Didn’t Watch the Oscars? Here’s What You Missed
The 89th Academy Awards were memorable to say the least, with groundbreaking milestones throughout the whole ceremony. There were four incredible musical performances, a stirring In Memoriam tribute, and some crazy antics from Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel (but really, did anyone expect anything different?)
Let’s start with the biggest highlight of the night: the Best Picture mess-up. It’s a screw-up for the ages, but in terms of awards show entertainment, you can’t plan something as entertaining and awkward. Presenting the award, Warren Beatty somehow wound up with the wrong envelope — the one announcing Emma Stone’s best actress win — and he handed it off to Faye Dunaway in confusion, who quickly named the movie Emma Stone starred in, “La La Land,” as the winner.
The “La La Land” team rushed the stage, giving the classic Oscars acceptance spiels. In the middle of their speeches, the show’s producers were all over the stage causing confusion among the team and viewers alike.
“Moonlight” actually won, but to me, the most inspiring moment came from “La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz. He graciously cleared up the mess and announced that “Moonlight” truly won best picture. I can describe it all I want, but it’s nothing like watching it for yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVBv3L3A1wo
In addition to the mistake itself making Oscars history, it set two somewhat sad records in the process for “La La Land”. If the film had won at least 12 of the awards it was nominated for, it would have beaten the three current record holders, each with 11 Oscars: “Ben-Hur” (1959), “Titanic” (1997), and “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” (2003). But that’s not all. “La La Land” failed to win Best Picture, which made it the first film in history to earn 14 nominations but lose Best Picture.
“La La Land” wasn’t all the buzz on Sunday night, however. After dozens of African-American nominations in Oscars history, this was the first year that more than three have ever been awarded Oscars in the same ceremony.
With “Moonlight,” Mahershala Ali won Best Supporting Actor; “O.J.: Made in America” director-producer Ezra Edelman won Best Documentary Feature; again with “Moonlight,” Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney won Best Adapted Screenplay (and, of course, Best Picture); finally, “Fences” star Viola Davis won Best Supporting Actress.
In addition to more than three African-Americans winning Oscars, each of those winners made history in their own way. Mahershala Ali is the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar in history.
“O.J.: Made in America” is the longest film to ever win an Oscar with a run time of seven hours and 47 minutes. Prior to this win, the record holder was “War and Peace”, in 1969, which clocks in at seven hours and 12 minutes.
Not only was “Moonlight” a huge win for the African-American community, it is the first LGBTQ-themed film to win the Best Picture prize.
Last but not least, we have Viola Davis, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in “Fences.” She became the first black woman to win an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony for acting. Her speech is even the most talked about of the night. She led herself with grace, class, and humility, without one ounce of political statement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWIdWLwux18
My favorite movie series is the “Harry Potter” franchise and, sadly, it has never been awarded an Oscar. Until now!
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” won Best Costume Design for the franchise’s first Oscar ever.
Finally, the streaming services made off well in the Oscars this year. Netflix received its first Oscar win, in the Best Documentary Short category, for “The White Helmets”. While Amazon picked up wins in two major categories: The Iranian film “The Salesman” won for Best Foreign Film, and “Manchester by the Sea” won Best Original Screenplay.
This year’s Oscars were full of interesting moments, to say the least. Want to watch the action? You can watch the whole thing here.
All pictures and videos are credited to ABC