81st Academy Awards nominees and winners

The 81st Academy Awards ceremony was held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to honor its selection of the best films of 2008 on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was televised in the United States on ABC and on Sky Movies in high definition in the United Kingdom. Australian performer Hugh Jackman hosted the ceremony for the first time. Academy Award-nominated producer Laurence Mark produced with Academy Award-winning writer/director Bill Condon as executive producer.

Slumdog Millionaire won eight awards, the most of the evening, including Best Picture and Best Director (Danny Boyle). The Curious Case of Benjamin Button led the nominations with a total of thirteen while Slumdog Millionaire received ten. The Dark Knight and Milk received eight nominations, and Doubt, The Reader, and Frost/Nixon each received five. The animated film WALL-E, the winner for Best Animated Feature, received six nominations, tying it with Beauty and The Beast for the most nominated animated film in Oscar history.

The Academy hoped to rework the ceremony through an entirely new production team sworn to secrecy; however, the telecast proved to receive mainly mixed reviews from critics. Controversies stemmed from the ceremony prior to its broadcast, most notably the Academy's alleged snubbing of films such as The Dark Knight, Doubt, and WALL·E, threats of a possible Screen Actors Guild strike, and fear of continuation of low viewership from more recent Oscar telecasts.

The 81st Academy Awards nominees and winners

Best picture

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
• "Frost/Nixon"
• "Milk"
• "The Reader"
• WINNER: "Slumdog Millionaire"

Director

• Stephen Daldry, "The Reader"
• David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
• Ron Howard, "Frost/Nixon"
• Gus Van Sant, "Milk"
• WINNER: Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire"

Actor

• Richard Jenkins, "The Visitor"
• Frank Langella, "Frost/Nixon"
• WINNER: Sean Penn, "Milk"
• Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler"
• Brad Pitt, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

Actress

• Anne Hathaway, "Rachel Getting Married"
• ngelina Jolie, "Changeling"
• Melissa Leo, "Frozen River"
• Meryl Streep, "Doubt"
• WINNER: Kate Winslet, "The Reader"

Supporting actor

• Josh Brolin, "Milk"
• Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder"
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt"
• Michael Shannon, "Revolutionary Road"
• WINNER: Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"

Supporting actress

• Amy Adams, "Doubt" Viola Davis, "Doubt" Taraji P. Henson, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" Marisa Tomei, "The Wrestler" WINNER: Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

Animated feature

• "Bolt"
• "Kung Fu Panda"
• WINNER: "WALL-E"

Adapted screenplay

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," screenplay by Eric Roth, screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
• "Doubt," written by John Patrick Shanley
• "Frost/Nixon," screenplay by Peter Morgan
• "The Reader," screenplay by David Hare
• WINNER: "Slumdog Millionaire," screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

Original screenplay

• "Frozen River," written by Courtney Hunt
• "Happy-Go-Lucky," written by Mike Leigh
• "In Bruges," written by Martin McDonagh
• "WALL-E," screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon; original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter
• WINNER: "Milk," written by Dustin Lance Black

Art direction

• "Changeling," James J. Murakami; set decoration: Gary Fettis
• "The Dark Knight," Nathan Crowley; set decoration: Peter Lando
• "The Duchess," Michael Carlin; set decoration: Rebecca Alleway
• "Revolutionary Road," Kristi Zea; set decoration: Debra Schutt
• WINNER: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Donald Graham Burt; set decoration: Victor J. Zolfo

Cinematography

• "Changeling," Tom Stern
• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Claudio Miranda
• "The Dark Knight," Wally Pfister
• "The Reader," Chris Menges and Roger Deakins
• WINNER: "Slumdog Millionaire," Anthony Dod Mantle

Costume design

• "Australia," Catherine Martin
• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Jacqueline West
• "Milk," Danny Glicker
• "Revolutionary Road," Albert Wolsky
• WINNER: "The Duchess," Michael O'Connor

Documentary feature

• "The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)"
• "Encounters at the End of the World"
• "The Garden"
• "Trouble the Water"
• WINNER: "Man on Wire"

Documentary short

• "The Conscience of Nhem En"
• "The Final Inch"
• "The Witness -- From the Balcony of Room 306"
• WINNER: "Smile Pinki"

Film editing

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
• "The Dark Knight," Lee Smith
• "Frost/Nixon," Mike Hill and Dan Hanley
• "Milk," Elliot Graham
• WINNER: "Slumdog Millionaire," Chris Dickens

Foreign language film

• "The Baader Meinhof Complex," Germany
• "The Class," France
• "Revanche," Austria
• "Waltz with Bashir," Israel
• WINNER: "Departures," Japan

Makeup

• "The Dark Knight," John Caglione Jr. and Conor O'Sullivan
• "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," Mike Elizalde and Thom Floutz
• WINNER: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Greg Cannom

Original score

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Alexandre Desplat
• "Defiance," James Newton Howard
• "Milk," Danny Elfman
• "WALL-E," Thomas Newman
• WINNER: "Slumdog Millionaire," A.R. Rahman

Original song

• "Down to Earth" from "WALL-E," music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, lyrics by Peter Gabriel
• "O Saya" from "Slumdog Millionaire," music and lyrics by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam
• WINNER: "Jai Ho" from "Slumdog Millionaire," music by A.R. Rahman, lyrics by Gulzar

Animated short

• "Lavatory -- Lovestory"
• "Oktapodi"
• "Presto"
• "This Way Up"
• WINNER: "La Maison en Petits Cubes"

Live-action short

• "Auf der Strecke (On the Line)"
• "Manon on the Asphalt"
• "New Boy"
• "The Pig"
• WINNER: "Spielzeugland"

Sound editing

• "Iron Man," Frank Eulner and Christopher Boyes
• "Slumdog Millionaire," Glenn Freemantle and Tom Sayers
• "WALL-E," Ben Burtt and Matthew Wood
• "Wanted," Wylie Stateman
• WINNER: "The Dark Knight," Richard King

Sound mixing

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Mark Weingarten
• "The Dark Knight," Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
• "WALL-E," Tom Myers, Michael Semanick and Ben Burtt
• "Wanted," Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño and Petr Forejt
• WINNER: "Slumdog Millionaire," Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty

Visual effects

• "The Dark Knight," Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber and Paul Franklin
• "Iron Man," John Nelson, Ben Snow, Dan Sudick and Shane Mahan
• WINNER: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron

Oscars multiple nominations and awards

The following 15 films received multiple nominations:

• 13 nominations: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• 10 nominations: Slumdog Millionaire
• 8 nominations: The Dark Knight and Milk
• 6 nominations: WALL-E
• 5 nominations: Doubt, Frost/Nixon, and The Reader
• 3 nominations: Changeling and Revolutionary Road
• 2 nominations: The Duchess, Frozen River, Iron Man, Wanted, and The Wrestler

The following four films received multiple awards:

• 8 awards: Slumdog Millionaire
• 3 awards: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• 2 awards: The Dark Knight and Milk

Source: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences