02 March 2004	Tuesday	10 Muharram 1425

HOLLYWOOD, March 1: The final episode of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy scored a stunning Oscars sweep on Sunday, winning 11 trophies and becoming the first fantasy film ever to win the top award of best picture.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" also took best director for Mr Jackson, who spent seven years making the movies, tying the record for Oscar wins set by 1997's "Titanic" and 1959's "Ben Hur".

"I'm so honoured, touched and relieved that the Academy and its members have seen past the trolls and the wizards and the hobbits and are recognising fantasy this year," said Jackson, 42.

"Fantasy is an 'F' word that hopefully the five-second delay won't do anything with," the New Zealander said quipping about the first-ever pause slapped on the Oscars US telecast to cut out obscenities.

In a night in which all the predicted favourites won, Charlize Theron became the first South African Oscar winner, collecting the best actress statuette for her staggering transformation into a serial killer and prostitute in "Monster."

Hollywood forgave its former bad boy, Sean Penn, who won best actor for his role as a bereaved father in Clint Eastwood's drama "Mystic River."

'Return of the King' leads foreigners night with 11 Oscars

HOLLYWOOD, March 1: America's top movie awards were overrun this year by a devastating foreign invasion, with an army of New Zealanders and a South African winning the most coveted Oscars.

New Zealanders, in the form of the hobbits, ringwraiths and orcs of "The Lord of the Rings", helping to loot 11 Oscars on Sunday from their US rivals while South Africa's Charlize Theron won her country's first Academy Award - a best actress trophy for her turn in the biopic "Monster".

"This was really the night of the foreigners," said awards expert Tom O'Neil after the 76th annual Academy Awards. "We've seldom seen anything like it." "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King", the conclusion to the fantasy trilogy based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkien and directed by New Zealander Peter Jackson, won all 11 awards for which it was nominated.

The movie won the awards for best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay for Jackson, his wife, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens. Fellow countrymen Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor won the Oscar for best costume design, while Jim Rygiel and his New Zealand-based team snatched the top honours for best visual effects.

That tally tied the record for most Oscars for a single movie shared by two other epics, 1959's "Ben Hur" and 1997's "Titanic", not bad for a film that almost did not get made when Disney's Miramax films wanted to fire Jackson or have another studio take over the project.

Time Warner's New Line Cinema stepped in and saved the day for Peter Jackson on their way to taking in nearly three billion dollars at the global box office. "It's now official. There is nobody left in New Zealand to thank," Crystal joked after "Rings" won its fifth statuette of the night.

It was the first time in Oscar history that a fantasy film had won the top prize and that distinction was not lost on Jackson. The earlier two films in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy were nominated for Oscars, but failed to win the coveted prize.

"I'm so honoured, touched and relieved that the ... members of the academy supported us and have seen past the trolls and the wizards and hobbits and are recognizing fantasy this year

"I think the fact that we had goblins and trolls and wizards and everything else made it hard for people to take it seriously," Mr Jackson said backstage. "I appreciate that the academy and voters tonight have seen through all that."

Tolkien's themes _ "forgiveness, courage, faith, friendship" _ are "themes that go straight to the heart," Peter Jackson said. And invasion of America's movie industry awards by tiny New Zealand did not end there.

Richard Taylor's team also won the best make-up trophy, while Dan Hennah, Grant Major and Alan Lee were rewarded with an Oscar for their art direction on the trilogy of "Rings" movies, and the "Rings" crew also stole the Oscar for sound mixing.

Britain's Annie Lennox won the best original song Oscar for her "Lord of the Rings" song "Into the West", and Canada's Howard Shore won the award for best original musical score for the film. But one notable New Zealander was left out of the champagne-popping festivities: 13-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes, who lost the best actress statuette to Charlize Theron.

The win of the top acting reward by the statuesque blond, who hardly spoke English when she arrived in Los Angeles as a model less then a decade ago, has made her an instant Hollywood heavyweight.

"This is a true movie star," said US talk show host Oprah Winfrey after the Oscars ceremony. Charlize Theron joked that since everyone in New Zealand _ where "Lord of the Rings" was shot _ had been thanked, she had to thank everyone in her home country, South Africa.

"And my mom," said Theron, who gained 13.5 kilograms for "'Monster" and was unrecognizable behind dark contact lenses and unflattering makeup. "You have sacrificed so much for me to be able to live here and make my dreams come true, and there are no words to describe how much I love you. And I'm not going to cry."

The heads of government of both South Africa and New Zealand celebrated their country's successes in the battle for Hollywood. Other non-Americans who featured on the list of nominees, however did lose out on taking home the prized "golden guys" that transform careers.

Like Castle-Hughes, Australia's Naomi Watts, nominated for "21 Grams", lost to Ms Theron as she had predicted before the show, as did Britain's Samantha Morton, nominated for "In America". Veteran Oscar-winner Diane Keaton had been the only American contending in the category.

WINS FOR AMERICANS" And American Sean Penn won the best actor trophy for "Mystic River" from under British rivals Jude Law ("Cold Mountain") and Ben Kingsley ("House of Sand and Fog") and US stars Bill Murray for "Lost in Translation" and Johnny Depp for "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl."

Penn _ who has been dismissive of awards in the past but graciously accepted after skipping the Oscars the three previous times he was nominated _ was taken by surprise when the audience gave him a standing ovation.

"I did arguably feel I was there to debunk the notion that it was a popularity contest," Mr Penn said backstage. "But they took that away from me in the room." And there was a US triumph in the best supporting actress category, where Iranian-born hopeful Shohreh Aghdashloo lost out to the favourite Renee Zellweger for "Cold Mountain".

Benin-born best supporting actor hopeful Djimon Hounsou, 39, picked out for his role in "In America", and Japan's Ken Watanabe, 44, lost out to "Mystic River's" Tim Robbins. -Reuters/AFP/AP

List of awards

BEST MOTION PICTURE: "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"

BEST ACTOR: Sean Penn for "Mystic River"

BEST ACTRESS: Charlize Theron for "Monster"

BEST DIRECTOR: Peter Jackson for "The Return of the King"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Tim Robbins in "Mystic River"

BEST ART DIRECTION: Grant Major, Dan Hennah and Alan Lee in "The Return of the King"

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: "Finding Nemo" by Andrew Stanton

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor for "The Return of the King"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Renee Zellweger in "Cold Mountain"

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: "Two Soldiers" by Aaron Schneider and Andrew J. Sacks

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM: "Harvie Krumpet" by Adam Elliot

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook, Alex Funke for "The Return of the King"

BEST MAKE-UP: Richard Taylor and Peter King in "The Reurn of the King"

BEST SOUND MIXING: "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," (New Line); Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek in "The Return of the King"

BEST SOUND EDITING: Richard King in "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: "Chernobyl Heart" by Maryann DeLeo

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: "The Fog of War" by Errol Morris and Michael Williams

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Howard Shore in "The Return of the King"

BEST FILM EDITING: Jamie Selkirk in "The Return of the King"

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: "Into the West" from "The Return of the King"; music and lyric by Fran Walsh, Howard Shore and Annie Lennox

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: "The Barbarian Invasions" (Canada)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Russel Boyd in "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson in the "Return of the King"

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Sofia Coppola for "Lost in Translation". -Reuters