The 72nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released in 1999 and took place on March 26, 2000, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 23 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by husband-and-wife producing team Richard and Lili Fini Zanuck and was directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Actor Billy Crystal hosted the show for the seventh time. He first presided over the 62nd ceremony held in 1990 and had last hosted the 70th ceremony held in 1998. Three weeks earlier in a ceremony at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California held on March 4, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Salma Hayek.
American Beauty won five awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included The Matrix with four awards, The Cider House Rules and Topsy-Turvy with two, and All About My Mother, Boys Don't Cry, Girl, Interrupted, King Gimp, My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York, The Old Man and the Sea, One Day in September, The Red Violin, Sleepy Hollow, and Tarzan with one. The telecast garnered almost 47 million viewers in the United States.
Winners and nominees
The nominees for the 72nd Academy Awards were announced on February 15, 2000, at 5:38 a.m. PST (13:38 UTC) at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, by Robert Rehme, president of the academy, and the actor Dustin Hoffman. American Beauty received the most nominations with eight total; The Cider House Rules and The Insider tied for second with seven nominations each.
The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on March 26, 2000. Due to her 12th nomination, Meryl Streep tied Katharine Hepburn as the performer with most acting nominations. At the age of 79, Richard Farnsworth became the oldest male acting nominee in Oscars history. Sam Mendes was the sixth person to win Best Director for his directorial debut. By virtue of her father Jon Voight's Best Lead Actor win for 1978's Coming Home, Best Supporting Actress winner Angelina Jolie and Voight became the second father-daughter Oscar acting winners.
Awards
Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger ().
American Beauty – Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks, producers The Cider House Rules – Richard N. Gladstein, producer The Green Mile – Frank Darabont and David Valdes, producers The Insider – Pieter Jan Brugge and Michael Mann, producers The Sixth Sense – Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, and Barry Mendel, producers | valign="top" |
Sam Mendes – American Beauty Lasse Hallström – The Cider House Rules Spike Jonze – Being John Malkovich Michael Mann – The Insider M. Night Shyamalan – The Sixth Sense Kevin Spacey – American Beauty as Lester Burnham Russell Crowe – The Insider as Jeffrey Wigand Richard Farnsworth – The Straight Story as Alvin Straight Sean Penn – Sweet and Lowdown as Emmet Ray Denzel Washington – The Hurricane as Rubin Carter Hilary Swank – Boys Don't Cry as Brandon Teena Annette Bening – American Beauty as Carolyn Burnham Janet McTeer – Tumbleweeds as Mary Jo Walker Julianne Moore – The End of the Affair as Sarah Miles Meryl Streep – Music of the Heart as Roberta Guaspari Michael Caine – The Cider House Rules as Dr. Wilbur Larch Tom Cruise – Magnolia as Frank T.J. Mackey Michael Clarke Duncan – The Green Mile as John Coffey Jude Law – The Talented Mr. Ripley as Dickie Greenleaf Haley Joel Osment – The Sixth Sense as Cole Sear Angelina Jolie – Girl, Interrupted as Lisa Rowe Toni Collette – The Sixth Sense as Lynn Sear Catherine Keener – Being John Malkovich as Maxine Lund Samantha Morton – Sweet and Lowdown as Hattie Chloë Sevigny – Boys Don't Cry as Lana Tisdel American Beauty – Alan Ball Being John Malkovich – Charlie Kaufman Magnolia – Paul Thomas Anderson The Sixth Sense – M. Night Shyamalan Topsy-Turvy – Mike Leigh The Cider House Rules – John Irving based on his novel Election – Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor from the novel by Tom Perrotta The Green Mile – Frank Darabont adapted from the novel by Stephen King The Insider – Eric Roth and Michael Mann based on the Vanity Fair article "The Man Who Knew Too Much" by Marie Brenner The Talented Mr. Ripley – Anthony Minghella adapted from the novel by Patricia Highsmith All About My Mother (Spain) in Spanish – Pedro Almodóvar East/West (France) in French – Régis Wargnier Himalaya: Caravan (Nepal) in Nepalese – Éric Valli Solomon & Gaenor (United Kingdom) in Welsh – Paul Morrison Under the Sun (Sweden) in Swedish – Colin Nutley One Day in September – Arthur Cohn and Kevin Macdonald Buena Vista Social Club – Wim Wenders and Ulrich Felsberg Genghis Blues – Roko Belic and Adrian Belic On the Ropes – Nanette Burstein and Brett Morgen Speaking in Strings – Paola di Florio and Lilibet Foster King Gimp – Susan Hannah Hadary and William A. Whiteford Eyewitness – Bert Van Bork The Wildest Show in the South: The Angola Prison Rodeo – Simeon Soffer and Jonathan Stack My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York – Barbara Schock and Tammy Tiehel Bror, Min Bror – Henrik Ruben Genz and Michael W. Horsten Killing Joe – Mehdi Norowzian and Steve Wax Kleingeld – Marc-Andreas Bochert and Gabriele Lins Major and Minor Miracles – Marcus Olsson The Old Man and the Sea – Alexander Petrov 3 Misses – Paul Driessen Humdrum – Peter Peake My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts – Torill Kove When the Day Breaks – Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis The Red Violin – John Corigliano American Beauty – Thomas Newman Angela's Ashes – John Williams The Cider House Rules – Rachel Portman The Talented Mr. Ripley – Gabriel Yared "You'll Be in My Heart" from