76th edition of the Oscars

The 76th edition of the Oscars rewarded the best films of 2003. Organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, it took place at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles (United States) on February 29, 2004.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King swept this edition and achieved several feats that are considered historic for this award: starting with being the third most awarded film in Oscar history matching the 11 previously won by Ben-Hur in 1959 and Titanic in 1998, it also became the third film to win every category in which it was nominated, surpassing the 9 statuettes won by Gigi in 1958 and The Last Emperor in 1987, likewise became the second sequel to win an Oscar in the main category, a feat that He previously achieved The Godfather II in 1974, it also became the tenth film to win the Best Picture statuette without having received a nomination in the acting categories and finally became the first film in the fantasy genre in winning the Oscar for Best Picture, noting that previously no film fantasy ula had won the prize.

For her part, Sofia Coppola became the third woman to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Director, in addition to being the first American woman to receive such a nomination (it should be remembered that Lina Wertmüller is Italian and Jane Campion is New Zealand) and building on previous wins for her father Francis Ford Coppola and her grandfather Carmine Coppola's victory for Sofia Coppola in the Best Original Screenplay category, made her the second winner from the third generation of a family in Oscar history.

At the age of thirteen, Keisha Castle-Hughes became the youngest actress to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress at the time but would be surpassed by Quvenzhane Wallis in 2012 when she was nominated in the same category at age 9 old.

With wins for Sean Penn and Tim Robbins in the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor categories respectively, Mystic River became the fourth film to win both male acting categories.

Award Presenters

Summary of awards and nominations

Movie	Original title	Candidatures	Awards	Country
The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	11	11
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World	Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World	10	2
Mystic River	Mystic River	6	2
Cold Mountain	Cold Mountain	7	1
Looking for Nemo	Finding Nemo	4	1
Lost in Translation	Lost in Translation	4	1
The barbaric invasions	Les Invasions barbares	2	1
Monster	Monster	1	1
Seabiscuit	Seabiscuit	7	0
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl	5	0
The last samurai	The Last Samurai	4	0
City of God	Cidade de Deus	4	0

Ceremony

At 2:30 the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles was full. The last to parade were the director Peter Jackson and the protagonist of The Lord of the Rings: the return of King Elijah Wood. Sean Connery entered the scene and ushered in the first clip of the night about going to the movies. Billy Crystal appears in a room with a camcorder hacking the film. Shortly after, Crystal walks in with Jack Nicholson's glasses. He made some jokes with some of the candidates, also about George Bush and sang a song in which he quoted all the candidate films to the rhythm of Old man river, Mystic River; Maria from West Side Story for Sofia Coppola and hers Lost in Translation; Mary Poppins, for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; Goldfinger for Seabiscuit; and ended with Louis Armstrong for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

Catherine Zeta-Jones, presented the Oscar for best supporting actor to Tim Robbins, for Mystic River. With a hippy peace pin, she thanks her colleagues and Clint Eastwood for the Oscar, and encourages people who suffer from a problem like her character's. After messing with the Treasury, Crystal gives way to Ian McKellen who presents a short of The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King. Shortly after Angelina Jolie, delivered the Oscar for best artistic direction which went to Grant Major (artistic direction) and Dan Hennah and Alan Lee (settings), for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Robin Williams presented the Oscar for Best Animated Film for Andrew Stanton's Finding Nemo. Renée Zellweger, gave way to the Oscar for best costume design, which went to Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor, for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Crystal returns to make a joke and a survey among celebrities and her favorite movies. After Nicholas Cage presented the clip of Master and Commander: The other side of the world.

Chris Cooper presented the Oscar for best supporting actress to Renée Zellweger for Cold Mountain. Tom Hanks paid tribute to the late Bob Hope who hosted the Oscars 18 times. To the sound of the Forrest Gump soundtrack, images of the centenary actor followed one another. Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller, as Starsky and Hutch, are promoting the film based on the 1970s series and, in the process, handing out the Oscar for Best Short Film to Two Soldiers, by Aaron Scheider and Andrew J. Sacks, as well as the Oscar for Best Short Film animation, which was for Harvie Krumpet, by Adam Elliot.

Liv Tyler, introduced the first song of the night which was performed by Sting and Allison Krauss. It was "You Will Be My Ain True Love", belonging to Cold Mountain. Also from that film was sung the other candidate theme, "Scarlet Tide", with T Bone Burnet and Elvis Costello. Will Smith and his wife enter hand in hand to present the Oscar for Best Visual Effects to Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke, for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Jennifer Garner offered a summary of the delivery of the scientific and technical awards, which she presented a few days before.

Jim Carrey presented the honorary Oscar to Blake Edwards. Crystal gave the floor to her Saturday night live partner Bill Murray who introduced the clip from her own film Lost in Translation . Scarlett Johansson, presented the Oscar for best makeup to Richard Taylor and Peter King, for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. John Travolta and Sandra Bullock, were in charge of awarding the Oscar for Best Sound to Richard Taylor and Peter King, for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, as well as for Best Sound Editing to Richard King, for Master and commander: the other side of the world. Julia Roberts paid tribute to Katharine Hepburn with a review of her filmography included. Oprah Winfrey presented the clip dedicated to Mystic River. But it's time for the Oscar that is delivered by John Cusack and Diane Lane give the award for best short documentary to Chernobyl heart, by Maryann DeLeo. Phil Collins and Sting presented the Oscar for Best Original Score to Howard Shore for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, his sixth award.

Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore take charge of delivering the Oscar for Best Editing to Jamie Selkirk, for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Michael McKean and Annette O'Toole, performed the song A kiss at the end of the rainbow, from A mighty wind. Will Ferrer and Owen Wilson presented the Oscar for Best Original Song, Song Included, which went to Into the West, by Fran Walsh, Howard Shore and Annie Lennox (music and lyrics), for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Charlize Theron, awarded the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film to The Barbarian Invasions, by Dennis Arcand, who along with the producers were grateful that The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King did not appear in this section. Jude Law and Uma Thurman gave the Oscar for Best Cinematography to Russell Boyd for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

Francis and Sofia Coppola took charge of the Best Adapted Screenplay award, which went to Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson, for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Tobey Maguire featured the Seabiscuit clip. Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins presented the award for Best Original Screenplay to Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation. Tom Cruise presented the Oscar for best director to Peter Jackson for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Adrian Brody delivered the Oscar for best actress to Charlize Theron, for Monster. Nicole Kidman announced the Best Actor Oscar for Sean Penn, for Mystic River. Steven Spielberg delivered the Oscar for best film to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which, in this way, took the eleven Oscars to which it aspired, equaling Titanic and Ben-Hur.

Nominations and winners

Peter Jackson was the Oscar winner to the best director by The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King.

Sean Penn was the Oscar winner to the best actor by Mystic River.

Charlize Theron was the Oscar winner to better actress by Monster.

Tim Robbins was the Oscar winner to best cast actor by Mystic River.

Renée Zellweger was the Oscar winner to the best cast actress by Cold Mountain.

Indicates the winner in each category.

