10 Most Surprising Underdog Oscar Victories
3. Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow scored a massive win for female film industry
talents everywhere when she became the first female director to win scoop the
Oscar for Best Director. Where fellow female nominees Lina Wertmuller (nominated
for Seven Beauties), Jane Campion (The Piano) and Sofia Coppola (Lost in
Translation) failed to bring home the bacon in previous years Bigelow finally did
in 2010 for her Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker.
Not only did Bigelow triumph over fellow nominees including Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds and Lee Daniels for Precious, she also managed to stick it to her ex-husband James Cameron who was also up for Best Director for his big budget sci-fi fantasy Avatar in the process.
The Hurt Locker also won against Avatar in the categories of Best Picture, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing. Not bad considering the massive differences between each movie’s production budgets – a rather humble $15 million for The Hurt Locker and an estimated $237 for Avatar.
Cameron seemed to take the defeat in good spirit. Well, apart from pretending to strangle Bigelow at the awards ceremony and later saying he thought The Hurt Locker would’ve been better in 3D. Bad sport.