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Steven
Soderbergh, Best Director; Galdiator, Best Film
Reuters
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LOS ANGELES: Steven Soderbergh won best director Oscar
for Traffic, picking up his first Academy Award for the critically-acclaimed
film about the drug trade between the United States and Mexico.
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| TRAFFIC
STOPPER: Soderbergh was also nominated for Erin Brokovich,
but walked away with the Oscar for Traffic. (Reuters)
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The victory came as somewhat of a surprise because Soderbergh
also was nominated for best director for Erin Brockovich,
and many industry watchers believed his two nods would cause
Academy Award voters to split their votes, leaving the door
open for rivals Ang Lee and Ridley Scott.
Soderbergh's
victory marked only the fifth time in 54 years that the winner
of the Directors Guild of America's award for best feature
film did not win the best directing Oscar.
Taiwanese
born Lee received the DGA award earlier this month, making
him the clear front-runner going into the Oscars, and Scott
directed audience favorite Gladiator.
Through
three separate stories within the same movie, Traffic explores
whether the drug trafficking wars along the US-Mexican border
have been effective, and it looks at the damage drug use has
caused to American families.
Critics
have loved the movie because of the expert way Soderbergh
was able to weave the three stories—one about a Mexican
cop's own private war on drugs, another about a U.S. Drug
czar's drug-hooked daughter, and a third about a drug smuggler
in San Diego—into a cohesive narrative tale.
Soderbergh's
dual nomination marked the first time a director has received
two nominations in a single year since director Michael Curtiz
accomplished the feat for his 1938 films Angels with Dirty
Faces and Four Daughters.
The 38-year-old
director burst onto the movie scene with 1989's highly-regarded
independent movie Sex, Lies and Videotape, and largely spurned
the major Hollywood studios in favor of indie freedom until
1998's Out of Sight.
He is
largely admired among his peers for doing much of his own
camera work, and for Traffic, he was often the one shouldering
a heavy camera in order to get the shots just exactly the
way he wanted.
Soderbergh,
also, is known as an actor's director who likes to give his
actors and actresses a lot of rein to do the work they want.
Julia Roberts, nominated for best actress for Brockovich,
has referred to him as being her own personal God.
Gladiator
beats Crouching Tiger...
The Roman Empire epic Gladiator won the Oscar for best picture
on Sunday, beating off a strong challenge from the Qing Dynasty
warriors of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to earn the movie
industry's highest honor. Gladiator had already won a Golden
Globe and British BAFTA award and was a huge popular hit taking
more than $450 million at the box office worldwide.
With its mass battles, tense combat scenes featuring tigers
and chariots and stunning computer-aided reconstructions of
ancient Rome's Coliseum, Gladiator harks back to the golden
days of 1950s Hollywood epic dramas such as Ben Hur and "Spartacus."
The movie, directed by Ridley Scott, stars Russell Crowe as
a brave Roman general who falls out of favor, is cast into
slavery and forced to take part in Rome's bloodthirsty gladiator
games. (Reuters)
More>>
 Julia
Roberts bags top actress Oscar
Russell
Crowe wins best actor Oscar
Crouching
Tiger wins Oscar
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