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The 79th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...
(AMPAS), honored the best films of 2006 and took place February 25, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood,
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 24 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by
Laura Ziskin Laura Ellen ZiskinGale Research Company (2002). ''Contemporary theatre, film, and television,'' p. 388. Gale Research Co., (March 3, 1950 – June 12, 2011) was an American film producer, known as the executive producer of '' Pretty Woman'' (199 ...
and directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Actress Ellen DeGeneres hosted for the first time. Two weeks earlier in a ceremony at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California held on February 10, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Maggie Gyllenhaal. '' The Departed'' won four awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included ''
Pan's Labyrinth ''Pan's Labyrinth'' ( es, El laberinto del fauno, lit=The Labyrinth of the Faun, links=no) is a 2006 dark fantasy horror film written, directed and co-produced by Guillermo del Toro. A Spanish-Mexican(78% Spanish production, 22% Mexican productio ...
'' with three awards, '' Dreamgirls'', '' An Inconvenient Truth'', and '' Little Miss Sunshine'' with two, and ''
Babel Babel is a name used in the Hebrew Bible for the city of Babylon and may refer to: Arts and media Written works Books * ''Babel'' (book), by Patti Smith * ''Babel'' (2012 manga), by Narumi Shigematsu * ''Babel'' (2017 manga), by Yūgo Ishika ...
'', '' The Blood of Yingzhou District'', '' The Danish Poet'', '' Happy Feet'', ''
The Last King of Scotland ''The Last King of Scotland'' is a novel by journalist Giles Foden, published by Faber and Faber in 1998. Focusing on the rise of Ugandan President Idi Amin and his reign as dictator from 1971 to 1979, the novel, which interweaves fiction an ...
'', '' Letters from Iwo Jima'', ''
The Lives of Others ''The Lives of Others'' (german: link=no, Das Leben der Anderen, ) is a 2006 German drama film written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck marking his feature film directorial debut. The plot is about the monitoring of East Berli ...
'', '' Marie Antoinette'', '' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'', '' The Queen'', and '' West Bank Story'' with one. The telecast garnered nearly 40 million viewers in the United States.


Winners and nominees

The nominees for the 79th Academy Awards were announced on January 23, 2007, at the
Samuel Goldwyn Theater The Samuel Goldwyn Theatre is a screening-only movie theater named after filmmaker Samuel Goldwyn. It is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California, at headquarters of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). ...
in Beverly Hills, California, by Sid Ganis, president of the Academy, and the actress Salma Hayek. '' Dreamgirls'' received the most nominations with eight, and ''
Babel Babel is a name used in the Hebrew Bible for the city of Babylon and may refer to: Arts and media Written works Books * ''Babel'' (book), by Patti Smith * ''Babel'' (2012 manga), by Narumi Shigematsu * ''Babel'' (2017 manga), by Yūgo Ishika ...
'' came in second with seven. This marked the first and only occurrence that the film with the most nominations was not a Best Picture nominee. The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on February 25, 2007. With his latest unsuccessful nomination for Best Actor, Peter O'Toole became the most nominated performer without a competitive win. Best Supporting Actress winner Jennifer Hudson became the fifteenth person to win for their debut film performance. "
I Need to Wake Up "I Need to Wake Up" is a song by Melissa Etheridge, written for the 2006 documentary film, ''An Inconvenient Truth''. It is the first instance of a documentary film winning the Best Song category, beating three songs nominated from the musical fil ...
" from '' An Inconvenient Truth'' became the first song from a documentary film to win Best Original Song.


Awards

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger ().


Honorary Academy Award

* Ennio Morricone In recognition of his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music.


Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

* Sherry Lansing


Films with multiple nominations and awards

The following 19 films received multiple nominations: The following five films received multiple awards:


Presenters and performers

The following individuals presented awards or performed musical numbers.


Presenters (in order of appearance)


Performers (in order of appearance)


