THE Coen brothers completed their journey from the fringes to Hollywood's mainstream on Sunday, their crime saga "No Country for Old Men" winning four Academy Awards, including best picture, at a ceremony that also featured a strong international flavor.
Javier Bardem won for supporting actor in "No Country," which earned Joel and Ethan Coen best director, best adapted screenplay and the best-picture honor as producers.
Accepting the directing honor alongside his brother, Joel Coen noted they have been making films since childhood, including one at the Minneapolis airport called "Henry Kissinger: Man on the Go."
"What we do now doesn't feel that much different from what we were doing then," Joel Coen said. "We're very thankful to all of you out there for continuing to let us play in our corner of the sandbox."
Daniel Day-Lewis won his second best-actor Oscar for the oil-boom epic "There Will Be Blood," while "La Vie En Rose" star Marion Cotillard was a surprise winner for best actress, riding the spirit of Edith Piaf to Oscar triumph over Julie Christie, who had been expected to win for "Away From Her."
All four acting prizes went to Europeans: Frenchwoman Cotillard, Spaniard Bardem, and Brits Day-Lewis and Tilda Swinton, the supporting-actress winner for "Michael Clayton."
The only other time in the Oscars' 80-year history that all four acting winners were foreign-born was 1964, when the recipients were Rex Harrison, Julie Andrews, Peter Ustinov and Lila Kedrova.
As a raging, conniving, acquisitive petroleum pioneer caught up in California's oil boom of the early 20th century, Day-Lewis won for a part that could scarcely have been more different than his understated role as a writer with severe cerebral palsy in 1989's "My Left Foot."
"My deepest thanks to the academy for whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town," Day-Lewis said.
The Coens missed out on a chance to make Oscar history - four wins for a single film -- when they lost the editing prize, for which they were nominated under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes.
With US$64 million domestically, "No Country" is the biggest box-office hit for the Coens, whose tales often are an acquired taste appealing to narrow crowds.
Cotillard, a French beauty who is a dynamo as Piaf, played the warbling chanteuse through three decades, from raw late teens as a singer rising from the gutter through international stardom and her final days in her frail 40s.
Heavies ruled the acting prizes. Along with Day-Lewis' greedy oilman, Bardem played an unshakable executioner in "No Country" and Swinton played a malevolent attorney in "Michael Clayton."
Mickey Mouse gained a rival as Hollywood's favorite rodent as the rat tale "Ratatouille" was named best animated film, the second Oscar win in the category for director Brad Bird.
The Oscar broadcast began with a fanfare and an effects-laden opening segment showing key characters and creatures from past films lining Hollywood Boulevard.
(SD-Agencies)
