The Artist - Awards - IMDb Special Award THE ARTIST is the singing, dancing sensation of 2011! Writer-director Michel Hazanavicius' love ... More THE ARTIST is the singing, dancing sensation of 2011! Writer-director Michel Hazanavicius' love letter to Hollywood's silent era is filmmaking both bold and bravura in our digital age, with spirits perfectly embodied by leading man Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo's fetching starlet. In the film's final frames, new generations will discover that old time glamour and the earliest tools of an American art form possess the power to leave an audience speechless. Alliance of Women Film Journalists 2012 Won ‘The Artist’ Wins Best Film at the Academy Awards - The New York Times The New York Times Awards Season |Loud Oscar Roar for ‘The Artist’: 5 Wins Search Continue reading the main story Photo Michel Hazanavicius accepts the Oscar for best picture for the film "The Artist." Credit Monica Almeida/The New York Times LOS ANGELES — Flattery will get you everywhere.

“The Artist,” a love letter to Hollywood, got hugs, kisses and the best-picture Oscar on Sunday at the 84th Academy Awards ceremony here. The film also took the awards for best actor and best director, in a minisweep that found the movie industry paying tribute to not just the movie but to its own roots as well. “I want to thank Billy Wilder, I want to thank Billy Wilder and I want to thank Billy Wilder,” said Michel Hazanavicius, the film’s director, in keeping with a self-referential theme that ruled the evening. Thomas Langmann, the producer, accepting his award for a mostly silent, black-and-white fable about an actor’s struggle with the end of silent film, said the achievement was dedicated to his father, the deceased French director Claude Berri. Until Sunday no silent film had won the top Oscar since “Wings,” at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929.

But nostalgia ruled the night, as “Hugo,” about another silent star, Georges Méliès, won a string of less prominent awards, and “Midnight in Paris,” a comic time trip to Paris in the 1920s, took the prize for original screenplay for Woody Allen. Advertisement When the only surprise is a victory by Ms. Streep, you know things are going by the script. Viola Davis, for her work in “The Help,” had been considered a strong candidate as the best-actress winner. Photo Meryl Streep accepts the Oscar for best Actress for her role in the film "Iron Lady." Credit Monica Almeida/The New York Times “Merci, beaucoup, I love you!” shouted Jean Dujardin , as he picked up his award as best actor for a movie that was conceived in France, but showered its adoration on the Hollywood of yore. After a dry spell in the early evening, “The Artist” gained momentum as the major awards were presented, beginning with a prize for Mr. Hazanavicius. The winner unscrolled a long string of French-accented “thank yous” that included Uggie the dog.

Christopher Plummer, born in 1929, won his first Academy Award, as best supporting actor, for “Beginners.” “You’re only two years older than me, darling — where have you been all my life?” said Mr. Plummer, in picking up a statuette that was first given for films made in 1927 and 1928. It was long overdue recognition for Mr. Plummer, who had appeared in dozens of films over more than 50 years, and finally won for his portrayal of a father who in his final years acknowledges being gay. “Congratulations to Mr. Plummer; the average age of the winners has now jumped to 67,” joked Billy Crystal, the host of the ceremony. That was before Woody Allen, 76, won a best original screenplay Oscar for “Midnight in Paris,” bumping the average age still higher. That film was another nostalgia trip, about literary Paris in the 1920s. In keeping with a personal tradition, Mr. Allen was a no-show, and left the Academy to accept its own prize on his behalf.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story Closer to present time, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash had just won an adapted-screenplay Oscar for “The Descendants.” It was welcome recognition for a movie that once appeared among the front-runners for best picture, but seemed to falter as a grueling, monthslong campaign season showered pre-Oscar prizes on “The Artist.” Photo Jean Dujardin accepted the Oscar for best Actor for the film "The Artist." Credit Monica Almeida/The New York Times Even the outcome of the foreign-language film competition wasn’t much of a surprise. “A Separation,” a combination family drama and detective story, was the front-runner all season long, and on Sunday it became the first Iranian film to win that category. Its writer-director, Asghar Farhadi, said he was thrilled to see his country recognized for its culture, not criticized for its politics. There was a dollop of drama to the proceedings. As the show passed its midpoint, “Hugo” had made the only show of force. A 3-D tale, set in Paris, it had won five Oscars, for cinematography, art direction, sound editing, sound mixing and visual effects.

Meanwhile, two hours in, “The Artist,” supposedly the night’s front-runner, had won only two awards, those for its Jazz Age costume design and musical score. If the early snubs sent a shiver through Harvey Weinstein, whose company distributed “The Artist” in the United States, he could take comfort, at least, in a win for “Undefeated.” That film, about a black urban high school football team and its white coach, was also distributed by the Weinstein Company, and took the Oscar for best documentary feature. One of the film’s makers drew a gasp in the auditorium when he broke Oscar protocol by tossing off a strictly forbidden obscenity — something rare at the tightly controlled Academy Awards. Chris Rock followed with a racial joke, about black men getting lousy roles even in animated films. It may have been in questionable taste, but it jarred the show closer to modern times. “Rango” was the animation winner, from the director Gore Verbinski and Paramount Pictures. Both DreamWorks Animation, which had “Kung Fu Panda 2” in the running, and Walt Disney’s Pixar Animation, which had no nominee in the category at all, had watched their grip on the prize slip to Mr.

Verbinski, who had never before made an animated film. Elizabeth Taylor was the capper in an especially crowded memorial sequence that paid tribute to one after another among the film figures who died in the last year. The actor Ben Gazzara, the movie executive John Calley, and the Oscar show producers Gil Cates and Laura Ziskin were among them. Photo Octavia Spencer gave an emotional acceptance speech after winning a supporting-actress Oscar for her role as a Southern maid in “The Help.” Credit Monica Almeida/The New York Times Finally, the show settled into its inevitable rhythm of presentation, thanks, and congratulatory applause — in a typical Oscar broadcast, only a relatively small sliver goes to production numbers and pranks by the host. But the montage moments kept coming. Advertisement Continue reading the main story As the end neared, actors like Julia Roberts and Robert Downey Jr. were on film carrying on about why they love film. “I’ve never had any of those feelings,” said Mr. Crystal. And the demographic jokes never stopped. “Perky gets old fast with this crowd,” Ben Stiller warned Emma Stone, as she milked a bit that wound around her status as a first-time presenter.

Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy Indeed it was a mirth-by-any-means-necessary kind of night: Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Chris Rock, Kristen Wiig, Kermit the Frog and a parade of other comedians were among the presenters. Mr. Crystal, his vaudeville grin firmly in place, set the tone early, opening the show with a song-and-dance montage that managed to send up the nine best-picture nominees, Tom Cruise, the movie “Bridesmaids,” and his own aging career all at once. “This is my ninth time, my ninth time hosting the Oscars,” he quipped in an opening monologue that seemed bent on leaving no one out. “Just call me ‘War Horse.’ ” Pointing one of his barbs directly at the film industry, he added, “Nothing can take the sting out of the world’s economic problems like watching millionaires present each other with gold statues.” The theater was gilded and draped in red, as were many of the starlets.

The idea was to mimic a glamour that came with the movies of old — a time when, perhaps, they mattered a little more than they do in an age of multiplatform entertainment. Photo Christopher Plummer accepted the Oscar for best Actor in a Supporting Role for the film "The Beginners" Credit Monica Almeida/The New York Times The big show-business smile that infused the ceremony was more than a ratings ploy. It was also an effort by the Academy to move past a tumultuous Oscar season that left the organization bruised if not bloodied. Mr. Crystal came aboard as host at the last minute in November, pinch-hitting for Eddie Murphy, who dropped out when Brett Ratner, his friend and a producer of the show, resigned amid a media storm over his use of an anti-gay slur at a panel discussion in Hollywood. Simultaneously, the normally staid Academy had to deal with infighting over its new chief executive, Dawn Hudson, and the changes she was trying to implement. Ms. Hudson finally defended herself a few days ago in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story A generally weak box-office performance among the year’s nine best-picture contenders — only one of which, “The Help,” amassed more than $100 million in domestic ticket sales — had already caused worry about the Oscar show’s ratings potential. Then moviedom took an added blow to its confidence, watching this year’s Grammy Awards show attract about 40 million viewers as music fans rallied around the death of Whitney Houston; last year’s Oscars drew 37.9 million viewers. Meanwhile, a demographic survey by The Los Angeles Times renewed questions about the 5,800-member Academy’s cultural relevance. Membership was found to be overwhelmingly white, male and 60ish. The results echoed conventional wisdom, but provoked new debate about whether the Oscars still mattered to an increasingly diverse America, let alone a global audience. The television ratings may provide a clue. (At 3 hours 8 minutes, the show ranked among the shorter broadcasts in recent history.) In the meantime, the longing for past glory was perhaps most wistfully expressed by Bret McKenzie, whose composition, “Man or Muppet,” won for best original song. Backstage, Mr.

McKenzie modestly allowed that his song, for the film “The Muppets,” couldn’t hold a candle to Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher’s “Rainbow Connection,” which has been Kermit the Frog’s theme song through the years. That song was a classic, Mr. McKenzie said; his own, he contended, was nothing by comparison. Somewhere in that was a lesson for the night. A version of this article appears in print on February 27, 2012, on Page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: Loud Oscar Roar for ‘The Artist’: 5 Wins. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Oscars 2012: The Artist triumphs with five Academy Awards - Telegraph Oscars Oscars 2012: The Artist triumphs with five Academy Awards Meryl Streep won her third Oscar last night, but The Artist was evening's big winner taking five awards including Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director. Follow The Artist , a black and white tribute to Hollywood's golden age, is the first silent film to take the main award since the Oscars began 83 years ago.

The film, which has been described as the most joyful movie of the year, took three of the five big awards at this year's Oscars including Best Actor for Jean Dujardin. Michel Hazanavicius beat off competition from veteran filmmaker Martin Scorsese to take Best Director. Hazanavicius took the film's dog star Uggie up on stage to thank him but added, ""I think he doesn't care." He also paid tribute to his wife, Berenice Bejo, who lost out on the supporting actress award to Octavia Spencer. Related Articles Christopher Plummer, 82, wins first Oscar 27 Feb 2012 "You inspired the movie and you're the soul of the movie and the positive feeling of the movie. Thank you for being in the movie and in my life". He paid tribute to his own cinematic hero, saying: "I want to thank three persons, I want to thank Billy Wilder, I want to thank Billy Wilder and I want to thank Billy Wilder". Dujardin, collecting the Best Actor award he said: "If George Valentin could speak, he would say 'Wow! Victorie! Genial!

Merci!'" He thanked Douglas Fairbanks Junior for inspiring his role as the silent film hero. The Artist also took the awards for costume design and origianl score. The Best Actress Oscar was presented by Colin Firth to Streep whom he described as "unreasonably good" in her role as former prime minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady . The actress joked she could hear "half of America going 'oh no"' when her name was read out before thanking her husband, Don Gummer, and also her long-time colleague, J Roy Helland, who picked up the make-up award earlier in the night for his work on the film. She said: "I really want to thank all my colleagues, all my friends, I look out here and see my life before my eyes, my old friends, my new friends and really this is such a great honour but the thing that counts the most with me is the friendships and the love and the sheer joy we have shared making movies together." Christopher Plummer, 82, became the oldest actor ever to win an Oscar.

He held up his statuette and said: "You're only two years older than me darling, where have you been all my life?" He paid tribute to his co-star in Beginners, Ewan McGregor, whom he said he would "happily share this award with, if I had any decency, but I don't". Speaking backstage, he said: "Well, it is sort of a renewal, it's not a beginning exactly, but it has recharged me and I hope I can do it for another 10 years at least. I'm going to drop dead wherever I am, on stage or on the set. We don't retire in our profession, thank God." Octavia Spencer accepted her supporting actress award from Christian Bale for her role in The Help . The tearful actress, who was given a standing ovation, thanked the academy for "putting me with the hottest guy in the room" before thanking her family in Los Angeles and Alabama. Fighting back the tears, she ended by saying: "Please wrap up, I'm wrapping up, I'm sorry I'm freaking out.

Thank you world." Another ode to old Hollywood, Martin Scorsese's 3D Hugo also picked up five awards but in technical categories including cinematography and art direction. The award for adapted screenplay went to the George Clooney film, The Descendants , while Woody Allen won the original screenplay Oscar for Midnight in Paris . The veteran star famously rarely attends the Oscars so Angelina Jolie accepted it on behalf of the academy. The six stars of Bridesmaids handed out prizes for live action short film to Terry and Oorlagh George's Northern Ireland-set The Shore. Mr George dedicated his win to "the people of Northern Ireland, Protestant and Catholic, who after 30 years of war sat down, negotiated a peace and proved to the world that the Irish are great talkers". Speaking backstage, Mr George, who wrote the Guildford Four film In The Name of the Father, said he would celebrate by going back "to the little village where we shot this". He said: "Already tonight they had an Oscar party at a place called The Anchor Bar, so I'm going to return with the prize, and then hopefully use it to promote, not just the peace process in northern Ireland, but tourism and everything that's going on there.

So I hope that this is just a reaffirmation that things have changed there and that we're trying to move on and it's a great place to be." The award for foreign-language film was presented by Sandra Bullock to the Iranian film A Separation, while best documentary feature was won by Undefeated - about an American football team. Chris Rock gave the award for animated feature film to Rango made by Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski. Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis presented the award for original song to Flight of the Conchords star Bret McKenzie for his song Man or Muppet from the latest Muppets film. He thanked his parents for "never telling me to get a real job". The award for documentary (short subject) went to Saving Face - about a London-based plastic surgeon who treats Pakistani women maimed in acid attacks. The Oscar for animated short film went to The Fantastic Flying Books Of Mr Morris Lessmore. The audience also saw a tribute to some of the names that have died in the last 12 months including Ken Russell, Whitney Houston and Elizabeth Taylor to the strains of What a Wonderful World performed by Esperanza Spalding.

The show was opened by Morgan Freeman before host Billy Crystal appeared in a spoof showreel based on scenes from nominated films including The Descendants, The Help and The Artist. Crystal told the audience it was his ninth time hosting the event, joking "so tonight, just call me War Horse". He then launched into a song based on the films nominated for the best picture Oscar, after joking "Nothing can take the sting out of the world's economic problems like millionaires presenting each other golden statues". Earlier in the night, stars including Gwyneth Paltrow, Brad Pitt, Clooney, Jessica Chastain and Bejo, greeted fans, signed autographs and posed for photographers outside the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Start your free 30 day Amazon Prime trial» Oscar-Winning Director of 'The Artist' Returns to Comedy Roots | Hollywood Reporter Oscar-Winning Director of 'The Artist' Returns to Comedy Roots 8:15 AM PDT 4/1/2015 by Nick Holdsworth Michel Hazanavicius Paris-based Michel Hazanavicius is set to shoot the U.S. comedy for Paramount in Los Angeles.

Oscar-winning French director Michel Hazanavicius is returning to comedy for his next feature after making Chechen war drama The Search. Hazanavicius, whose black-and-white, dialog-free tribute to silent movies, The Artist , picked up five Academy Awards in 2012 — including best director — is planning to shoot Will, a scripted comedy hailing from Paramount, in Los Angeles later this year. The Paris-based director, who also co-produces his films, tells The Hollywood Reporter that the screenplay, written by comedian Demetri Martin, had been offered to him among a slew of projects following his Oscar success. Speaking at the 20th edition of Lithuania's Vilnius International Film Festival Wednesday, where Hazanavicius is presenting a screening of The Search, he said: "I was sent many scripts that I had to decline as I was already committed to making my next film, but I liked this project, and was impressed when I told them they would have to wait two years if they wanted me to do it and they agreed." He describes the script as a "sleeper" that had been written a decade ago but never produced. "I liked the script.

There is no cynicism or irony — it is a very positive comedy. There is nothing mean in it. It is a completely American comedy. It can be very good and very funny," he said. Hazavanicius, whose grandparents were born in Lithuania but left in the 1920s, added that he expected financing to close soon and to shoot the film this year, with a release anticipated in 2016. He is yet to cast the movie, which is set in Los Angeles, but says he would like to cast his wife, Berenice Bejo, though he doubts he will cast her Artist co-lead Jean Dujardin — whom he describes as his favorite actor — as the comedy is very much an American story. "Berenice is easy to work with and a very talented actress," he added. Hazanavicius began his directing career at French TV channel CanalPlus before moving into features. He directed two spy spoofs — OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and Oss 117: Lost in Rio — before gaining worldwide fame with The Artist.

Hazanavicius being a fan of silent and classic movies, The Search was based on Fred Zinnemann's 1948 Montgomery Clift-starring film with the same title , about a boy searching for his mother after being released from a Nazi concentration camp. The Artist triumphs at the Oscars - BBC News BBC News The Artist triumphs at the Oscars 28 February 2012 From the section Entertainment & Arts comments Close share panel Image caption The cast and crew of The Artist had good reason to celebrate with five awards Silent movie The Artist has triumphed at the Oscars, winning five awards including best picture, best director and best actor for Jean Dujardin. Director Michel Hazanavicius - winning on his first ever nomination - thanked the dog, Uggie, who appears in the film but added: "I don't think he cares." Dujardin said of his character: "If George Valentin could speak, he would say 'Wow! Victorie! Genial! Merci!'" The film also won the Oscars for best original score and best costumes. Martin Scorsese's Hugo also won five Oscars, mainly in technical categories.

Meryl Streep won best actress for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady - her 17th Oscar nomination and third Oscar win. Image caption Streep won a third Oscar, having been nominated 17 times She thanked the Academy "for this inexplicably wonderful career". "When they called my name I had this feeling I could hear half of America going: 'Aww no. Not her again'. But, you know, whatever. "I look out here and I see my life before my eyes. My old friends, my new friends. This is such a great honour but the thing that counts the most for me is the friendships… Thank you. All of you, departed and here," she added. Dujardin broke into his native French language in celebration shouting: "Wow, victory!" "Thank you to the Academy. It's funny because in 1929, it wasn't Billy Crystal but Douglas Fairbanks who hosted the first Oscars ceremony. Tickets cost $5 and it lasted 15 minutes. Times have changed." 1929 was the last year that a silent movie won an Oscar.

Most Oscar wins Hugo - 5 Iron Lady - 2 Canadian actor Christopher Plummer became the oldest Oscar winner at 82 by taking the best supporting actor prize. He was widely tipped to win for his portrayal of a father who comes out as a gay man after his wife dies in Beginners. Plummer thanked his real-life wife who, he said, deserved "the Nobel Peace Prize for coming to my rescue every day". The Help's Octavia Spencer won the best supporting actress Oscar and gave an emotional acceptance speech, receiving a standing ovation from the audience. "Thank you Steven Spielberg for changing my life...oh my God, thank you... I'm freaking out," she told the audience, after struggling up to the stage in a floor-length gown. Best adapted screenplay went to Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash for The Descendants, starring George Clooney. Veteran screenwriter and director Woody Allen won best original screenplay for Midnight in Paris but was not there to collect the award. Muppets win The first two awards of the night went to Hugo for cinematography and art direction. Robert Richardson was cinematographer on Martin Scorsese's 3D film and Francesca Lo Schiavo was art director.

And later, the film about an orphan who lives in a train station picked up a further three Oscars, all in technical categories. Best sound editing was won by Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty. Hugo's Tom Fleishman and John Midgley won the Oscar for sound mixing and the film also picked up the award for best visual effects. Rango won best animation, a first Academy award and nomination for director Gore Verbinski, who said it was "made by grown-ups acting like a bunch of children". The film features the voice of Johnny Depp, who plays a chameleon. Best animated short film was The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore. The Oscar for costume design went to Mark Bridges for The Artist, who thanked the Academy "for making a lifelong dream come true". The best make-up prize went to J Roy Helland and British artist Mark Coulier for The Iron Lady. Iran's A Separation became the first Iranian film to win an Oscar when Sandra Bullock presented director Asghar Farhadi with best foreign language film. Set in contemporary Iran, it tells the story of a marriage break-down.

Best film editing went to Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall for Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - the pair also won last year for The Social Network. Both films were directed by David Fincher. The Oscar for best original song was won by Bret Mackenzie for Man or Muppet from the soundtrack to The Muppets. Image caption Spencer cried as she was given the famous statuette Best documentary went to Undefeated, a film about an inner city American football team whose fortunes are turned around by a new coach. The executive producer of the film was rapper Sean 'P Diddy' Combs. Cohen stunt Northern Ireland film The Shore won the best live action short film. Saving Face, about a British-Pakistani doctor who helps women who have been injured in acid attacks, won best documentary short. Earlier, Morgan Freeman introduced the evening before a comic video was shown of George Clooney waking up host Billy Crystal with a kiss - in a parody of his nominated film The Descendants. Freeman said: "All of us are mesmerised by the magic of the movies. This magnificent event allows us to celebrate the present and look back at its magnificent past." Crystal hosted the 84th Oscars ceremony at the Kodak theatre in Los Angeles.

He joked: "This is my ninth time - just call me War Horse." On the red carpet, British comedy actor Sacha Baron Cohen turned up dressed in a white military uniform and sporting a beard and sunglasses, promoting his upcoming film The Dictator. Cohen arrived holding an urn he jokingly claimed contained the ashes of Kim Jong Il, the late leader of North Korea. Cohen then tipped the container on to American Idol host Ryan Seacrest.

2011 Academy Awards® Winners and History Kung Fu Panda 2: The Kaboom of Doom (2011) Puss in Boots (2011) Actor: JEAN DUJARDIN in "The Artist,"Demián Bichir in "A Better Life," George Clooney in "The Descendants," Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," Brad Pitt in "Moneyball" Actress: MERYL STREEP in "The Iron Lady," Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs," Viola Davis in "The Help," Rooney Mara in "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," Michelle Williams in "My Week With Marilyn" Supporting Actor: CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER in "Beginners," Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn," Jonah Hill in "Moneyball," Nick Nolte in "Warrior," Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Supporting Actress: OCTAVIA SPENCER in "The Help," Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist," Jessica Chastain in "The Help," Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids," Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs" Director: MICHEL HAZAN

AVICIUS for "The Artist," Alexander Payne for "The Descendants," Martin Scorsese for "Hugo," Woody Allen for "Midnight in Paris," Terrence Malick for "The Tree of Life" There were 24 different categories in this year's Oscars race.

In the first year of Oscar presentations (for 1927/1928 films), there were only 12 categories. This year's nine Best Picture nominees in the top category included the most acclaimed and awarded films of the year. There were nine nominees for Best Picture, using a new nomination process, announced in June of 2010. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had once again changed its Oscar's Best Picture nomination process for the second time in three years. It followed a very brief, two-year period in which the Best Picture field included 10 nominees, making the choices extremely inclusive. The new system made the voters' ranking order of favorite films more important. In the new nomination process, Academy members were asked to rank five films for Best Picture (rather than 10, as in the last two years). In order to acquire a Best Picture nomination, a film had to earn at least 5% of the total number of first-place votes (projected to be around 240 ballots), allowing for between five and 10 nominees.

Nominees/Wins by Studio: The Weinstein Company had 16 nominations (from 5 films) and 8 wins; Paramount had 18 nominations (from 6 films) and 6 wins; Buena Vista had 12 nominations (from 4 films) and 2 wins; while Sony Pictures with 21 nominations (from 8 films) had only 3 wins. The two top films, with a combined 21 nominations and 10 Oscar wins, were both nostalgic odes to the history of film-making and the early bygone days of cinema, followed by a few other films also set in the past. Six of the nine Best Picture nominees were adapted from literary works, and the top two were both French-related, as was Woody Allen's nominee! The two top films were also competing against each other in seven categories.

The lineup of Best Picture nominees with their wins (in descending order), are found below: The Artist (with 10 nominations and five major wins: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Original Score, and Best Costume Design), a low-budget, black and white film with only $32.1 million (domestic) box-office, by French director Michel Hazanavicius, a nearly-silent film from the Weinstein Company that recalled the first-ever Best Picture winner, Wings (1927/1928) - the only non-speaking 'Best Picture' in Academy history. [The Artist became the second silent Best Picture winner in Oscar history.] It was the first silent (almost) to be nominated for Best Picture since Ernst Lubitsch's The Patriot (1928/1929). [Note: The Patriot was the only silent film among the five nominees of its year, and the last silent film to receive a Best Picture nomination, over 80 years ago.

The last fully B&W Best Picture winner was The Apartment (1960) .] Hugo (with 11 nominations and five wins, in technical categories: Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing, with no performance nominations), by director Martin Scorsese (with his 7th Best Director nomination), a 3-D family adventure film from Paramount; it was a 12 year-old orphan boy (Asa Butterfield) story set in 1930s Paris at the Gare Montparnasse train station (with mechanical wonders) where the boy (son of a late master clockmaker) tried to repair a broken mechanical man and unlock its secret, with homage to pioneering French silent film director Georges Melies (Ben Kingsley) The Descendants (with 5 nominations, and only one win for Best Adapted Screenplay), by director Alexander Payne, an emotional, sometimes melancholy family drama set in Hawaii, based on the best-selling novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, about an indifferent husband and father of two girls who was forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffered a boating accident off of Waikiki The Help

 (with 4 nominations, including three performance nominations and only one win for Best Supporting Actress), by writer/director Tate Taylor, an ensemble film and an adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel about "the help" during the 1960s civil rights-era in Mississippi Midnight in Paris (with 4 nominations, and one win for Best Original Screenplay), by director-nominated Woody Allen, a Parisian romantic fantasy from the 1920s from Sony Pictures, the top-grossing film of Woody Allen's career (to date $56 million domestic and $148.3 million worldwide) - his 41st feature film.

Allen's Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay was his third Original Screenplay Oscar, following wins for Annie Hall (1977) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) 25 years earlier - and it was Allen's fourth overall Oscar (out of 23 nominations). [Note: The only times Allen has won the Original Screenplay Oscar has been when his films were also nominated for Best Picture.

In addition, Allen was the oldest winner of the Best Original Screenplay award, at age 76.] Moneyball (with 6 nominations and no wins), from Sony Pictures, by un-nominated director Bennett Miller, an inside-baseball biographical sports drama based on Michael Lewis' 2003 book regarding a true story - the 2002 season of the Oakland A's baseball team [Note: the six nominations were the most for any baseball movie since The Pride of the Yankees (1942) received 11 nominations; no baseball film has ever won Best Picture, and the last baseball film to be nominated for the top award was Field of Dreams (1989) (with three nominations).] War Horse (with 6 nominations and no wins), by director Steven Spielberg, a beautifully-filmed, old-fashioned WWI war-time epic drama, about an English farm boy who joined the army to search for his horse Joey after it was sold into the cavalry and shipped to France during the war The Tree of Life (with 3 nominations and no wins), by Terrence Malick, an esoteric, experimental, non-linear family chronicle of life in 1950s small-town Texas Extremely Loud &

 Incredibly Close (with 2 nominations and no wins), by director Stephen Daldry, a surprise last-minute nomination for the poignant, sentimental post-9/11 drama about a 9 year-old boy coping with the grief of losing his father Only one of the Best Picture nominees had earned more than $100 million at the box-office at the time of nominations and awards, Buena Vista's The Help, at $169.6 million.

The Artist at $32.1 million, the front-running winning film joined the low-ranking films of the previous two years, The Hurt Locker (2009) (at $17 million) and The King's Speech (2010) (at $135 million), and it was on track to be the second lowest-grossing Best Picture winner since The Last Emperor (1987) (at $44 million). Hugo was also low-grossing at $69.5 million. The films of all of the five nominees for Best Director were also nominated for Best Picture. All of the Best Director nominees were males (unlike two years previously when Kathryn Bigelow won for the category), and all were veterans, except for 44 year-old Michel Hazanavicius, who won the Best Director Oscar for The Artist. It was his first nomination (and win), and the first for a French director.

The other four nominees were: 69 year-old Martin Scorsese, with his 7th Best Director nomination, and a previous win for The Departed (2006) 76 year-old Woody Allen, with his 7th Best Director nomination, and a previous win for Annie Hall (1977) Terrence Malick, who had received two previous nominations for The Thin Red Line (1998) (Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director) Alexander Payne (with his second Best Director nomination) was previously nominated as Best Director for Sideways (2004) (he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film). The Iranian family drama from writer/director Asghar Farhadi, A Separation had two nominations (including Best Original Screenplay) and won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar - it was the first Iranian film to be nominated (and also win) in Academy history. The Best Animated Feature Film category included two non-CGI (hand-drawn) animated nominees - a pair of unlikely and obscure, foreign-language independent film candidates from the small New York distributor GKIDS.

