Coen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men Big Winner at the Academy Awards

No Country for Old Men, written and directed by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, was the big winner at the 80th annual Academy Awards, which were presented tonight at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Jon Stewart served as Master of Ceremonies.

The film took home four Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Supporting Actor Javier Bardem. Ethan Coen’s trio of short plays, Almost an Evening, first seen this year at Atlantic Stage 2, will transfer to The Bleecker Street Theatre next month, in a production directed by Neil Pepe.

In other theater-related wins, the film adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical, Sweeney Todd, received an Oscar for Best Achievement in Art Direction. Tilda Swinton, whose acting career includes work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, received the Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for Michael Clayton, beating out theater vets Cate Blanchett, Ruby Dee, and Amy Ryan.

Despite Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz’s three nominations for Best Song for their work on Walt Disney’s Enchanted, the Oscar went to Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova’s “Once” from the movie, Falling Slowly. Other Broadway vets who lost out in their respective categories include Julie Christie, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Hal Holbrook, Tommy Lee Jones, and Laura Linney.

For a complete list of nominees and winners, visit www.oscar.com.