On Sunday, Feb. 24, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented The 91st Annual Academy Awards.
The awards ceremony was broadcasted on ABC from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. This year marked the first time in 30 years that the ceremony featured no host.
Former American Idol singer, Adam Lambert, and Queen opened the show with a rendition of “We Will Rock You” and “We are the Champions”. The performance was honoring “Best Picture” nominee “Bohemian Rhapsody” as well as the life of the late Freddie Mercury.
Regina King won the first award of the night for her performance in “If Beale Street Could Talk”. Among other nominees for the “Best Supporting Actress” category included: Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz for “The Favourite,” Amy Adams in “Vice,” and Marina de Tavira for “Roma”.
For “Best Supporting Actor,” the nominees included: Mahershala Ali for “Green Book,” Adam Driver for “BlacKkKlansman,” Sam Elliot for “A Star is Born,” Richard E. Grant for “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” as well as Sam Rockwell for his role in “Vice.” Ali took home the win for the night.
As the award ceremony continued, history was made in numerous categories. Ruth Carter became the first African-American female to for “Costume Design” in her work for “Black Panther”. The film was also the first Marvel comics movie to be up for nominations at the Oscars.
Lady Gaga also took home her first Oscar for “Best Original Song”. She won alongside Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt for their song, “Shallow” which is featured in “A Star is Born”.
Gaga and costar Bradley Cooper performed the hit song later on in the night, which was praised by audience members with large applause. Both Cooper and Gaga were nominated for their work in “A Star Is Born” for “Best Actor” and “Best Actress,” respectively.
Olivia Colman won the award for “Best Actress” in her work for “The Favourite.” Other nominees included: Yalitza Aparicio for “Roma,” Glenn Close in “The Wife,” and Melissa McCarthy for “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” as well as Gaga.
Nominees in the “Best Actor” group included: Christian Bale for “Vice,” Willem Dafoe for “At Eternity’s Gate,” as well as Rami Malek in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and Viggo Mortensen “Green Book” as well as Cooper. Malek took home the award for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury.
Malek’s win wasn’t the only award that “Bohemian Rhapsody” won this year. The movie also was awarded three other Oscars for “Film Editing,” “Sound Mixing,” and “Sound Editing.” This marks the most wins for a single movie for the year.
“Roma” also had three big wins for “Best Director,” “Best Foreign Language Film,” and “Cinematography”.
The final and most monumental award of the night was “Best Picture”. The category had some big competition with nominees such as: “Black Panther,” “BlackKkKlansman,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “The Favourite,” as well as “Greenbook,” “Roma,” “A Star is Born,” and “Vice”.
Actress Julia Roberts announced the winner for “Best Picture” awarding it to the film, “Greenbook”. This outcome did bring up controversy to some people in Hollywood.
Spike Lee, winner for “Best Adapted Screenplay” in “BlacKkKlansman,” made his opinion clear when asked about “Greenbook” winning Best Picture.
Lee stated backstage at the show to reporters that he was on his sixth glass of champagne mentioning “you know why”.
In regards to “Greenbook’s” win he commented that he loses “every time somebody’s driving somebody”. This is in reference to the films plot line. When he was asked about the movie winning the award Lee said, “Next Question”.
Despite some controversy, the show proved quite historic but did have a decline in viewers. Nearly 20.6 million people tuned in to Hollywood’s biggest night, this is about 6 million less than last years 26.5 million viewers.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
