Thank you for staying with us and for more live updates and post-Oscar stories, stay tuned to TheHindu.com
Julia Roberts wraps up the evening with a crisp Good Night. In a bit of a surprising series of wins, the underdog films seem to have got the limelight yet again. Vice , which was pegged to win at least two awards, went home empty-handed, while the most expected and the deserving win was for Roma . With all its attempts to make the ceremony a short one, the Oscar evening still went on for over three hours. From Chris Evans helping Regina King (he is being given the 'Best Gentlemen' award by Twitteratti), to Rami Malek and Olivia Colman's passionate acceptance speeches, the Oscars was an eventful evening.
Will the viewership be redeemed this year? Only time will tell.
Now for the last award for the day. Best Picture Oscar has eight nominations. And the Oscar goes to ... Green Book . Yet another surprise win! This is the third Oscar for the film. "We made this film with love, tenderness, with respect" says the director.
The Best Directing Oscar is all ready to be announced. And....Alfonso Cuarón seems to be on a hattrick. He wins the award for Roma . "Being here doesn't get old," laughs the ace director. "Thanks the academy for recognising the story of an indigenous woman, a character which is usually relegated to the background. The Mexican film has gathered three Oscars till now!
And a surprise win! Olivia Colman wins the award for her role in The Favourite . Olivia Colman portrays Queen Anne, the temperamental ruler of Great Britain whose courtiers scurry for her favour and political power during the early 1700s. Colman gives a tearful acceptance speech."This is genuinely stressful." Her co-star Rachel Weiss was also a nominee in the Best Supporting Actress category.
Now on to the Best Actress award. It seems like a close fight between veteran Glenn Close for The Wife and Yalitza Aparacio for Roma . Close has been nominated 7 times till date, and hasn't bagged an Oscar as yet.
The Oscar for Best Actor i n a Leading Role goes to Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody . Malek played the role of Freddie Mercury, Queen's lead singer. "I may not have been the obvious choice. Thank you, Queen. For allowing me to be a part of your extraordinary legacy. I am forever in your debt. We made a film about a gay immigrant who lived his life unapologetically . This award is proof that we are longing for stories like this. I am the son of first immigrants. Part of my story is being written right now."
Now for a big one. The Best Actor category is a much-speculated category every year. We have two artistes today who performed the stories of men in music industry. And a good old political drama pulled off with elan by Christian Bale. Who will win the award?
The Oscar for Best Original Score goes to Ludwig Goransson for Black Panther . This is the third Oscar for Black Panther .
The Oscar for Best Original Song goes to Lady Gaga, Mike Ronson, Anthony Rossomondo and Andrew Wyatt for Shallow from A Star Is Born .
"There's not a single person on this planet that could have sang this song with me but you," Lady Gaga tells Bradley Cooper, her co-star in the film, in her acceptance speech.
Next up is the Oscar for Adapted Screenplay . Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee bag the award for Blackkklansman . Charlie Wachtel makes an impassioned reference to black history and the fights of many black people. "The 2020 elections is around the corner. Let's do the right thing!" There's a political reference to remember!
"The Knicks won tonight," says a happy Samuel Jackson, presenting the Original Screenplay award. And the Oscar goes to Green Book . Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly receive the award. This is the second Oscar for Green Book .
Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman for Skin win the Best Live Action Short Film award. "This film is about education. Its about teaching kids. We hope our kids watch these films and don't grow up in these scenarios," says Jaime.
Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga perform one of the songs from A Star is Born . The film is nominated in 8 categories, including the big ones such as Best Picture, Actor, Actress.
And looks like, not! Sorry, Avengers. Maybe next time! Achievements in Visual Effects Oscar instead, goes to First Man . Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J.D. Schwalm receive the award. First Man starring Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong gives a unique peek into his journey to the Moon.
‘Avengers: Infinity War’
Will Marvel's Avengers: Infinity Wars bag the award for Visual Effects? The Marvel superhero films have found prime spots in this year's Oscar awards. The Best Popular Film category, which was briefly announced by the Academy, was an apparent representation to commercial films such as Black Panther that deserve a spot in the prestigious award function. When it became clear that the choice of 'Popular Film' is subjective, the Academy dropped this idea as well.
Best Animated Short Oscar goes to Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb for Bao . The film follows the life of a lonely Chinese mother suffering from empty nest syndrome who is thrilled to become a parent again when one of her homemade dumplings comes to life.
Now, an Indian connection at the Oscars! Best Documentary Short goes to Period. End of Sentence . Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton receive the award tearfully. "I am not crying because of my period or anything," jokes Berton.
A still from Period. End of Sentence.
The Short has Guneet Monga and Mandakini Kakar on board as two of the executive producers and Shaan Vyas as one of the co-producers. This is a film about women in India fighting against the stigma of menstruation and delving upon the work of real-life ‘Pad Man’ Arunachalam Muruganantham. The story of Muruganantham was also portrayed by Akshay Kumar in PadMan, which went on to become a commercial success.
With Roma , Mexico has officially bagged its first Oscar in the coveted Best Foreign Language films category. The category which is specific to numerous languages represents cinema from all over the world at the big night in Los Angeles.
