It wasn’t an Oscars for the unexpected. It was an Oscars for the unprecedented.
In the end, “The Hurt Locker” shrugged off the barrage of last-minute criticism and came out of awards season in exactly the same way it went through most of it: as the consensus pick as the best film of 2009.
And at an Oscar show that tried to do lots of things in new ways, the freshest and newest came not from the producers of the show.
It came from the voters in the Academy, who named Kathryn Bigelow Best Director, the first woman ever to be so honored and only the fourth to be nominated in the 82-year history of the Oscars.
It was a night in which almost every pre-show favorite emerged as winner, a night in which nobody could upset Jeff Bridges or Sandra Bullock or Christoph Waltz or Mo’Nique in the acting categories, or “Up” or “The Cove” in the Animated and Documentary races.
The only significant surprise was “Precious” writer Geoffrey Fletcher’s win for Adapted Screenplay over Jason Reitman’s and Sheldon Turner’s “Up in the Air,” which had won the Writers Guild award and most critics awards.
And although “Avatar” won awards for Visual Effects, Art Direction and Cinematography, “Locker” was clearly the film of the night. It seemed clear that the Academy liked the little movie better than the big one.
How did the $21 million (and that's worldwide) "Hurt Locker" do it?
A few keys:
1. It had a release date that allowed the film to stand out. The summer is not the time for serious war dramas; it’s a time big, brain-dead movies like “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” And if films about armed conflict are released between Memorial Day and Labor Day, they’re usually popcorn war movies, like “Inglourious Basterds.”
So when “The Hurt Locker” came out in June, it was seized on by critics as something new and refreshing. Audiences didn’t go, but critics were appreciative of the respite from usual summer fare, and they didn’t forget.
2. For months, it remained in the comfortable position of a longshot, not a frontrunner. While “Up in the Air” and “Precious” got all the heavy awards buzz, “The Hurt Locker” was the little movie that hadn’t been forgotten – but neither was it facing the scrutiny of those presumed favorites. It was the movie everybody figured was good enough to make the Best Picture line-up – but mostly because that lineup had been expanded to 10.
3. As other movies fell away, it was primed to move up. Before the movies had been seen, most Oscar-watchers envisioned Best Picture slates that included “Invictus” and “Nine” and “The Lovely Bones,” or at least two of those films. Slowly and steadily, as those major players stumbled, the chances for “Hurt Locker” got better and better. “Inglourious Basterds” took the same ride, as did “District 9.”
4. The critics took the lead. As late as December, “Hurt Locker” was a movie whose Oscar chances were hurt by its lackluster box-office figures.
The Odds is an informed, bemused, skeptical and authoritative look at all aspects of the Academy Awards race. Steve Pond, author of the L.A. Times bestseller The Big Show, has been covering this particular circus for more than two decades, much of that time as the only reporter with full backstage and rehearsal access to the Oscar show.
And at an Oscar show that tried to do lots of things in new ways, the freshest and newest came not from the producers of the show.
