Amid the specter of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, fresh threats of rising COVID infections, and protests and resignations of several members over the Academy’s decision to relegate announcement of winners in eight categories outside of the live presentation, Uncle Oscar delivered another spectacular, star-studded party filled with pleasant surprises, shocking upsets, heartwarming speeches — and a slap heard around the world!
The actual show started a full hour before the live telecast. Winners in eight categories were announced while the red carpet was still ushering in superstars. During the pre-show, Spanish actress Penelope Cruz and Hollywood legend Denzel Washington were still being interviewed on the red carpet as the clock was ticking down five minutes to showtime.
However, per tradition, the “first” Oscar to be presented live was for Best Supporting Actress, which Ariana DeBose won for her feisty portrayal of Anita from Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story. Interestingly, the role also won the same award for Rita Moreno 60 years ago. Ariana is only the second Latin woman to win, again after Rita.
Onstage Ariana gushed, “Imagine this little girl in the backseat of a white Ford focus. Look into her eyes. You see queer — an openly queer woman of color, an Afro?Latina, who found her strength in life through art. And that’s what I believe we’re here to celebrate. So, to anybody who has ever questioned your identity, ever, ever, or you find yourself living in the gray spaces, I promise you this: There is indeed a place for us. Thank you to the Academy and thank you all.”
Sisters and tennis legends Venus Williams and Serena Williams opened the show with an introduction of Beyoncé’s moving performance of the Oscar-nominated song, Be Alive, taped as live from Compton, the Los Angeles suburb hometown of the sisters and the setting of the Oscar-nominated film, King Richard, which is based on their life story.
DJ Khaled made a surprise appearance introducing this year’s hosts: Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes and Amy Schumer, who quipped that “the Academy hired three women because it was cheaper than hiring one man.” The trio’s jokes were a hit, but it was Wanda’s shoutout to Florida that received the biggest applause: “We are gonna have a great night tonight and for you people in Florida, we are gonna have a gay night.” Florida recently enacted an anti-LGBT law called “Don’t Say Gay.”
Have you ever seen two Hollywood hunks being patted down live? Regina Hall did a delightful pat down of Jason Momoa and Josh Brolin after running down a list of presumably single men in Hollywood in the guise of the Oscars’ COVID protocol. Some say that a joke Regina made involving Will Smith and his “open” marriage with Jada Pinkett-Smith set the stage for Will losing composure later in the show.
Extreme sports legends Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater and Shaun White presented a montage celebrating 60 years of the James Bond movies. Later in the show, brother-sister tandem Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell performed the nominated song, No Time to Die, from the eponymous James Bond film before receiving their well-deserved trophies. Their win dashed Lin-Manuel Miranda’s EGOT dreams for now.
On the first hour mark of the show, Disney’s Encanto was named winner of the Best Animated Feature, a category virtually owned by Disney and sister company Pixar since inception.
Yuh-jung Youn, last year’s Best Supporting Actress winner for Minari, lovingly presented the Oscar to this year’s Best Supporting Actor winner Troy Kotsur from the film CODA. Troy is the second deaf actor to win an Oscar after his CODA co-star Marlee Matlin, who won Best Actress for Children of a Lesser God 36 years ago.
Through an interpreter and fighting back tears, Troy addressed the Academy: “Thank you so much to all the members of the Academy for recognizing my work. It’s really amazing that our film CODA has reached out worldwide, it even reached all the way to the White House!”
Troy dedicated his win to his co-stars, his director Sian Heder and the fishermen of Gloucester, Massachusetts, where they shot CODA. He concluded his speech with a shoutout to “my mom, my dad, and my brother Mark. They’re not here today but look at me now, I did it! I love you!”
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Cannes-winning meditation on death, grief and loneliness, Drive My Car, was the winner of Best International Feature. The movie was also nominated in four other categories, including Best Picture.
In a subtle nod to the atrocities in Ukraine, Ukrainian-born Mila Kunis introduced Reba McIntyre’s Oscar-nominated song, Somehow You Do, from their film, Four Good Days.
“With the dignity of those facing such devastation, it’s impossible to not be moved by their resilience; one cannot help but be in awe of those who find strength to keep fighting through unimaginable darkness,” Mila said.
The Academy brought TikTok to the Oscars during the rousing performance of the chart-topping We Don’t Talk About Bruno from Encanto.
Legendary actor-director Kenneth Branagh finally won his first Oscar after eight nominations. He won for his screenplay for Belfast, which is based on his own childhood.
At the second hour mark of the show, Sian Heder, the writer-director of CODA, was the surprise winner in the Best Adapted Screenplay category that was predicted to go Jane Campion’s way for The Power of the Dog.
