The journalism drama Spotlight took the best picture prize at the Academy Awards on Sunday (28 February) over the favored The Revenant which won the Oscar for best director for Alejandro González Iñárritu.
Spotlight tells the real-life story of how Boston Globe reporters exposed a wide-ranging cover-up of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.
‘We made this film for all the journalists who have and continue to hold the powerful accountable, and for the survivors whose courage and will to overcome is really an inspiration,’ director and co-writer Tom McCarthy said as he accepted the Oscar. ‘We have to make sure this never happens again.’
Leonardo DiCaprio, up for an Oscar for the sixth time, finally won for the first time for his lead actor performance in The Revenant.
He used part of his time at the podium in Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre to talk about climate change which has long been a passionate cause for the actor.
‘Climate change is real, it is happening right now,’ he said. ‘It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively and stop procrastinating. We need to support leaders around the world… who speak for all of humanity.’
As expected, Brie Larson took home the best actress Oscar for her performance in Room while Mark Rylance won best supporting actor for his performance as a Soviet agent in Bridge of Spies over the heavily favored Sylvester Stallone.
The Danish Girl’s Alicia Vikander won the supporting actress Oscar for her performance as the wife of a pioneering transgender artist.
Diversity controversy
With no racial minorities in any of the four acting categories for the second consecutive year, the Academy had been criticized to such a degree that it made changes to its membership criteria in an effort to have a membership that better reflects society.
Host Chris Rock took the diversity controversy head on in an edgy opening monologue welcoming the audience to ‘the white People’s Choice awards.’
‘Is Hollywood racist? You’re damn right Hollywood’s racist,’ Rock said.
Rock wondered why in 88 years of Academy Awards there is so much furor over racial diversity this year when the awards were probably just as white-washed more than 70 other times in past decades including the 1960s during the height of the civil rights movement.
‘We were too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematography,’ he said. ‘When your grandmother’s swinging from a tree, it’s really hard to care about best documentary foreign short.’
While black performers were not nominated this year, plenty showed up to participate in the ceremony as presenters including past Oscar winners Whoopi Goldberg, Morgan Freeman and louis Gossett Jr. as well as Kerry Washington, Kevin Hart, Pharrell Williams, and John Legend.
Complete list of winners:
Best Picture: Spotlight
Direction: The Revenant, Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Actress: Brie Larson, Room
Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
Supporting Actress: Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
Adapted Screenplay: The Big Short, Charles Randolph and Adam McKay
Original Screenplay: Spotlight, Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy
Cinematography: The Revenant, Emmanuel Lubezki
Production Design: Mad Max: Fury Road, Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson (set decoration)
Film Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road, Margaret Sixel
Visual Effects: Ex Machina, Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett
Costume Design: Mad Max: Fury Road, Jenny Beavan
Makeup: Mad Max: Fury Road, Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin
Sound Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road, Mark Mangini and David White
Sound Mixing: Mad Max: Fury Road, Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo
Score: The Hateful Eight, Ennio Morricone
Song: Writing’s on the Wall, from Spectre, Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith
Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul (Hungary)
Animated Feature: Inside Out
Documentary Feature: Amy
Animated Short: Bear Story
Documentary Short: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Live Action Short: Stutterer
