Oscars flashback: When a 'Pimp' brought down the house

Flashy moments astatine the Academy Awards thin to spell to “topliners” — actors, directors, writers and champion picture. But that doesn’t mean the different categories can’t radiance bright. And during the 78th Oscars, held astatine the Kodak Theatre successful Los Angeles connected March 5, 2006, that’s precisely what happened. Here’s what unspooled successful the animated feature, song, makeup, costume, foreign-language movie (now called planetary diagnostic film) and live-action abbreviated movie categories 20 years ago.

A archetypal for South Africa

Director Gavin Hood accepts the Oscar for the South African Oscar submission “Tsotsi.”

(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

“Tsotsi,” manager Gavin Hood’s movie astir a young troublemaker who carjacks a conveyance lone to find a babe inside, racked up South Africa’s first-ever Oscar triumph successful the planetary diagnostic category. It was the country’s 2nd nomination, and the archetypal African movie not made successful French to win.

Hood accepted the grant from Will Smith and spoke concisely successful Zulu earlier shifting to English: “God bless Africa.” He singled retired stars Presley Chweneyagae and Terry Pheto, past added, “We whitethorn person foreign-language films, but our stories are the aforesaid arsenic your stories. They’re astir the quality bosom and emotion.”

“Tsotsi” was up against Italy’s “The Beast successful the Heart,” France’s “Joyeux Noël,” Palestine’s “Paradise Now,” and Germany’s “Sophie Scholl – The Final Days.”

Keeping things animated

Directors Nick Park, left, and Steve Box judge their Oscars for animated diagnostic for their enactment connected “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.”

(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Nick Park, who had 3 Oscars anterior to this evening, picked up his 4th (with first-time victor Steve Box) for animated diagnostic with the stop-motion movie astir monstrous lapins, “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” — and the bow-tie-wearing manager adjacent brought bow-ties for the statuettes helium and Box held.

They pointed retired Peter Sallis, who astatine the clip had voiced Wallace successful the “Wallace & Gromit” films for 23 years, aft accepting the statuettes from Reese Witherspoon. And unneurotic they honored different benignant of prima from the “Wallace” films, chiming together, “Cracking cheese, Gromit!”

“Wallace” went up against Hayao Miyazaki’s “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride” from Mike Johnson and Burton. “Corpse” and “Were-Rabbit” were the archetypal stop-motion films to beryllium nominated successful the Oscars’ animated diagnostic category, archetypal awarded successful 2002.

Easy street, adjacent erstwhile it’s hard

Front: Cedric Coleman, left, and Paul “DJ Paul” Beauregard. Rear: Darnell “Crunchy Black” Carlton, left, and Jordan “Juicy J” Houston judge the Oscar for archetypal opus for “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.”

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

Rap made a caller foray into the archetypal opus class erstwhile “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” from “Hustle & Flow,” became the 2nd archetypal opus successful the genre to triumph the category. “Lose Yourself” from “8 Mile” was the archetypal winner, successful 2003, for Marshall Mathers (Eminem), Jeff Bass and Luis Resto.

The grant went to Jordan Houston (Juicy J), Cedric Coleman, and Paul Beauregard (DJ Paul), who accepted connected signifier with “Hustle” prima and vocalist Taraji P. Henson. After accepting the grant from Queen Latifah, Beauregard gave a batch of shout-outs to friends and household — and, surprisingly, chap Oscar victor George Clooney: “My favourite man, helium showed maine emotion erstwhile I archetypal met him.”

“Pimp” won retired implicit “In the Deep” from the night’s champion representation victor “Crash,” with euphony by Kathleen “Bird” York and Michael Becker and lyrics by York; and “Travelin’ Thru” from “Transamerica,” euphony and lyrics by Dolly Parton.

Short, but with a agelong tail

Writer Martin McDonagh accepts the Oscar for live-action abbreviated for the movie “Six Shooter.”

(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Though the abbreviated movie (live action) Oscar doesn’t ever beryllium to beryllium a harbinger for the future, successful the lawsuit of 2006’s victor — “Six Shooter” from manager and five-time Tony-nominated playwright Martin McDonagh — it was an aboriginal motion of things to come. This was McDonagh’s archetypal information and win; 2 years aboriginal he’d spell connected to nonstop features, starting with “In Bruges,” yet earning six much Academy Award nominations.

McDonagh was up against “Cashback” by Sean Ellis and Lene Bausager, “The Last Farm” by Rúnar Rúnarsson and Thor S. Sigurjónsson, “Our Time Is Up” by Rob Pearlstein and Pia Clemente, and “The Runaway (Ausreißer)” by Ulrike Grote.

Getting dressed and made up

Colleen Atwood accepts the Oscar for accomplishment successful costume plan for her enactment connected “Memoirs of a Geisha.”

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

The categories for constitution and costume plan provided first-timers and a anterior Oscar winner. “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” earned awards for Howard Berger and Tami Lane, neither of whom had been nominated before. They accepted the awards from Will Ferrell and Steve Carell — and Clooney got different shout-out from Berger: “I’m conscionable gladsome that Clooney doesn’t bash makeup.”

“Narnia” was up against enactment from David LeRoy Anderson and Lance Anderson for “Cinderella Man” and Dave Elsey and Nikki Gooley’s trade connected “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.”

Meanwhile, Colleen Atwood, who present has 4 Oscars for her costume plan work, picked up her 2nd statuette for her outfits connected “Memoirs of a Geisha.” After accepting the grant from Jennifer Aniston, she thanked her co-workers connected the film, past gave a abstracted acknowledgment to “the radical of Japan, who gave maine truthful overmuch cognition and grace.”

Atwood and “Geisha” had been up against Gabriella Pescucci (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”), Sandy Powell (“Mrs. Henderson Presents”), Jacqueline Durran (“Pride & Prejudice”) and Arianne Phillips (“Walk the Line”).