One Party to Rule Them All

Hotdog Hangs with the Winners

The party of the year was not any of th Oscar parties taking place after the 76th Academy Awards. No, it was the 'Return of the One' party, created and organised by the theonering.net fan site at the Hollywood American Legion Hall.

With a line around the block of people dressed as hobbits, elves, wizards and an occasional orc or two. It was a chance for 1.500 fans to get together, talk a little Elvish and see if their favourite film was to be finally awarded the Oscar. And with 11 wins, they weren't disappointed. When the best director award was announced, hundreds of people got to their feet (some furry) and cheered, with green and purple streamers going up everywhere.

The first Oscar attendees to arrive were Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan, looking a bit shocked but still very talkative. Elijah admitted that he had been worried that the film was "winning too many awards, too fast. I thought, " we're not going to see Peter get anything!" Ngila Dickson, carrying her best costume design Oscar with her, agreed. "We started ticking off catagories and we were worried that someone would miss out."

All of the Oscar winners then went inside and on the stage, where golden boy Peter Jackson urged the crowd to start a letter-writing campaign to get The Hobbit going. All of the Oscar winners said a few words, which turned out to take almost an hour, and then left the stage. But all was not over.

Billy Boyd, who was over at the New Line party, had finally arrived. He jumped onstage with his guitar and sang The Proclaimers' 'Oh, Jean'. One of the lines went "You let me get lucky with you,"  which is probably how all the LOTR cast and crew felt that night.

Lisa D Carroll