The 77th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on February 27, 2005, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as the Oscars) in 24 categories honoring films released in 2004. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gil Cates and was directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Actor Chris Rock hosted the show for the first time. Two weeks earlier in a ceremony at The Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena, California, held on February 12, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Scarlett Johansson.
Million Dollar Baby won four awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included The Aviator with five awards, The Incredibles and Ray with two, and Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Finding Neverland, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Mighty Times: The Children's March, The Motorcycle Diaries, Ryan, The Sea Inside, Sideways, Spider-Man 2, and Wasp with one. The telecast garnered over 42 million viewers in the United States alone.
Winners and nominees
The nominees for the 77th Academy Awards were announced on January 25, 2005, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, by Frank Pierson, president of the academy, and actor Adrien Brody. The Aviator received the most nominations with eleven; Finding Neverland and Million Dollar Baby tied for second with seven nominations each.
The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on February 27, 2005. At age 74, Clint Eastwood became the oldest winner for Best Director in Oscar history. With his latest unsuccessful nomination for directing The Aviator, nominee Martin Scorsese joined Robert Altman, Clarence Brown, Alfred Hitchcock, and King Vidor as the most nominated individuals in the Best Director category without a single win at the time. Best Actor winner Jamie Foxx became the third actor and tenth individual overall to earn two acting nominations in the same year. By virtue of her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn, Best Supporting Actress winner Cate Blanchett was the first performer to win an Academy Award for a portrayal of a previous Academy Award winner. "Al otro lado del río" from The Motorcycle Diaries became the second song with non-English lyrics to win Best Original Song. The first to achieve this feat was the titular song from the 1960 Greek film Never on Sunday at the 33rd Academy Awards.
Awards
Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (). {| class=wikitable |- | style="vertical-align:top" width="50%" |
Million Dollar Baby – Clint Eastwood, Albert S. Ruddy and Tom Rosenberg, producers The Aviator – Michael Mann and Graham King, producers Finding Neverland – Richard N. Gladstein and Nellie Bellflower, producers Ray – Taylor Hackford, Stuart Benjamin and Howard Baldwin, producers Sideways – Michael London, producer | style="vertical-align:top" width="50%" |Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby Martin Scorsese – The Aviator Taylor Hackford – Ray Alexander Payne – Sideways Mike Leigh – Vera Drake |- | style="vertical-align:top" |
Jamie Foxx – Ray as Ray Charles Don Cheadle – Hotel Rwanda as Paul Rusesabagina Johnny Depp – Finding Neverland as J. M. Barrie Leonardo DiCaprio – The Aviator as Howard Hughes Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby as Frankie Dunn | style="vertical-align:top" |
Hilary Swank – Million Dollar Baby as Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald Annette Bening – Being Julia as Julia Lambert Catalina Sandino Moreno – Maria Full of Grace as María Álvarez Imelda Staunton – Vera Drake as Vera Rose Drake Kate Winslet – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as Clementine Kruczynski |- | style="vertical-align:top" |
Morgan Freeman – Million Dollar Baby as Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris Alan Alda – The Aviator as Owen Brewster Thomas Haden Church – Sideways as Jack Cole Jamie Foxx – Collateral as Max Durocher Clive Owen – Closer as Larry Gray | style="vertical-align:top" |
Cate Blanchett – The Aviator as Katharine Hepburn Laura Linney – Kinsey as Clara McMillen Virginia Madsen – Sideways as Maya Randall Sophie Okonedo – Hotel Rwanda as Tatiana Rusesabagina Natalie Portman – Closer as Alice Ayres/Jane Jones |- | style="vertical-align:top" |
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman; Story by Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry and Pierre Bismuth The Aviator – John Logan Hotel Rwanda – Terry George and Keir Pearson The Incredibles – Brad Bird Vera Drake – Mike Leigh | style="vertical-align:top" |
Sideways – Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor based on the novel by Rex Pickett Before Sunset – Screenplay by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke; Story by Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan based on characters created by Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan for the film Before Sunrise Finding Neverland – David Magee based on the play The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee Million Dollar Baby – Paul Haggis based on stories from Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner by F.X. Toole The Motorcycle Diaries – José Rivera based on the books Con el Che por America Latina by Alberto Granado and The Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara |- | style="vertical-align:top" |The Incredibles – Brad Bird Shark Tale – Bill Damaschke Shrek 2 – Andrew Adamson | style="vertical-align:top" |The Sea Inside (Spain) in Spanish, Catalan and Galician – Alejandro AmenábarAs It Is in Heaven (Sweden) in Swedish – Kay Pollak The Chorus (France) in French – Christophe Barratier Downfall (Germany) in German – Oliver Hirschbiegel Yesterday (South Africa) in Zulu – Darrell Roodt |- | style="vertical-align:top" |Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids – Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski The Story of the Weeping Camel – Luigi Falorni and Byambasuren Davaa Super Size Me – Morgan Spurlock Tupac: Resurrection – Lauren Lazin and Karolyn Ali Twist of Faith – Kirby Dick and Eddie Schmidt | style="vertical-align:top" |Mighty Times: The Children's March – Robert Hudson and Robert Houston Autism Is a World – Gerardine Wurzburg The Children of Leningradsky – Hanna Polak and Andrzej Celiński Hardwood – Hubert Davis and Erin Faith Young Sister Rose's Passion – Oren Jacoby and Steve Kalafer |- | style="vertical-align:top" |Wasp – Andrea Arnold 7:35 in the Morning – Nacho Vigalondo Everything in This Country Must – Gary McKendry Little Terrorist – Ashvin Kumar Two Cars, One Night – Taika Waititi and Ainsley Gardiner | style="vertical-align:top" |Ryan – Chris Landreth Birthday Boy – Sejong Park and Andrew Gregory Gopher Broke – Jeff Fowler and Tim Miller Guard Dog – Bill Plympton Lorenzo – Mike Gabriel and Baker Bloodworth |- | style="vertical-align:top" |Finding Neverland – Jan A. P. Kaczmarek Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – John Williams Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events – Thomas Newman The Passion of the Christ – John Debney The Village – James Newton Howard | style="vertical-align:top" |"Al otro lado del río" from The Motorcycle Diaries – Music and Lyrics by Jorge Drexler "Accidentally in Love" from Shrek 2 – Music by Adam Duritz, Charlie Gillingham, Jim Bogios, David Immerglück, Matthew Malley and David Bryson; Lyrics by Adam Duritz and Dan Vickrey "Believe" from The Polar Express – Music and Lyrics by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri "Learn to Be Lonely" from The Phantom of the Opera – Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber; Lyrics by Charles Hart "Look to Your Path (Vois sur ton chemin)" from The Chorus – Music by Bruno Coulais; Lyrics by Christophe Barratier |- | style="vertical-align:top" |The Incredibles – Randy Thom and Michael Silvers The Polar Express – Randy Thom and Dennis Leonard Spider-Man 2 – Paul N. J. Ottosson
| style="vertical-align:top" |Ray – Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer and Steve Cantamessa The Aviator – Tom Fleischman and Petur Hliddal The Incredibles – Randy Thom, Gary A. Rizzo and Doc Kane The Polar Express – Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis S. Sands and William B. Kaplan Spider-Man 2 – Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Joseph Geisinger |- | style="vertical-align:top" |The Aviator – Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo Finding Neverland – Art Direction: Gemma Jackson; Set Decoration: Trisha Edwards Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events – Art Direction: Rick Heinrichs; Set Decoration: Cheryl Carasik The Phantom of the Opera – Art Direction: Anthony Pratt; Set Decoration: Celia Bobak A Very Long Engagement – Art Direction: Aline Bonetto | style="vertical-align:top" |The Aviator – Robert Richardson House of Flying Daggers – Zhao Xiaoding The Passion of the Christ – Caleb Deschanel The Phantom of the Opera – John Mathieson A Very Long Engagement – Bruno Delbonnel |- | style="vertical-align:top" |Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events – Valli O'Reilly and Bill Corso The Passion of the Christ – Keith VanderLaan and Christien Tinsley The Sea Inside – Jo Allen and Manuel García | style="vertical-align:top" |The Aviator – Sandy Powell Finding Neverland – Alexandra Byrne Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events – Colleen Atwood Ray – Sharen Davis Troy – Bob Ringwood |- | style="vertical-align:top" |The Aviator – Thelma Schoonmaker Collateral – Jim Miller and Paul Rubell Finding Neverland – Matt Chessé Million Dollar Baby – Joel Cox Ray – Paul Hirsch | style="vertical-align:top" |Spider-Man 2'' – John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Roger Guyett, Tim Burke, John Richardson and Bill George I, Robot – John Nelson, Andrew R. Jones, Erik Nash and Joe Letteri
Honorary Award To Sidney Lumet in recognition of his brilliant services to screenwriters, performers and the art of the motion picture.
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award Roger Mayer
Films with multiple nominations and awards
The following 22 films received multiple nominations:
Nominations Film 11 The Aviator 7 Finding Neverland Million Dollar Baby 6 Ray 5 Sideways 4 The Incredibles Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events 3 Hotel Rwanda The Passion of the Christ The Phantom of the Opera The Polar Express Spider-Man 2 Vera Drake 2 The Chorus Closer Collateral Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban The Motorcycle Diaries The Sea Inside Shrek 2 A Very Long Engagement
The following four films received multiple awards:
Awards Film 5 The Aviator 4 Million Dollar Baby 2 The Incredibles Ray
Presenters and performers The following individuals, listed in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.Multiple references:
Presenters