Ceremony information

Because of the declining viewership of recent Academy Awards ceremonies, producer Gil Cates declined to helm the upcoming festivities. The Academy sought ideas to revamp the show while renewing interest with the nominated films. In September 2006, the Academy selected producer
Laura Ziskin Laura Ellen ZiskinGale Research Company (2002). ''Contemporary theatre, film, and television,'' p. 388. Gale Research Co., (March 3, 1950 – June 12, 2011) was an American film producer, known as the executive producer of '' Pretty Woman'' (199 ...
to oversee production of the telecast for a second time. Nearly three months later, actress and comedian Ellen DeGeneres, who had previously emceed three Primetime Emmy Award ceremonies between 2001 and 2005, was chosen as host of the 2007 ceremony. In an article published in the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'', Ziskin explained the decision to hire DeGeneres saying "Certainly, I believe the presence of Ellen will help the ratings absolutely. She's popular with a very wide audience. She is not a niche performer. She touches a lot of demographics." AMPAS christened this year's telecast with a theme celebrating movie quotes. In tandem with the theme, advertising agency TBWA\Chiat\Day designed the official ceremony poster featuring 75 quotes from several Oscar-nominated or winning films. To stir interest surrounding the awards, filmmaker
Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...
released a trailer featuring everyday people around
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
reciting famous film lines. During the ceremony, a montage produced by director Nancy Meyers saluted the work of screenwriters and their contributions to film. During the telecast, former
U.S. Vice President The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice pr ...
and environmental activist
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic ...
, and Best Actor nominee Leonardo DiCaprio announced that AMPAS would incorporate several environmentally and ecologically conscious features into the ceremony. Designed by Frank Webb and Matthew White, the '' Architectural Digest'' greenroom where presenters and winners mingled backstage featured several environmentally friendly features such as a rug made of recycled plastic bottles and walls painted without any volatile organic compounds. Other eco-friendly features included the transportation for guests of the awards via
hybrid electric vehicle A hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) is a type of hybrid vehicle that combines a conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) system with an Electric motor, electric propulsion system (hybrid vehicle drivetrain). The presence of the electric powertr ...
s, usage of recyclable paper for ballots and invitations, and serving meals at the Governor's Ball on reusable plates and biodegradable dishware. Several other people participated in the production of the ceremony. William Ross served as musical director for the ceremony. J. Michael Riva designed a new set and stage design for the ceremony. Voice actor Don LaFontaine was hired with Gina Tuttle as announcers for the telecast. Actor Greg Vaughan and '' Lucky'' columnist Allyson Waterman co-hosted "Road to the Oscars", a weekly behind-the-scenes video blog on the Oscar ceremony website. Members of the dance troupe and contortionist group
Pilobolus ''Pilobolus'' is a genus of fungi that commonly grows on herbivore dung. Life cycle The life cycle of ''Pilobolus'' begins with a black sporangium that has been discharged onto a plant substrate such as grass. A herbivorous animal such as a ...
performed interpretive shadow figures representing scenes and logos from the nominated films. Actors Jack Black, Will Ferrell, and
John C. Reilly John Christopher Reilly (born May 24, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer, and writer. After his film debut in '' Casualties of War'' (1989), he gained exposure through his supporting roles in '' Days of Thunder'' (1990), '' ...
performed a lighthearted musical number written by comedic director Judd Apatow and music composer Marc Shaiman satirizing comedy's lack of recognition at the Academy Awards. Conducted by musician
Steve Sidwell Steven James Sidwell (born 14 December 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Sidwell was a product of the Arsenal academy, and after winning two FA Youth Cups, he had constructive loan spells at Brentfo ...
, the Sound Effects Choir performed voice effects to a montage of classic films. Another vignette directed by documentary filmmaker
Errol Morris Errol Mark Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of its subjects. In 2003, his documentary film '' The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNama ...
featuring several Oscar nominees discussing what it means to be an Oscar nominee was shown at the beginning of the show. Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore assembled a tribute highlighting previous winners of the
Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
. Filmmaker
Michael Mann Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer of film and television who is best known for his distinctive style of crime drama. His most acclaimed works include the films '' Thief'' (1981) ...
produced a montage highlighting American life through the eyes of cinema.


Box office performance of nominated films

At the time of the nominations announcement on January 23, the combined gross of the five Best Picture nominees was $244 million with an average of $48.7 million per film. ''The Departed'' was the highest earner among the Best Picture nominees with $121.7 million in domestic box office receipts. The film was followed by ''Little Miss Sunshine'' ($59.6 million), ''The Queen'' ($35.6 million), ''Babel'' ($23.7 million) and finally ''Letters from Iwo Jima'' ($2.4 million). Of the top 50 grossing movies of the year, 29 nominations went to nine films on the list. Only ''The Pursuit of Happyness'' (12th), ''Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan'' (15th), ''The Devil Wears Prada'' (16th), ''The Departed'' (17th) and ''Dreamgirls'' (28th) were nominated for Best Picture, Best Animated Feature or any of the directing, acting or screenwriting awards. The other top 50 box office hits that earned nominations were ''Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'' (1st), ''Cars'' (2nd), ''Superman Returns'' (6th) and ''Happy Feet'' (8th).


