Hollywood, California (CNN) — Mo’Nique, who played an abusive mother in “Precious,” won best supporting actress at the 82nd annual Academy Awards Sunday night.
The story of a downtrodden inner-city teenager also pulled off a mild upset, winning best adapted screenplay.
“I don’t know what to say,” said a visibly moved Geoffrey Fletcher, paying tribute to the filmmakers, his two brothers, his mother and father. “I thank everyone,” said Fletcher, gasping emotionally.
“The Hurt Locker,” which tied “Avatar” for the most Oscar nominations with nine, won the award for best original screenplay.
Writer Mark Boal, who based the script on his reporting from Iraq, paid tribute to director Kathryn Bigelow, “all of the soldiers still over there and those who have died” and to his father, who passed away a month ago, he said in his acceptance speech.
Christoph Waltz won the first Oscar of the night, a best supporting actor award for “Inglourious Basterds.”
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“I always wanted to discover some new continent, and I thought had to go this way. … And [director] Quentin [Tarantino], with his unorthodox methods of navigation, took this ship and brought it in with flying colors,” he said, paying ornate tribute to director Quentin Tarantino and much of the film’s cast and crew.
“This is your welcoming embrace, and there’s no way I can ever thank you enough,” Waltz continued. “But I can start right now, thank you.”
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Tarantino said he would not have made the movie unless he had discovered Waltz.
“If I hadn’t found the right Landa, I wouldn’t have made the movie,” Tarantino said before the ceremony. “I couldn’t find anyone to pull it off, and then this man ‘Waltzed’ into my room.”
In a moving tribute, several stars of John Hughes movies — including Molly Ringwald, Matthew Broderick, Jon Cryer, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall and Macaulay Culkin — came out to talk about the director of “The Breakfast Club” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” who died in 2009. Hughes’ family, which was sitting in the audience, received an ovation.
“Up” won best animated feature, yet another victory for the Pixar studios, which has dominated the category since its introduction for the 2002 awards. Pixar has now won three straight animated feature Oscars and five of the nine overall.
“The Weary Kind,” from “Crazy Heart,” won best original song.
The ceremony began with an over-the-top musical number, with Neil Patrick Harris singing surrounded by dancers and Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin being lowered from the ceiling.
Settling in for a humorous dialogue, Martin and Baldwin, going for a Bob Hope/Bing Crosby rhythm, cracked jokes about most of the nominees, with Baldwin getting into a staring contest with George Clooney and Martin remarking that “Precious,” a grim tale of an inner-city teenager, was “better than its video game.”
