2000 was the year Gladiator became the film to beat. While some of us were holding out hope that Ang Lee’s wire-fu masterpiece, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon would have won – it was a foreign language film and those never win. Crowding in close was Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic. Soderbergh had two film in the Best Picture race that year, was nominated in the Best Director category twice and ended up winning when Academy voters got their ducks in a row and sent out the message that if they were going to vote for Soderbergh, they should vote for Soderbergh directing Traffic. Ang Lee won the DGA. Somehow no one thought Ridley Scott ought to win for the film that won Best Picture.
Julia Roberts finally won an acting Oscar, as did Russell Crowe. It was one of the most suspense filled Oscar years that I can remember in all of the years I’ve at this. The outcome seemed a little uncertain. Smart money knew Gladiator could not lose. But the dreamers among us, oh the dreamers. This was one year before 9/11 would change everything. Please let us know if you have any questions or comments.
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