That was as good as it would get for the power pairing.
If looks could kill, Jolie could have been arrested for double homicide after the best actress award was announced. Presenter Ben Stiller (no kidding, a winner earlier in the night as producer, director, writer, and star of the best comedy, Tropic Thunder) read from the card that there was a tie between Doubt’s Meryl Streep (not in attendance) and Anne Hathaway, Streep’s former co-star in The Devil Wears Prada who has been getting rave reviews for her dramatic turn in Rachel Getting Married.
Even the other movies Pitt and Jolie appeared in, including the spy comedy Burn After Reading, the shoot-’em-up action flick Wanted and the animated Kung Fu Panda, failed to join the winner’s circle.
That was occupied most of the evening by the enchanting Slumdog, which some critics are calling this year’s Juno. That might be considered an insult now, since Slumdog is much more ambitious in finding a way to capture your heart. It managed to accomplish that by the third category Thursday night.
The radiant Frieda Pinto, who played Patel’s love interest in Slumdog, got the party started, accepting the young actor’s award on his behalf. Asking him on the phone earlier in the day who he would like to thank if he could give an acceptance speech, Pinto offered, “He said, ‘Just forget it, I’m not going to win.’ ... He’s going to be so happy.”
A startled Beaufoy, then Rahman (proclaiming “This is for India”) and Boyle, right, soon followed, all walking to the stage to the pulsing beat of “Jaiho,” which happened to be Slumdog’s only failing nominee, losing out to Bruce Springsteen’s The Wrestler for best song.
Boyle, the British director of Trainspotting, 28 Days Later and Shallow Grave, premiered Slumdog at the Telluride Film Festival over Labor Day weekend. He announced to a packed house on Labor Day, “Once in a while, someone has to pick (a project) up off the floor and give it a ride. In this case, it’s been Telluride.”
Article comments
1 - carmen
I hope Slumdog goes on to win the Oscar for best picture. I agree with you about Richard Gere ( hard to imagine Buddist monks yelling out what a babe).