Speaking backstage at the glitzy ceremony, he said: “We always strive for the best in what we do, but this year in particular, I’ve been overwhelmed with, you know, such support, really, truly, by so many fans and so many people in the industry”. You already do it with men and women.
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Jamie Foxx has brushed off the Oscars race row by labelling Leonardo DiCaprio an “honorary black dude”.
Host Chris Rock and children participate in a skit during the Oscars.
Let’s start with the basic ceremony itself, and Chris Rock’s hosting. After receiving the Oscar, I half expected him to make a joking remark about the, what some would call, pinnacle of his career.
The low estimates came despite the presence of Leonardo DiCaprio and other popular actors and anticipation about how host Chris Rock, who is black, would address the furor over an all-white line-up of acting nominees.
McCarthy, while accepting the screenplay award, also hailed the journalists who inspired the movie. I thank you all for this wonderful award tonight. You realize if they nominated hosts, I wouldn’t even get this job”, Rock said as he opened the show.
“Climate change is real, it is happening right now, it is the most urgent threat facing our species, we need to work together and stop procrastinating”, he said.
Rock pushed things even further when he joked that the Oscars telecast will be a little different this year. That includes the hits “The Martian” and “Mad Max: Fury Road”, but, alas, not “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”. Too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer.
And of course, Alejandro González Iñárritu became the third director in history to win back-to-back Best Director Oscars with Birdman and The Revenant. The film had six Oscars before the halfway point of the broadcast. The supporting actor in a supporting role went to mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies).
As for the awards themselves, Spotlight won Best Picture, only taking home one other award for Best Original Screenplay (Thomas McCarthy, Josh Singer). In another, Saturday Night Live’s Leslie Jones and comic Tracy Morgan were inserted into clips from The Revenant and The Danish Girl as a way of giving black actors parts in big movies.
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“You gotta figure that it happened in the ’50s, in the ’60s – you know, in the ’60s, one of those years Sidney [Poitier] didn’t put out a movie”. That year “Million Dollar Baby” won Best Picture, and the 2005 Oscars ended up with an impressive 42.14 million viewers, with 19.6 million among adults ages 18-49.
