A dramatic Oscar season ends

LOS ANGELES, MARCH 27. Enigmatic Kevin Spacey made a name for himself by playing dark, manipulative and cunning characters, but it was his portrayal of a suburban husband suffering a midlife crisis that has earned him an Oscar.

While managing to maintain an aura of mystery about his personal life, Spacey also often surprises and intrigues audiences as he transforms himself with seamless changeability, sometimes even within the same film.

During his award-winning role of Lester Burnham in the film `American Beauty', Spacey morphs from a flabby, depressed suburban captive to a buff, pot-smoking free-spirit whose lust for life is reawakened by his teenage daughter's bombshell best friend.

Directors marvel at Spacey's chameleon-like ability to change his posture, looks and speech to fit into character.

``What's extraordinary for me is not only that he changed the way he stood and talked - and the way his eyes and skin and hair looked - but that he changed from the inside, too. It's enough to give you goose bumps,'' Sam Mendes, director of the film, told Entertainment weekly recently.

Among the other Oscars, pop star Phil Collins scored the best original song award for his sentimental `You'll be in my heart' from the animated Disney film `Tarzan.' It was his first win in three nominations. Collins thanked his three children who, he said, ``really wrote this song for me.''

Best original score went to John Corigliano for `The Red Violin.' The art direction trophy went to `Sleepy Hollow.' Spain's `All About My Mother' won best foreign film, prompting one of the night's humorous moments. When director Pedro Almodovar's acceptance speech began to run long, presenter Antonio Bandera pretended to pull him off the stage.

The awards show capped one of the most bizarre Oscar seasons. First, a large number of the ballots were delayed in the mail, and the Academy had to print new ballots. Then a shipment of 55 shiny new Oscar statuettes from the Chicago manufacturer disappeared from a loading dock on March 8. The Academy announced the special awards: Warren Beatty was named for the Irving Thalberg award for a high level of producing, and Andrzej Wajda, premier director of Poland, won an honorary award ``for showing both the loftiest heights and the darkest depths of the European soul.''

- Reuters, AFP, AP

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