Binside TV: 2009 ACADEMY AWARDS

Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner at the Academy Awards taking home 8 Oscars. Danny Boyle won his first Oscar for directing. We've been Danny Boyle fans since his Trainspotting days.

Slumdog Millionaire wins big at The Oscars

Congrats to Danny and the cast and crew of Slumdog Millionaire for your well deserved wins! Congrats to all of this years winners and nominees.

The other big winners of the night were Kate Winslet who won Best Actress for her performance as a Nazi pedophile in the Reader. Sean Penn won Best Actor for his pitch perfect performance as slain civil rights leader Harvey Milk.

Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway's Opening Performance at the 2009 Oscars

Penelope Cruz won Best Supporting Actress for her role as a schizophrenic artist with suicidal tendencies in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Click here to see red carpet Oscar Fashion photos.

Brangelina looked beautiful on the red carpet but Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie didn't win anything and went home empty handed. Read more about the Oscar Ceremony on Nikki Fenke's live blog.

"Slumdog Millionaire," a rags-to-riches tale on screen and off, provided a triumphant fairy-tale ending to the 81st Annual Academy Awards on Sunday night when it was crowned best picture.

The $14 million indie movie that fought an uphill battle to win international recognition and nearly $160 million in worldwide grosses took home eight awards in all, including best director honors for filmmaker Danny Boyle.

Kate Winslet, named best actress for "The Reader," provided a shot of glamour, while "Milk's" best actor winner Sean Penn and the movie's winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black delivered impassioned speeches on behalf of gay rights. And in an emotional coda to a career cut short, the late Heath Ledger was remembered as best supporting actor for "The Dark Knight."

Even as the show's producers, Laurence Mark and Bill Condon, worked hard to entertain viewers watching the ABC broadcast far from the confines of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood -- emcee Hugh Jackman delivered a couple of song-and-dance numbers while making frequent mentions of popular movies that didn't get nominated -- there was no keeping Hollywood from being Hollywood.

On Sunday, that meant that the industry's increasing globalization was on display. Penelope Cruz, the best supporting actress winner for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," concluded her acceptance speech in Spanish, and the developing Asian market received plenty of airtime as such talents as Indian composer A.R. Rahman and Japanese director Yojiro Takita and animator Kunio Kato were celebrated.

Such movies as "Slumdog," "Milk" and "Reader," from studio specialty divisions and indie players, took most of the top prizes, while such sumptuous studio films as "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "The Dark Knight" settled mostly for technical awards.

Accepting "Slumdog's" best picture award surrounded by the movie's multicultural cast and crew -- many of whom had flown in from India for the awards -- producer Christian Colson said, "Together, we have been on an extraordinary journey." Noting that the film had no stars, he cited a script that engendered "mad love" and a "genius" director for its success.

Boyle, the British director who found the film of his career in the streets of Mumbai, could only marvel at the film's reception by the 5,810 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. "You've been so generous to us this evening," he said. But he reserved special thanks for the people of Mumbai as he hoisted his statuette, exulting, "You dwarf even this guy, thank you so much indeed."

"Slumdog" earned Simon Beaufoy the adapted screenplay award for his handling of Vikas Swarup's novel. "I certainly wouldn't be standing here tonight without Vikas," he said.

"Slumdog" began to develop its momentum midway through the evening as Anthony Dod Mantle won the prize for cinematography. It then brought back-to-back Oscars to Rahman, the recipient of the statuettes for best score and song, the latter for the upbeat "Jai Ho," which serves as the movie's infectious finale.

"All my life, I've had a choice of hate and love. I chose love and I'm here. God bless," Rahman said in his second acceptance speech.

Penn earned his second Oscar as best actor; he won five years ago for "Mystic River."

"You commie, homo-loving sons of guns," Penn joked as he stepped to the podium. "I did not expect this, and I wanted to be very clear that I know how hard I make it to appreciate me often, but I am touched by this appreciation."

Turning serious, he thanked the film's creators, including director Gus Van Sant, before issuing a fierce call for "equal rights for everyone."

Said Penn, "I think it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame." source