Oscar History: 2003

At the Oscar ceremony in 2003, Academy voters clearly were in the mode of honoring Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King was the third and final entry in the series. The first two, Fellow of the Ring and The Two Towers, had been nominated for Best Picture in 2001 and 2002, but not won.

A similar fate would not befall Return of the King. The Tolkien adapted pic took the top prize over Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation, Peter Weir’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River, and Gary Ross’s Seabiscuit.

I certainly haven no issue with King, Mystic, and Translation‘s nomination. While I liked Commander and Seabiscuit, other titles would’ve made the list for me. How about Fernando Meirelles’s terrific City of God, for one? Or American Splendor, the very original biopic about Harvey Pekar. Or Quentin Tarantino’s electrifying genre mix-up Kill Bill – Volume One. 

Rings director Peter Jackson would win Best Director over Coppola, Eastwood, Weir, and City of God‘s Meirelles. Once again, I would’ve given serious consideration to Mr. Tarantino especially.

Sean Penn would win his first Oscar in the Best Actor race as a grieving father bent on revenge in Mystic River. He was expected to win and he beat out a solid group that included Johnny Depp in his first appearance as Captain Jack in Pirates of the Caribbean, Ben Kingsley in House of Sand and Fog, Jude Law in Cold Mountain, and the incomparable Bill Murray earning his first nomination for Lost in Translation.

I would have replaced Jude Law with Paul Giamatti’s brilliant work in American Splendor. William H. Macy also gave a fine performance in The Cooler. On the comedic side, how about Will Ferrell in Elf or Billy Bob Thornton as Bad Santa?

As expected, Charlize Theron’s shocking and highly effective performance in Monster would earn her Best Actress. Other nominees: Keisha Castle-Hughes in Whale Rider, Diane Keaton in Something’s Gotta Give, Samantha Morton for In America, and Naomi Watts in 21 Grams.

I absolutely would have found room for Bill Murray’s counterpart in Lost in Translation, Scarlett Johannson and Uma Thurman in the first Kill Bill. Others for consideration: Jennifer Connelly in House of Sand and Fog and Maria Bello in The Cooler.

The Mystic River acting love would extend to Tim Robbins, who took Supporting Actor over Alec Baldwin in The Cooler, Benicio del Toro in 21 Grams, Djimon Hounsou for In America, and Ken Watanabe in The Last Samurai.

Others for consideration: the fine work of Jeff Bridges in Seabiscuit. And, at this point, I will confess to being a huge fan of Love Actually. And the work of Bill Nighy as an inappropriate aging rocker might have made my cut.

While Cold Mountain did not get a Best Picture nod as the studio clearly hoped it would, Renee Zellweger would win Supporting Actress for the film. Zellwegger won over Shohreh Aghdashloo in House of Sand and Fog, Patricia Clarkson for Pieces of April, Marcia Gay Harden in Mystic River, and Holly Hunter for Thirteen. 

Ms. Charlize Theron’s remarkable work clearly overshadowed Christina Ricci, who was left off in this category for Monster. I also would’ve considered Hope Davis in American Splendor. And for the comedic performers who are too often ignored, how about Joan Cusack as the tightly wound headmaster in School of Rock?

In retrospect, 2003 was the year of the King and Peter Jackson’s groundbreaking trilogy.