A muted 75th Oscar ceremony produced some surprising results last night. No one realy expected Roman Polanski to win the Best Director award for the Pianist, but he did, although the rape charges he is still wanted on in the US meant that he did not attend the ceremony. Adrien Brody took Best Actor for the same film, while Chris Cooper got a much deserved Best Supporting Actor for Adaptation. Michael Moore made a suitably controversial anti-war speech while collecting the Best Documentary Oscar for Bowling For Columbine, and Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki finally got recognition for his talents by winning for Spirited Away. Best Picture went to Chicago, Best Actress to Nicole Kidman for The Hours and Best Supporting Actress to Chicago's Catherine Zeta-Jones. Martin Scorsese once more went home empty-handed.
