Early in January 1999, the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gathered to discuss who would receive honorary Oscars 10 weeks later. [...] to do that, he had to convince wayward players of the essential rightness of his aesthetic, which involved "turning psychological events into behavior" while not being obvious or clumsy about it. What caused dissent among the Academy's members -- though not its board, which approved the honorary award unanimously -- was a long-ago act that no one had forgotten.

Subscribe to the Hollywood Reporter and see the entertainment industry from its best angle: the inside looking out. Complete access to real-time news and exclusive analysis that goes behind the scenes from film to television, home video to digital media.

   Subscribe now.