91st Academy Awards

91st Academy Awards

By Freddie, Tom, and Stevie

24th February 2019 saw the 91st Academy Awards take place in the Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, rewarding the greatest achievements in the last year of film.

The Oscars were opened by a rousing performance from Queen + Adam Lambert, in celebration of their biopic Bohemian Rhapsody being nominated for Best Picture, playing the classics ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are the Champions’.

 

Best Picture was shockingly awarded to Green Book, a story about an African-American pianist named Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) going on tour, and his relationship with his bodyguard, played by Viggo Mortenson. Green Book was arguably the least likely nominee to win Best Picture, going up against Lady Gaga-led favourite A Star Is Born, cultural turning point Black Panther, Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and period drama The Favourite.

Winner - Green Book (Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga)
Black Panther (Kevin Feige)
BlackKklansman (Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Graham King)
The Favourite (Ceci Dempsy, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday, Yorgos Lanthimos)
Roma (Gabriela Rodriguez and Alfonso Cuaron)
A Star Is Born (Bill Gerber, Bradley Cooper, Lynette Howell Taylor)
Vice (Dede Gardiner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adam McKay and Kevin J. Messick)

Best Director was won for the second time by Alfonso Cuaron for the first Netflix Best Picture-nominee, Roma, the story of a middle-class housekeeper living in Mexico City in the early 70s. Controversially, Bradley Cooper, star and director of A Star Is Born was not nominated for the award, which caused shock and outrage across the acting industry because of the calibre of his direction.

  • Winner – Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)
  • Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite)
  • Spike Lee (BlackKklansman)
  • Adam McKay (Vice)
  • Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War)

Best Actor was deservedly awarded to Rami Malek, for his portrayal of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, meaning that he has won the triple of Best Actor wins in the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Oscars. He did fall off the stage though. He beat main rival Christian Bale at all three categories, for Bale’s ridiculous transformation to portray George W. Bush’s vice president Dick Cheney.

Winner – Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury (Bohemian Rhapsody)

  • Christian Bale – Vice as Dick Cheney
  • Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born as Jackson ‘Jack’ Maine
  • Willem Dafoe – At Eternity’s Gate as Vincent van Gogh
  • Viggo Mortenson – Green Book as Frank ‘Tony Lip’ Vallelonga

Best Actress was won by famed theatre actress Olivia Colman for her role as Anne, Queen of Great Britain, also meaning that she has won the triple of Golden Globe, BAFTA and Oscar for her role in The Favourite. It was a very closely contested category despite her universal wins, with some thinking that Lady Gaga would prevail for her role as Ally Maine in A Star Is Born.

  • Winner – Olivia Colman as Anne, Queen of Great Britain (The Favourite)
  • Yalitza Aparicio – Roma as Cleodegaria ‘Cleo’ Guitierrez
  • Glenn Close – The Wife as Joan Castleman
  • Lady Gaga – A Star Is Born as Ally Maine
  • Melissa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me? as Lee Israel

Mahershala Ali added to his already full trophy cabinet by winning Best Supporting Actor for his role in Green Book, two years after winning the same award for Moonlight, which also won Best Picture in 2016.

  • Winner – Mahershala Ali as Don Shirley (Green Book)
  • Adam Driver – BlackKklansman as Phillip ‘Flip’ Zimmerman
  • Sam Elliot – A Star Is Born as Bobby Maine
  • Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me? as Jack Hock
  • Sam Rockwell – Vice as George W. Bush

Regina King won her first Academy Award in her first nomination for her role in If Beale Street Could Talk, as Sharon Rivers. The film follows Sharon Rivers as she tries to clear her lover's name before the birth of his child. She beat Amy Adams, who is still without an Oscar after six nominations, the most recent being in 2016 for Arrival.

  • Winner – Regina King as Sharon Rivers (If Beale Street Could Talk)
  • Amy Adams – Vice as Lynne Cheney
  • Marina de Tavira – Roma as Sofia
  • Emma Stone – The Favourite as Abigail Masham
  • Rachel Weisz – The Favourite as Sarah Churchill

Best Original Screenplay was won by shock Best Picture winner Green Book, and was awarded to writers Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrely. It prevailed over acclaimed films such as The Favourite and Roma.

  • Winner – Green Book (Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrely)
  • T\he Favourite – Written by Deborah Davies and Tony McNamara
  • Roma – Written by Alfonso Cuaron
  • Vice- Written by Adam McKay

Best Animated Feature Film was won by Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, ending a 10-year streak by Disney in which they have won every single time they have been nominated, but the groundbreaking Sony animation won the Oscar over Incredibles 2.

  • Winner – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller)
  • Incredibles 2 – Brad Bird, John Walker and Paradis Grindle
  • Isle of Dogs – Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson
  • Mirai – Mamorou Hosoda and Yuichiro Saito
  • Ralph Breaks the Internet – Rich Moore, Phil Johnston and Clark Spencer

Best Foreign Language Film was maybe the only award of the night to be certainly decided even before the award was announced, with the only foreign language Best Picture nominee Roma being the clear and unanimous favourite and delivered.

