Highlights of 93rd Academy Awards

The pandemic has changed some things irrevocably, and some for the time being. We hope the Oscar Awards fall in the latter category. This year’s gala — the 93rd year of the world’s biggest awards that recognise achievements in film — was nothing like what we have witnessed in recent years. Pushed by two months from its traditional February date, the Academy Awards this year, designed by director Steven Soderbergh and his team, traded the customary Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles for the city’s Union Station and witnessed only nominees and presenters attending. Nominees from across the world joined in on live television, mostly from the British Film Institute in London. Longer speeches, no performances and a perplexing absence of movie clips made one of the shortest Oscars (with an abrupt ending) not something that we would like repeated ever.

(The) King’s speech

Much like the last two years, the 2021 ceremony didn’t have a host. What we got instead was Regina King — the 2019 winner for Best Supporting Actress and the director of this year’s thrice-nominated One Night in Miami — striding on to stage (after a slight misstep) to set the ball rolling. King — stunning in a custom-made Louis Vuitton powder-blue gown embellished with 62,000 sequins — mirrored the mood of the world by saying, “It has been quite a year, and we’re still smack dab in the middle of it”.

She also went on to allude to former cop Derek Chauvin’s recent conviction in the killing of George Floyd with, “I have to be honest... if things had gone differently this past week in Minneapolis, I might have traded in my heels for marching boots,” urging viewers at home not to click away at the mention of something political. “I know many of you want to reach for your remote when you feel Hollywood is preaching to you, but as the mother of a Black son who fears for his safety, no fame or fortune changes that.”

Chloe Zhao

Mia Neal, Jamika Wilson & Sergio Lopez-RIVERA

MAKING HISTORY

In a year that saw women score a whopping 76 nominations across categories (including two for Best Director), Chloe Zhao not only became the second woman after Kathryn Bigelow to take home the golden statuette for Best Director but also made history by being the first woman of colour to do so. The Chinese-born, British-educated, US-based film-maker, who won for Nomadland, spoke about the inherent goodness in human beings in her winning speech. “Even though sometimes it might seem like the opposite is true, I have always found goodness in the people I met, everywhere I went in the world. So this is for anyone who had the faith and the courage to hold on to the goodness in themselves, and to hold on to the goodness in each other, no matter how difficult it is to do that,” said the 39-year-old. Her fellow Best Director nominee Emerald Fennell won Best Original Screenplay for Promising Young Woman.

Also scripting history were Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson, who in winning the Oscar for Best Make-up and Hair for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, became the first-ever Black winners in that category. They shared it with Sergio Lopez-Rivera for the same film.

Frances McDormand & Yuh-Jung Youn

Daniel Kaluuya

WINNING WORDS

In an evening punctuated with some really long speeches (which made for an often boring ceremony), Yuh-Jung Youn’s words stood out. The 73-year-old, winning Best Supporting Actress for Minari and becoming the first Korean to win an Oscar in the Acting category, was delightful, and slightly wide-eyed and gawky around presenter Brad Pitt (who wouldn’t be?!) “Mr Brad Pitt, finally. Nice to meet you,” she said as the crowd laughed. “Where were you when we were filming?” she asked, while a rakish Pitt beamed.

Youn poked fun at the crowd for mispronouncing her name throughout awards season, saying, “But tonight, you are all forgiven.” She also expressed disbelief for winning over eight-time Oscar nominee Glenn Close, nominated this year for Hillbilly Elegy. “How can I win over Glenn Close?!”

Also keeping it interesting was Frances McDormand who may have been brief in her acceptance speech for Best Actress (her third) for Nomadland, but infused some much-needed energy into the ceremony when she went up with her Nomadland gang to take home the trophy for Best Picture. How? By letting out a wolf call on stage! Why? It was a shout-out for the film’s sound designer Michael Wolf Snyder, who tragically took his own life earlier this year.

The most bizarre speech of the night possibly belonged to Daniel Kaluuya who won the Best Supporting Actor honour for Judas and the Black Messiah. The actor spoke for four minutes, thanking Black Panther for paving the way for the Black community in cinema, but ended the speech by thanking his mom and dad for... having sex!

“Let’s celebrate life, man. We’re breathing. We’re walking. It’s incredible. Life’s incredible! My mom met my dad. They had sex. It’s amazing!”

The feed quickly cut to London, where Kaluuya’s mother and sister were watching. The cringe on his mom’s face was priceless!

Anthony Hopkins in The Father

AN UPSET... OF SORTS

Many were betting on the late Chadwick Boseman, who succumbed to cancer last year, to win Best Actor for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. But the last award of the night — again a departure from Oscars norm, which has always awarded Best Picture at the end — saw Anthony Hopkins win for his (undeniably phenomenal) turn in The Father, becoming, at 83, the oldest winner ever in the Acting category.

With Hopkins not being present, the ceremony ended abruptly, and the Internet erupted at the snub to Boseman. ‘Wait they didn’t save The Best Actor award in the end for a Chadwick Boseman tribute??’ wrote one user. ‘LOL@ending on a dude who did not come to the show,’ read another comment.

KEEPING IT COOL

With joke, quips and live performances missing this year, it was left to the veterans to give the show some of its rare sparkling moments. Harrison Ford, on stage to present the statuette for Best Editing, hit the ground running by busting out studio notes he got for one of his previous movies. Line by line, he dourly read the notes he was provided — showing the audience that it’s no easy feat to be an editor on a major Hollywood production. He later revealed those notes were provided for Blade Runner, one of the biggest sci-fi movies of all time, starring Ford himself.

But taking the cake was Glenn Close (left) who gave the world more than a glimpse of her expert twerking moves (inset) by gamely grooving to the 1988 song Da Butt by E.U. from the movie School Daze.

Close has been nominated for eight Oscars and never won, making her the most nominated living actor to never win an Oscar. But she sure won the night.