'Million Dollar Baby' lands Oscar knockout

Posted Monday, February 28, 2005 at 5:36 AM Central

The main event at Sunday night's Academy Awards was the bout between leading contenders The Aviator and Million Dollar Baby. The two stood toe-to-toe and Clint Eastwood's boxing-themed flick delivered four big punches by winning in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actor categories.

OK, OK. We won't make you endure any more bad boxing analogies. Million Dollar Baby nearly shut out the heavily nominated The Aviator in the major categories. The Howard Hughes biopic did earn an Oscar statuette for Cate Blanchett in the Best Supporting Actress category, but director Martin Scorsese had to go home a loser once again proving he is the Susan Lucci of the Oscars.

Other highlights from the night included a big win and moving acceptance speech by Jamie Foxx for his portrayal of Ray Charles in Ray; an upset of Shrek 2 by The Incredibles in the Best Animated Feature Film category; and big wins for Spanish language films — the Original Song for The Motorcycle Diaries and Spain's foreign language film The Sea Inside.

Here are complete list of winners:

Best Picture Million Dollar Baby

Actor In A Leading Role Jamie Foxx, Ray

Actress In A Leading Role Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby

Actor In A Supporting Role Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby

Actress In A Supporting Role Cate Blanchett, The Aviator

Directing Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby

Original Screenplay Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Adapted Screenplay Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor, Sideways

Animated Feature Film The Incredibles

Art Direction The Aviator

Cinematography The Aviator