Slumdog Millionaire Wins Best Pic, 8 Oscars®

2009 Oscar® Winner Count:
Slumdog 8, Benjamin Button 3, Milk 2, Dark Knight 2

Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Director: Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
Actress: Kate Winslet (The Reader)
Actor: Sean Penn (Milk)
Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz (Vicky Christina Barcelona)
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (Dark Knight)

Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black (Milk)
Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire)
Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire
Film Editing: Slumdog Millionaire
Art Direction: Benjamin Button
Costume Design: The Dutchess

Music Score: Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman)
Song: "Jai Ho" (Slumdog Millionaire - A.R. Rahman/Gulzar)
Special Visual Effects: Benjamin Button
Sound Mixing: Slumdog Millionaire
Sound Editing: Dark Knight
Makeup: Benjamin Button

Foreign Language Film: Departures (Japan)
Documentary, feature: Man on Wire (James Marsh)
Documentary, short: Smile Pinki (Megan Mylan)
Animated feature: Wall-E (Andrew Stanton)
Animated short: la maison en petit cubes
Live action short: Spielzeugland (Toyland), Germany

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Jerry Lewis (whom, we were told, also holds a patent for a camera assist device)

Highlights of the night:
1 - The subject of documentary winner Man on Wire balanced the director's Oscar on his chin after making a lucky coin from German director Werner Herzog 'disappear'
2 - Kate Winslet's dad whistling in the audience so she'd know his location, and he was a cool dude in a wide brimmed Hendrix looking felt hat!

POLL RESULTS: Slumdog easily won our Oscar poll, while Dark Knight won 'should have been nominated'. Interesting to me, since Wall-E has won 36 awards this year, and should have been up for best.