Oscars 2021 – live: Winners, acceptance speeches and highlights from the Academy Awards
Chloé Zhao wins Best Director while Frances McDormand earns Best Actress prize
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Your support makes all the difference.Road movie Nomadland won the top prize at the 93rd Academy Awards, which fulfilled many expectations but threw in a couple of surprise wins in an unusual ceremony.
The film’s director Chloe Zhao also made history, becoming the first woman of colour to win the award for directing, and the second woman in history — and the film scooped the Best Actress prize for its star Frances McDormand.
Sir Anthony Hopkins won the Best Actor Oscar — his first since The Silence of the Lambs in 1992 — for his performance in The Father, about a man slipping into dementia, defeating presumptive favourite Chadwick Boseman, who died last year aged 43 following a private four-year battle with colon cancer.
Daniel Kaluuya, who was born in London to Ugandan parents, is the first black British winner of the best Supporting Actor prize for his turn as community organiser and member of the Black Panther Party Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah.
There were a number of surprise wins. David Fincher’s Mank led the pack with 10 nominations, but ultimately won two.
Due to coronavirus, the Oscars moved out of their usual venue, the Dolby Theatre, and were based out of Los Angeles’s Union Station instead. The ceremony’s format was overhauled too, with attendees observing social distancing and some joining via video link from other parts of the world.
Nomadland had been a favourite to win Best Picture; it fulfilled that expectation, beating The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Mank, Minari, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal, and The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Minari actor Youn Yuh-jung also won over the crowd in her acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actress, which was presented to her by Brad Pitt. “Mr Brad Pitt, finally, nice to meet you!” she told him after making her way onto the stage. She then proceeded to acknowledge the ways in which her name has been mispronounced throughout the awards season, telling the crowd: “Tonight, you are all forgiven.”
With her win, Youn became the first Korean actor to take home an Academy Award.
Follow our liveblog for highlights from the ceremony and the buzz-worthy aftermath.
OK, so it seems fair to say that not everyone is loving tonight’s ceremony so far. The format, which had to be revamped due to the coronavirus pandemic, has been deemed “awkward” and compared to “an employee of the month ceremony for a mid-level accounting firm”.
Oscars viewers brand ceremony ‘most awkward ever’ as nominees look ‘confused’
‘It’s like an employee of the month ceremony for a mid-level accounting firm,’ one viewer wrote
It’s time for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, which is being presented by Brad Pitt. The nominees are Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy), Olivia Colman (The Father), Amanda Seyfried (Mank), and Youn Yuh-jung (Minari).
And the winner is... Youn Yuh-jung!
“Tonight, you are all forgiven,” she tells the people who have said her name incorrectly over the years.
Mank is a two-time Oscar-winning film! David Fincher’s movie takes Best Production design and Best Cinematography. Both Oscars are presented by Halle Berry.
Harrison Ford is here! He’s getting some laughs from the crowd for sharing some notes eviscerating a mystery film he was in – which he has just revealed was Blade Runner. The segment is an introduction to Ford presenting the Oscar for Best Film Editing.
And the Oscar goes to... Sound of Metal, defeating The Father, Nomadland, Promising Young Woman, and The Trial of the Chicago 7.
In case you’re wondering about the masks policy tonight, Regina King explained it all at the beginning of the ceremony:
Regina King explains how the Oscars can be ‘maskless’
‘Think of this as a movie set. An Oscars movie with a cast of over 200 nominees’
Viola Davis is presenting Tyler Perry with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award, for the work he does through the Perry Foundation. In his speech, he urges the audience and viewers to refuse hate and blanket judgments. His speech is met with a standing ovation.
During this as break, may I suggest you peruse the list of tonight’s winners so far:
Another win for Soul! Zendaya just announced the Pixar film as the winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Score. Soul defeats Da 5 Bloods, Mank, Minari, and News of the World.
HER is now an Academy-Award-winning singer! She accepts the Oscar for Best Original Song for “Fight for You” in Judas and the Black Messiah, along with Dernst Emile II and Tiara Thomas.
Also nominated in the category were “Hear My Voice” from The Trial of the Chicago 7, “Husavik” from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, “Io Si (Seen)” from The Life Ahead, and “Speak Now” from One Night in Miami....
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