Best movie Submitted by: Steven Spielberg	Best director Submitted by: Tom Cruise
The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King- Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Barrie M. Osborne.	Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King
Lost in Translation- Sofia Coppola and Ross Katz. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World— Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., Peter Weir and Duncan Henderson. Mystic River- Clint Eastwood, Duncan Henderson and Robert Lorenz. Seabiscuit— Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Gary Ross.	Sofia Coppola — Lost in Translation Clint Eastwood — Mystic River Fernando Meirelles — City of God Peter Weir — Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Best actor Submitted by: Nicole Kidman	Best actress Submitted by: Adrien Brody
Sean Penn- Mystic Riverlike Jimmy Markum.	Charlize Theron - Monsterlike Aileen Wuornos.
Johnny Depp — Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black PearlAs Captain Jack Sparrow. Ben Kingsley — House of sand and foglike Massoud Amir Behrani. Jude Law — Cold Mountainlike W. P. Inman. Bill Murray — Lost in Translationlike Bob Harris.	Keisha Castle-Hughes — Whale RiderLike Paikea Apirana. Diane Keaton — Something's Gotta Givelike Erika Berry. Samantha Morton — In Americalike Sarah Sullivan. Naomi Watts — 21 gramslike Cristina "Cris" Williams-Peck.
Best cast actor Submitted by: Catherine Zeta-Jones	Best cast actress Submitted by: Chris Cooper
Tim Robbins- Mystic Riverlike Dave Boyle.	Renée Zellweger- Cold Mountainlike Ruby Thewes.
Alec Baldwin — The CoolerLike Shelly Kaplow. Benicio Del Toro — 21 gramslike Jack Jordan. Djimon Hounsou — In Americalike Matthew Kuamey. Ken Watanabe — The last samurailike Katsumoto Moritsugu.	Shohreh Aghdashloo — House of sand and foglike Nadereh Behrani. Patricia Clarkson — Pieces of Aprillike Joy Burns. Marcia Gay Harden — Mystic Riverlike Celeste Boyle. Holly Hunter — Thirteenlike Melanie Freeland.
Best original script Submitted by: Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon	Best adapted script Submitted by: Sofia Coppola and Francis Ford Coppola
Lost in Translation - Sofia Coppola.	The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King — Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson, based on The return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien.
Looking for Nemo - Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds. Dirty Pretty Things - Steven Knight. In America - Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan and Kirsten Sheridan. The barbaric invasions - Denys Arcand.	American Splendor — Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, based on American Splendor by Harvey Pekar and Our Cancer Year by Joyce Brabner. City of God — Braulio Mantovani, based on City of God by Paulo Lins. Mystic River — Brian Helgeland, based on Mystic River Dennis Lehane. Seabiscuit - Gary Ross, based on Seabiscuit: an American legend for Laura Hillenbrand.
Best animation film Submitted by: Robin Williams	Best foreign film (non-English speaking) Submitted by: Charlize Theron
Looking for Nemo - Andrew Stanton.	The barbaric invasions (Canada) in French — Denys Arcand.
Brother Bear - Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker. Les Triplettes de Belleville - Sylvain Chomet.	The sunset of samurai (Japan) in Japanese — Yoji Yamada. Just against himself. (Sweden) in Swedish — Mikael Håfström. Twin Sisters (Denmark) in Danish — Ben Sombogaart. Želary (Czech Republic) in Czech — Ondřej Trojan.
Best long documentary Submitted by: Alec Baldwin and Naomi Watts	Best short documentary Submitted by: John Cusack and Diane Lane
The Fog of War - Errol Morris and Michael Williams.	Chernobyl Heart - Maryann DeLeo.
Balsas — Carles Bosch and Josep Maria Domenech. Capturing the Friedmans - Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling. My architect: the journey of a son - Nathaniel Kahn and Susan Rose Behr. The Weather Underground - Sam Green and Bill Siegel.	Asylum - Sandy McLeod and Gini Reticker. Ferry Tales - Katja Esson.
Better short film Submitted by: Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller	Best animated short film Submitted by: Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller
Two Soldiers - Aaron Schneider and Andrew J. Sacks.	Harvie Krumpet - Adam Elliot.
(A) Torzija [(A) Torsion] - Stefan Arsenijevic. Die Rote Jacke (The Red Jacket) - Florian Baxmeyer. Most - William Zabka. Squash - Lionel Bailliu.	Boundin' - Bud Luckey. Destination — Dominique Monfery and Roy E. Disney. Gone Nutty — Carlos Saldanha and John C. Donkin. Nibbles - Christopher Hinton.
Best soundtrack Submitted by: Sting and Phil Collins	Best original song Submitted by: Will Ferrell and Jack Black
The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King — Howard Shore	«Into the West» - The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King; Music and Letter by Fran Walsh, Howard Shore and Annie Lennox.
Big Fish - Danny Elfman Looking for Nemo — Thomas Newman House of sand and fog - James Horner. Cold Mountain Gabriel Yared	«A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow» — A Mighty Wind; Music and Letter by Michael McKean and Annette O'Toole. "Belleville Rendez-vous" — Les Triplettes de Belleville; Music by Benoît Charest; Letra by Sylvain Chomet. «Scarlet Tide» — Cold Mountain; Music and Letter by T-Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello. «You Will Be My Ain True Love» — Cold Mountain; Music and Letter by Sting.
Best Sound Edition Submitted by: John Travolta and Sandra Bullock	Better sound Submitted by: John Travolta and Sandra Bullock
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Richard King.	The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King — Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek.
Looking for Nemo - Gary Rydstrom and Michael Silvers. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl — Christopher Boyes and George Watters II.	The last samurai - Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Jeff Wexler. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — Paul Massey, Doug Hemphill and Arthur Rochester. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl — Christopher Boyes, David Parker, David Campbell and Lee Orloff. Seabiscuit - Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Tod A. Maitland.
Best artistic direction Submitted by: Angelina Jolie	Better photograph Submitted by: Jude Law and Uma Thurman
The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King — Artistic direction: Grant Major; Design of decorations: Dan Hennah and Alan Lee.	Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Russell Boyd.
The last samurai – Artistic direction: Lilly Kilvert; Design of decorations: Gretchen Rau. Girl with a Pearl Earring — Artistic direction: Ben Van Os; Design of decorations: Cecile Heideman. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — Artistic direction: William Sandell; Design of decorations: Robert Gould. Seabiscuit — Artistic direction: Jeannine Oppewall; Design of decorations: Leslie Pope.	City of God - Cesar Charlone. Cold Mountain - John Seale. Girl with a Pearl Earring - Eduardo Serra. Seabiscuit - John Schwartzman.
Better makeup. Submitted by: Scarlett Johansson	Best costume design Submitted by: Renée Zellweger
The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King - Richard Taylor and Peter King.	The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King - Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Edouard Henriques III and Yolanda Toussieng. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Go Neill and Martin Samuel.	The last samurai - Ngila Dickson. Girl with a Pearl Earring - Dien van Straalen. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - Wendy Stites. Seabiscuit — Judianna Makovsky.
Better assembly Presented by: Pierce Brosnan and Julianne Moore	Best visual effects Submitted by: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith
The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King - Jamie Selkirk.	The Lord of the Rings: the return of the King - Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke.
City of God - Daniel Rezende. Cold Mountain - Walter Murch. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World Lee Smith. Seabiscuit - William Goldenberg.	Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — Dan Sudick, Stefen Fangmeier, Nathan McGuinness and Robert Stromberg. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl — John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Terry Frazee.

Honorary Oscar

• Blake Edwards

In Memoriam

Two special keepsakes were made throughout the ceremony. The first was hosted by Tom Hanks and was dedicated to legendary comedian and multiple-time host of the ceremony, Bob Hope. The second was presented by Julia Roberts and paid tribute to the legendary actress and four-time Oscar winner, Katharine Hepburn.

The annual tribute to the personalities who left us throughout the year began with a special memory of actor Gregory Peck in his performance in the film To Kill a Mockingbird, who was followed by other personalities who passed away this year: Phillip Yordan, Michael Jeter, Bing Russell, Sydney Lassick, Carmen Filpi, Wendy Hiller, Robert Stack, Martha Scott, Dick Cusack, Hume Cronyn, Leni Riefenstahl, Philip Stone, Buddy Hackett, Buddy Ebsen, John Schlesinger, Gregory Hines, Charles Bronson, John Ritter, Johnny Cash, Sheb Wooley, Donald O'Connor, Elia Kazan, Florence Stanley, Jack Elam, Art Carney, Robert Brown, Karen Morley, Jonathan Brandis, Penny Singleton, Michael Kamen, Norman Burton, David Hemmings, Jeanne Crain, Hope Lange, Les Tremayne, Alan Bates, John Gregory Dunne, Ingrid Thulin, Spalding Gray, Uta Hagen, Ron O'Neal, Ray Stark, Noble Willingham, Ann Miller.