Awards Watch: Slumdog Millionaire Dominates Critics' Choice

09 January 2009

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Slumdog Millionaire strengthened it's position as the film to beat this awards season as it swept the Critics' Choice Awards scooping five prizes, including Best Picture.

The rags to riches story has won over critics and audiences since it premiered on the festival circuit last year as filmmaker Danny Boyle picked up the directing prize while leading man Dev Patel won best young actor.

The film, which is set in Mumbai and follows Jamal from the streets to compete on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, also collected gongs for best writer and best composer.

Best Actor went to the form book as Sean Penn picked up yet another award for his role as politician Harvey Milk in Milk, he know is the strong favourite to repeat this success at the Golden Globes in Sunday.

The ceremony also honoured the late Heath Ledger for his performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight with another Best Supporting Actor gong. Collected on his behalf by the film's director Christopher Nolan he was met with a standing ovation.

He said: "I can't presume to speak for him. His voice was as unique as it was original."

There was a tie for Best Actress as Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep had to share the award, giving Sally Hawkins who has dominated this category in recent weeks a night off.

Hathaway plays a drug addict in Rachel Getting Married while Streep takes on the role of a nun in Doubt, the pair will go head to head again on Sunday night.

And there was further success for British talent as Kate Winslet as she won Best Supporting Actress for her role in controversial Holocaust movie The Reader.

Despite leading the pack with eight nominations Brad Pitt's latest collaboration with director David Fincher The Curious Case of Benjamin Button failed to take home a single award.

Picture: Slumdog Millionaire

Actor: Sean Penn (Milk)

Actress: Tie: Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married), and Meryl Streep (Doubt)

Supporting actor: Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)

Supporting actress: Kate Winslet (The Reader)

Acting ensemble: (Milk)

Best Writer: Simon Beaufoy

Best Young Actor: Dev Patel

Best Action Movie: The Dark Knight

Best Animated Feature - Wall-E

Best Comedy - Tropic Thunder

Joel Siegel Award - Richard Gere