81st Academy Awards (2009)
The 81st Academy Awards ceremony was held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to honour its selection of the best films of 2008 on February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was televised in the United States on ABC. Australian performer Hugh Jackman hosted the ceremony for the first time. Oscar-nominated Laurence Mark served as the event's producer, while Oscar-winning writer and director Bill Condon served as executive producer. The Academy hoped to revitalize the ceremony through an entirely new production team sworn to secrecy, and the telecast received mixed reviews from critics.
The nominees were announced on January 22, 2009, by AMPAS president Sid Ganis and Oscar-winning actor Forest Whitaker at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in the Academy's Beverly Hills headquarters. For the first time since the 60th Academy Awards (1987), no Honorary Award was presented.
On February 7, 2009, in a ceremony at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Jessica Biel.
- WINNER
Best Picture
Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost / Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Best Director
Slumdog Millionaire
- Danny Boyle
The Reader
- Stephen Daldry
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- David Fincher
Frost / Nixon
- Ron Howard
Milk
- Gus Van Sant
Best Original Screenplay
Milk
- Dustin Lance Black
Frozen River
- Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky
- Mike Leigh
In Bruges
- Martin McDonagh
WALL-E
- Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter
Best Adapted Screenplay
Slumdog Millionaire
- Simon Beaufoy
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Eric Roth, Robin Swicord
Doubt
- John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon
- Peter Morgan
The Reader
- David Hare
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Milk
- Sean Penn
The Visitor
- Richard Jenkins
Frost / Nixon
- Frank Langella
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Brad Pitt
The Wrestler
- Mickey Rourke
Best Actress in a Leading Role
The Reader
- Kate Winslet
Rachel Getting Married
- Anne Hathaway
Changeling
- Angelina Jolie
Frozen River
- Melissa Leo
Doubt
- Meryl Streep
Best Supporting Actor
The Dark Knight
- Heath Ledger
Milk
- Josh Brolin
Tropic Thunder
- Robert Downey, Jr.
Doubt
- Philip Seymour Hoffman
Revolutionary Road
- Michael Shannon
Best Supporting Actress
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
- Penelope Cruz
Doubt
- Amy Adams
Doubt
- Viola Davis
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Taraji P. Henson
The Wrestler
- Marisa Tomei
Best Art Direction
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo
Changeling
- James J. Murakami, Gary Fettis
The Dark Knight
- Nathan Crowley, Peter Lando
The Duchess
- Michael Carlin, Rebecca Alleway
Revolutionary Road
- Kristi Zea, Debra Schutt
Best Cinematography
Slumdog Millionaire
- Anthony Dod Mantle
Changeling
- Tom Stern
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Claudio Miranda
The Dark Knight
- Wally Pfister
The Reader
- Chris Menges, Roger Deakins
Best Original Song
Slumdog Millionaire
- A. R. Rahman, Gulzar
for "Jai Ho"
WALL-E
- Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman, Peter Gabriel
for "Down to Earth"
Slumdog Millionaire
- A. R. Rahman, M.I.A.
for "O Saya"
Best Original Score
Slumdog Millionaire
- A. R. Rahman
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Alexandre Desplat
Defiance
- James Newton Howard
Milk
- Danny Elfman
WALL-E
- Thomas Newman
Best Sound Mixing
Slumdog Millionaire
- Resul Pookutty, Richard Pryke, Ian Tapp
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten
The Dark Knight
- Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo, Ed Novick
WALL-E
- Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt
Wanted
- Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montano, Petr Forejt
Best Sound Editing
The Dark Knight
- Richard King
Iron Man
- Frank Eulner, Christopher Boyes
Slumdog Millionaire
- Tom Sayers
WALL-E
- Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood
Wanted
- Wylie Stateman
Best Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron
The Dark Knight
- Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber, Paul Franklin
Iron Man
- John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick, Shane Mahan
Best Costume Design
The Duchess
- Michael O'Connor
Australia
- Catherine Martin
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Jacqueline West
Milk
- Danny Glicker
Revolutionary Road
- Albert Wolsky
Best Makeup
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Greg Cannom
The Dark Knight
- John Caglione, Jr., Conor O'Sullivan
Hellboy II - The Golden Army
- Mike Elizalde, Thom Floutz
Best Animated Feature
WALL-E
- Andrew Stanton
Bolt
- Chris Williams, Byron Howard
Kung Fu Panda
- Mark Osborne, John Stevenson
Best Animated Short Film
La Maison En Petits Cubes
- Kunio Kato
Lavatory - Lovestory
- Konstantin Bronzit
Oktapodi
- Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand
Presto
- Doug Sweetland
This Way Up
- Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes
Best Documentary Feature
Man on Wire
- James Marsh
The Betrayal - Nerakhoon
- Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath
Encounters at the End of the World
- Werner Herzog
The Garden
- Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Trouble the Water
- Tia Lessin, Carl Deal
Best Documentary Short Subject
Smile Pinki
- Megan Mylan
The Conscience of Nhem En
- Steven Okazaki
The Final Inch
The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306
Best Foreign Language Film
Departure
- Yojiro Takita
Waltz with Bashir
- Ari Folman
Revanche
- Gotz Spielmann
The Class
- Laurent Cantet
The Baader Meinhof Complex
- Uli Edel
Best Live Action Short Film
Toyland
On the Line
Manon On the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Best Film Editing
Slumdog Millionaire
- Chris Dickens
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
- Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall
The Dark Knight
- Lee Smith
Frost/Nixon
- Mike Hill, Daniel P. Hanley
Milk
- Elliot Graham
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Jerry Lewis