The 88th Academy Awards ceremony, broadcast live on Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network from the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, was the ideal fodder for comedian Chris Rock’s stinging humor.
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Heavy favorite Leonardo DiCaprio took the best actor trophy and Alejandro González Iñárritu, his director in The Revenant, bagged his second straight best director award.
Despite its wins for actor and director, “The Revenant” was upset for best picture by “Spotlight”. “I do not take tonight for granted, thank you so much!”
Best Actress went to “Room’s” Brie Larson, completing her domination of award season.
“And lastly, I just want to say this: Making “The Revenant” was about man’s relationship to the natural world, a world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history”.
Among the surprises, Britain’s Mark Rylance beat presumed favourite and Creed actor Sylvester Stallone to win the Academy Award for best supporting actor for Bridge of Spies.
Alicia Vikander won best supporting actress for her performance in “The Danish Girl”. It’s the 88th Academy Awards… which means this whole “no black nominees” has happened at least 71 other times.
DiCaprio, a bachelor with a string of supermodel girlfriends, has matured into one of the world’s most admired and popular actors, as well as a champion of environmental causes ranging from marine reserves to the rights of indigenous people. The movie also won best original screenplay. George Miller’s post-apocalyptic chase film took the Oscars for editing, makeup, production design, sound editing, sound mixing and costume design.
“Is Hollywood racist? You’re damn right Hollywood is racist”, Rock belted during his opening monologue.
“You realise, if they nominated hosts, I wouldn’t even have this job”. Leo (DiCaprio) gets a great part every year, you guys get great parts every year.
He said: “This year things will be a little different, the In Memoriam package will be black people shot by the cops on their way to the movies. We were too busy being raped and lynched to worry about best cinematography”.
A later clip showed Rock talking with moviegoers in Compton about the lack of diversity among acting nominees and which Oscar-nominated films they’d seen.
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This was the sixth Oscar nomination of DiCaprio’s career but the first time that he has got his hands on the Academy Award – he was one of the most popular winners of the night. “It’s sorority racist”, he said.
