Oscars 2014: A complete overview of the 86th Academy Awards
Once again it is that time of year when Twitter is flooded for days with red carpet shots, dresses and acceptance speech highlights. Awards season is here, back with a vengeance, and the Oscars is the crowning jewel. After last year’s somewhat controversial appointment of Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane as host, this year’s awards promise a return to more family-friendly hands with TV personality Ellen DeGeneres. A household and industry sweetheart, both across America and internationally, DeGeneres revisits the stage after previously hosting the 79th Academy Awards back in 2007.
The red carpet
As always the red carpet dazzled (where else could you hear a wealth of phenomenally talented women being grilled about every aspect of their clothing?). Since the popularisation of social media among celebrities, half of the red carpet fun happens on your dashboard. For those still burying their heads in the proverbial technological sand, you are likely to have missed out on Kristen Bell’s Twitter confession that she planned to smuggle a burrito onto the red carpet in her clutch (designer undetermined). Best hair certainly went to Jared Leto, cutest couple to Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis, and Sarah Paulson and Liza Minelli remain incapable of doing wrong. For the second year running, red carpet darling Jennifer Lawrence managed to dazzle and topple simultaneously, tripping on her poppy-coloured Dior gown. If you’re going to go down, do it in style.
The ceremony
Once the ceremony began, the awards came in thick and fast, kicking the night off with Dallas Buyers Club’s first win of the night, with Jared Leto receiving the award for Best Supporting Actor, and Matthew McConaughey later claiming the title of Best Actor. Gravity led the night, sweeping seven wins out of ten nominations, including Best Director, Best Visual Effects and Best Original Score. Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave also did well, with Lupita Nyong’o taking home the award for Best Supporting Actress, beating the likes of previous Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence, and scooping the coveted title of Best Picture. Sadly, another year goes by without a win for Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street), a phenomenon that confuses many fans, but he is likely to be preoccupied with other priorities, being Hollywood heartthrob and humanitarian.
As with every year, the Academy Awards are not just about the triumphs of those able to attend, but also to honour those who cannot. It is about the integrity and graft of the art, as well as the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, and to recognise the talent and hard work that goes into each and every production.
The night, overseen by DeGeneres’ familial gaze, was atmospheric and jovial, even when (as with every year) the momentum started to wane. There were a couple of awkward moments, including several of the presenters struggling with the autocue, and John Travolta’s chronic mispronunciation of Idina Menzel’s (phonetically spelt) name, most of which can probably be put down to technical error. Yet, even with the slight stumble of the vernacular, the show never failed to entertain. With performances of the nominations for Best Original Song, including Pharrell’s Happy, and Idina Menzel’s performance of the winning song Let It Go from Frozen, which also won Best Animated Feature. It seemed that P!nk’s performance of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, in honour of Judy Garland’s performance in The Wizard of Oz, stole the show until DeGeneres took to the stage dressed as Glenda the Good Witch.
An enjoyable and entertaining night, DeGeneres really drew the audience into the experience, tweeting the event from the stage and taking selfies from the audience. The fashion was not disappointing, but not the kind of across-the-board phenomena that we seem to now expect. But it was not just about the fashion, and did its duty in honouring the work that has gone into another year’s worth of incredible filmmaking.
Phoebe Person
Read our reviews of this year’s Oscar-nominated movies here. For further information about the 86th Academy Awards visit here.
