“Tonight we honor Hollywood’s best and whitest – I mean brightest,” said host Neil Patrick Harris at the 87th annual Academy Awards, which aired this Sunday, Feb. 22 on ABC. Harris wasted no time kicking off the show with an acknowledgement of the ceremony’s greatly discussed dearth of diversity.
Harris’ grand opening was quickly followed by a “Moving Pictures” song-and-dance routine celebrating a love for cinema, adorned with dancing Peter Pan-esque shadows, a Cinderella-style cameo from Anna Kendrick and classic movie scenes. The routine even included a villain counterpart to Harris’ sunny disposition in Jack Black who jumped on stage to remind audiences that Hollywood isn’t all that spectacular. He said it makes movies “opening with lots of zeroes, all we get is superheroes.” Black added, “After ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ they’ll all have leather whips!” referring to this weekend’s top box office draw.
The night’s first Oscar went to J.K. Simmons for his role as a drill sergeant of a jazz band instructor in the indie “Whiplash.” Simmons accepted his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor with some heart-warming advice. “If I may, call your mom, everybody,” uttered Simmons. “Call your mom, call your dad. If you’re lucky enough to have a parent or two alive on this planet, call ‘em. Don’t text. Don’t email. Call them on the phone. Tell ‘em you love ‘em, and thank them and listen to them for as long as they want to talk to you.”
Patricia Arquette later accepted the supporting actress Oscar for her role as the mother in Richard Linklater’s 12 years-in-the-making “Boyhood,” giving an impassioned speech calling for wage equality and equal rights for women that had Jennifer Lopez and Meryl Streep cheering in the audience. “To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation,” asserted Arquette. “We have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all. And equal rights for women in the United States of America.”
The majority of Sunday’s awards developed as expected—aside from Disney’s “Big Hero 6” pulling off something of an upset, besting Dream Works’ popular “How to Train Your Dragon 2” in the best animated feature category.
One of the best moments of the night came from Lady Gaga’s impressive 50th anniversary tribute to “The Sound of Music,” in which the newly-engaged singer belted out “My Favourite Things,” “Edelweiss” and “Climb Every Mountain” in a proper English accent, with backing from a string section.
Later in the night, the back-and-forth Best Actor race finally found its winner in Eddie Redmayne, who won the Oscar for playing Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything.” Redmayne bested Steve Carell (“Foxcatcher”), Bradley Cooper (“American Sniper”), Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game”) and Michael Keaton (“Birdman”) for the honor. “I am fully aware that I am a lucky, lucky man,” Redmayne said, before expressing an uncharacteristic burst of emotion. “This belongs to all of those people around the world battling ALS. It belongs to one exceptional family (the Hawkings)… I will be its custodian. I promise you I will look after him.”
The Best Actor award was followed by the Best Actress category in which favorite Julianne Moore finally won her first Oscar for her devastating performance in “Still Alice.” In her light-hearted speech, Moore said, “I read that winning an Oscar means you will live five years longer. So I want to thank the Academy because my husband is younger than me!”
At last, it came time to announce the winner of the Best Picture award which went to—drumroll please—“Birdman,” the big winner of the night. The Best Picture winner also earned director Alejandro González Iñárritu the Oscar for Best Director, making him the second Latin American director in a row to earn the honor after Alfonso Cuaron won last year for his work on “Gravity.”
This year’s Oscars may be over, but Pioneers can still catch the nominated performances in theaters now and decide for themselves.
