It was the night everyone in Hollywood was waiting for, and it was filled with as many surprises as everyone expected. As the glitterati descended on Los Angeles's Shrine Auditorium on a sunny Sunday afternoon, emotions were running rampant. Julie Walters, nomimated for best supporting actress for Billy Elliot, said it felt "like a mix of Christmas and getting married". Joaquin Phoenix, nominated in the supporting category for Gladiator, was antsy and chewed gum as he chatted with tv crews down the red carpet. Joan Allen, best actress nominee for The Contender, said she was nervous and Ellen Burstyn, challenging Allen with her role in Requiem for a Dream was "exhilirated". But no one had any idea what would happen within.

The Academy went with the traditional choice and picked Gladiator for best film. The roman epic competed against Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Chocolat, Traffic and Erin Brockovich for the biggest prize of the night. Producers Douglas Wick, Branko Lustig and David Franzoni said in their acceptance speech that "it takes a lot of people to build a coliseum, but it only takes one or two to mess it up." The Oscar confirmed Gladiator's win at the Producers Guild of America awards.

Stephen Soderbergh defied everyone's doubts that his record-breaking nominations--two films, Erin Brockovich and Traffic, both nominated for best film and best director--would split his ticket and cancel his chances of winning any of the prizes. Soderbergh, who throughout the Oscar season has refused to say which film he was rooting for, said on the red carpet that he was still "rooting for neither" but then said "bring it on!"--which the Academy did.

Breaking with the Directors Guild of America choice for only the fifth time in more than fifty years, Soderbergh won the best director award for Traffic in a very tight category. Ang Lee was passed over for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon even after winning the DGA award and the Indie Oscar award the night before. Rounding out the nominees were Ridley Scott for Gladiator and Stephen Daldry for Billy Elliot. Still maintaining his silence over favoring either one of his films, Soderbergh used his 45 seconds in front of the camera to "thank anyone who spends part of their day creating."

Julia Roberts' sure thing ended up being a sure thing as the favorite picked up the best actress award for Erin Brockovich. Exclaiming that "I love the world!", the overwhelmed actress compounded her Screen Actors Guild award with the little golden man. She said it was an honor to be included in the "sisterhood" with the other nominees for best actress: Joan Allen, Laura Linney for You Can Count On Me, Ellen Burstyn, and Juliette Binoche for Chocolat.

Russell Crowe was awarded the best actor prize for his toga-donning role in Gladiator. It was another category that was wide open before the ceremony. Crowe's competition consisted of Tome Hanks in Cast Away, Ed Harris for Pollock, Geoffrey Rush for Quills and Javier Bardem in Before Night Falls. Crowe, who was passed over for the award last year for his role in The Insider, thanked his parents who "I don't thank enough".

After picking up nearly every prize in every competition, including the best actor award from SAG, Benicio Del Toro's win as best supporting actor in Traffic didn't stun anyone. In the supporting actress category, Marcia Gay Harden did nab a surprise with her debut role in Pollock. Kate Hudson, the darling of the cateogry, and Frances McDormand were both nominated in the category for Almost Famous and Judi Dench was passed over for her peformance in Chocolat after winning the SAG award.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had been winning awards all over the world, including four awards at the Indie Awards on Saturday, but missed out on some of the Oscar categories. The martial arts film was nominated for ten awards and took home four, including the expected win in the foriegn language film cateogry. The Ang Lee-helmed film, the largest grossing foreign language film ever in the U.S., also took the cinematography, art direction and musical score categories.

Writers Guild of America winner Stephen Gaghan took the Academy's adapted screenplay prize for Traffic for the drug-trafficking epic. Cameron Crowe took the original screenplay award for Almost Famous, trouncing You Can Count On Me which won the WGA award.

The awards ceremony, hosted by Steve Martin, capped a season of broken records and surprise wins with the foriegn language category taking on more significance than ever before. So how does it all bode for Hollywood? We'll have to wait until next year to see

Christina White

Directors Guild of America Awards
Independent Spirit Awards
Screen Actors Guild Awards
Writers Guild Awards

Best Picture
Gladiator by Ridley Scott

Directing
Traffic by Steven Soderbergh

Foreign Language Film
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Actress - Leading
Julia Roberts - Erin Brockovich

Actress - Supporting
Marcia Gay Harden - Pollock

Actor - Leading
Russell Crowe - Gladiator

Actor - Supporting
Benicio Del Toro - Traffic

Art Direction
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Cinematography
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Costume Design
Gladiator

Documentary Feature
Into The Arms Of Strangers: Stories Of The Kindertransport

Documentary Short
Big Mama

Film Editing
Traffic

Makeup
Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas

Music (Score)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Music (Song)
Wonder Boys

Short - Animated
Father And Daughter

Short - Live Action
Quiero Ser (I Want To Be...)

Sound
Gladiator

Sound Editing
U-571

Visual Effects
Gladiator

Writing (Adapted)
Traffic

Writing (Original)
Almost Famous