Last night (22nd February 2015) saw the highly anticipated 2015 Academy Awards ceremony handing the Oscars to the great and good of the movie world and it looks like Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Everything) just about pipped it to be the most successful film this year in terms of its awards haul. It took four Academy Awards in total, equaled only by The Grand Budapest Hotel, but with the Best Picture, Director, Cinematography and Best Original Screenplay, compared to the latter’s Costume Design, Makeup & Hairstyling, Original Score and Production Design, it’s the outright winner on the night.
Eddie Redmayne (My Week With Marilyn) picked up the Best Actor award for his role as Stephen Hawkins in The Theory Of Everything, and Julianne Moore took the Best Actress for her part as a professor diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease in Still Alice, having had a total of 5 nominations previously. Check out all of the winners and nominees below.
The night wasn’t all fun and games though as host Neil Patrick Harris picked up a little criticism for not quite being as scintillating as people had been expecting, despite doing a portion of the job in his Y fronts. On the positive side, his joke about the Academy liking Selma director Ava DuVernay, who had not been including in their nominations for Best Director, was a little inspired.
If you missed the night, you will have missed Patricia Arquette calling for equal pay for women in her acceptance speech for the Best Actress In A Supporting Role in Boyhood; an overwhelmed acceptance speech from Eddie Redmayne, who dedicated it to the people that helped him understand his role at medical facilities in the UK; and actor David Oyelowo, who played Martin Luther King in Selma, crying openly during the performance of “Glory” by John Legend and Common.
The Imitation Game director Graham Moore gave a powerful speech on the difficulties “weird” and “different” kids go through, comparing it to his own teenage years and a point in his life when he tried to kill himself. He closed his comments by saying, “I would like this moment to be for that kid out there who feels like she’s weird or she’s different or she doesn’t fit in anywhere. Yes, you do. I promise you do. Stay weird. Stay different, and then when it’s your turn and you are standing on this stage, please pass this same message to the next person who comes along.”
Sean Penn was Twitter-lynched for a comment he made about Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Green Card, but the Birdman director indicated that it was a joke between friends in discussions after the show. However, it didn’t come across as being in the best possible taste.
The 2015 Academy Award Winners and Nominees:
Best Picture
Winner – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole
Nominees
American Sniper – Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan
Boyhood – Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson
The Imitation Game – Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman
Selma – Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner
The Theory of Everything – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten
Whiplash – Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster
Actor in a Leading Role
Winner – Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Nominees
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Actress in a Leading Role
Winner – Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Nominees
Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild
Actor in a Supporting Role
Winner – J.K. Simmons – Whiplash
Nominees
Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
Actress in a Supporting Role
Winner – Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Nominees
Laura Dern – Wild
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Emma Stone – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods
Animated Feature Film
Winner – Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli
Nominees
The Boxtrolls – Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight
How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold
Song of the Sea – Tomm Moore and Paul Young
The Tale of the Princess – Kaguya Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura
Cinematography
Winner – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Emmanuel Lubezki
Nominees
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Robert Yeoman
Ida – Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
Mr. Turner – Dick Pope
Unbroken – Roger Deakins
Costume Design
Winner – The Grand Budapest Hotel – Milena Canonero
Nominees
Inherent Vice – Mark Bridges
Into the Woods – Colleen Atwood
Maleficent – Anna B. Sheppard
Mr. Turner – Jacqueline Durran
Directing
Winner – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Nominees
Boyhood – Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher – Bennett Miller
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson
The Imitation Game – Morten Tyldum
Writing: Adapted Screenplay
Winner – The Imitation Game – Written by Graham Moore
Nominees
American Sniper – Jason Hall
Inherent Vice – Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything – Anthony McCarten
Whiplash – Damien Chazelle
Writing: Original Screenplay
Winner – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo
Nominees
Boyhood – Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher – E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
Nightcrawler – Dan Gilroy
Documentary Feature
Winner – CitizenFour – Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky
Nominees
Finding Vivian Maier – John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
Last Days in Vietnam – Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester
The Salt of the Earth – Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier
Virunga – Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
Documentary Short Subject
Winner – Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 – Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
Nominees
Joanna – Aneta Kopacz
Our Curse – Tomasz Śliwiński and Maciej Ślesicki
The Reaper (La Parka) – Gabriel Serra Arguello
White Earth – J. Christian Jensen
Film Editing
Winner – Whiplash – Tom Cross
Nominees
American Sniper – Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach
Boyhood – Sandra Adair
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game – William Goldenberg
Foreign Language Film
Winner – Ida – Poland – Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski
Nominees
Leviathan – Russia – Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev
Tangerines – Estonia – Directed by Zaza Urushadze
Timbuktu – Mauritania – Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako
Wild Tales – Argentina – Directed by Damián Szifron
Makeup and Hairstyling
Winner – The Grand Budapest Hotel – Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier
Nominees
Foxcatcher – Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard
Guardians of the Galaxy – Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White
Music: Original Score
Winner – The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat
Nominees
The Imitation Game – Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar – Hans Zimmer
Mr. Turner – Gary Yershon
The Theory of Everything – Jóhann Jóhannsson
Music: Original Song
Winner – “Glory” – Selma – Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn
Nominees
“Everything Is Awesome” – The Lego Movie – Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson
“Grateful” – Beyond The Lights – Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” – Glen Campbell… I’ll Be Me – Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
“Lost Stars” – Begin Again – Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois
Production Design
Winner – The Grand Budapest Hotel – Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)
Nominees
The Imitation Game – Maria Djurkovic (Production Design); Tatiana Macdonald (Set Decoration)
Interstellar – Nathan Crowley (Production Design); Gary Fettis (Set Decoration)
Into the Woods – Dennis Gassner (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)
Mr. Turner – Suzie Davies (Production Design); Charlotte Watts (Set Decoration)
Short Film: Animated
Winner – Feast – Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Nominees
The Bigger Picture – Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper – Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Me and My Moulton – Torill Kove
A Single Life – Joris Oprins
Short Film: Live Action
Winner – The Phone Call – Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Nominees
Aya – Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham – Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak) – Hu Wei and Julien Féret
Parvaneh – Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
Sound Editing
Winner – American Sniper – Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Nominees
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Martin Hernández and Aaron Glascock
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
Interstellar – Richard King
Unbroken – Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro
Sound Mixing
Winner – Whiplash – Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley
Nominees
American Sniper – John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga
Interstellar – Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
Unbroken – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee
Visual Effects
Winner – Interstellar – Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
Nominees
Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist
Guardians of the Galaxy – Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould
X-Men: Days of Future Past – Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer
