Peter Jackson a bespectacled Australian, says New York Times

By EAMONN DEVERALL

Soon after Billy Crystal had finished his wisecracks about New Zealand's steamroller Oscar night, the world's media began spreading their own wisecracks - and even their ignorance.

The San Francisco Chronicle described the New Zealand director as a man "who just a few years ago was an obscure New Zealander known mainly for one admired art-house film (Heavenly Creatures), one run-of-the-mill Hollywood horror tale (The Frighteners) and a scattering of cult splatter flicks".

But this was more accurate than the reputable New York Times, according to whom Jackson was a "bespectacled Australian". The Times also noted his "shirt half-tucked and his necktie at half-mast".

After commenting on the general preference of black tuxedos among Hollywood stars, CNN found that "Jackson, with his tie undone, his shirt open at the neck and an unidentified button on his lapel, looked distinctly loose and casual".

International news agency Reuters reported that Hollywood bowed to an "army of hobbits" and suggested the New Zealand-centred success had made the Oscars a fizzer.

"The 3 1/2-hour-plus show televised around the world held no surprises and seemed to sag whenever host Billy Crystal wandered off stage so that the academy could hand out awards to what seemed to an endless army of people from New Zealand or who worked for people from New Zealand."

The Los Angeles Times made mention of how the academy's "glass ceiling for fantasy films was shattered" by the 11 Oscars that were "showered on" The Return of the King.

News agency AAP said the "South Pacific nation that local director Peter Jackson transformed into Middle Earth" was in raptures while the "normally austere" Prime Minister, Helen Clark, gushed her enthusiasm: "It is just blowing everyone away."

In Britain, BBC World ran with the headline "Rings scores Oscars clean sweep", and the Guardian remarked that "at times Jackson's film threatened to turn the other nominees into impotent bystanders".

Jackson's successes were reported from the Age (Australia) to the Hindustan Times (India), from News24 in South Africa to the Pakistan News Agency and the Sofia News Agency in Bulgaria.

The Rings' victory over horse-racing film Seabiscuit for best film was not celebrated on the US racing website bloodhorse.com. Its article was headed "Seabiscuit trampled by Lord of Rings".

But Reuters summed up the 76th Academy Awards concisely: "The trilogy about the one powerful ring now rules the film world".