# 72nd Academy Awards
The 72nd Academy Awards honored the films of 1999 and were presented on Sunday, March 26, 2000, at the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Center in Los Angeles[1](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000). The dark satire *American Beauty* dominated the night, winning five Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actor ([Kevin Spacey](https://www.edgepedia.org/kevin-spacey)), Best Director ([Sam Mendes](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-mendes)), Best Original Screenplay (Alan Ball), and Best Cinematography (Conrad L. Hall)[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-mar-27-mn-13179-story.html). It was the first Best Picture win for DreamWorks SKG, the studio founded in 1994 by [Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg), Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-mar-27-mn-13179-story.html).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Date and venue | Sunday, March 26, 2000, Shrine Auditorium & Expo Center, honoring movies released in 1999[1](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000) |
| Best Picture | *American Beauty* (Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks, producers), one of five awards for the film[1](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000) |
| Acting winners | Kevin Spacey (*American Beauty*), Hilary Swank (*Boys Don't Cry*), Michael Caine (*The Cider House Rules*), Angelina Jolie (*Girl, Interrupted*)[1](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000) |
| Other multi-winners | *The Matrix* won four technical awards; *Topsy-Turvy* won Costume Design and Makeup[3](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/why-matt-damon-ben-affleck-voted-for-the-matrix-1999-oscars-despite-scoffs) • [1](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000) |
| Foreign Language Film | *All About My Mother* (Spain), directed by Pedro Almodóvar[1](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000) |
| Special awards | Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to Warren Beatty; Honorary Award to Andrzej Wajda[4](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000/memorable-moments) |
| Host and producers | Billy Crystal, hosting for the seventh time; produced by Richard D. Zanuck and Lili Fini Zanuck, the first woman to produce the event[4](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000/memorable-moments) |
| Show length | Four hours and nine minutes[5](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/reality-bites-at-the-oscars-1.260555) |
## The Best Picture race
*American Beauty* entered the ceremony as the front-runner, having topped most critic lists and won the Golden Globe and the Directors Guild Award for Mendes[6](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/1999-oscar-american-beauty/). Its competitors for Best Picture were *The Cider House Rules*, *The Green Mile*, *The Insider*, and *The Sixth Sense*[1](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000). The film's win was read as a shift in Academy taste: the *Irish Times* noted that, defying the tradition of period extravaganzas taking Best Picture, the winner was a present-day, subversive dark comedy of suburban alienation[5](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/reality-bites-at-the-oscars-1.260555). The *Guardian* similarly observed that it was the first contemporary-set Best Picture winner since *The Silence of the Lambs* eight years earlier[7](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/sep/13/american-beauty-20th-anniversary-analysis).
**A pre-announced ceremony.** Two days before the telecast, the *Wall Street Journal* published an exit poll of 356 of the 5,607 voting Academy members that accurately predicted five of the six principal categories: Mendes, Swank, Caine, and Jolie, with Spacey the only deviation from the paper's tip of [Denzel Washington](https://www.edgepedia.org/denzel-washington)[5](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/reality-bites-at-the-oscars-1.260555) • [6](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/1999-oscar-american-beauty/). Commentators worried that if the poll became an annual exercise it would rob the ceremony of its surprise element[5](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/reality-bites-at-the-oscars-1.260555).
## Acting awards
**Kevin Spacey** won Best Actor for his role as Lester Burnham, his second Oscar after winning Best Supporting Actor for *The Usual Suspects* (1995)[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-mar-27-mn-13179-story.html). With the win he became the 10th performer to win Oscars in both the lead and supporting categories, following [Helen Hayes](https://www.edgepedia.org/helen-hayes), Jack Lemmon, Ingrid Bergman, Maggie Smith, Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Gene Hackman, and [Jessica Lange](https://www.edgepedia.org/jessica-lange)[4](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000/memorable-moments). He dedicated the award to [Jack Lemmon](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-lemmon), whom he called his friend, mentor, and father figure[4](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000/memorable-moments).
**Hilary Swank** won Best Actress for playing [Brandon Teena](https://www.edgepedia.org/brandon-teena) in *Boys Don't Cry*, an independent production costing under $2 million[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-mar-27-mn-13179-story.html). It was her first nomination and award, and her victory over the better-known [Annette Bening](https://www.edgepedia.org/annette-bening) was described as a record for a young, relatively unknown actress winning in an independent film[4](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000/memorable-moments) • [8](https://www.cinemasight.com/awards-history/72nd-academy-awards-1999/72nd-academy-awards-1999-analysis/).
**Michael Caine** took Best Supporting Actor as the ether-addicted New England orphanage doctor in *The Cider House Rules*, his second supporting-actor Oscar after *Hannah and Her Sisters* (1986)[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-mar-27-mn-13179-story.html). **Angelina Jolie** won Best Supporting Actress for *Girl, Interrupted*, her first nomination and award; she and her father [Jon Voight](https://www.edgepedia.org/jon-voight), who won Best Actor for *Coming Home* (1978), became only the second father-daughter pair of acting winners after the Fondas[4](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000/memorable-moments).
## Other winners
*The Matrix* swept the technical categories it entered, winning Film Editing (Zach Staenberg), Sound, Sound Effects Editing, and Visual Effects[3](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/why-matt-damon-ben-affleck-voted-for-the-matrix-1999-oscars-despite-scoffs). [Mike Leigh](https://www.edgepedia.org/mike-leigh)'s *Topsy-Turvy*, not nominated for Best Picture, took Costume Design (Lindy Hemming) and Makeup[1](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000). *Sleepy Hollow* won Art Direction for Rick Heinrichs and Peter Young[1](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000).
In the writing categories, Alan Ball won Original Screenplay for *American Beauty* and novelist [John Irving](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-irving) won Adapted Screenplay for *The Cider House Rules*, the first time he had adapted one of his own novels[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-mar-27-mn-13179-story.html). Irving used his speech to thank [Planned Parenthood](https://www.edgepedia.org/planned-parenthood) and the National Abortion Rights Action League, and the film, which centers on a New England abortion clinic, drew a protest outside the ceremony[2](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-mar-27-mn-13179-story.html) • [9](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2000/mar/27/awardsandprizes.oscars20001). John Corigliano won Original Score for *The Red Violin*, and [Phil Collins](https://www.edgepedia.org/phil-collins) won Original Song for "You'll Be In My Heart" from *Tarzan*[1](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000). The Documentary Feature award went to *One Day in September*, about the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, over nominees including *Buena Vista Social Club*[1](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000).
## Ceremony production and incidents
The telecast was produced by [Richard D. Zanuck](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-d-zanuck) and Lili Fini Zanuck, Oscar winners for producing *Driving Miss Daisy* (1989); Lili Fini Zanuck was the first woman to produce the event, and the producers promised a faster, streamlined show with no dance numbers[4](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000/memorable-moments) • [10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-feb-16-ca-64723-story.html). Billy Crystal hosted for the seventh time[4](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000/memorable-moments).
The awards season was marked by two logistical crises. More than 4,000 ballot papers intended for California-based voters were diverted by the US Postal Service to a third-class processing center, and the Academy extended the voting deadline and printed replacement ballots[5](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/reality-bites-at-the-oscars-1.260555) • [6](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/1999-oscar-american-beauty/). Then, on March 8, a shipment of 55 Oscar statuettes from the Chicago manufacturer disappeared from a Roadway Express loading dock in Bell, California. Salvage worker Willie Fulgear, 61, found 52 of them in a trash container, received a $50,000 reward and two tickets to the show, and a Roadway trucker was charged with the theft; three statuettes remained missing[6](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/1999-oscar-american-beauty/).
Among the ceremony's memorable moments, Pedro Almodóvar accepted the Foreign Language Film award for *All About My Mother*, Robin Williams performed the *South Park* song "Blame Canada" in a censored version, and Warren Beatty accepted the Thalberg Award from Jack Nicholson[9](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2000/mar/27/awardsandprizes.oscars20001). The show ran to four hours and nine minutes, and Crystal closed by joking that he had been told it was the shortest Oscars show of the century[5](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/reality-bites-at-the-oscars-1.260555).
## References
1. [The 72nd Academy Awards | 2000, Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000)
2. ['Beauty' Dazzles at Oscars, Los Angeles Times (March 27, 2000)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-mar-27-mn-13179-story.html)
3. [Why Matt Damon And Ben Affleck Voted For The Matrix At The 1999 Oscars, CinemaBlend](https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/why-matt-damon-ben-affleck-voted-for-the-matrix-1999-oscars-despite-scoffs)
4. [The 72nd Academy Awards Memorable Moments, Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2000/memorable-moments)
5. [Reality bites at the Oscars, The Irish Times (March 28, 2000)](https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/reality-bites-at-the-oscars-1.260555)
6. [1999 Oscar: 'American Beauty', CBS News (March 26, 2000)](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/1999-oscar-american-beauty/)
7. [American Beauty at 20, The Guardian (September 13, 2019)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/sep/13/american-beauty-20th-anniversary-analysis)
8. [72nd Academy Awards (1999): Analysis, Cinema Sight](https://www.cinemasight.com/awards-history/72nd-academy-awards-1999/72nd-academy-awards-1999-analysis/)
9. [Oscar ceremony sticks to the script, The Guardian (March 27, 2000)](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2000/mar/27/awardsandprizes.oscars20001)
10. [Making the Oscar Ceremony a Reflection of Today's Films, Los Angeles Times (February 16, 2000)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-feb-16-ca-64723-story.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Awards and screen reference › Academy Awards ceremonies and categories*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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