  • Winner – Roma (Mexico) in Spanish and Mixtec - Directed by Alfonso Cuaron
  • Capernaum (Lebanon) in Arabic – Directed by Nadine Labaki
  • Cold War (Poland) in Polish and French – Directed by Pawel Pawlikoski
  • Never Look Away (Germany) in German – Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmark
  • Shoplifters (Japan) in Japanese – Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda

Best Live Action Short Film

  • Skin – Guy Nativ and Jamie Ray Newman
  • Detainment – Vincent Lambe and Darren Mahon
  • Fauve – Jeremy Comte and Maria Gracia Turgeon
  • Marguerite – Marianne Farley and Marie-Helene Panisset
  • Mother – Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Maria del Puy Alvarado

Best Animated Short Film

  • Bao – Domee Shi and Becky Neiman Cobb
  • Animal Behaviour – Alison Snowden and David Fine
  • Late Afternoon – Louise Bagnali and Nuria Gonzalez Blanco
  • One Small Step – Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas
  • Weekends – Trevor Jiminez

Best Original Score was won by Black Panther, the first Marvel Cinematic Universe film to win an Oscar, and first to be nominated for Best Picture. It won in the presence of strong competition from the likes of Emily Blunt’s Mary Poppins Returns and Terence Blanchard’s BlackKklansman.

  • Winner – Black Panther (Ludwig Goransson)
  • BlackKklansman – Terence Blanchard
  • If Beale Street Could Talk – Nicholas Britell
  • Isle of Dogs – Alexandre Desplait
  • Mary Poppins Returns – Marc Shaiman

Lady Gaga, after winning a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for her song ‘Shallow’, she completed the set after her Best Actress disappointment, winning the Best Original Song award for A Star Is Born. It was her second nomination and first win, after losing in 2016.

  • Winner – ‘Shallow’ from A Star Is Born - Music and Lyrics by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt
  • ‘All the Stars’ from Black Panther – Music by Mark Spears, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth and Anthony Tiffith; Lyrics by Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Anthony Tiffith and Solana Rowe
  • ‘I’ll Fight’ from RBG – Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren
  • The Place Where Lost Things Go’ from Mary Poppins Returns – Music by Marc Shaiman; Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman
  • ‘When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings’ from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Music and Lyrics by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch

Best Sound Editing was the second Oscar won by Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, the first being Rami Malek’s Best Actor win, beating Black Panther and forgotten favourite First Man.

  • Winner – Bohemian Rhapsody (John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone)
  • Black Panther – Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boedekker
  • First Man – Ai Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
  • A Quiet Place – Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadhl
  • Roma – Sergio Diaz and Skip Lievsay

Bohemian Rhapsody won its third Oscar in the Best Sound Mixing category, making it at the time the most successful film at the Oscars.

  • Winner – Bohemian Rhapsody (Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali)
  • Black Panther - Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter J. Devin
  • First Man – John Taylor, Frank A. Montano, Ai-Ling Lee, Mary H. Ellis
  • Roma – Skip Lievsay and Jose Antonio Garcia
  • A Star Is Born – Tom Ozanich, Dean A. Zupancic, Jason Ruder and Steve A. Morrow.

Black Panther won its second of three Oscars in the Best Production Design category, but its win was given away slightly prematurely by Chris Evans, the presenter for the award when he showed visible joy at his Marvel counterparts Oscars wins.

  • Winner: Black Panther – Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Jay Hart.
  • The Favourite – Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton
  • First Man – Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Cathy Lucas
  • Mary Poppins Returns – Production Design: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
  • Roma – Production Design: Eugenio Caballero; Set Decoration: Barbara Enriquez

Roma won Best Cinematography for Alfonso Cuaron’s breath-taking depiction of early 70s Mexico City in Netflix’s first real awards season contender, winning Roma its third Oscar.

  • Winner – Roma (Alfonso Cuaron)
  • Cold War - Lukasz Zal
  • The Favourite – Robbie Ryan
  • Never Look Away – Caleb Deschanel
  • A Star Is Born – Matthew Libatique

Vice deservedly won Best Makeup and Hairstyling as a result of showcasing Christian Bale’s shocking transformation into VP Dick Cheney, who had a completely different body shape and look to Christian Bale, but Bale transformed himself into Dick Cheney with help of the Makeup and Hairstyling department.

  • Winner – Vice (Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia Dehaney)
  • Border – Goran Lundstrom and Pamela Golddamer
  • Mary Queen of Scots – Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Jessica Brooks

Black Panther won its third and final Oscar in Best Costume Design, with Ruth E. Carter collecting the award.

  • Winner: Black Panther – Ruth E. Carter
  • The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Mary Zophres
  • The Favourite – Sandy Powell 
  • Mary Poppins Returns – Sandy Powell 
  • Mary Queen of Scots – Alexandra Byrne

Bohemian Rhapsody won its fourth and final Oscar for Best Film Editing, making it the most successful film at the 91st Academy Awards. There was controversy about this choice given a clip that surfaced of Bohemian Rhapsody’s snappy editing in a scene. This called for criticism in the Guardian which made for an awkward situation for an unsuspecting reporter at the Oscars trying to talk to Brian May.

  • Winner – Bohemian Rhapsody (John Ottoman)
  • BlackKlansman – Barry Alexander Brown
  • The Favourite – Yorgos Mavropsaridis
  • Green Book – Patrick J. Don Vito
  • Vice – Hank Corwin

The original Best Picture favourite (in the end it didn’t even garner a nomination) First Man, detailing the life of first man on the moon Neil Armstrong (played by Ryan Gosling) won its first and only Oscar for Best Visual Effects. It was released in October 2018, making it too early a release to stick in critic’s minds and it failed to secure any major nominations.

  • Winner – First Man (Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J.D. Schwalm
  • Avengers: Infinity War – Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl and Dan Sudick
  • Christopher Robin – Christopher Lawrence, Michael Earnes, Theo Jones, Chris Corbould
  • Ready Player One – Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler and David Shirk
  • Solo: A Star Wars Story – Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Dominic Tuohy