| 76th Academy Awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Date | February 29, 2004 | |||
| Site | Kodak Theatre, Hollywood, California | |||
| Host | Billy Crystal | |||
| Highlights | ||||
| Best Picture | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | |||
| Most wins | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (11) | |||
| Most nominations | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (11) | |||
| ||||
The 76th Academy Awards ceremony honored films of 2003 and was broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on ABC beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST, February 29, 2004. The show was produced by Joe Roth and was hosted for the eighth time by comedian Billy Crystal.
The nominees were announced on January 27 at 5:38 a.m. PST by Academy president Frank Pierson and actress Sigourney Weaver, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in the Academy's Beverly Hills headquarters. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King swept all 11 categories in which it was nominated. It matched the record 11 wins of Titanic and Ben-Hur and beat the previous record of Gigi and The Last Emperor for the largest sweep of every nominated category, both of which had achieved nine-for-nine.
The big contenders for the 76th Academy Awards for Best Picture included The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Lost in Translation, and in the highly competitive Best Actor category, with strong work from both Sean Penn and Bill Murray, among the other nominees. Penn eventually won the award, his first; he had previously lost the Oscar three times. (He would later win Best Actor again in 2008, for Milk.)
Best Actor[]
See also: Best Actor
- Winner
- Sean Penn — Mystic River
- Nominees
- Johnny Depp — Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- Ben Kingsley — House of Sand and Fog
- Jude Law — Cold Mountain
- Bill Murray — Lost in Translation
Best Supporting Actor[]
See also: Best Supporting Actor
- Winner
- Tim Robbins — Mystic River
- Nominees
- Alec Baldwin — The Cooler
- Benicio Del Toro — 21 Grams
- Djimon Hounsou — In America
- Ken Watanabe — The Last Samurai
Best Actress[]
See also: Best Actress
- Winner
- Charlize Theron for Monster
- Nominees
- Keisha Castle-Hughes for Whale Rider
- Diane Keaton for Something's Gotta Give
- Samantha Morton for In America
- Naomi Watts for 21 Grams
Best Supporting Actress[]
See also: Best Supporting Actress
- Winner
- Renee Zellweger for Cold Mountain
- Nominees
- Shohreh Aghdashloo for House of Sand and Fog
- Patricia Clarkson for Pieces of April
- Marcia Gay Harden for Mystic River
- Holly Hunter for Thirteen
Best Animated Feature[]
See also: Best Animated Feature
- Winner
- Finding Nemo — Andrew Stanton
- Nominees
- Brother Bear — Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker
- The Triplets of Belleville — Sylvain Chomet
Best Art Direction[]
See also: Best Art Direction
- Winner
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King — Art Direction: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Dan Hennah and Alan Lee
- Nominees
- Girl with a Pearl Earring — Art Direction: Ben Van Os; Set Decoration: Cecile Heideman
- The Last Samurai — Art Direction: Lilly Kilvert; Set Decoration: Gretchen Rau
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — Art Direction: William Sandell; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
- Seabiscuit — Art Direction: Jeannine Oppewall; Set Decoration: Leslie Pope
Best Cinematography[]
See also: Best Cinematography
- Winner
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — Russell Boyd
- Nominees
- City of God — Cesar Charlone
- Cold Mountain — John Seale
- Girl with a Pearl Earring — Eduardo Serra
- Seabiscuit — John Schwartzman
Best Costume Design[]
See also: Best Costume Design
- Winner
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King — Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor
- Nominees
- Girl with a Pearl Earring — Dien van Straalen
- The Last Samurai — Ngila Dickson
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — Wendy Stites
- Seabiscuit — Judianna Makovsky
Best Director[]
See also: Best Director
- Winner
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King — Peter Jackson
- Nominees
- City of God — Fernando Meirelles
- Lost in Translation — Sofia Coppola
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — Peter Weir
- Mystic River — Clint Eastwood
Best Documentary Feature[]
See also: Best Documentary Feature
- Winner
- The Fog of War — Errol Morris and Michael Williams
- Nominees
- Balseros — Carles Bosch and Josep Maria Domènech
- Capturing the Friedmans — Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling
- My Architect — Nathaniel Kahn and Susan R. Behr
- The Weather Underground — Sam Green and Bill Siegel
Best Documentary Short[]
See also: Best Documentary Short
- Winner
- Chernobyl Heart — Maryann DeLeo
- Nominees
- Asylum — Sandy McLeod and Gini Reticker
- Ferry Tales — Katja Esson
Best Film Editing[]
See also: Best Film Editing
- Winner
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King — Jamie Selkirk
- Nominees
- City of God — Daniel Rezende
- Cold Mountain — Walter Murch
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — Lee Smith
- Seabiscuit — William Goldenberg
Best Foreign Language Film[]
See also: Best Foreign Language Film
- Winner
- The Barbarian Invasions from Canada — Denys Arcand
- Nominees
- Evil from Sweden — Mikael Håfström
- The Twilight Samurai from Japan — Yôji Yamada
- Twin Sisters from The Netherlands — Ben Sombogaart
- Želary from Czech Republic — Ondřej Trojan
Best Makeup[]
See also: Best Makeup
- Winner
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King — Richard Taylor and Peter King
- Nominees
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — Edouard F. Henriques and Yolanda Toussieng
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl — Ve Neill and Martin Samuel
Best Original Score[]
See also: Best Original Score
- Winner
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King — Howard Shore
- Nominees
- Big Fish — Danny Elfman
- Cold Mountain — Gabriel Yared
- Finding Nemo — Thomas Newman
- House of Sand and Fog — James Horner
Best Original Song[]
See also: Best Original Song
- Winner
- "Into the West" from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King — Music and Lyric by Fran Walsh, Howard Shore and Annie Lennox
- Nominees
- "Belleville Rendez-vous" from The Triplets of Belleville — Music by Benoît Charest; Lyric by Sylvain Chomet
- "A Kiss At The End Of The Rainbow" from A Mighty Wind — Music and Lyric by Michael McKean and Annette O'Toole
- "Scarlet Tide" from Cold Mountain — Music and Lyric by T-Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello
- "You Will Be My Ain True Love" from Cold Mountain — Music and Lyric by Sting
Best Picture[]
See also: Best Picture
- Winner
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King — Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, producers
- Nominees
- Lost in Translation — Ross Katz and Sofia Coppola, producers
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., Peter Weir and Duncan Henderson, producers
- Mystic River — Robert Lorenz, Judie G. Hoyt and Clint Eastwood, producers
- Seabiscuit — Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Gary Ross, producers
Best Animated Short Film[]
See also: Best Animated Short
- Winner
- Harvie Krumpet — Adam Elliot
- Nominees
- Boundin' — Bud Luckey
- Destino — Dominique Monfery and Roy Edward Disney
- Gone Nutty — Carlos Saldanha and John C. Donkin
- Nibbles — Christopher Hinton
Best Live Action Short Film[]
See also: Best Live Action Short
- Winner
- Two Soldiers — Aaron Schneider and Andrew J. Sacks
- Nominees
- Die Rote Jacke (The Red Jacket) — Florian Baxmeyer
- Most (The Bridge) — Bobby Garabedian and William Zabka
- Squash — Lionel Bailliu
- (A) Torzija — Stefan Arsenijevic
Best Sound Editing[]
See also: Best Sound Editing
- Winner
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — Richard King
- Nominees
- Finding Nemo — Gary Rydstrom and Michael Silvers
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl — Christopher Boyes and George Watters II
Best Sound Mixing[]
See also: Best Sound Mixing
- Winner
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King — Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek
- Nominees
- The Last Samurai — Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Jeff Wexler
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World — Paul Massey, D.M. Hemphill and Arthur Rochester
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl — Christopher Boyes, David Parker, Dave Campbell and Lee Orloff
- Seabiscuit — Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Tod A. Maitland
Best Visual Effects[]
See also: Best Visual Effects
- Winner
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King — Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke
- Nominees
- 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
Best Adapted Screenplay[]
See also: Best Adapted Screenplay
- Winner
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King — Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson
- Nominees
- American Splendor — Written by Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman
- City of God — Screenplay by Braulio Mantovani
- Mystic River — Screenplay by Brian Helgeland
- Seabiscuit — Written for the Screen by Gary Ross
Best Original Screenplay[]
See also: Best Original Screenplay
- Winner
- Lost in Translation — Written by Sofia Coppola
- Nominees
- The Barbarian Invasions — Written by Denys Arcand
- Dirty Pretty Things — Written by Steven Knight
- Finding Nemo — Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds; Original Story by Andrew Stanton
- In America — Written by Jim Sheridan, Naomi Sheridan and Kirsten Sheridan
Honorary Award[]
- Blake Edwards — "In recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen."