theoscarsite.com is a registered Associate of amazon.com®.
When ordering Oscar®-nominated films, please help support this site by using the links provided on our film pages.


Welcome to theoscarsite's yearly Oscars® pages

This page covers the nominees and winners for 2003. If you wish, read my disclaimer.

Click here for information on the Awards Ceremony for this year's nominees.

 Use this link to go to my listing of every film and every person ever nominated for an Award! 

 Use this link to see every film nominated for an Award this year and how it ranks in nominations and Awards! 

"If there's one thing that actors know -- other than that there weren't any WMD's -- it's that there is no such thing as best in acting." -- Sean Penn

Best Picture of the Year 2003 [#,#] = number of nominations and Awards for the film
 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING [11 Awards - Swept every nominated category] (Wingnut Films/New Line) Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson & Fran Walsh, producers
 LOST IN TRANSLATION [4, 1] (American Zoetrope, Elemental Films/Focus Features) Ross Katz & Sofia Coppola, producers
 MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD [10, 2] (20th Century-Fox, Universal & Miramax/20th Century-Fox) Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., Peter Weir & Duncan Henderson, producers
 MYSTIC RIVER [6, 2] (Warner Bros.) Robert Lorenz, Judie G. Hoyt & Clint Eastwood, producers
 SEABISCUIT [7, 0] (Universal, DreamWorks/Universal, DreamWorks, Spyglass) Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall & Gary Ross, producers

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
 Johnny Depp in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL [5, 0]
 Ben Kingsley in HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG [3, 0]
 Jude Law in COLD MOUNTAIN [7, 1]
 Bill Murray in LOST IN TRANSLATION
 Sean Penn in MYSTIC RIVER

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
 Keisha Castle-Hughes in WHALE RIDER [1, 0]
 Diane Keaton in SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE [1, 0]
 Samantha Morton in IN AMERICA [3, 0]
 Charlize Theron in MONSTER [1, 1]
 Naomi Watts in 21 GRAMS [2, 0]

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
 Alec Baldwin in THE COOLER [1, 0]
 Benicio Del Toro in 21 GRAMS
 Djimon Hounsou in IN AMERICA
 Tim Robbins in MYSTIC RIVER
 Ken Watanabe in THE LAST SAMURAI [4, 0]

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
 Shohreh Aghdashloo in HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG
 Patricia Clarkson in PIECES OF APRIL [1, 0]
 Marcia Gay Harden in MYSTIC RIVER
 Holly Hunter in THIRTEEN [1, 0]
 Renée Zellweger in COLD MOUNTAIN

Achievement in Direction
 Sofia Coppola for LOST IN TRANSLATION
 Clint Eastwood for MYSTIC RIVER
 Peter Jackson for THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING
 Fernando Meirelles for CITY OF GOD [4]
 Peter Weir for MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD

Achievement in Writing: Original Screenplay
 THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS [2]: Written by Denys Arcand
 DIRTY PRETTY THINGS [1, 0]: Written by Steven Knight
 FINDING NEMO [4, 1]: Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, David Reynolds; Original Story by Andrew Stanton
 IN AMERICA: Written by Jim Sheridan & Naomi Sheridan & Kirsten Sheridan
 LOST IN TRANSLATION: Written by Sofia Coppola

Achievement in Writing: Adapted Screenplay
 AMERICAN SPLENDOR [1, 0]: Written by Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman
 CITY OF GOD: Screenplay by Braulio Mantovani
 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING: Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson
 MYSTIC RIVER: Screenplay by Brian Helgeland
 SEABISCUIT: Written for the Screen by Gary Ross

Achievement in Animated Feature Films
 BROTHER BEAR [1, 0]: Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker
 FINDING NEMO: Andrew Stanton
 THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE [2, 0]: Sylvain Chomet

Achievement in Art Direction
 GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING [3, 0]: Ben Van Os (Art Direction); Cecile Heideman (Set Decoration)
 THE LAST SAMURAI: Lilly Kilvert (Art Direction); Gretchen Rau (Set Decoration)
 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING: Grant Major (Art Direction); Dan Hennah and Alan Lee (Set Decoration)
 MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD: William Sandell (Art Direction); Robert Gould (Set Decoration)
 SEABISCUIT: Jeannine Oppewall (Art Direction); Leslie Pope (Set Decoration)

Achievement in Cinematography
 CITY OF GOD: Cesar Charlone
 COLD MOUNTAIN: John Seale
 GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING: Eduardo Serra
 MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD: Russell Boyd
 SEABISCUIT: John Schwartzman