The winner was Rango, director Gore Verbinski's Western comedy-adventure (with voice of Johnny Depp as chameleon Rango), Verbinski's first nomination (and win) after being overlooked for his live action films.

The other nominees (conspicuously without a Pixar nominee or winner) were: A Cat in Paris (Fr.) (aka Une Vie De chat), non-CGI animation, about young traumatized and unspeaking Parisian girl Zoe and her cat Dino (and rooftop cat burglar Nico) - an exciting mystery thriller unfolding over the course of one evening Chico & Rita, by Spanish filmmaker Fernando Trueba, an old-fashioned, hand-drawn animated tale of star-crossed love in the 1940s-1950s with a jazzy (Latino-Cuban) soundtrack, between young jazz pianist Chico & beautiful singer Rita Kung Fu Panda 2, from DreamWorks, the blockbuster sequel to the 2008 film, the highest-grossing animated film of the year, directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson Puss in Boots, from DreamWorks, from director Chris Miller, a spin-off sequel to the Shrek film franchise - the first spin-off nominee in the category There were nine first-time nominees among the 20 performance nominees - the most newcomers were within the Best Supporting Actress category.

The Best Actor category included two long-time favorite nominees (Clooney and Pitt), but neither of them triumphed. The category was won by a first-time nominee - and the first French actor to ever win Best Actor - 39 year-old French actor Jean Dujardin (with his first nomination and win) for his performance in The Artist, as declining, handsome silent film star George Valentin struggling with the coming of talkies. The other four Best Actor nominees were: 48 year-old Mexican actor and underdog Demián Bichir (with his first nomination) for director Chris Weitz' illegal immigrant drama A Better Life, as East L.A.

gardener Carlos Galindo, while coping with his teenaged son lured by local gangs 50 year-old George Clooney (with his third Best Actor nomination, and 6th Oscar nomination overall, with one win for Syriana (2005) for Best Supporting Actor) for The Descendants, as middle-aged father of two daughters and Honolulu-based lawyer Matt King coping with his cheating wife's coma [Note: Clooney was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for his own directed film, The Ides of March (its sole nomination)] 53 year-old English actor Gary Oldman (with his first nomination) for director Tomas Alfredson's UK espionage film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (with three nominations and no wins), an adaptation of the John Le Carré novel, as British intelligence agent George Smiley hunting for a Soviet mole in the 1970s 48 year-old Brad Pitt for Moneyball (with his third Oscar nomination overall and second Best Actor nomination, with no wins), as Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane The Best Actress category included two legendary veterans (one without any wins from six nominations, and the other with her 17th nomination), and only one first-time nominee.

Two actresses in the category, Glenn Close and Meryl Streep have competed against each other in the Best Actress category twice before (in 1987 and 1988), and on the two previous occasions both lost (to Moonstruck (1987) and Cher, and to The Accused (1988) and Jodi Foster). This time in an upset, 62 year-old Meryl Streep won her third Oscar (it was with her record-setting 17th Oscar nomination, five more than both second-place Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson, and she already possessed 13 Best Actress nominations), for her performance in The Iron Lady (with two nominations, and two wins including Best Makeup), a biopic by director Phyllida Lloyd, as former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. She had two previous Oscars for Best Supporting Actress for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Best Actress for Sophie's Choice (1982). [Note: Streep hadn't won an Oscar in the last 12 instances, stretching back to 1982].

The other Best Actress nominees were: 64 year-old Glenn Close (with her 6th Oscar nomination overall and her third Best Actress nomination, with no wins - her last nomination was 23 years earlier) for director Rodrigo Garcia's Albert Nobbs (with three nominations and no wins), as title character Albert Nobbs, a hotel waiter trapped after masquerading as a man in late 19th century and early 20th century Ireland 46 year-old African-American stage actress Viola Davis (with her 2nd Oscar nomination overall, previously nominated as Best Supporting Actress for Doubt (2008) opposite co-star Meryl Streep, with no wins) for The Help, as middle-aged, stoic, headstrong black servant-maid Aibileen Clark (one of "the Help") in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s during the Civil Rights era, who shared her experiences, from her point of view, with aspiring writer Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Emma Stone) for an anonymously-published book, The Help 26 year-old Rooney Mara (with her first nomination) for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (with five nominations total and only one win for Best

 Film Editing), an R-rated thriller-remake by un-nominated director David Fincher and based on Stieg Larsson's Millennium book series, as violent, bisexual computer hacker misfit Lisbeth Salander assisting Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) in an investigation into the possible murder of a missing girl 31 year-old Michelle Williams (with her third Oscar nomination and second nomination for Best Actress, with no wins) for My Week With Marilyn (with two nominations and no wins), by UK director Simon Curtis, as bombshell movie legend Marilyn Monroe, a fragile screen beauty during the troubled making of the film The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) with Laurence Olivier The Best Supporting Actor category was notable for having only one nominated actor under 50 years of age (there were two 82 year-old nominees, some of the oldest on record), and all nominees had never won an Oscar.

The winner in the category was the favorite - 82 year-old Canadian-born Christopher Plummer (with his second Best Supporting Actor nomination and his first Oscar win), for Beginners (the film's sole nomination and win), a romantic comedy-drama by director/writer Mike Mills, as 75 year-old Hal Fields, a dying, terminally-ill widower who came out of the closet to his adult son. With his win, Plummer became the oldest actor to win an Oscar. He also became the oldest person to win an Academy Award in one of the four acting categories.

