Oscars 2021: All the updates from the ceremony as 'Nomadland' wins big

Chloé Zhao made history as the first woman of colour to win best director with Nomadland, while Anthony Hopkins and Frances McDormand won the top acting awards during a very strange Oscar ceremony.

Chadwick Boseman was the favourite to posthumously win best actor for but Anthony Hopkins instead won for his role in The Father, in which he plays an elderly man with dementia. He also became the oldest-ever acting Oscar winner.

Frances McDormand, who won her third Best Actress award for Nomadland, urged audiences to go back to theaters during her speech. "Please watch our movie on the largest screen possible and one day soon take everyone you know, shoulder to shoulder, in that dark space, and watch every film that’s represented here tonight," she said.

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Hollywood's biggest annual night was finally here, around two months late, after several delays and setbacks due to the pandemic. The 93rd Academy Awards promised to be ground-breaking for many reasons; several people of colour earned nominations (seemingly in response to the #OscarsSoWhite movement), female directors Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell were in the reckoning for major awards, while streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime could yet again showcase their dominance over other major film studios.

Netflix led all the studios with 35 nominations, followed by Amazon with 12, Walt Disney with 8, and the others.

Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh who was part of the production team behind this year's ceremony, termed that the Oscars, which was moved to the Los Angeles Union Station, would be "a cinematic show" and a "three-act film", with a limited guest-list and COVID-19 regulations part of the proceedings to ensure that the stars don't need to be masked. Big names such as Brad Pitt, Bong Joon-ho, Zendaya, Joaquin Phoenix, Laura Dern, among others were part of the presenters "cast".

Check out the full list of nominations here

Check out our predictions in all the 23 categories here

Check out the complete list of winners here

Here are all the updates:

The 93rd Academy Awards are over

And that's the end of the ceremony! The pandemic-influenced 93rd Academy Awards will be the strangest Oscars in recent memory, being held without the usual comforting presence of a plethora of stars, song, dance and comedy. Soderberg's vision of this event... was eccentric, to say the least. However, many of the winners were rightly picked, and we had fantastic speeches from McDormand, Zhao and many of the others that will forever strike a chord with fans across the world.

Best Actor: Anthony Hopkins for The Father

Joaquin Phoenix is ready to present the final award of the night to... Anthony Hopkins for The Father! But the veteran star isn't present, so we unfortunately don't get a speech. Time to check his Instagram instead (which is undoubtedly, the most entertaining part of the Internet you will ever discover).

 

Best Actress: Frances McDormand for Nomadland

Renee Zellweger is presenting the best actress award, and it goes to... Frances McDormand! The superstar wins her third Academy Award for Best Actress. It was probably a close call between her and Carey Mulligan, but the immense appeal of Nomadland sees the modern-day legend take home the honours.

 

Best Picture: Nomadland

And its Nomadland! Producers Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Chloé Zhao win the biggest award of the night for their much-feted indie drama. It becomes only the second female-directed film to win Best Picture.

An emotional McDormand urges people to go back to the theatres: "Please watch our movie on the largest screen possible, and one day very very soon take every one you know into a theater, shoulder to shoulder, in that dark space and watch every film represented here tonight.”

Zhao thanked all the people they met on the road, and said, "Thank you for teaching us the power of resilience and hope and for reminding us what true kindness looks like.”

 

In Memoriam

Angela Bassett comes to introduce the In Memoriam segment. But after that, comes a major surprise. Usually, best picture is the final award of the night. But this year, it finds itself third from last, before best actress and actor. Has this ever happened before? Anyway, Rita Moreno is here to present as clips of all the nominated films play..

Best Original Song: Fight For You

Fight for You by H.E.R. from Judas And The Black Messiah wins best original song! The favourites were Speak Now from One Night in Miami, which was performed by supporting-actor nominee Leslie Odom Jr., and Húsavík from Will Ferrell’s Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, so this comes as a bit of a surprise.

 

Best Original Score: Soul

A second win for Soul! Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are nominated for both Mank and Soul, and they win for the latter in which they teamed up with Jon Batiste. Batiste becomes only the second Black composer to receive the award.

Pixar’s gorgeous tribute to jazz music is not just a visual feast; the original compositions by the trio elevate several scenes to a spectacular high.

 

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry is given Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, and during his acceptance speech, he asks people to refuse hate in every way, shape or form, adding that he was sharing his award with everyone who does that.

He goes on, "I refuse to hate someone because they are Mexican or Black or white or LBGTQ. I refuse to hate someone because they are a police officer. I refuse to hate someone because they are Asian."

