'Hugo' bags Best Cinematography and Art Direction awards, 'Artist' takes home Best Costume Design prize, while 'Iron Lady' claims Best Makeup kudo as the 2012 Academy Awards kicks off.
- Feb 27, 2012
AceShowbiz - The 2012 Academy Awards has just been kicked off on Sunday evening, February 26 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood & Highland Center. The first winner at the prestigious prize-giving event was "Hugo" which brought Robert Richardson to win the Best Cinematography award, as well as Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo to claim the Best Art Direction prize.
Beating rival cinematographers from "The Artist", "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)", "The Tree of Life" and "War Horse", Richardson won his third Oscars to date. He had previously won the golden statuettes for his works in 1991's "JFK" and 2004's "The Aviator".
"The Artist", in the meantime, bagged its first Oscar by winning the Best Costume Design award for Mark Bridges. "Hugo" defeated other strong contenders such as "W.E.", "Hugo", "Anonymous" and "Jane Eyre".
Other early winner at the night was "The Iron Lady" which claimed the kudo for Best Makeup. Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland shared the victory after beating such rivals from "Albert Nobbs" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II".
More winners will soon be revealed at the ongoing Academy Awards, which is live televised by the ABC Television Network. Serving as the host for the gala is Billy Crystal, who opened the show by appearing in blackface as Sammy Davis Jr..