The next and final hour of this year’s show could be one of those suspenseful in years. There are no clear frontrunners in the Best Actress and Best Picture categories, the final two awards presented traditionally.
I am writing this in real-time and I spoke, too, soon. No one saw what was to transpire in the final hour. Like a big Hollywood blockbuster, a plot twist no one saw coming occurred at the homestretch of the show! What a whopper!
Did Will Smith slap Chris Rock after a seemingly harmless Jada Pinkett-Smith joke? On TV screens, Jada visibly reacted negatively to a G.I. Jane joke and Will took to the stage and smacked the comedian in the face for that. (According to Reuters, Jada has been battling the autoimmune disorder alopecia, which can cause hair loss.)
P. Diddy tried to defuse the tension by joking about it soon after. Meanwhile, the unedited version of the altercation with the expletive-laden verbal exchange uncensored had already set Twitter-verse on fire.
While social media was abuzz with the controversy, the Academy followed the script. It saluted 50 years of The Godfather saga by bringing Al Pacino, Francis Ford Coppola and Robert de Niro on stage. The legendary filmmaker mentioned only two names to thank: The author Mario Puzo, and the producer, Robert Evans. He didn’t mention Marlon Brando, surprisingly. “There is a time to list them all, but you know them all well, so I will only thank two from the bottom of my heart,” he said.
Kevin Costner presented the Best Director award to Jane Campion, the only woman to be nominated twice for Best Director. She was nominated previously for The Piano. And it’s two years in a row that a woman has been named Best Director. Last year, Chloe Zhao won for Nomadland.
The cast of Pulp Fiction, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, and John Travolta reunited to present the Best Actor award to Will Smith, who apologized to the Academy but not to Chris Rock for an earlier altercation. Below is a portion of his acceptance speech.
“Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family. In this time in my life, in this moment I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world… I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people. Now, I know, to do what we do, you gotta be able to take abuse, you gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you gotta be able to have people disrespecting you and you gotta smile and you gotta pretend like that’s okay.
“Denzel said to me a few minutes ago, he said at your highest moment, be careful. That’s where the devil comes for you.
“It’s like I want to be a vessel for love. I want to say thank you to Venus and Serena and the entire Williams family for entrusting me with your story. That’s what I want to do. I want to be an ambassador of that kind of love and care and concern. I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment, and I’m not — I’m not crying for winning an award. It’s not about winning an award for me. It’s about being able to shine a light on all of the people… Art imitates life. I looked like the crazy father just like they said about Richard Williams, but love will make you do crazy things. I thank you on behalf of Richard and Oracene, the entire Williams family. Thank you. I hope the Academy invites me back. Thank you.”
Sir Anthony Hopkins, who slept through last year’s ceremony from his home in London when he was named Best Actor for The Father, received a belated standing ovation from the crowd. He echoed Will’s earlier speech about love and peace before he presented this year’s Best Actress nominees.
The winner was, not surprisingly, Jessica Chastain. In her speech, she thanked her fellow nominees and dedicated her trophy to Tammy Faye and her advocacy for the LGBT community.
“Right now, we are coming out of some difficult times that have been filled with a lot of trauma and isolation, and so many people out there feel hopelessness and they feel alone. And suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States. It has touched many families. It has touched mine and especially members of the LGBTQ community who oftentimes feel out of place with their peers,” she said. “And for any of you out there who do in fact feel hopeless or alone, I just want you to know that you are unconditionally loved for the uniqueness that is you.”
Backstage, an intrepid journalist asked her to comment on Will’s speech but she was unintentionally cut off as she was about to respond to the question. Will did not show up for the obligatory backstage Q&A with the press.
The Philippine STAR was granted virtual backstage access again this year.
For the final award of the night, a frail and wheelchair-bound Liza Minelli braved her present condition and presented with Lady Gaga. The Oscar-winning actress was at the show to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her signature film, Cabaret.
And Liza couldn’t have announced the biggest winner of the night any better. She read out CODA from the red envelope without any fanfare or faked suspense.
The Best Picture win is historic. It’s the first film to win from a streaming platform, Apple TV. And it is the first film with a majority cast of non-speaking actors ever to be nominated and win Best Picture.
Director Sian proclaimed backstage: “I really hope that this movie kicks the door open and allows other people through — and not just deaf actors, deaf writers, deaf directors, you know, people from the disability community who have been ignored and left out of Hollywood. I have an interpreter next to me because there are deaf people at home that need to see this and participate in it. This is a historic moment for the community and so I’m so grateful that this happened.”
To those keeping count, the sci-fi hit, Dune, ended the night with the most trophies with six. The Power of the Dog, the Netflix-produced drama, won only one out of a leading 12 nominations.