Chicago Tribune | Kidman wins best actress; many surprises in low-key Oscars
By Michael Wilmington
Tribune movie critic
Published March 24, 2003
...
With a world at war and nations divided, Hollywood turned out in force for the 75th annual Academy Awards Sunday night -- a muted but still glamorous and sometimes witty spectacle that saw most of the top prizes bestowed on the breezily cynical and glitzy musical "Chicago" and the devastating Polish Holocaust chronicle "The Pianist."

With host Steve Martin helping the Kodak Theatre audience put on a temporarily happy face, the evening's big winners were led, as expected, by the high-stepping, sexy movie musical adapted from the late Bob Fosse's 1975 Broadway hit about crime and celebrity in Chicago's Roaring '20s and unexpectedly by the somber "The Pianist." Winning a total of six Oscars, the surprise critical and audience hit "Chicago" -- seen by many as marking a definitive resurgence for the long dormant genre of the film musical -- took a best picture prize and a best supporting actress nod for Catherine Zeta-Jones, plus Oscars for art direction, editing, sound and costume design.
...
Complete List of Oscar Winners