Best Editing: Sound of Metal

Mikkel E.G. Nielsen for Sound of Metal! Harrison Ford presents the award, and the Riz Ahmed-starrer picks up its second win of the night.

 

Best Cinematography: Mank

Back-to-back wins! Erik Messerschmidt accepts the award for his dazzling black-and-white frames, and becomes one of the few cinematographers to win an Oscar for a B/W film.

Best Production Design: Mank

Mank, the film which leads in nominations, finally gets its first Oscar of the night, as Donald Graham Burt and Jan Pascale accept and thank David Fincher. The award is presented by Halle Berry.

 

Best Supporting Actress:  Yuh-jung Youn for Minari

Surely the most enjoyable acceptance speech of the night so far. Apart from being outstanding in Minari, Yuh-jung Youn is at her charming best while receiving the award from Brad Pitt. She becomes the first Korean actor to ever win an Academy Award!

 

Best Visual Effects: Tenet

Christopher Nolan's time-bending extravaganza might have missed out on some of the bigger honours, but deservedly won in this category as Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher accept the award.

 

Best Documentary Feature: My Octopus Teacher

An unlikely friendship, even mentor-like relationship, that a man shared with a wild octopus, is at the heart of this year’s favourite, tear-jerker of a documentary: My Octopus Teacher. The Netflix original follows filmmaker Craig Foster documenting his growing understanding with a common octopus in a South African kelp forest, and has emerged as an awards darling too.

 

Best Documentary Short: Colette

Colette, a holocaust-theme tale of a 90-year-old woman going back to a World War II concentration camp in Germany where her brother died, has won. The terrifically moving tale was written and directed by Anthony Giacchino, and produced by Alice Doyard, Annie Small and Aaron Matthews.

 

Best Animated Feature: Soul

Soul represents too much of what the Academy covets, and gets the expected win. Pixar’s first feature to frontline several black characters marks a major milestone for the studio, and animation legend Pete Docter’s deft hands conjured up an exceptional offering that served as a real antidote to the nightmare of the pandemic, and still offers comfort upon repeat watches.

Pete Docter calls the film ‘a love letter to jazz’ in his speech, and it truly was. It probably deserved a Best Picture nomination, honestly,

 

Best Animated Short: If Anything Happens I Love You

Netflix’s 12-minute animated film If Anything Happens I Love You, which is being lauded globally for its touching portrayal of two parents coping with the loss of their daughter, and has Oscar winner Laura Dern as an executive producer, picks up the award.

 

Best Live-Action Short: Two Distant Strangers

Two Distant Strangers, which takes inspiration from the murder of George Floyd, and shows a Black man being killed over and over by a white cop in a time loop, is dramatically timely and relevant. The winners accept the award, and address the issue of police brutality against Black people in America.

 

Best Sound: Sound of Metal

Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh accept the award from different locations across the world, and its presented by the movie's star himself, Riz Ahmed!

 

Best Director: Chloe Zhao for Nomadland

A richly-deserved award presented to the Asian director of Nomadland by Parasite filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho. This could be the most important honour of the night, and one that will set a precedent in global cinema. She becomes just the second woman (after Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker) and the first woman of colour, to ever win the honour.

 

The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award goes to the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Oscar nominee Bryan Cranston presents the honour.

Best Costume Design: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Ann Roth wins the award for the George C. Wolfe-directorial, which is now shaping up as a serious contender for the bigger honours as well.

 

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson win for their stunning work towards bringing to life the characters during a turbulent recording session set in 1920s Chicago. Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson have also become the first Black women in history to win the Oscar for makeup and hairstyling.

Best Supporting Actor: Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah

In what turned out to be one of the most powerful performances of the year, Kaluuya won for his portrayal of Black Panthers chairman Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah.

 

Best International Feature: Another Round from Denmark

No surprises with this one. Thomas Vinterberg's alcoholic-fuelled dizzy ride of a movie wins the prize deservingly. The director is talking about all the production issues they went through to get the film made, but it was well worth it in the end.

 

Best Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller for The Father

Anthony Hopkins' masterclass of a drama wins its first award, beating our other heavyweights in the category like Nomadland's and Chloé Zhao and One Night in Miami's Kemp Powers.

 

Best Original Screenplay: Emerald Fennel for Promising Young Woman

The first Oscar of the night goes to the deliciously dark thriller starring Carey Mulligan, as director Fennel accepts the award, which was announced by Regina King.