Achievement in Costume Design
 GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING: Dien van Straalen
 THE LAST SAMURAI: Ngila Dickson
 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING: Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor
 MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD: Wendy Stites
 SEABISCUIT: Judianna Makovsky

Achievement in Documentary Features
 BALSEROS [1, 0]: Carlos Bosch and Marcos Loris Omedes
 CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS [1, 0]: Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling
 THE FOG OF WAR [1, 1]: Errol Morris and Michael Williams
 MY ARCHITECT [1, 0]: Nathaniel Kahn and Susan R. Behr
 THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND [1, 0]: Sam Green and Bill Siegel

Achievement in Documentary Short Subjects
 ASYLUM [1, 0]: Sandy McLeod and Gini Reticker
 CHERNOBYL HEART [1, 1]: Maryann DeLeo
 FERRY TALES [1, 0]: Katja Esson

Achievement in Film Editing
 CITY OF GOD: Daniel Rezende
 COLD MOUNTAIN: Walter Murch
 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING: Jamie Selkirk
 MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD: Lee Smith
 SEABISCUIT: William Goldenberg

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
 LES INVASIONS BARBARES (THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS, Canada) [2, 1] Directed by Denys Arcand
 ONDSKAN (EVIL, Sweden) [1, 0] Directed by Mikael Håfström
 TASOGARE SEIBEI (THE TWILIGHT SAMURAI, Japan) [1, 0] Directed by Yoji Yamada
 DE TWEELING (TWIN SISTERS, Netherlands) [1, 0] Directed by Ben Sombogaart
 ZELARY (FALCON, Czech Republic) [1, 0] Directed by Ondrej Trojan

Achievement in Makeup
 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING: Richard Taylor & Peter King
 MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD: Edouard Henriques III & Yolanda Toussieng
 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL: Ve Neill and Martin Samuel

Achievement in Music: Original Score
 BIG FISH [1, 0]: Danny Elfman
 COLD MOUNTAIN: Gabriel Yared
 FINDING NEMO: Thomas Newman
 HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG: James Horner
 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING: Howard Shore

Achievement in Music: Original Song
 "Belleville Rendez-vous" - THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE: Music by Benoit Charest; Lyric by Sylvain Chomet
 "Into the West" - THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING: Music & Lyric by Fran Walsh and Howard Shore and Annie Lennox
 "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" - A MIGHTY WIND [1, 0]: Music & Lyric by Michael McKean and Annette O'Toole
 "Scarlet Tide" - COLD MOUNTAIN: Music & Lyric by T Bone Burnett and Elvis Costello
 "You Will Be My Ain True Love" - COLD MOUNTAIN: Music & Lyric by Sting

Achievement in Animated Short Films
 BOUNDIN' [1, 0]: Bud Luckey
 DESTINO [1, 0]: Dominique Monfery and Roy Edward Disney
 GONE NUTTY [1, 0]: Carlos Saldanha and John C. Donkin
 HARVIE KRUMPET [1, 1]: Adam Elliot
 NIBBLES [1, 0]: Chris Hinton

Achievement in Live Action Short Films
 DIE ROTE JACKE (THE RED JACKET) [1, 0]: Florian Baxmeyer
 MOST (THE BRIDGE) [1, 0]: Bobby Garabedian and William Zabka
 SQUASH [1, 0]: Lionel Bailliu
 (A)TORZIJA ([A]TORSION) [1, 0]: Stefan Arsenijevic
 TWO SOLDIERS [1, 1]: Aaron Schneider and Andrew J. Sacks

Achievement in Sound Mixing (This category has been renamed this year)
 THE LAST SAMURAI: Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Jeff Wexler
 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING: Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges & Hammond Peek
 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, David E. Campbell and Lee Orloff
 SEABISCUIT: Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Tod A. Maitland

Achievement in Sound Editing
 FINDING NEMO: Gary Rydstrom and Michael Silvers
 MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD: Richard King
 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL: Christopher Boyes and George Watters, II

Achievement in Visual Effects
 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING: Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke
 MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD: Daniel 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

Scientific and Technical Awards

Academy Award of Merit (Statuette):
 To Digidesign for the design, development and implementation of the Pro Tools® digital audio workstation.
 To Bill Tondreau of Kuper Controls for his significant advancements in the field of motion control technology for motion picture visual effects.

