The 78th annual Academy Awards show Sunday night brought forward a mix of surprise, laughter and pure emotion.
“Crash” took home the award for Best Picture, which came as a shocker to those expecting “Brokeback Mountain” to take home the coveted prize.
The people behind “Brokeback” didn’t go home empty-handed however, as Ang Lee took home the Achievement in Directing award, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana took home Best Adapted Screenplay and Gustavo Santaolalla took home Best Original Score.
“Crash” took home Best Original Screenplay for its depiction of racial tension in America.
Philip Seymour Hoffman won the award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Truman Capote in the film “Capote,” and Reese Witherspoon took home the shiny statuette for Best Actress for her role as June Carter in “Walk the Line.”
George Clooney won his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in “Syriana,” and Rachel Weisz took Best Supporting Actress for “The Constant Gardener.”
“Memoirs of a Geisha” won the awards for Best Cinematography, Art Direction and Costume Design, proving that you don’t need special effects to make a visual masterpiece.
“King Kong” took home many of the technical awards, including Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.
The hands that molded the animated feature “Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit” took home Best Animated Feature Film, adding goofy bowties to their statues as the recipients thanked the studio for their work.
The most interesting award of the night went to the boys from Three-Six Mafia for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture for “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp” from “Hustle and Flow.”
Jon Stewart made his swipes at the various winners of the night, and noted that Three-Six was the most excited winner of the night.
“For those of you who are taking score tonight, Martin Scorsese: 0, Three Six Mafia: one,” Stewart quipped.
He also poked fun at the music cues used to tell recipients to wrap up their speeches. This joke turned around on the Academy, as Paul Haggis and Cathy Schulman were abruptly cut off during their acceptance speeches for Best Picture.