'King' Captures 11 Oscars; Theron, Penn Win

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" swept the 76th annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, Calif., Sunday night, winning a record-tying 11 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director for Peter Jackson, while Sean Penn and Charlize Theron won for Best Actor and Actress, respectively.

Based on the classic book trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, "King" won every category it was nominated in, which also included Best Adapted Screenplay for Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens and Best Original Song for Walsh, Howard Shore and Annie Lennox.

The film's 11 wins ties it for most Oscars ever with "Titanic" and "Ben Hur," and it also made history by becoming the first fantasy film to win Best Picture. The first two "Rings" films, "The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Two Towers" were also nominated, but lost out for the top honor.

"I'm so honored, touched and relieved that the members of the Academy who supported us have seen past the trolls and the wizards and the hobbits and are recognizing fantasy this year," said Jackson, who accepted his statuette along with the co-producers Barrie M. Osborne and Fran Walsh, as well as several members of the cast and crew.

Jackson also took the opportunity to validate a running joke by host Billy Crystal all night about the endless list of people being thanked from New Zealand, where the film trilogy was shot.

"Billy Crystal is welcome to come and make a film in New Zealand anytime he wants," Jackson said.

During his acceptance speech for Best Director, Jackson also thanked the chiefs of "Lord of the Rings" studio New Line, Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, for doing "the most risky thing that I think anyone has done in this industry" in backing the film trilogy. He also paid tribute to his late parents for getting him interested in filmmaking.

"When I was 8 years old, I made films at home on a Super 8 camera that my mom and dad had bought for me," Jackson said. "They supported me all through the years, (but) died in the last few years so they didn't get to see these films made. So for Bill and Joan, thank you."

Sean Penn won his Best Actor statuette for playing a grief-stricken father in the crime drama "Mystic River." An outspoken critic of the Bush administration, Penn took a quick shot at the president's Iraq war policy with a quip about weapons of mass destruction.

"If there's one thing that actors know, other than there weren't any WMDs, it's that there is no such thing as 'best' in acting and that's proven by these great actors that I was nominated with as well as the Giamattis, Cages, Downey Jr.s, Nicholsons, etc. that were not nominated, we know how great all of you were," Penn said.

Among the people Penn thanked was Clint Eastwood, "professionally and humanly for coming into my life."

Theron took a cue from Crystal's "Lord of the Rings" joke and included it in her Best Actress acceptance speech for playing a real-life prostitute-turned serial killer in "Monster."

"I know everybody in New Zealand has been thanked, so I want to thank everybody in South Africa, my home country -- they're all watching tonight and I'm bringing this home next week," Theron said.

Theron concluded her speech with an emotional tribute to her mother, who was in the audience.

"Mom, you have sacrificed so much for me to be able to live here and make my dreams come true," Theron said, tearfully. "And there are no words to describe how much I love you."

Other big winners included Sofia Coppola, who won for Best Original Screenplay for "Lost in Translation." Her win made the Coppolas only the second family next to the Houstons (Walter, John and Anjelica) to have three generations of Oscar winners. Her grandfather Carmine Coppola and father Francis Ford Coppola won previously for the "Godfather" films.

During her acceptance speech, Sofia Coppola acknowledged the star of the film for being her greatest inspiration.

"Every writer needs a muse, mine was Bill Murray," she said.

Tim Robbins and Renee Zellweger earned Best Supporting Actor and Actress Oscars, respectively, to kick off the ceremony.

Zellweger won for playing Nicole Kidman's no-nonsense farm-hand for "Cold Mountain," while Robbins' statuette came for his portrayal as a childhood abuse victim in the crime drama "Mystic River."

"In this movie, I play a victim of abuse and violence," Robbins said. "And if you are out there and are a person has had that tragedy befall you, there is no shame and now weakness in seeking help and counseling. It is sometimes the strongest thing you can do to stop the cycle of violence."

"Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," second to the "Rings" nomination count with 10, won only two Oscars -- for Best Sound Editing and Best Cinematography.

"Finding Nemo" was named Best Animated Feature Film, the first Pixar computer-animated production to win the award, while Canada's "The Barbarian Invasions" won for Best Foreign Film.

"Fog of War" won for Best Documentary -- and filmmaker Errol Morris used part of his acceptance speech to raise some political issues.

"Forty years ago this country went down a rabbit hole in Vietnam and millions died," Morris said. "I fear we are going down the rabbit hole once again. And if people can stop can stop and think and reflect on some of the ideas and issues in this movie, perhaps I've done some damn good here."

Jim Carrey paid tribute to Blake Edwards -- the "Pink Panther," "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Victor/Victoria" director -- who received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement at the ceremonies.

The comedy filmmaker made a grand entrance, rolling across the stage in a wheelchair and crashing into a wall.

"That felt good," Edwards chirped, as Carrey helped the disheveled Edwards to the microphone.

Among the people Edwards thanked was his wife Julie Andrews, whom he referred to as "the beautiful English broad with the incomparable soprano and promiscuous vocabulary."

Other special tributes included memorials to Bob Hope from Tom Hanks and Kathryn Hepburn from Julia Roberts. Academy president Frank Pierson recognized the late Gregory Peck, before introducing the memorial segment of actors and filmmakers who died over the past year.

Sunday night's Oscar ceremony marked the return of Crystal as host -- his first emcee gig in four years and eighth appearance overall.

He began the awards with a film montage called "The Return of the Host," which began with a naked entrance into the film world as the Terminator saying, "I'm back baby."

From there he jumped from film to film, often finding himself inside many of this year's nominated films including "The Return of the King," "Master and Commander," "Mystic River" and "Monster." Crystal bared it all again later in the montage in a spoof of Diane Keaton's nude scene in "Something's Gotta Give" and then turned up nude in Bill Murray's bedroom in "Lost in Translation."

Michael Moore -- who drew jeers and some cheers last year for his controversial acceptance speech thrashing President George W. Bush -- even spoofed himself by preaching against war on a battlefield during "The Return of the King." He was then stomped by an olyphant (an elephant-like creature) in the film.

After the film introduction, Crystal proceeded to give his usual musical introduction of the five Best Picture nominees using the medley of popular show tunes.

Crystal steered clear of the controversial Mel Gibson of the film "The Passion of The Christ," only briefly mentioning it twice.

"For the first time, we're being simulcast in Aramaic," Crystal said.