"No Country" Top Winner At Oscars

Coen Brothers Film Earns Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor And Adapted Screenplay Awards

(CBS/AP)  The awards show, held at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles, began with a fanfare and an effects-laden opening segment showing key characters and creatures from Hollywood's past lining Hollywood Boulevard.

It was followed by a 10-minute monologue by host Jon Stewart, who kicked off the festivities saying, "These past three-and-a-half months have been very tough. This town, torn apart by a bitter writers' strike. But I'm happy to say the fight is over. So tonight, welcome to the makeup sex."

Stewart kept things moving throughout the evening, with the sly, tongue-in-cheek style that has made Comedy Central's, "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" so popular.

"Oscar is 80 this year," he quipped. "Which makes him now the automatic front-runner for the Republican nomination."

"Get Smart" co-stars Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway were on hand to introduce the best animated feature, which was awarded to "Ratatouille."

It was the second Oscar win in the category for director Brad Bird.

Bird thanked his junior-high school guidance counselor, who expressed repeated skepticism over his desire to become a filmmaker.

"It went on like this until we were sick of each other," said Bird, who also won the animation Oscar for 2004's "The Incredibles" and shared a nomination for original screenplay for "Ratatouille," a $200 million blockbuster. "I only realized just recently that he gave me the perfect training for the movie business."

Saying she was "unbelievably nervous," "Grey's Anatomy" star Katherine Heigl announced the award for achievement in make-up, which went to "La Vie En Rose."

4Other winners include best documentary feature "Taxi To The Dark Side," "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," which won best costumes, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" for best art direction, and Glen Hansard of the Irish band The Frames and Marketa Irglova, who won best original song for the ballad "Falling Slowly" from the indie film "Once."

"What are we doing here? This is mad," Hansard said, recounting the low-budget history of "Once." "It took us three weeks to make. We made it for a hundred-grand. We never thought we'd come into a room like this and be in front of all you people."

Among industry insiders, there was no way a rainy day was going to dampen spirits for Hollywood's biggest night, which was serving double duty as a ceremony honoring the year's best in film and a celebration for a town relieved that the crushing writers' strike had ended.

---

Photos: Oscar Moments

---

The rain, often heavy, arrived hours before the stars did, drenching fans on Hollywood Boulevard. But the red carpet remained dry under a tent, as did the bleachers, where people lucky enough to win tickets by lottery sat waiting to cheer on their favorite stars.

5"It's really sort of like a greenhouse in here," said Steve Carell as he arrived on the red carpet. "It's like hydroponics.".

George Clooney, nominated for best actor for "Michael Clayton," didn't disappoint, arriving 90 minutes before the show with girlfriend Sarah Larson and stopping along the bleachers to shake the hands of several screaming female fans. Tom Wilkinson, nominated for supporting actor for "Michael Clayton," stopped briefly to wave and flash a shy smile.

"The thought of being able to see celebrities and being part of the action you see on TV and you're there watching it. It's something you don't do in everyday life. It's almost like it's not real," said Lynn Lilje, who traveled from Vancouver to sit in the bleachers.

---

Photos: Fashion Police

---

Clooney said it only took him 20 minutes to get red-carpet-ready Sunday night, which might explain his early arrival.

"Guys have it easy. It's not fair," Clooney said. "Slap on a tux and walk away."

[iceman_1960]

Internet Explorer.

[puzzler125]

With 49 out of 50 states experiencing high rates of flu it''s pretty gross to kiss something numerous people have handled.

[papabc]

Yawn... This is as much as I care about Oscars
and this krap.

[catlynlawson]

i was really hoping Juno would do better than it did

[iceman_1960]

"Best original screenplay winner, Diablo Cody, also got teary-eyed..."
------------------

Diablo Cody ?!

The devil you say...

[iceman_1960]

"Unlike other online dating sites where you have to pay membership fee, this site is totally free. I already made several interesting friends there."
- Posted by cherryhu at 02:00 AM : Feb 25, 2008
--------

It is impossible to rightly date online without God and the Bible.

[samthetvcat]

ha ha ha - I didn''t notice Huckabee . . . must have dozed off . . .

[iceman_1960]

Did you catch sight of Mike Huckabee in the audience ?

[iceman_1960]

"European Actors Dominate At Oscars"
------------------

"Who"s Your Caddy?" didn"t win a single award.

Aren"t American performers good enough anymore ?

[samthetvcat]

I haven''t seen any of the movies that were nominated except for Norbit LOL