Yalitza Aparicio with Alfonso Cuaron on the sets of Roma
Although India is yet to win an award in the Best Foreign Film category, we have had our fair share of representation at the ceremony. Here are a few of the memorable moments that have made a lasting mark in the minds of viewers.
The award for Best Animated Feature goes to Spiderman: Into the Spider Verse . Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller receive the award. Peter Ramsey is the first African American director to be nominated for and win a feature animation Oscar.
The Oscar for Best Supporting Actor goes to Mahershala Ali for Green Book . This is Ali's second Oscar, the first being for Moonlight . As Dr. Donald Shirley, Mahershala Ali plays an African-American concert pianist who becomes friends with the white bouncer who drives him through the South during a tour in 1962. Mahershala Ali becomes the second black actor to have won multiple Oscars. The first is Denzel Washington.
Bohemian Rhapsody wins its third Oscar for Best Film Editing . John Ottman receives the award.
Foreign Language Oscar goes to Roma . This is the ninth movie to be nominated from Mexico and the first to be nominated in the category. Roma is also nominated in the Best Picture category. The director Alfonso Cuarón gets on to the stage for the second time for the evening.
While we are waiting for the announcement of the next category, take our quiz on Oscar winners . It's been 90 years since the first Academy Awards were held, and the Awards have seen many notable wins through the years.
The Academy award for Best Cinematography goes to Alfonso Cuarón, for Roma. This is his third Oscar and 10th nomination. Alfonso Cuarón is the first cinematographer to win an Oscar for a movie he also directed. Roma is nominated in four other categories. The Netflix film is a black-and-white movie set in early 70s Mexico.
Yalitza Aparicio plays Cleo, the central character, in Alfonso Cuaron’s ‘Roma’.
The Best Cinematography award was one of the categories which were supposed to be shown during the commercial break, before it was reverted to the original plan.
Oscar for Sound Editing goes to John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone for Bohemian Rhapsody which is nominated in five categories.
The Oscar for Sound Mixing goes to Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali for Bohemian Rhapsody yet again. This is the first Oscar for this team. The film which follows Queen's lead singer Freddie Mercury's illustrious life as a singer in the backdrop of the band's rise to fame.
The Oscar for Makeup & Hairstyling goes to 'Vice'. Next up is the Costume Design category and announcing the nominees is Melissa McCarthy, dolled up as Queen Elizabeth. Black Panther wins the award. Ruth Carter wins her first Oscar. Black Panther 's nomination has been met with a lot of appreciation. While superhero films usually don't get into the main categories, Black Panther broke the glass ceiling in this regard. Marvel's superhero flick is being hailed as a tribute to Black heritage and women in powerful roles.
"This has been a long time coming" says Carter after being nominated thrice.
The Oscar for Best Production Design goes to Hannah Beachler (Production Design); Jay Hart (Set Decoration) for Black Panther . This is the film's second Oscar.
A still from Black Panther.
So why no host this time around? Comedian Kevin Hart who was supposed to have hosted the event, stepped down after some controversial tweets re-surfaced. Hart subsequently stepped down and the event is now being held with the presenters serving as hosts as well. Here is a look at the history of famous monologues by the hosts over the years.
The first award to be announced is in the Outstanding Supporting Actress category. Regina King wins her first Oscar for If Beale Street Could Talk .
Regina King
Regina King portrays Sharon Rivers, a steadfast matriarch devoted to her family and determined to support her pregnant daughter, whose fiancé has been wrongfully imprisoned.
The B est Documentary Feature Oscar goes to Free Solo. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes and Shannon Dill receive the honour.
Queen open the ceremony this time around. The band whose story is one of the Best Picture nominees - Bohemian Rhapsody - performed two songs. Adam Lambert fills in for the late Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury. with two superhit classic songs : We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions - which had the audience up on their feet swaying to the music.
In what can be called as a semi-monologue, Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler kicked off making insinuations to the Academy's controversial decisions in 2018.
“Welcome to the one millionth Academy Awards!” Tina Fey, 48, started off. “We are not your hosts, but we are gonna stand here a little too long so that the people who get USA Today tomorrow will think we hosted.” “There is no host tonight, there won’t be a popular movie category and Mexico is not paying for the wall,” Maya Rudolph, continued. “Chadwick Boseman: Wakanda plans you have later?” Rudolph said to the Black Panther star. “ Roma ’s on Netflix? What’s next, my microwave makes a movie?” Fey said, later adding, “Everybody look under your seats, you’re all getting the cheese sandwiches from the Fyre Festival!” “Although in my experience all actresses are supporting actresses — because women truly support one another,” Poehler, said before turning to Fey and Rudolph and joking, “For example, I support both of you financially”
“And we won’t be doing awards during the commercials but we will be presenting commercials during the awards. So if all the winners can say ‘Helman’s Mayonaise, we’re on the side of food’ instead of your speeches, that would be great, says” Poehler.
Welcome to the Oscars! After an eventful year, filled with controversies, the Academy has rolled out the red carpet for the biggest Hollywood movie awards. This is only the second time in history that the Oscars is being held without a host. The Academy faced yet another outcry after it announced that select awards, including Best Cinematography, will be given during the commercial break. The announcement followed widespread outrage from the film fraternity and the decision was recanted in the last minute.
Here are the nominations
