Olivia Colman in shock Oscars win while Green Book claims Best Picture
Bohemian Rhapsody cleaned up in the technical and acting awards, while Black Panther and Roma also picked up a number of prizes
British actor Olivia Colman has won the Best Actress award at the 91st Academy Awards, in a shock twist after many had assumed the Oscar would go to longtime nominee Glenn Close.
Colman, who won the award for playing Queen Anne in Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, paid tribute to her “idol” Close in a teary acceptance speech, which brought laughter and a standing ovation from the crowd.
“It’s genuinely quite stressful,” she said of her win. “This is hilarious.”
And Colman’s win wasn’t the only surprise of the night, with historical road movie Green Book picking up the Oscar for Best Picture despite the often turbulent road it has had on the awards trail (the film has been criticised by family members of one of tis characters for inaccuracy, while others have argued it oversimplifies racial politics).
"The whole story is about love,” director Peter Farrelly said.
“It's about loving each other despite our differences, and finding out the truth about who we are. We're the same people."
At the top of the awards table this year, though, was Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which picked up awards in a number of technical categories (Best Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing) as well as the Best Actor award for star Rami Malek, who had long been the favourite to pick up the Oscar for his portrayal of singer Freddie Mercury.
Besides Bohemian Rhapsody, the most-awarded films were Roma (Best Cinematography, Best Director for Alfonso Cuaron and Best Foreign Language Film), Green Book (which picked up awards for Mahershala Ali as Best Supporting actor and for Best Original Screenplay) and Marvel movie Black Panther (Best Original Score, Best Production Design and Best Costume Design), which won Marvel Studios its first ever Oscars.
Other notable awards on the night included a Best Adapted Screenplay win for the screenwriters of BlacKkKlansman, which finally won writer/director Spike Lee an Oscar after decades in the industry, a Best Animated movie win for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and a Best Supporting Actress win for If Beale Street Could Talk’s Regina King.
The varied table of winners somewhat reflects the chaotic build-up to this year’s Oscars ceremony, which was characterised by several attempted format changes to the awards (new categories, some awards given out in advert breaks and other time-cutting measures) that were reversed after huge online backlashes, and the withdrawal of comedian and actor Kevin Hart as host after many complained about homophobic remarks he’d made in the past.
In the end, the traditional host’s opening monologue was replaced by a live performance from the remaining members of Queen followed by a well-received brief intro from Amy Poehler, Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph, and the ceremony itself seemed to go off largely without incident.
Though with that said, we’re sure there’ll still be a LOT of discussion about some of the winners over the days and weeks to come…
Oscars highlights are on Monday 25th February at 8pm on Sky Cinema Oscars and 9pm on Sky1
Watch the whole ceremony or highlights with a 14-day free trial for NOW TV
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