Critical reviews

The show received a mixed reception from media publications. Some media outlets were more critical of the show. Tim Goodman of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pa ...
'' lamented, "It was long. It was flat. And it was bloated. Worst of all, it was boring." He also wrote that "it was difficult for Ellen's subtle rambling to translate because people want pop and humor and declarative sentences in their Academy Awards. Which they didn't exactly get." '' The Denver Post'' television critic Joanne Ostrow bemoaned, "Pleasant and innocuous but hardly exciting, DeGeneres forgot the primary Academy Award host directive: It's not about the host. Hollywood's biggest night (and television's second-biggest annual gathering, after the
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...
) is a celebration of film." ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' columnist Tom Shales gave an average review for DeGeneres but criticized the overall slow and choppy pacing of the program noting that it was "punishingly too long." Other media outlets received the broadcast more positively. Columnist Alessandra Stanley of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' lauded DeGeneres's performance writing that she was "cheeky but good-natured, far less barbed and sardonic than Jon Stewart last year or Chris Rock in 2005." She added that her style brought a "casual Friday mood to Fancy Sunday." '' St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' television critic Gail Pennington praised host DeGeneres and producer Ziskin for turning "the evening into an upbeat celebration––and the most entertaining Oscars in years." Television editor Dave Kronke of the '' Los Angeles Daily News'' gave high marks for DeGeneres commenting, "Her material was amusing but scarcely a laugh riot, yet it was amiable and delineated that the evening was a celebration of all the nominees, not just the winners."


Ratings and reception

The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 39.92 million people over its length, which was a 2.5% increase from the previous year's ceremony. An estimated 76.72 million total viewers watched all or part of the awards. The show also drew higher Nielsen ratings compared to the previous ceremony with 23.59% of households watching over a 38.86 share. In addition, the program scored a higher 18-49 demo rating with a 14.18 rating over a 33.71 share among viewers in that demographic. In July 2007, the ceremony presentation received nine nominations at the 59th Primetime Emmys. Two months later, the ceremony won two of those nominations for Outstanding Art Direction (J. Michael Riva, Geoffrey Richman, and Tamlyn Wright) and Outstanding Music Direction (William Ross).


''In Memoriam''

The annual ''In Memoriam'' tribute, presented by actress Jodie Foster, honored the following people: * Glenn Ford - Actor * Bruno Kirby - Character actor, comedian * Alida Valli - Actress * Betty Comden – Songwriter * Jane Wyatt - Actress * Don Knotts - Actor, comedian * Red Buttons - Actor, comedian * Gillo Pontecorvo – Director * Darren McGavin - Actor * Richard Fleischer – Director * Sven Nykvist – Cinematographer *
Joseph Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian ...
– Producer, cartoonist * Tamara Dobson - Actor, model * Gretchen Rau – Set designer * June Allyson - Actress * Gordon Parks – Director * Philippe Noiret - Actor * Maureen Stapleton - Actress * Jack Wild - Actor * Vincent Sherman – Director * James Doohan - Actor * Shohei Imamura – Director *
Carlo Ponti Carlo Fortunato Pietro Ponti Sr. (11 December 1912 – 9 January 2007) was an Italian film producer with more than 140 productions to his credit. Along with Dino De Laurentiis, he is credited with reinvigorating and popularizing Italian cine ...
– Producer * Peter Boyle - Character actor * James Glennon – Cinematographer * Sidney Sheldon – Screenwriter *
Jack Palance Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...
- Actor * Mako - Actor * Jack Warden - Character actor * Basil Poledouris – Composer *
Henry Bumstead Lloyd Henry "Bummy" Bumstead (March 17, 1915 – May 24, 2006) was an American cinematic art director and production designer. In a career that spanned nearly 70 years, Bumstead began as a draftsman in RKO Pictures' art department and later ...
– Art director * Jay Presson Allen – Screenwriter * Robert Altman – Director Before the montage was shown, Foster briefly eulogized casting director and Oscar winner Randy Stone who died nearly two weeks before the ceremony.


See also

*
13th Screen Actors Guild Awards The 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony, honoring the best in American film and television acting achievement for the year 2006, took place on January 28, 2007 at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center, in Los Angeles, California. ...
* 27th Golden Raspberry Awards *
49th Grammy Awards The 49th Annual Grammy Awards was a ceremony honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2005 and ending September 30, 2006 in the United States. The awards were handed out on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at the Staples Ce ...
* 59th Primetime Emmy Awards * 60th British Academy Film Awards *
61st Tony Awards The 61st Annual Tony Award ceremony was held on June 10, 2007 at Radio City Music Hall, with CBS television broadcasting live. The cut-off date for eligibility was May 9, meaning that to be qualified for the 2006-2007 season, shows must have ope ...
*
64th Golden Globe Awards The 64th Golden Globe Awards were aired on January 15, 2007. The ceremony was broadcast live on NBC. Indicating the impact that animated films have had on the film industry, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced in early 2006 that a G ...
* List of submissions to the 79th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film


References


Bibliography

*


External links


Academy Awards Official website

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Official website

Oscar's Channel
at
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Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motion ...
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Oscars 2007
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Academy Awards coverage
CNN ;Analysis
2006 Academy Awards Winners and History
Filmsite
Academy Awards, USA: 2007
Internet Movie Database ;Other resources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Academy Awards, 79 Academy Awards ceremonies 2006 film awards 2007 in Los Angeles 2007 in American cinema 2007 awards in the United States February 2007 events in the United States Television shows directed by Louis J. Horvitz