By Griffin Brammer, Staff Writer
Sunday, March 12 marked the 95th annual Academy Awards. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the Academy rolled out the champagne (not red) carpet and welcomed the stars to what ended up being a less drama-filled ceremony than many expected but a record-breaking night nonetheless.
Best Picture:
The multiverse-hopping sci-fi Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, by arthouse producer A24, won in the Best Picture category over other frontrunners like All Quiet on the Western Front and The Banshees of Inisherin. In fact, of the 11 awards the film was nominated for, it won an impressive seven. This included four of the “Big Five” awards: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Director.
Best Actor and Actress:
Two fan favorites earned their first academy awards at the Oscars, with Brendan Fraser of The Whale winning Best Actor and Michelle Yeoh of Everything, Everywhere, All at Once taking home the award for Best Actress.
Many were relieved and touched to see Fraser win due to his complicated history in the industry that resulted in an almost 15-year break from acting.
Meanwhile, Yeoh made history as being the first Asian actress to ever win the award for Best Actress in a Lead Role.
In her speech, she acknowledged her historic win and her hopes for the impact it would have in inspiring the Asian community.
“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this (Oscar) is a beacon of hope and possibilities,” Yeoh stated.
“And ladies, don’t let anybody ever tell you you are past your prime,” she said with a chuckle.
Best Supporting Actor and Actress:
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once continued to dominate in big categories with co-stars Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis taking home the gold for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.
Quan delivered the acceptance speech for his first Oscar after a nearly 20-year acting hiatus. He recounted what it meant to be an Asian immigrant actor winning his first Oscar.
“My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. And somehow, I ended up here on Hollywood’s biggest stage,” Quan said, holding back tears. “This is the American dream.”
While the night also marked the first Oscar win for Curtis in her over 45-year career, the award also came with backlash. Going into the event, many speculated Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s Angela Bassett or Curtis’ co-star Stephanie Hsu would take home the award for Best Supporting Actress. Many people pointed out online that Curtis’ role as Dierdre was not as significant to the film compared to Hsu’s role as Joy and accused the Academy of overshadowing actors of color in favor of their white counterparts.
Other Notable Wins:
The Whale also took home the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for the prosthetics required to give Fraser the appearance of a 600-pound man. Notably, this award buzzed a bit of controversy.
“Stop giving fatsuits awards! We want better representation in Hollywood,” long time body-positive brand Dove Soap tweeted.
Best Costume Design was given to Ruth E. Carter, the costuming designer behind Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. This marked history for Carter, as she is the first Black woman to ever win two Oscars.
Best International Feature Film went to the German-language All Quiet on the Western Front, based on the Erich Maria Remarque novel of the same name. The war film also took home the awards for Best Original Score, Best Cinematography and Best Production Design.Finally, in the ever-close category of Best Animated Feature, heavy hitters like Pixar’s Turning Red and Dreamworks’ Puss in Boots: The Last Wish ultimately lost to Guillarmo Del Toro’s stop-motion animated Netflix-produced Pinocchio.