Scientific and Engineering Awards (Academy Plaques):
 To Kinoton GmbH for the engineering and development of the Kinoton FP 30/38 EC II Studio Projector.
 To Kenneth L. Tingler, Charles C. Anderson, Diane Kestner, and Brian A. Schell of the Eastman Kodak Company, for the successful development of a process-surviving antistatic layer technology for motion picture film.
 To Christopher Alfred, Andrew J. Cannon, Michael C. Carlos, Mark Crabtree, Chuck Grindstaff, and John Melanson for their significant contributions to the evolution of digital audio editing for motion picture post production.
 To Stephen Regelous for the design and development of Massive, the autonomous agent animation system used for the battle sequences in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Technical Achievement Awards (Academy Certificates):
 To Kish Sadhvani for the concept and optical design, Paul Duclos for the practical realization and production engineering and Carl Pernicone for the mechanical design and engineering of the portable cine viewfinder system known as the Ultimate Director's Finder (UDF).
 To Henrik Wann Jensen, Stephen R. Marschner and Pat Hanrahan for their pioneering research in simulating subsurface scattering of light in translucent materials as presented in their paper "A Practical Model for Subsurface Light Transport."
 To Christophe Hery, Ken McGaugh and Joe Letteri for their groundbreaking implementations of practical methods for rendering skin and other translucent materials using subsurface scattering techniques.

John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation:
 Douglas Greenfield, for his longstanding support of and service to the Academy and the motion picture industry.

Gordon E. Sawyer Oscar®:
 Peter D. Parks, one of the industry's foremost microphotographers

Honorary Award::
 Blake Edwards

Irving G. Thalberg Award: No Award presented for 2003

FIRSTS
· Sweeping all its 11 nominated categories, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King joins Ben-Hur as the most honored film in Academy history.
· LOTR 3 is the first film to receive so many nominations without one for acting.
· At 13, Whale Rider's Keisha Castle- Hughes becomes the youngest-ever nominee for Best Actress.
· Sophia Coppola's Best Director nomination is the first for an American woman. (The first woman to receive the nod was Italian Lena Wertmüller for 1976. Kiwi Jane Campion followed for 1993.)
· The Coppolas join the Hustons as a three-generation Oscar®-winning family.
· Charlize Theron and Djimon Honsou become the first actors to be nominated for an Oscar® who were born in sub-Saharan Africa. (Omar Sharif was born in Egypt.)

RULE CHANGES
· "Sound" category changed to "Sound Mixing".
· The Awards show is scheduled a month early in hopes of getting a jump on (or at least keeping up with) the many other awards shows, and winning a larger audience.

SINS OF OMISSION
Picture: American Splendor
Actor: Paul Giamatti - American Splendor
Actress: Gwyneth Paltrow - Sylvia
Supporting Actor: Sean Astin - LOTR 3, Andy Serkis - LOTR 3
Supporting Actress: Hope Davis - American Splendor

UNMENTIONABLES
· Given the truncated voting season, almost a month shorter than usual, many Academy members admitted they hadn't seen all the nominated films.
· The ban on sending DVDs of nominated films to voters, issued by MPAA Chief Jack Valenti (who suggested that these advance copies, known as "screeners", would lead to pirated copies), was overturned in court.
· Sean Penn's notable snubbing of the Golden Glopes and SAG Awards initially cast a shadow of doubt over his Oscar® chances. His luck held, though, probably due to the equally curmudgeonly reputation of his nearest rival, Bill Murray.
· Real as it may have looked, the man in that runaway wheelchair wasn't 81-year-old Blake Edwards but stuntman Mickey Gilbert.
· By bestowing highest honors on the final installment of Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic, the Academy was essentially honoring the trilogy that began with The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and proceeded with The Two Towers (2002). Nothing of its kind had been attempted before and if numbers are worth a thousand words, consider a continuous shooting schedule of 274 days and a cast of 25,000. Time-Warner's New Line film division anted up $300 million for the project and to date, gross ticket sales worldwide have reached $2.8 billion.


And, of course, here's the place where I have to put the disclaimer: This page was created for my own personal use and was intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. "Oscar" and "Academy Awards" are registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The "Oscar" Statuette is copyrighted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. These pages are neither authorized nor endorsed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I cannot take responsibility for any errors or omissions on these pages; i.e., if you lose a bet because of something I missed, don't expect me to pay it off!

Sidebar highlights come from several sources, most notably The Academy Awards® - The Complete Unofficial History, by Gail Kinn & Jim Piazza, and Inside Oscar® - The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards®, by Mason Wiley & Damien Bona.

This page is compiled by Gary Moody. If you have comments or questions about the page, please e-mail me at gary@theoscarsite.com.