Funny how a streak can work at the Academy Awards. The sheer volume of nominations is no guarantee of sweeping: two of the most nominated films in history, “Eve Uncovered” (1950) and “La La Land” (2016) each won six Oscars out of 14 nominations, while “Titanic” (1997) won 11 of its 14 nominations. (Although for a second in 2017, it looked like “La La Land” might have won a seventh Oscar, until it was announced that there had been a mistake and “Moonlight” was revealed to be the real best picture winner.)
But you can't win 11 Academy Awards without first being nominated for so many, and only one film has won all 11 total nominations. That happened on February 29, 2004, at the 76th Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, when “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” won its eleventh Oscar of the night as winner of the best film.
By then, everything seemed like a done deal. “LOTR” and his team (although not his cast) had been showered with award after award all night long. Director Peter Jackson won all three of his Oscars that night, as did his partner and film producer Fran Walsh (who became the first woman to win three awards for the same film). With the 11th Oscar, the last film in a trilogy that adapted JRR Tolkien's novel tied with “Titanic” and “Ben Hur” (1959).
“It's a clean sweep,” Best Picture host Steven Spielberg revealed as he opened the envelope that gave the film the final victory. Jackson, Walsh and producer Barrie M. Osborne, along with stars Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Liv Tyler, Ian McKellen and executive producers Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne gathered on stage for the return of the victory.
“This is just incredible,” Jackson said. “I am very honored, touched and relieved that the academy and the academy members who have supported us have seen beyond the trolls, wizards and hobbits and are recognizing fantasy this year. “Fancy is an F-word and hopefully the five-second delay won’t do any good.” He then thanked the people of New Zealand, where the films were made, and then handed the microphone to Osborne.
“I started in the business 35 years ago bringing coffee to people,” said Osborne, who won his first Oscar with the best picture breakthrough. “After so many years, receiving this award is truly an emotion for all of us and we all thank the academy. It is truly a tribute to the talent of everyone, both in front of and behind the camera, that we win this award. I want to particularly thank my partner Carol, my beautiful daughter Danielle, and my 87-year-old father, who is back there somewhere here to celebrate this with us. I also want to thank JRR Tolkien and also the fans who supported us on this journey.”
Jackson and company beat off stiff competition, although only one of the other titles went home empty-handed: “Seabiscuit,” which had been nominated for seven awards and won none of them. “Lost in Translation” had earned writer-director Sofia Coppola an Oscar for original screenplay; Peter Weir’s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” won for cinematography (Russell Boyd) and sound editing (Richard King); and “Mystic River” won awards for actors Sean Penn (lead) and Tim Robbins (supporting).
