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.
Remember last year’s emotional moment, when Brad Pitt won his first ever acting Oscar? Revisit his moving acceptance speech:
Brad Pitt delivers emotional acceptance speech after winning first acting Oscar
'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – ain't that the truth,' he said, visibly moved by the announcement
We’ve spoken about the Oscars speeches that drone on and on, but what about the short ones?
Take a long at the shortest-ever Oscars acceptance speeches:
Enjoy a trip down memory lane with this feature on the most iconic Oscars looks of all time
The most groundbreaking Oscars outfits of all time
Ahead of the Oscars on Sunday, Olivia Petter looks back at some of the most memorable red-carpet outfits in the annual award ceremony’s history
Here’s another look at our predictions for this year’s Oscars. Not much longer to go!
Who will win (and who should win) at the Oscars this year
Following the most unpredictable awards season in living memory, Clarisse Loughrey goes through her predictions and hopes for this year’s ceremony
Good evening (or afternoon, depending on which part of the world you’re turning in from). This is Clemence, taking over from Roisin. Among the Best Picture nominees tonight isPromising Young Woman, a complex revenge comedy thriller by Emerald Fennell which I personally believe should take the top prize tonight.
The film tells a complicated, layered story with a bright clarity. It’s a product of its time, but the mistreatment it depicts is a tale as old as time. It’s a righteously angry, smart film that never shies away from its own dark corners, but instead mines them for more power.
You can read more praise for Promising Young Woman in the piece below:
Why Promising Young Woman should win the Oscar for Best Picture
Why Promising Young Woman should win Best Picture
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, the Oscars red carpet is officially open for business. The ceremony is going to look a bit different this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it does include an in-person component on the ground in California.
Steven Yeun, who is up for Best Actor tonight for his role in Minari. He spoke to E! during his arrival on the red carpet, paying tribute to his mother who has always been “so supportive and so loving” and watching the ceremony live. Yeun also called the acclaim for Minari “wonderful” and says the film says something “honest and true” about “the humanity that we all share”.
Here is Yeun on the red carpet with his wife, photographer Joana Pak:
Chloé Zhao’sNomadland is among the favourites in the Best Picture category tonight. The anti-capitalist odyssey stars Frances McDormand as Fern, a woman who becomes a nomadic van-dweller.
Our writer Adam White argues why this “snapshot of modern America” should be crowned Best Picture tonight:
Nomadland: Why Chloé Zhao’s anti-capitalist odyssey should win the Oscar
Why Nomadland should win Best Picture
Emerald Fennell has arrived! The filmmaker is up for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay tonight for the revenge film Promising Young Woman. Our lifestyle writer Olivia Petter tells me Fennell’s floaty floral gown, featuring a pastel green and pink gown with a billowing skirt covered in ruffles, is by Gucci. Fennell stopped to chat to E! on the red carpet. She praised Carey Mulligan, the lead in Promising Young Woman, who is up for Best Actress for her performance. “I think every day she was surprising because she’s so good,” Fennell said. “But she’s also just incredibly funny. That’s the thing. Dramatic actors very rarely get to be funny, and she’s dynamite at comedy.”
Fennell described her red carpet look as “Susan, your pottery teacher who has a business opportunity for you which is absolutely not a pyramid scheme”.
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