So we knew it was going to be good – but Chris Rock totally nailed the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. It was a subtle plea from the film community that the movies and artists honored at Sunday night’s ceremony did have goal and meaning – even in this second year of #OscarsSoWhite.
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– A contentious awards season dominated by talk of diversity – or the lack thereof – in Hollywood will conclude Sunday night with the 88th Academy Awards, and with no clear front-runner in the race for best picture.
Adam McKay and Charles Randolph took best adapted screenplay for their self-described “trauma-dy” about the mortgage meltdown of 2008. “That is the power of film”.
Directing: Alejandro G. Inarritu, “The Revenant”.
This was Rock’s second turn at hosting the Oscarcast.
Racial themes and barbs about the selection of an all-white acting nominee line-up for a second year were a running theme of the show, dubbed “the white People’s Choice awards” by Rock, an outspoken black comedian.
Rock ensured that the topic remained at the forefront throughout the proceedings, usually finding hearty laughs in the process.
Alicia Vikander is hoping to follow up her SAG Award victory for supporting actress with an Oscar win for her supporting role in “The Danish Girl”. The movie also won best original screenplay. John Williams, who scored the film, boasts the record for most Academy Award nominations of any living person, with 50.
“Fury Road”‘s big win in the technical department, especially for sound mixing, was the third most tweeted moment from the entertaining show.
Leonardo DiCaprio got a standing ovation after finally winning his first Oscar for his leading role as a fur trapper left for dead in “The Revenant” and spoke out on climate change in his acceptance speech. Lady Gaga performs onstage with sexual assault survivors The singer belted out her Oscar-nominated song “Til It Happens to You” from the documentary The Hunting Ground alongside sexual assault survivors. Inevitably, the Best Animated Feature was Pixar’s “Inside Out”, a cartoon so acclaimed that it really should have been on the main Best Picture list rather than in the Animation ghetto. Hungary’s concentration camp drama “Son of Saul” won best foreign language film. Also vying for the prize are Jennifer Jason Leigh (“The Hateful Eight”), Rooney Mara (“Carol”), Rachel McAdams (“Spotlight”) and Kate Winslet (“Steve Jobs”). Some sniffing critics felt that he was rewarded for crawling through forests, swimming in icy rivers, eating raw bison liver and generally having a miserable time, rather than for the quality of the performance itself. Rock quipped, “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties”. Several top African American filmmakers, Ryan Coogler (“Creed”) and Ava DuVernay (“Selma”) spent the evening not at the Oscars but in Flint, Michigan, raising money for the water-contaminated city.
Aside from pleading for more opportunity for black actors, Rock also sought to add perspective to the turmoil. “If you want black people every year at the Oscars just have black categories like… best black friend”.
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In a quick response to the growing crisis, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, pushed ahead reforms to the academy meant to diversify its overwhelming white and male membership. I’m like, isn’t she on a TV show?
