HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Feb. 28, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Hollywood royalty was in attendance for the 88th annual Academy Awards, hosted by Chris Rock.
Diversity was the catchphrase of the evening as Rock addressed the big issue of the lack of people of color from the nominations this year.
In his opening remarks Rock quipped, “Well, I’m here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the White People’s Choice Awards,” a dig at the fact no people of color were nominated in the acting categories this year.
“Do you realize that if they nominated hosts, I wouldn’t even get this job? You’d all be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now. … This is the wildest, craziest Oscars to ever host because we have all this controversy.”
The comedian continued, “It’s the 88th Academy Awards, which means this whole ‘no black nominees thing’ has happened at least 71 other times.”
“You’ve got to figure that it happened in the 1950s, in the ’60s. In the ’60s, one of those years Sidney [Poitier] didn’t put out a movie. I’m sure there were no black nominees some of those years — say, ’62 or ’63 — and black people did not protest.”
“Why?”
“Because we had real things to protest at the time. They had real things to protest. Too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won Best Cinematographer. When your grandmother is swinging from a tree, it’s really hard to care about Best Documentary Foreign Short. But what happened this year? What happened? People went mad. Spike (Lee) got mad. And (Al) Sharpton got mad and Jada (Pinkett Smith) went mad and Will (Smith) went mad. Everybody went mad. Jada got mad.”
Chris Rock went on to joke, “Jada says she’s not coming. Protesting? Isn’t she on a TV show? Jada is boycotting the Oscars? Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited. That’s not an invitation I would turn down.”
As the issue was met and joked about, the awards commenced with little political controversy.
One of the biggest upsets for the oddsmakers was “Spotlight,” the film about the Boston Globe’s uncovering sexual misconduct in the Catholic Church, was deemed Best Picture over “The Revenant” and “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
Alejandro G. Inarritu, who won the Best Director Oscar last year for “Birdman,” repeated the accomplishment for “The Revenant,” which also brought Leonardo DiCaprio his first Oscar. “The Revenant” was recognized for Best Cinematography, as well.
It was no surprise when Brie Larson took home the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in “Room,” as the actress was favored to win.
One of the upsets of the evening was when Mark Rylance scored the Best Supporting Actor trophy for his work in “Bridge of Spies,” beating out Sylvester Stallone. Stallone was the hands down favorite to bring home a gold statue.
Alicia Vikander picked up an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for “The Danish Girl.”
“Mad Max: Fury Road” brought home gold for Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Hair and Makeup.
The award for Best Adapted Screenplay went to “The Big Short,” while “Spotlight” received the Best Original Screenplay title.
The prize for Best Visual Effects was given to “Ex Machina,” another film that co-starred Vikander.
“Inside Out” was awarded an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.
The complete list of the winners of the 88th annual Academy Awards is below:
Best Picture: “Spotlight”
Direction: “The Revenant,” Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Revenant”
Actress: Brie Larson, “Room”
Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance, “Bridge of Spies”
Supporting Actress: Alicia Vikander, “The Danish Girl”
Adapted Screenplay: “The Big Short,” Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
Original Screenplay: “Spotlight,” Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy
Cinematography: “The Revenant,” Emmanuel Lubezki
Production Design: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson (set decoration)
Film Editing: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Margaret Sixel
Visual Effects: “Ex Machina,” Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett
Costume Design: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Jenny Beavan
Makeup: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin
Sound Editing: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Mark Mangini and David White
Sound Mixing: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo
Score: “The Hateful Eight,” Ennio Morricone
Song: “Writing’s on the Wall,” from “Spectre,” Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith
Foreign Language Film: “Son of Saul” (Hungary)
Animated Feature: “Inside Out”
Documentary Feature: “Amy”
Animated Short: “Bear Story”
Documentary Short: “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness”
Live Action Short: “Stutterer”
