UK Prime Minister Hails British Oscar Success

Jill Lawless - Associated Press

LONDON - This year, Oscar has a British accent, and an international flavor.

Britons and British films took 11 prizes at the 81st Academy Awards, including best actress for Kate Winslet and eight trophies for underdog-turned-top dog "Slumdog Millionaire."

It was the best British showing for years - and this time, the country's winners have a cosmopolitan scope, with settings that range from the slums of Mumbai to the skies above Manhattan.

"Last night was a great night for Britain," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday, leading official tributes to the country's success. He said Britain "is showing it has the talent to lead the world."

"Slumdog Millionaire" Manchester-born director Danny Boyle was more exuberant when asked how he felt. "Delirious would get near it," he said.

"Slumdog" is the most successful British film at the Oscars in a decade, and a classic rags-to-riches story, on screen and off.

The tale of Mumbai slum boy who overcomes poverty and violence to triumph on the game show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," it cost just $15 million to make. Nine months ago it was in danger of going straight to DVD when its U.S. distributor, Warner Independent Pictures, shut down.

Rescued through a deal with distributor Fox Searchlight, the film has made more than $150 million at the box office around the world.

"Slumdog" has British producers, director and writer, but was shot in Mumbai with a largely Indian cast and is partly in Hindi, making it an unlikely global smash.

Tessa Ross, controller of "Slumdog" producer Film4, said the movie's success provided "a great reassurance that it is worthwhile taking creative risks."

"Britain needs these breakout films to show the international film industry that there is a huge appetite and audience for independent British film," she said.

Oscar has always been a bit of an anglophile. Two years ago, British thespians including Helen Mirren, Judi Dench and Winslet dominated the acting nominees and The Scotsman newspaper declared, "The Brits are coming - again!" - an echo of screenwriter Colin Welland's famous line on accepting an Oscar for "Chariots of Fire" in 1982.

Since then, the industry has grown wary of too much hype. "Chariots of Fire" won four Oscars, including best picture - but it was 15 years before another British film, "The English Patient," took the top prize.

While Hollywood has long had a soft spot for British costume dramas, this year's Oscar winners are altogether quirkier.

Best documentary feature "Man on Wire," tells the story of French tightrope walker Philippe Petit's 1974 attempt to walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center, destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Britain's Oscar haul was rounded out by a costume design prize for "The Duchess."

But some say the British film industry is less healthy than its Oscar-night success suggests.

Cinema attendance in Britain rose last year - thanks in part to homegrown success stories like "Mamma Mia!" - but the number of feature films made in the country fell from 126 in 2007 to 111 in 2008.

Dan Jolin, features editor of movie magazine Empire, said the global economic downturn was hitting producers - especially independents, who are finding it tough to get bank loans and other financing.

"It's great that a film by a Mancunian director shot in Mumbai with a cast of unknowns can triumph," he said. "But I think the reality is the British film industry isn't in fantastic shape at the moment."

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