“Slumdog Millionaire” had its biggest day, dancing away last night with eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, for its irresistible rags-to-riches tale that nearly went straight to video.
“When we started out, we had no stars, we had no power or muscle . . . but what we had was a script that inspired mad love in everyone who read it,” said producer Christian Colson, as he accepted Hollywood’s top honor.
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The film, directed by Danny Boyle, also picked up awards for cinematography, best adapted screenplay, sound mixing, film editing, musical score and song.
Front-runner Kate Winslet won her first Oscar for Best Actress playing a German Nazi-era prison guard in “The Reader.”
She joked she had been rehearsing an Oscar acceptance speech since age 8, looking into a mirror and holding a shampoo bottle.
“It’s not a shampoo bottle now!” the British star said. “I feel very fortunate to have made it from there to here.”
Sean Penn picked up Best Actor for playing slain gay activist Harvey Milk in “Milk.”
“You commie, homo-loving sons of guns,” the famously outspoken actor joked. “I want to make it very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me. But I am touched by the appreciation.”
Penelope Cruz won the first Oscar of the evening, for Best Supporting Actress, for her role as a fiery, funny woman in a three-way relationship with her ex-husband and an American woman in the Woody Allen film “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”
Cruz’s win was the fifth time an actress in an Allen film won best supporting performer. And she also was the first Spanish woman to win an acting Oscar – one year after her compatriot and co-star, Javier Bardem, won Best Supporting Actor for “No Country for Old Men.”
“I grew up in a place called Alcobendas, where this was not a very realistic dream,” Cruz said.
In a heartbreaking Oscar moment, the late Heath Ledger was awarded Best Supporting Actor for his intense role as the Joker in “The Dark Knight.”
He joined 1976 Best Actor winner Peter Finch of “Network” as the only other performer to win an Academy Award posthumously.
“We really wish you were [here], but we proudly accept this award on behalf of your beautiful Matilda,” sister Kate Ledger said, referring to the actor’s 3-year-old daughter with actress Michelle Williams.
Kate Ledger took the stage with her father, Kim, and mother, Sally Bell, to pick up the gold statuette.
Ledger died at age 28 of an accidental prescription-drug overdose on Jan. 22, 2008, in SoHo. A few months later, “The Dark Knight” came out, featuring his delirious incarnation of Batman’s foe, the Joker.
“Tonight we are choosing to celebrate and be happy for what he’s achieved,” Bell said.
Ledger previously won a Golden Globe, as well as awards from the Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA, Britain’s equivalent of the Academy Awards.
In other Oscar wins, Dustin Lance Black won the Best Original Screenplay for “Milk.”
“Wall-E,” the tale of a futuristic robot who finds love while on a polluted Earth, won Best Animated Film.
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” – which had the most nominations – walked off with two statuettes for art direction and makeup.
But it was “Slumdog” that dominated the awards, keeping with its come-from-behind theme. It has consistently won over critics while climbing toward $100 million in box-office revenue.
Its cast of unknowns – from the attractive on-film couple, Dev Patel and Freida Pinto, to the exuberant kids plucked by director Boyle from the slums of Mumbai – seemed to bask in the glow both on the red carpet and in the Kodak Theatre.
Shot in India on a modest budget of $14 million, “Slumdog Millionaire” traces the life of an orphan who overcomes poverty, betrayal, police torture and other hardships on his way to a reunion with his childhood love and success on India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”
The film nearly got lost in the shuffle as Warner Bros. folded its art-house banner, Warner Independent, which had been slated to distribute it.
It was rescued from the direct-to-video scrap heap when Fox Searchlight stepped in to release the film.