The 90th annual Academy Awards ceremony was held on Sunday evening at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, and ‘The Shape of Water’ led the pack with four wins, including major categories Best Picture and Best Director for Guillermo del Toro.
“Growing up in Mexico as a kid, I was a big admirer of foreign films, like ‘E.T.’,” del Toro said on stage. “And a few weeks ago, Steven Spielberg said, if you find yourself there, if you find yourself on the podium, remember that you are part of a legacy, that you are part of a world of filmmakers and be proud of it and I’m very, very proud.
“I want to dedicate this to every young filmmaker, the youth that is showing us how things are done. Really, they are. In every country in the world. And I was a kid enamored with movies, growing up in Mexico, I thought this could never happen. It happens.”
Competing for the Best Picture, ‘The Shape of Water’, a love story involving a fish-man, beat out the revenge drama ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,’ centered on the death of a teen girl, wartime epic ‘Dunkirk’ and ‘Get Out,’ a horror flick featuring body-snatching Caucasian people as well as six other feature films.
Heading into the night, del Toro’s drama/ fantasy led the field with 13 nominations, and it ended up winning four Oscars, including Best Production Design and Best Original Score as well.
“We will always remember this year as the year men screwed up so badly, women started dating fish,” joked host Jimmy Kimmel during his opening monologue, in a nod to the #MeToo movement and subsequent sexual harassment reckoning.
The Time’s Up movement was acknowledged further in a segment by Ashley Judd, Salma Hayek and Annabella Sciorra, who were among the scores of women who accused producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, Forbes.com wrote. (He has denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex.)
Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dunkirk’, which had earned eight nominations, was limited to just three wins in technical categories, including Best Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.
‘Blade Runner 2049’ stood out for its pair of visuals-oriented wins, including Best Visual Effects and Best Cinematography, the latter of which earned legendary director of photography Roger Deakins his first Oscar win.
The performing categories played out entirely as expected, with awards going to odds-on favorites. ‘Three Billboards ...’ was the standout in the acting categories, earning Frances McDormand an Oscar for Best Actress and Sam Rockwell an award for Best Supporting Actor.
Most Impactful Moment
McDormand provided perhaps the most impactful moment of the night, using her acceptance speech to invite all female nominees in the audience to stand up.
“Look around, ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell and projects we need financed,” she said.
McDormand, 60, also advocated the use of a so-called inclusion rider by performers during negotiation that would demand at least 50% diversity in casting and film crews.
Gary Oldman’s lead performance as Winston Churchill in ‘Darkest Hour’ was awarded with the Best Actor prize. It is the first Oscar the 59-year-old Brit has won during his acting career. Almost all predictions by different websites and critics before the Oscars had chosen Oldman, 59, as the winner of the category. The movie also won the Best Makeup award.
Allison Janney won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in ‘I, Tonya’.
The horror comedy ‘Get Out’ which was a success during the award season scored only one award, for Best Original Screenplay. In doing so, Jordan Peele became the first African-American writer ever to win an Academy Award. He wrote and directed the hit, which grossed $255 million on a $4.5 million budget.
The celebrated Pixar and Disney animation ‘Coco’, narrating the story of a 12-year-old boy who finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead, grabbed two awards for the Best Animated Feature Film and Best Song.
James Ivory won Best Adapted Screenplay for ‘Call Me by Your Name’.
Audience favorite ‘Lady Bird’ was shut out entirely and despite notching five nominations, it did not score a single win.
