Birdman Moment: Dark satire shines at Oscar gala

Amid star-studded and glamour-soaked Hollywood drizzle at the swish Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, a dark satirical film about an ageing actor shone and stole the show, winning four coveted Oscars.

“Birdman,” which was nominated in nine categories, picked up four honours – Best Picture, Best Director (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu), Best Writing (Original Screenplay) and Best Cinematography – at the 87th Academy Awards.

Neil Patrick Harris, the host, began the show by alluding to the much discussed lack of diversity in this year’s Oscars all-white acting nominees. “Tonight we honour Hollywood’s best and whitest — I mean brightest,” he said, with his tongue firmly in cheek. He even stripped down to his underwear, justifying a Birdman joke.

British actor Eddie Redmayne has won the best actor Oscar for The Theory of Everything, for his sensitive portrayal of Stephen Hawking. The British actor was clearly overwhelmed and described himself “one very very lucky man” — he dedicated the award to the film crew and his wife, the Hawking family and to “everyone around the world suffering from ALS”.

Julianne Moore was crowned as the best actress for her portrayal of a woman diagnosed with early onset dementia in “Still Alice”. Moore excitedly said on her big night. “After seeing the movie my husband said ‘You’re gonna win an Oscar’ and I said ‘Come ON!”

Best picture

American Sniper
WINNER: Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

Best lead actress

Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
WINNER: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Best lead actor

Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
WINNER: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

Best director

WINNER: Alejandro Iñárritu, Birdman, or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game

Best Supporting Actress

WINNER: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

Best Supporting Actor

Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
WINNER: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Best animated feature film of the year

WINNER: Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya

Achievement in cinematography

Roger Deakins, Unbroken
WINNER: Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
Dick Pope, Mr. Turner
Robert Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski, Ida

Achievement in costume design

WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner

Best adapted screenplay

Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Jason Hall, American Sniper
Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything
WINNER: Graham Moore, The Imitation Game

Best original screenplay

Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Futterman and E. Max Frye, Foxcatcher
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
WINNER: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood

Best foreign language film of the year

Leviathan
WINNER: Ida
Tangerines
Timbuktu
Wild Tales

Best documentary feature

WINNER: CITIZENFOUR
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt in the Earth
Virunga

Best documentary short subject

WINNER: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper
White Earth

Achievement in film editing

American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
WINNER: Whiplash

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

Foxcatcher
WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Best original score)

WINNER: Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything
Gary Yershon, Mr. Turner
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Best song)

Everything is Awesome from The LEGO Movie (written by Shawn Patterson)
WINNER: Glory from Selma (written by Common and John Legend)
Grateful from Beyond the Lights (music and lyric by Diane Warren)
I’m Not Gonna Miss You from Glen Campbell … I’ll Be Me (written by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond)
Lost Stars from Begin Again (written by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley and Nick Southwood)

Achievement in production design

WINNER: The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner

Best animated short film

The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
WINNER: Feast
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life

Best live action short film

Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh
WINNER: The Phone Call

Achievement in sound editing

WINNER: American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

Achievement in sound mixing

American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
WINNER: Whiplash

Achievement in visual effects

Captain America
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
WINNER: Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Oscars 2015

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