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New Zealand, and The Lord Of The Rings, was the butt of many jokes at the 76th edition of the Academy awards. Both had the last laugh when The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King swept every category it was nominated in.
No other film has been nominated in so many categories and yet not been nominated in a single acting category. The Return Of The King was not nominated for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Actor in a Supporting Role (director Peter Jackson was hugely disappointed that Sean Astin was not nominated in this category) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
With 11 Oscars, The Return Of The King joins an elite club that boasts of only two other Oscar winners -- William Wyler's Ben-Hur, which won 11 Oscars in 1959 and James Cameron's Titanic, which also won 11 Oscars, in 1997. Titanic, which was nominated in 14 categories, did not win Oscars for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Makeup. Ben-Hur, which was nominated in 12 categories, lost the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay to Room At The Top, but won for Best Actor (Charlton Heston) and Best Supporting Actor (Hugh Griffith).
Sunday's Academy Awards was a fitting acknowledgement of director Peter Jackson's hugely successful trilogy.
The first edition, The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, which was nominated in 14 categories in 2001, only won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, Best Music and Best Visual Effects.
The second episode, The Lord Of the Ring: The Two Towers, was nominated for five Oscars -- Best Film, Best Visual Effects (won), Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing (won) and Best Film Editing.