Daniel Day Lewis, Tilda Swinton, Marion Cotillard and Javier Bardem commiserate backstage after their Oscar wins. Photo by David Crane/LA.com.

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By Glenn Whipp
Film Writer

Independent film legends Joel and Ethan Coen joined the mainstream Sunday night when their latest and most commercially successful movie, "No Country for Old Men," won four Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor.

All four of the acting honors at the 80th annual Academy Awards went to Europeans … France's Marion Cotillard, Spain's Javier Bardem and Brits Daniel Day-Lewis and Tilda Swinton.

Two of these wins were surprises of varying degrees. Cotillard herself was clearly surprised. Most had Julie Christie ("Away from Her") besting the "La Vie en Rose" actress, while Swinton won in a wide-open Best Supporting Actress category.

Multiple nominees Cate Blanchett ("Elizabeth," "I'm Not There") and Paul Thomas Anderson (writer and director of "There Will Be Blood") came away empty-handed.

Day-Lewis won his second Best Actor award for playing the fiercely competitive oilman in "There Will Be Blood."

Day-Lewis' win came 18 years after his victory for "My Left Foot," the biography of quadriplegic writer Christy Brown.

Arriving on stage, Day-Lewis kissed presenter Dame Helen Mirren, then said, "That's the closest I'll ever come to getting a knighthood."

"My deepest thanks to the academy for whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town," Day-Lewis added.

He also thanked writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, saying the film "sprang like a golden sapling out of (his) fertile head."

Cotillard won Best Actress honors for her portrayal of Edith Piaf in "La Vie en Rose."

The Paris-born Cotillard actively hit the cocktail promotional circuit in the past month, while the reclusive Christie stayed home.

Cotillard, 32, profusely thanked the film's writer-director, Olivier Dahan.

"Maestro Olivier Dahan, you rocked my life," Cotillard said.

Bardem won Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the psycho killer in "No Country." Bardem, 38, became the first Spanish-born actor to win an Oscar.

"Thank you to the Coens for being crazy enough to think that I could do that and put one of the most horrible haircuts in history over my head," Bardem said.

The actor then dedicated the award to his mother, actress Pilar Bardem, sitting teary-eyed in the audience, and gave her a shout-out in Spanish, which host Jon Stewart later translated as telling her "where the library is."

Actually, what he said in Spanish that was as rapid-fire as his English, was: "Mama, this is for you. This is for your grandparents and your parents, Rafael and Matilde. This is for the comedians of Spain who, like you, have brought dignity and pride to our profession. This is for Spain and this is for all of you."

Tilda Swinton, 47, took Best Supporting Actress for playing a corporate attorney willing to do anything to save her job in "Michael Clayton."

The Supporting Actress category was the night's major unknown: So much so that the London-born Swinton said she did not prepare a speech.

That didn't stop her from making some of the evening's most engaging remarks.

"I have an American agent who is the spitting image of this," Swinton said, holding her Oscar. "Really, truly  the same shape head and, it has to be said, the buttocks."

She also got in a dig at her "Clayton" co-star George Clooney.

"George Clooney, the seriousness and the dedication to your art, seeing you climb into that rubber bat suit from 'Batman & Robin,' the one with the nipples, every morning under your costume, on the set, off the set, hanging upside-down at lunch ... you rock, man."

The publicity-shy Coens clearly seemed uncomfortable on stage. Accepting the adapted screenplay award, Joel, 53, the taller and older of the brothers, spoke haltingly, while bearded 50-year-old Ethan stood as far away from the mike as possible.

"I think whatever success we've had in this area has been entirely attributable to how selective we are," Joel said. "We've only adapted Homer and Cormac McCarthy."

The Coens' 2000 movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" was an extremely loose adaptation of Homer's "Odyssey."

When the Coens returned to the stage to accept the directing award, Ethan, who barely said "thank you" the first time around, deadpanned: "I don't have a lot to add to what I said earlier."

Joel, again doing the speaking, recalled the brothers' early days of filmmaking, including a Super-8 movie made at the Minneapolis airport called "Henry Kissinger: Man on the Go."

"What we do now doesn't feel that much different from what we were doing then," Joel said. "We're very thankful to all of you out there for continuing to let us play in our corner of the sandbox."

"Ratatouille" writer-director Brad Bird won his second Oscar when his film was named Best Animated Feature.

Bird also won the animation award for his last movie, 2004's "The Incredibles." Both films were made at Pixar Animation.

Bird thanked his junior-high guidance counselor, who advised him against becoming a filmmaker. Bird detailed a lengthy back-and-forth exchange between himself and the skeptical counselor.

"It went on ... until we were sick of each other," Bird said. "I only realized just recently that he gave me the perfect training for the movie business."

Because of the recently settled Writers Guild of America strike, the show itself was hastily prepared, lacking the host-driven opening montage that has been a cornerstone since the Billy Crystal era.

Referring to the writers strike, host Stewart called the ceremony "make-up sex."

Producer Gil Cates was quick to cue the orchestra to move acceptance speeches along, at one point cutting off the microphone as Best Original Song co-winner Markéta Irglová was about to speak. (Her "Once" collaborator, Glen Hansard, had already delivered his remarks.)

Following a commercial break, Cates spontaneously righted the wrong, and the Czech-born Irglová was allowed back on stage in an unprecedented move.

Irglová was surprised to have the chance.

"When I went backstage, they said they were going to have me go back out," Irglová said later. "It was great to get that chance, and I'm very grateful to them for doing that."

The ceremony could have been worse. Stewart jokingly introduced one clips segment … Oscar's salute to binoculars and periscopes … pointing out that such montages would have dominated the show had the writers strike not been settled.

And had the writers strike not ended, we would have never seen "Juno" screenwriter Diablo Cody simultaneously hoisting her Oscar and displaying her bondage bikini girl tattoo.

"This is for the writers!" a tearful Cody said.

Isn't Cody the last person you thought would get all blubbery on us?

Then again, for good and bad, Oscar night always seems to bring tears to people's eyes.

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Photo of Ethan and Joel Coen by David Crane/LA.com.