A tiny film set in the slums of India capped an unlikely journey to the top on Sunday, going from stealing hearts around the world to becoming the unlikely winner of Best Picture at the 81st Academy Awards.
Talk about a Hollywood ending. Rejected by one Hollywood studio, starring entirely unknown actors and with much of the film not in English, "Slumdog Millionaire" had to be one of the unlikeliest candidates ever to win the top Oscar.
"When we started we had no stars, no power or muscle," said the producer Christian Colson, as he accepted his Oscar surrounded by his cast, including the tiny Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, age 10, who was flown over by Fox Searchlight for the occasion.
Colson added: "We didn't have enough money to do what we wanted to do. But we had a script that inspired mad love in everyone who read it."
"Slumdog Millionaire," directed by Danny Boyle – who won the Oscar for Best Director -- is the story of a ghetto-bred boy in India who relives the traumas of his young life while answering questions on the Mumbai version of the television contest "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"
It is also a love story about two pint-sized, slum-dwelling children who lose one another and, after life-threatening adventures, find their way back together by the end of the movie.
Rags-to-riches stories are the touchstone of Hollywood fantasy. But as a small, foreign film with no known actors and a miniscule $15 million budget, "Slumdog" initially didn't seem to have much of a chance of finding a toehold in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, much less grabbing 10 nominations and eight statues on Oscar night on Sunday.
The film won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Score, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Original Song.
It won no acting awards. Those went to Sean Penn for his portrayal of gay politician Harvey Milk, and Kate Winslet, who won for her portrayal of a German woman with a secret in "The Reader." (See full list.)
Meanwhile, "Slumdog's main competition, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," won only three Oscars despite 13 nominations. "Button" was an old-style blockbuster epic, with movie stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, made by Paramount.
For years the Oscars have been dominated by small films released by specialty divisions of studios, or by independent studios. This year was no exception, as the only blockbuster film among the nominees was rejected in every major category.
Indeed, little Fox Searchlight won the lion's share of the Oscars, eight, far more than any of the major studios.
But things didn't start that auspiciously for "Slumdog."
The film was initially bought for U.S. distribution by Warner Independent, the specialty arm of Warner Brothers. But the niche studio was dissolved in May 2008, and -- in a moment that is worthy of Hollywood legend -- big Warner stepped in to see what was left on the slate and rejected the film.