The other nominees in the category were: 51 year-old British actor Kenneth Branagh (with his 5th Oscar nomination overall, and first Best Supporting Actor nomination, with no wins) for My Week with Marilyn, as acting legend Sir Laurence Olivier 28 year-old Jonah Hill (with his first nomination) for Moneyball, as numbers-crunching assistant GM Peter Brand assisting Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) with statistics 70 year-old Nick Nolte (with his 3rd Oscar nomination overall after two Best Actor noms in 1991 and 1998, with no wins) for Warrior (the underappreciated film's sole nomination), a sports-action drama by director Gavin O'Connor, as raspy-voiced, troubled but recovering alcoholic Paddy Conlon dealing with his two martial-arts competing sons (estranged brothers) (Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton) 82 year-old Max von Sydow (with his 2nd Oscar nomination overall, following a Best Actor nomination in 1988, with no wins) for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, as the unnamed character called The Renter, who offered support non-verbally

 (through a notepad and a 'yes' and 'no' on his palms) to precocious child protagonist (Thomas Horn) The Best Supporting Actress category had only one returning Oscar nominee and four first-time nominees.

The category was won by 41 year-old African-American actress Octavia Spencer (with her first nomination) for The Help, as black 'help' maid and talented chef/pie-maker Minny Jackson.

The other Best Supporting Actress nominees were: 35 year-old Argentine-French actress Bérénice Bejo (the wife of the film's director) (with her first nomination) for The Artist, as silent film fan and rising female star-ingenue Peppy Miller 30 year-old Jessica Chastain (with her first nomination) for The Help, as 'white trash' bottle blonde Celia Foote from an impoverished background, married to Johnny Foote (Mike Vogel), and the naive employer of smart-mouthed black maid/cook Minny Jackson (fellow-nominee Octavia Spencer) 41 year-old Melissa McCarthy (with her first nomination) for the ribald comedy Bridesmaids, as sex-hungry, raunchy and obnoxious future sister-in-law bridesmaid Megan [Note: It has been rare in Academy history to have nominations for comedies, and especially female comedic roles.] 50 year-old British actress Janet McTeer (with one previous Best Actress nomination in 1999, with no wins) for Albert Nobbs, as Hubert Page, a cross-dressing woman passing as a man (a housepainter who was married to another woman); he was a kindred spirit

 and inspirational role model for co-star Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close) Oscar Snubs and Omissions: Tilda Swinton for director Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin, as Kevin's (Ezra Miller) deeply-troubled, psychopathic mother Eva Khatchadourian of a murderous child Michael Fassbender for director Steve McQueen's NC-17 rated UK drama Shame, as sex-addict Brandon Sullivan Leonardo di Caprio for director Clint Eastwood's biopic J.

Edgar (without nominations), as FBI head J. Edgar Hoover Shailene Woodley for The Descendants, as 17 year-old daughter Alexandra ("Alex"), who revealed that her dying comatose mother Elizabeth was having an affair David Fincher, the un-nominated director of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, also devoid of a Best Picture nomination The Artist (2011) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC A silent movie star meets a young dancer, but the arrival of talking pictures sends their careers in opposite directions.

Director: a list of 25 titles created 24 Jan 2012 a list of 21 titles created 06 Feb 2012 a list of 28 titles created 25 Feb 2012 a list of 26 titles created 07 Apr 2012 a list of 24 titles created 27 Jul 2014 Search for " The Artist " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 5 Oscars. Another 146 wins & 185 nominations. See more awards » Videos The story of King George VI of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it. Director: Tom Hooper Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1980.

Director: Ben Affleck During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work. Director: Kathryn Bigelow A Mumbai teen reflects on his upbringing in the slums when he is accused of cheating on the Indian Version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Directors: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan Stars: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Saurabh Shukla Los Angeles citizens with vastly separate lives collide in interweaving stories of race, loss and redemption. Director: Paul Haggis A young Shakespeare, out of ideas and short of cash, meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays. Director: John Madden Murderesses Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart find themselves on death row together and fight for the fame that will keep them from the gallows in 1920s Chicago. Director: Rob Marshall Illustrated upon the progress of his latest Broadway play, a former popular actor's struggle to cope with his current life as a wasted actor is shown. Director: Alejandro G.

Iñárritu An elderly Margaret Thatcher talks to the imagined presence of her recently deceased husband as she struggles to come to terms with his death while scenes from her past life, from girlhood to British prime minister, intervene. Director: Phyllida Lloyd Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt's father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie; they travel cross-country. Director: Barry Levinson In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup , a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Director: Steve McQueen A faded country music musician is forced to reassess his dysfunctional life during a doomed romance that also inspires him. Director: Scott Cooper Edit Storyline Outside a movie premiere, enthusiastic fan Peppy Miller literally bumps into the swashbuckling hero of the silent film, George Valentin. The star reacts graciously and Peppy plants a kiss on his cheek as they are surrounded by photographers. The headlines demand: "Who's That Girl?" and Peppy is inspired to audition for a dancing bit-part at the studio. However as Peppy slowly rises through the industry, the introduction of talking-pictures turns Valentin's world upside-down. Written by L.

Hamre Rated PG-13 for a disturbing image and a crude gesture | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 20 January 2012 (USA) See more » Also Known As: $204,878 (USA) (18 November 2011) Gross: Did You Know? Trivia The breakfast montage in this movie, showing the breakdown of the marriage is a direct tribute to an almost identical montage in Orson Welles ' Citizen Kane (1941). See more » Goofs Women's fashions changed a great deal from 1927 to 1932; however, Peppy's wardrobe appears to remain in 1927. By 1932, hems were mid-calf and waistlines were at the natural waist. See more » Quotes George Valentin : [first lines, heard in one of his films] I won't talk! I won't say a word!

See more » Crazy Credits In the credit montages documenting Peppy Miller's rise to fame, in the movie where she plays a maid, the actor credited as playing "Mr Rogers" is "Jack Offman." See more » Connections Performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra ©Sony/ATV Harmony (cat. Famous) (p) & (c) 1992 MILAN Entertainment, Inc. Courtesy of Sony/ATV Music Publishing France & Milan Entertainment, Inc. A Masterpiece that will leave you ... Speechless ... 14 November 2011 | by ElMaruecan82 (France) – See all my reviews «We didn't need dialogs, we had faces» said the narcissistic Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) in Billy Wilder' "Sunset Boulevard", referring to the Silent Era, when she used to be big before the 'pictures got small'. The reason of this introduction is that after watching Michel Hazanavicius' critically acclaimed: "The Artist", I strongly felt this was the perfect illustration to Norma Desmond's iconic eulogy.