The full list of winners
Best Picture
12 Years a Slave – Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, and Anthony Katagas
American Hustle – Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, and Jonathan Gordon
Captain Phillips – Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, and Michael De Luca
Dallas Buyers Club – Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter
Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman
Her – Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze, and Vincent Landay
Nebraska – Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa
Philomena – Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, and Tracey Seaward
The Wolf of Wall Street – Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joey McFarland, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff
Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity
David O. Russell – American Hustle
Alexander Payne – Nebraska
Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Actor
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club as Ron Woodroof
Christian Bale – American Hustle as Irving Rosenfeld
Bruce Dern – Nebraska as Woody Grant
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street as Jordan Belfort
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave as Solomon Northup
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine as Jeanette “Jasmine” Francis
Amy Adams – American Hustle as Sydney Prosser
Sandra Bullock – Gravity as Dr Ryan Stone
Judi Dench – Philomena as Philomena Lee
Meryl Streep – August: Osage County as Violet Weston
Best Supporting Actor
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club as Rayon
Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips as Abduwali Muse
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle as Agent Richard “Richie” DiMaso
Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave as Edwin Epps
Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street as Donnie Azoff
Best Supporting Actress
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave as Patsey
Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine as Ginger
Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle as Rosalyn Rosenfeld
Julia Roberts – August: Osage County as Barbara Weston-Fordham
June Squibb – Nebraska as Kate Grant
Best Writing – Original Screenplay
Her – Spike Jonze
American Hustle – Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine – Woody Allen
Dallas Buyers Club – Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack
Nebraska – Bob Nelson
Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay
12 Years a Slave – John Ridley
Before Midnight – Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke
Captain Phillips – Billy Ray
Philomena – Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
The Wolf of Wall Street – Terence Winter
Best Animated Feature Film
Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and Peter Del Vecho
The Croods – Kirk DeMicco, Chris Sanders, and Kristine Belson
Despicable Me 2 – Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, and Chris Meledandri
Ernest & Celestine – Benjamin Renner and Didier Brunner
The Wind Rises – Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki
Best Foreign Language Film
The Great Beauty (Italy) in Italian – Paolo Sorrentino
The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium) in Dutch – Felix Van Groeningen
The Hunt (Denmark) in Danish – Thomas Vinterberg
The Missing Picture (Cambodia) in French – Rithy Panh
Omar (Palestine) in Arabic – Hany Abu-Assad
Best Documentary – Feature
20 Feet from Stardom – Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, and Caitrin Rogers
The Act of Killing – Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
Cutie and the Boxer – Zachary Heinzerling and Lydia Dean Pilcher
Dirty Wars – Richard Rowley and Jeremy Scahill
The Square – Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer
Best Documentary – Short Subject
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life – Malcolm Clarke and Nicholas Reed
CaveDigger – Jeffrey Karoff
Facing Fear – Jason Cohen
Karama Has No Walls – Sara Ishaq
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall – Edgar Barens
Best Live Action Short Film
Helium – Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson
Aquél no era yo (That Wasn’t Me) – Esteban Crespo
Avant que de tout perdre (Just Before Losing Everything) – Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras
Pitääkö mun kaikki hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?) – Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari
The Voorman Problem – Mark Gill and Baldwin Li
Best Animated Short Film
Mr Hublot – Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares
Feral – Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden
Get a Horse! – Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim
Possessions – Shuhei Morita
Room on the Broom – Max Lang and Jan Lachauer
Best Original Score
Gravity – Steven Price
The Book Thief – John Williams
Her – William Butler and Owen Pallett
Philomena – Alexandre Desplat
Saving Mr Banks – Thomas Newman
Best Original Song
“Let It Go” from Frozen – Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
“Happy” from Despicable Me 2 – Pharrell Williams
“The Moon Song” from Her – Karen Orzolek and Spike Jonze
“Ordinary Love” from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – U2
“Alone, Yet Not Alone” from Alone Yet Not Alone – Bruce Broughton and Dennis Spiegel (nomination revoked)
Best Sound Editing
Gravity – Glenn Freemantle
All Is Lost – Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns
Captain Phillips – Oliver Tarney
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Brent Burge and Chris Ward
Lone Survivor – Wylie Stateman
Best Sound Mixing
Gravity – Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, and Chris Munro
Captain Phillips – Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, and Chris Munro
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, and Tony Johnson
Inside Llewyn Davis – Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, and Peter F. Kurland
Lone Survivor – Andy Koyama, Beau Borders, and David Brownlow
Best Production Design
The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin (Production Design); Beverley Dunn (Set Decoration)
American Hustle – Judy Becker (Production Design); Heather Loeffler (Set Decoration)
Gravity – Andy Nicholson (Production Design); Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard (Set Decoration)
Her – K. K. Barrett (Production Design); Gene Serdena (Set Decoration)
12 Years a Slave – Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Alice Baker (Set Decoration)
Best Cinematography
Gravity – Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grandmaster – Philippe Le Sourd
Inside Llewyn Davis – Bruno Delbonnel
Nebraska – Phedon Papamichael
Prisoners – Roger Deakins
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Dallas Buyers Club – Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – Stephen Prouty
The Lone Ranger – Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny
Best Costume Design
The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin
American Hustle – Michael Wilkinson
The Grandmaster – William Chang Suk Ping
The Invisible Woman – Michael O’Connor
12 Years a Slave – Patricia Norris
Best Film Editing
Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger
American Hustle – Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers, and Alan Baumgarten
Captain Phillips – Christopher Rouse
Dallas Buyers Club – John Mac McMurphy[13] and Martin Pensa
12 Years a Slave – Joe Walker
Best Visual Effects
Gravity – Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, and Neil Corbould
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, and Eric Reynolds
Iron Man 3 – Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash, and Dan Sudick
The Lone Ranger – Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams, and John Frazier
Star Trek Into Darkness – Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann, and Burt Dalton
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