Sunday evening, the 88th Annual Academy Awards were telecast from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Comedian Chris Rock hosted what has been a controversial Oscar year, the lack of nominees of colour caused a call for boycott and a change in the Academy’s membership rules.
The controversy gave Rock a lot of fodder for his comedic opening montage, he left little untouched, mentioning racism, sexism and more in Hollywood.
In a new move to keep the telecast pace moving, details and info about presenters popped-up on screen while award recipients had their Thank You list stream along the bottom of the screen allowing them to keep within their onstage time limit.
For the second year in a row, director Alejandro González Iñárritu directed the most nominated film; The Revenant lead with twelve nods. Mad Max: Fury Road followed closely with ten nominations. At the end of the night, Mad Max: Fury Road went home with six Oscars, and The Revenant took three awards. Spotlight bookended the telecast with the first award, Best Original Screenplay and last, Best Picture.
Honorary Academy Awards were presented earlier to Spike Lee and Geena Rowlands with the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Award presented to Debbie Reynolds.
For behind the scenes and insight check out @TheAcademy on Twitter and Instagram
Well said, @LeoDiCaprio. pic.twitter.com/Fibksgu8ea
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) February 29, 2016
The other major awards went to;
Best Picture – Spotlight
Best Director – Alejandro González Iñárritu for The Revenant
Best Actor – Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass in The Revenant
Best Actress – Brie Larson as Joy “Ma” Newsome in Room
Best Supporting Actor – Mark Rylance as Rudolf Abel in Bridge of Spies
Best Supporting Actress – Alicia Vikander as Gerda Wegener in The Danish Girl
Best Writing – Original Screenplay – Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy for Spotlight
Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay – Charles Randolph & Adam McKay for The Big Short, from “The Big Short” by Michael Lewis.
Best Foreign Language Film – Son of Saul (Hungary)
Best Animated Feature – Inside Out
Best Documentary Feature – Amy
Best Original Song – “Writing’s On The Wall” from Spectre – Music and Lyric by Jimmy Napes & Sam Smith
Best Original Score – Ennio Morricone for The Hateful Eight
For the complete list of winners at the 88th Academy Awards visit oscars.org