Oscars ceremony got off to a mildly awkward start this year, as Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler, presenting the Best Supporting Actress award, did a little comedy routine acknowledging that this year’s presentation had no host, no Most Popular Film award, and no awards given out during commercials. (“And Mexico is not paying for the wall.”) was a wary little dig at the many embarrassing controversies the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences faced this year as it attempted to retool the ceremony. Attempts to shorten the show by cutting some awards, while simultaneously adding more crowd-pleasing elements, led to a lot of online backlash.
Results spoke for themselves. Comparatively brief show that ran just over three hours (as opposed to the four-hours-plus shows that have become standard over the past few decades), the producers didn’t often linger over speeches from the presenters or winners. The show moved along briskly, with the early winners’ mics being rapidly cut off if they weren’t brief and to the point in their acknowledgment speeches. Even the more elaborate presenter setups — the visual gag involving Melissa McCarthy and Brian Tyree Henry, dressed in elaborate costumes referencing the Best Costuming nominees, and particularly the pet rabbits in The Favourite — went by quickly.
Ceremony did give a little more time to the winners of some of the bigger awards. It was a night of firsts: Spike Lee won his first non-honorary Oscar, for co-scripting BlacKkKlansman, and delivered a shaky, emotional speech that was one of the evening’s few nods toward current politics. Black Panther, which picked up three wins out of its seven nominations, became the first Marvel Studios movie to win an Academy Award.
Thanks to Black Panther, it was a significant night for black filmmakers. Black Panther production designer Hannah Beachler and costume designer Ruth E. Carter each became the first black women to win in their respective categories. (Beachler was the first black production designer to win, period.) Peter Ramsey, one of the co-directors of the Best Animated Feature winner Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, was the first black director to win in the category. Mahershala Ali, who won Best Supporting Actor for Green Book, became the first black actor to win in that category twice. (And only the fifth black actor to win in the category over the course of the Academy Awards’ 91-year history.)
While Netflix’s film Roma lost the Best Picture award to Green Book, in a surprise upset, it made history in other ways. It’s the first Mexican submission for Best Foreign Language Feature to win in the category. Best Cinematography win for director Alfonso Cuarón (who also took Best Director) marked the first time in history that a director simultaneously won the Oscar in the cinematography category.
Full list of 2019’s Academy Award winners:
Documentary (Feature) — Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Free Solo
Actress in a Supporting Role — Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Makeup and Hairstyling — Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe, and Patricia Dehaney, Vice
Costume Design — Ruth E. Carter, Black Panther
Production Design — Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart, Black Panther
Cinematography — Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Sound Editing — John Warhurst, Bohemian Rhapsody
Sound Mixing — Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin, and John Casali, Bohemian Rhapsody
Foreign Language Film — Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Film Editing — John Ottman, Bohemian Rhapsody
Actor in a Supporting Role — Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Animated Feature Film — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
Animated Short Film — Domee Shi, Bao
Documentary Short Subject — Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton, Period. End of Sentence.
Visual Effects — Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J.D. Schwalm, First Man
Live Action Short Film — Guy Nattiv and Jamie Ray Newman, Skin
Best Original Screenplay — Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly, Green Book
Best Adapted Screenplay — Spike Lee, Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele, BlacKkKlansman
Original Score — Ludwig Goransson, Black Panther
Original Song — Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt, “Shallow,” A Star Is Born
Best Actor in a Leading Role — Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Best Actress in a Leading Role — Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Best Director — Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Best Picture — Green Book
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