From beginning to end, my eyes never ceased to be amazed by the communicative smile of Jean Dujardin as George Valentin, the aging silent movie star and the sparkling eyes of Berenice Bejo as Peppy Miller, the young and flamboyant starlet. Their faces occupy the screen with such an electrifying magnetism that they don't just steal the scenes, they steal the dialogs literally. I was awestruck by Dujardin's performance. To those who didn't grew up with French TV programs, he's one of the most popular and talented comedians of his generation. Dujardin created the character of Brice de Nice, a blonde surfer whose specialty was to 'diss people', but it was so funny it never sounded mean-spirited. He was a member of a cult comic-troop (who made sketches à la SNL) but even back then, he had a little something that made him special: a voice, a smile, a charisma in both TV and movies, in both dramatic and comedic register. There was no doubt in France that the guy who was famous for his impressions of Robert De Niro and the camel (and even De Niro doing the camel) was promised to a brilliant career.

Look closely at Jean Dujardin's face, it's like drawn with 'classic' features: the finely traced mustache who builds a Fairbanks-like charisma like the strength from Samson's hair, the dazzling smile making him look like the lost son of Gene Kelly, and a certain macho toughness reminding of a young Sean Connery. Dujardin's face is a gift from cinematic Gods, and "The Artist" finally lets it glide, earning him the Cannes Festival Award for Best Actor. I sincerely believe he deserves an Oscar nomination, because he just doesn't play an actor from the Silent Era, he embodies the Era with the same level of demented craziness as Norma Desmond, in a brighter and more light-hearted side. Valentin's self-absorption echoes Desmond's cynical ego while his gaudy 'Don Lockwood' mask (Gene Kelly in "Singin' in the Rain") hides the more poignant face of his insecurity. He's the star of the screen because only the screen allows him to express his unique talent.

While Lockwood had to adapt to the 'talking' revolution, George Valentin makes a conservative U Turn starting an inexorable descent into madness, from an outcast, to a has-been until being finally alienated by his own talkie-phobia. The direction is so clever that it challenges many times our perceptions, creating unexpected feelings of discomfort when real sounds are heard. But I was surprised to see how much it worked on a dramatic level. And this is the strength of the film, although I expect it to discomfort some viewers: it isn't a tribute in the literary meaning of the word. It has its moments where it tricks us into the use of sounds or dialogs, but never fails to distract us from the core of the story: the romance. Very quickly, we forget about spotting the hints, the references to silent classics: chase scenes, over-the-top comical gesticulations, slapstick jokes etc. This mindset would disappoint those who expected a film with the same material as Mel Brook's "Silent Movie", which was clearly a tribute.

"The Artist" IS a silent movie, featuring a beautiful romance between George and Peppy, who got her break with an idea from George, something that would make her different from the other actresses: a beauty spot above the upper lip. A clever credit-billing montage depicts her consequent ascension to stardom until she finally dethrones George and makes a has-been out of him. If I mentioned the performance of Dujardin, Berenice Bejo also deserves some accolades because she succeeded in looking so "old" from our POV yet so fresh and modern in the film, with the appealing feel-good and optimistic attitude she constantly brings on screen. With her doll-face and youngish smile, she's like a cute little girl enjoying what she does. In a way, Peppy Miller embodies the film's most inspirational element: a positive message about passion and enjoyment. And this indirectly highlights George's source of troubles: being deprived from what he enjoyed the most and suffering from his progressive fading into oblivion. Along with this conflict, the evolution of George and Peppy's romance never feels forced, quite an accomplishment when we consider how slightly over-the-top silent movie stars used to act.

Both Dujardin and Bejo are indeed powerful in an Oscar-worthy level and at that moment, I can't continue without mentioning the third character of the film, George's dog. The relationship between George and the dog provides a sort of Chaplinesque feel to the movie, a mix of tenderness and poignancy, so natural and convincing I wonder if the Academy will think of a honorary Oscar. Anyway, I applaud Hazanivicius for not having reduced "The Artist" to a flashy spectacle with no substance, with the word 'homage' as the director's convenient alibi, and make a touching romance about two people who met each other at a pivotal time in the history of film-making, each representing a side of cinema, the old-school silent generation: Chaplin, Keaton, Pickford and the exuberant talkers: Grant, Hepburn, Davis And I'm glad he found the true note to reconcile between these two universes at the end didn't I tell you Dujardin was the lost son of Gene Kelly?

"The Artist" plays like a missing link between "Singin' in the Rain" and "Sunset Boulevard" and it's indeed one of the best films of 2011, with the absence of words as an endearing 'beauty spot'. 259 of 354 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Oscars 2012: Complete Winners List | Hollywood Reporter Oscars 2012: Complete Winners List 5:30 PM PST 2/26/2012 by THR Staff Getty Images "The Artist" and "Hugo" topped the 84th annual Academy Awards with five wins apiece. The 84th annual Academy Awards took place Sunday, Feb. 26 with Billy Crystal hosting for a ninth time. Martin Scorsese's 3D film Hugo and silent movie The Artist topped the night with five wins apiece . The Artist took home several of the top awards, including best picture, director (Michel Hazanavicius) and actor (Jean Dujardin). The Iron Lady was the only other film to take home multiple awards with two honors, including Meryl Streep's third Oscar.

Other films represented with wins include The Descendants, The Help, A Separation, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Undefeated, Beginners, The Muppets, Midnight in Paris and the short films The Shore, Saving Face and The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Below are the winners in the 24 motion picture categories: Best Picture

Question: Who was the director of the Oscar winning film "The Artist"?
Answer: Michel Hazanavicius