Tarzan – Music and Lyrics by Phil Collins "Blame Canada" from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut – Music and Lyrics by Trey Parker and Marc Shaiman "Music of My Heart" from Music of the Heart – Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren "Save Me" from Magnolia – Music and Lyrics by Aimee Mann "When She Loved Me" from Toy Story 2 – Music and Lyrics by Randy Newman The Matrix – John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, David E. Campbell and David Lee The Green Mile – Robert J. Litt, Elliot Tyson, Michael Herbick and Willie D. Burton The Insider – Andy Nelson, Doug Hemphill and Lee Orloff The Mummy – Leslie Shatz, Chris Carpenter, Rick Kline and Chris Munro Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace – Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Shawn Murphy and John Midgley The Matrix – Dane Davis Fight Club – Ren Klyce and Richard Hymns Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace – Ben Burtt and Tom Bellfort Sleepy Hollow – Art Direction: Rick Heinrichs; Set Decoration: Peter Young Anna and the King – Art Direction: Luciana Arrighi; Set Decoration: Ian Whittaker The Cider House Rules – Art Direction: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Beth Rubino The Talented Mr. Ripley – Art Direction: Roy Walker; Set Decoration: Bruno Cesari Topsy-Turvy – Art Direction: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Eve Stewart and John Bush American Beauty – Conrad Hall The End of the Affair – Roger Pratt The Insider – Dante Spinotti Sleepy Hollow – Emmanuel Lubezki Snow Falling on Cedars – Robert Richardson Topsy-Turvy – Christine Blundell and Trefor Proud Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me – Michèle Burke and Mike Smithson Bicentennial Man – Greg Cannom Life – Rick Baker Topsy-Turvy – Lindy Hemming Anna and the King – Jenny Beavan Sleepy Hollow – Colleen Atwood The Talented Mr. Ripley – Ann Roth and Gary Jones Titus – Milena Canonero The Matrix – Zach Staenberg American Beauty – Tariq Anwar and Christopher Greenbury The Cider House Rules – Lisa Zeno Churgin The Insider – William Goldenberg, Paul Rubell and David Rosenbloom The Sixth Sense – Andrew Mondshein The Matrix – John Gaeta, Janek Sirrs, Steve Courtley and Jon Thum Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace – John Knoll, Dennis Muren, Scott Squires and Rob Coleman Stuart Little – John Dykstra, Jerome Chen, Henry F. Anderson III and Eric Allard
Honorary Award To Andrzej Wajda in recognition of five decades of extraordinary film direction.
Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award Warren Beatty
Films with multiple nominations and awards
The following 17 films received multiple nominations:
Nominations Film 8 American Beauty 7 The Cider House Rules The Insider 6 The Sixth Sense 5 The Talented Mr. Ripley 4 The Green Mile The Matrix Topsy-Turvy 3 Being John MalkovichMagnoliaSleepy Hollow Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace 2 Anna and the King Boys Don't Cry The End of the Affair Music of the Heart Sweet and Lowdown
The following four films received multiple awards: Awards Film 5 American Beauty 4 The Matrix 2 The Cider House Rules Topsy-Turvy
Presenters and performers The following individuals presented awards or performed musical numbers.
Presenters (in order of appearance) Name(s) Role Announcer for the 72nd annual Academy Awards (AMPAS president) Gave opening remarks welcoming guests to the awards ceremony Cameron DiazLucy Liu Presenters of the award for Best Costume Design Presenter of the child actors tribute montage Mike Myers Presenters of the award for Best Sound Tobey Maguire Presenters of the award for Best Makeup Presenter of the film The Cider House Rules on the Best Picture segment Presenter of the award for Best Supporting Actress Presenter of the "200 Million Year History" movie segment Jude Law Presenters of the award for Best Live Action Short Film Buzz LightyearJessieRock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots Presentation of the award for Best Animated Short Film Presenter of the film The Green Mile on the Best Picture segment Vanessa Williams Introducers of the performances of the Best Original Song nominees Presenter of the award for Best Original Song Thora BirchMena Suvari Presenters of the award Best Documentary Short Subject Uma Thurman Presenters of the award for Best Documentary Feature Presenter of the award for Best Supporting Actor Presenter of the Honorary Academy Award to Andrzej Wajda Presenter of the award Best Sound Effects Editing Presenter of the segment of the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement and the Gordon E. Sawyer Award Presenter of the award for Best Visual Effects Presenter of the film American Beauty on the Best Picture segment Presenter of the film The Sixth Sense on Best Picture segment Penélope Cruz Presenters of the award for Best Foreign Language Film Charlize Theron Presenters of the award for Best Original Score Presenter of the "In Memoriam" tribute Julianne Moore Presenters of the award for Best Art Direction Ashley Judd Presenters of the award for Best Film Editing Presenter of the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to Warren Beatty Presenter for the award for Best Cinematography Presenter of the award for Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published Presenter of the award for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen/Original Screenplay Presenter of the film The Insider on the Best Picture segment Presenter of the award for Best Actress Presenter of the award for Best Actor Presenter of the award for Best Director Presenter of the award for Best Picture
Performers (in order of appearance)