The 87th Annual Academy Awards premiered Sunday night, with “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” taking home Best Picture and Best Director for Alejandro González Iñárritu. Both "Birdman" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" took home four awards, the most of the night. Julianne Moore won Best Actress for her portrayal in “Still Alice,” and Eddie Redmayne took home Best Actor for his role as Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything."
Neil Patrick Harris, who has hosted his fair share of awards shows, looked like a seasoned pro between the awards and performances. His jokes, while sometimes a little awkward, including his double mispronunciation of David Oyelowo’s name, were tame enough to make the audience of celebrities laugh every time he came on stage—even when he walked out in his underwear, à la Michael Keaton in “Birdman.”
The performances for Best Original Song broke up the three-and-a-half hour show, with Rita Ora belting out “Grateful,” from “Beyond the Lights,” and Tegan and Sara and The Lonely Island brought an insane amount of energy for “Everything is Awesome” from “The Lego Movie.” Above all, though, was the emotional performance of “Glory,” with Common and John Legend bringing audience members to tears after their song. “Glory,” from “Selma,” would go on to win Best Original Song.
The highlight of the night was the speeches, with multiple winners bringing up relevant political themes throughout the night. In her Best Supporting Actress speech, Patricia Arquette made an impassioned plea for equal pay for women. John Legend, when accepting for Best Original Song, said that, “We live in the most incarcerated country in the world. There are more black men under incarceration now than during slavery in 1850.” Graham Moore, who won Best Adapted Screenplay for “The Imitation Game,” talked about his attempted suicide and wanted to let all the “weird” kids at home know it was okay to be weird and that their time will come. Iñárritu, in his acceptance speech for Best Picture, mentioned that this generation of immigrants should receive respect because immigrants built this country.
The night hit a high note when Scarlett Johansson introduced a “Sound of Music” tribute, which brought Lady Gaga onto the stage. The performance was incredible, showing off Lady Gaga’s impressive vocal range and talent for belting out Standards.
“American Sniper,” which garnered an immense amount of attention after the nominations were announced, took home one award. “Whiplash” took home three: J.K. Simmons’ Best Supporting Actor performance, Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing. “Big Hero 6” took home Best Animated Feature.
List of winners, in order of announcement:
Best Supporting Actor
J.K. Simmons—Whiplash
Best Costume Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel—Milena Canonero
Best Make-up and Hairstyling
The Grand Budapest Hotel—Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier
Best Foreign Language Film
Ida
Best Live Action Short
The Phone Call—Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Best Documentary Short
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1—Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
Best Sound Mixing
Whiplash—Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley
Best Sound Editing
American Sniper—Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette—Boyhood
Best Visual Effects
Interstellar—Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
Best Animated Short
Feast—Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Best Animated Feature
Big Hero 6
Best Production Design
The Grand Budapest Hotel—Adam Stockhausen (Production Design) and Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)
Best Cinematography
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)—Emmanuel Lubezki
Best Film Editing
Whiplash—Tom Cross
Best Documentary Feature
Citizenfour—Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky
Best Original Song
"Glory" from Selma—Music and Lyric by John Legend and Common
Best Original Score
The Grand Budapest Hotel—Alexandre Desplat
Best Original Screenplay
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)—Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Imitation Game—Graham Moore
Best Director
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)—Alejandro González Iñárritu
Best Actor
Eddie Redmayne—The Theory of Everything
Best Actress
Julianne Moore—Still Alice
Best Picture
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)—Alejandro González Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole
