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       When the Oscars Were Held Against the Backdrop of Another Divisive War

       Three days before the 2003 ceremony, the United States invaded Iraq. Despite pleas to delay the awards, the academy went ahead with what became a politics-suffused evening.

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       Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins arriving at the 2003 Academy Awards. The day before, they had taken part in an antiwar protest. Credit...Kim D. Johnson/Associated Press

       By Sarah Bahr

       March 8, 2024

       On March 23, 2003, as the rest of the world watched televised images of captives and corpses identified as American soldiers, limos carrying high-fashion-clad celebrities rolled up outside what was then known as the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles.

       The United States had invaded Iraq just three days before, and, until that morning, there was still the possibility that the Oscars wouldn’t go on.

       As A-listers like Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry and Steve Martin — the host — were herded through metal detectors amid a large law enforcement presence, a few blocks away, police officers holding clubs faced off with demonstrators trying to get closer to the theater (none did).

       This year, another war is in the headlines as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences mounts another Oscars. So far, almost no one has spoken out at precursor awards shows, but it was very different in 2003.

       “It felt weird to dress up and go to this thing while our fellow Americans were all overseas about to get involved in something that was very dangerous,” the director Chris Sanders recalled in a recent interview. Sanders was nominated that year for best animated feature film for directing and writing “Lilo & Stitch” with Dean DeBlois.

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       Newly minted winners like Adrien Brody and Nicole Kidman, front left, joined past winners onstage in 2003. Credit...Kevork Djansezian/Associated Press

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       Sarah Bahr is a senior staff editor at The Times. She has reported on a range of topics, most often theater, film and television, while writing for the Culture, Styles and National desks. More about Sarah Bahr

       A version of this article appears in print on March 9, 2024, Section C, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: The Oscars And a War Backdrop . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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