
best film, becoming after “Sunset
B o u le v a rd ” th e se c o n d film
narrated by a dead man to win an
Oscar.
Besides being named best film,
“American Beauty” won Oscars
for Sam Mendes for best director,
Kevin Spacey for best actor, Conrad
L. Hall for best cinematographer
and Alan Ball for best original
screenplay.
Meanwhile Hilary Swank, 25, was
named best actress for her tragic
role as the woman who thinks she is
a man in “Boys Don’t C ry.”
“I think this movie opens the door
to letting people know w hat’s going
on in society and putting an end to
intolerance in the future. It is a very
big night in history because o f this,”
said Swank, whose previous roles
included work in “The Next Karate
K id” and the television series
“Beverly Hills 90210.”
A delighted Spacey told reporters,
“This film means an enormous
amount to m e.... This is an enormous
honor.... I forgot my entire speech.
Like other members o f the cast,
Spacey praised B ritish theater
director Sam Mendes for making
“American B eauty” a success.
Cinematographer Hall compared
Mendes to young Orson Welles
conquering Hollywood with his first
film, “Citizen Kane.”
“American Beauty” was also the
first film by the new DreamWorks
studio to win a best movie Oscar.
The theme o f sexual politics figured
heavily in many o f this year’s
O scars. B esid es “ A m erican
Beauty” and “Boys Don’t Cry,”
“The Cider House Rules” won
Oscars for best adapted screenplay
for novelist John Irving and a best
supporting actor award forMichael
Caine, who plays a doctor who does
abortions long before they became
legal.
Irving also added a political note,
thanking the National Abortion
Rights Action League and Planned
P arenthood in his acceptance
speech.
After receiving his Oscar for best
supporting actor, Caine expressed
great empathy for the obstetrician-
abortionist he played.
“This man was to me the most
compassionate creature I’ve ever
played, ’ ’ Caine said o f the character
Dr. Larch, who both adopted the
children o f unwed mothers and
perform ed abortions for young
women who would otherwise go to
back-ally quacks.
In a night rampant with jokes about
the drama the Oscars have been
through this turbulent year —
including the theft o f the statuettes
— Caine had an audience o f 5,000
o f show business’s elite jumping to
their feet to applaud him and the
praise he had for his rivals for the
award.
He declared he did not deserve the
Oscar but would accept it only on
behalf o f the four others in the race
with him — Tom Cruise, Haley
Joel O sm ent, M ichael C larke
Duncan and Jude Law.
“ I was watching all the others and
thinking back when I saw all the The Academy Award for best song in Bell” — a reference to the city
performances, thinking how the went to Phil Collins, fo r“Y ou’ll Be south o f Los Angeles where the
Academy has changed the phrase in M y H e a rt,” from D isney’s Oscars were stolen.
The dress that all Hollywood was
from, 'and the winner is’, to 'and animated feature “Tarzan.”
the Oscar goes to. ’ If ever there was Comedian Billy Crystal, hosting for talking about after the G ram m ys—
a category that this applies to, it is the seventh time, opened the show that slit-to-the-navel, cut-to-the-
this one, because I do not feel like a in his now traditional manner — crotch gown that Jennifer Lopez
appearing digitally inserted into wore to the music industry awards
winner.”
He said if anyone deserved it, it was several classic films from “E.T.” to last month — made a surprise Oscar
Osment, an 11-year-old beaten by a “Casablanca” and “Spartacus” to appearance, worn by the very male
this year’s hot favorite for best film, co-creator o f “South Park,” Trey
67-year-old.
Parker. Parker was accompanied
Angelina Jolie, 24, the tattooed “American Beauty. ’ ’
daughter ofOscar-winning actor Jon Crystal paid tribute to scrap metal by his “South Park” collaborator
V oight, won a best supporting dealer Willie Fulgear for finding 52 Matt Stone who wore a replica o f
actress Oscar for her portrayal o f a o f the 55 Oscars that were stolen the cotton-candy pink Ralph Lauren
mentally ill young woman in “Girl, while en route to the big show and gown worn to last year’s Oscars by
said, “We couldn’t have a show th e th en b e st a c tre ss w in n e r
Interrupted.”
Gwyneth Paltrow.
Wearing a full-length black dress. without him .”
Jolie embraced her brother Jamie Spotting Jack Nicholson in the The youngest nominee, Osment,
and both appeared near tears o f jo y . audience, Crystal said, “Jack has wore a tiny tuxedo made especially
" I am in shock. I am just so in love three Oscars but so does some guy for him.
with my brother. He just held
me,’ ’ she said as she paid tribute
to other members ofher family.
“ Dad, you are a great actor, but
a better father.”
In an upset, “O ne Day in
September,” a documentary
about the slaughter o f Israeli
a th le te s at the M unich
Olympics in 1972, beat the
widely popular “Buena Vista
Social Club,” a documentary
that fuelled world-wide interest
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