Amid star-studded and glamour-soaked Hollywood drizzle at the swish Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, a dark satirical film about an ageing actor shone and stole the show, winning four coveted Oscars.
“Birdman,” which was nominated in nine categories, picked up four honours – Best Picture, Best Director (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu), Best Writing (Original Screenplay) and Best Cinematography – at the 87th Academy Awards.
Neil Patrick Harris, the host, began the show by alluding to the much discussed lack of diversity in this year’s Oscars all-white acting nominees. “Tonight we honour Hollywood’s best and whitest — I mean brightest,” he said, with his tongue firmly in cheek. He even stripped down to his underwear, justifying a Birdman joke.
British actor Eddie Redmayne has won the best actor Oscar for The Theory of Everything, for his sensitive portrayal of Stephen Hawking. The British actor was clearly overwhelmed and described himself “one very very lucky man” — he dedicated the award to the film crew and his wife, the Hawking family and to “everyone around the world suffering from ALS”.
Julianne Moore was crowned as the best actress for her portrayal of a woman diagnosed with early onset dementia in “Still Alice”. Moore excitedly said on her big night. “After seeing the movie my husband said ‘You’re gonna win an Oscar’ and I said ‘Come ON!”
Best picture
American Sniper
WINNER: Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Best lead actress
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
WINNER: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Best lead actor
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
WINNER: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Best director
WINNER: Alejandro Iñárritu, Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game
Best Supporting Actress
WINNER: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
WINNER: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Best animated feature film of the year
WINNER: Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya
Achievement in cinematography
Roger Deakins, Unbroken
WINNER: Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
Dick Pope, Mr. Turner
Robert Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski, Ida
Achievement in costume design
WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner
Best adapted screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Jason Hall, American Sniper
Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything
WINNER: Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Best original screenplay
Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Futterman and E. Max Frye, Foxcatcher
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
WINNER: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Best foreign language film of the year
Leviathan
WINNER: Ida
Tangerines
Timbuktu
Wild Tales
Best documentary feature
WINNER: CITIZENFOUR
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt in the Earth
Virunga
Best documentary short subject
WINNER: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper
White Earth
Achievement in film editing
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
WINNER: Whiplash
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
Foxcatcher
WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Best original score)
WINNER: Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything
Gary Yershon, Mr. Turner
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Best song)
Everything is Awesome from The LEGO Movie (written by Shawn Patterson)
WINNER: Glory from Selma (written by Common and John Legend)
Grateful from Beyond the Lights (music and lyric by Diane Warren)
I’m Not Gonna Miss You from Glen Campbell … I’ll Be Me (written by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond)
Lost Stars from Begin Again (written by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley and Nick Southwood)
Achievement in production design
WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner
Best animated short film
The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
WINNER: Feast
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life
Best live action short film
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh
WINNER: The Phone Call
Achievement in sound editing
WINNER: American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken
Achievement in sound mixing
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
WINNER: Whiplash
Achievement in visual effects
Captain America
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
WINNER: Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Oscars 2015
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