Because it’s always fun to award the Oscar for Best Achievement in Directing to a director for whom English is a second language -- will we ever forget ‘Life Is Beautiful’ and Roberto Benigni? -- the Academy chose Ang Lee. Although Michael Haneke for ‘Amour’ was probably a close second.

Ang Lee is not a stranger to the Academy. He won a directing Oscar for ‘Brokeback Mountain’ in 2005 and was nominated for ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ in 2000. He’s also got some stinkers on his list, like ‘Hulk,’ but he’s a very decorated director with whom actors line up to work.

He did as all moviemakers should and began his speech by thanking the “movie god.” He went on to share his award with all 3,000 of the people who worked on ‘Life of Pi’ with him.

Yes, he said “three thousand.” Which seems like a whole lot.

The cast must have been a large part of that number since he wanted to thank every single one of them but said he couldn’t “waste the time” to name everyone. He did thank Suraj Sharma who “carried the movie” as Pi and then told the rest of the cast, “You are the golden statue in my heart.”

He embarrassed his wife by revealing how long they’ve been married -- an impressive 30 years -- and telling her how much he loves her. He thanked his representation and management graciously, followed by, “I have to do that.”

Namaste, Ang Lee. Well done. Even if you do seem strangely obsessed with tigers.

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