ACTION!
As 41 million people tuned into the 82nd Academy Awards, a segment of viewers wondered whether history would be made that star-studded night. Lee Daniels, who helmed Precious, the brutally honest film about an emotionally scarred, sexually abused black teenager, was among the nominees for best director—a win would have made him the first African American to capture the coveted prize. When the envelope was opened, however, Kathryn Bigelow would achieve a milestone as the first woman to receive the honor for directing The Hurt Locker. (Geoffrey Fletcher, who wrote the film adaptation for Precious, would become the first African American to win an Oscar in the screenwriting category.)
