It’s that time of the year again. Hollywood appreciates itself by handing out prestigious golden trophies. 2013 was full of surprises, both in a positive and in a negative way. This year’s class trots out its fair share of favorites, ranging from a satire on capitalism and stockbrokers (The Wolf Of Wall Street) and a spy tragicomedy (American Hustle) to classic science-fiction (Gravity), historical drama (12 Years A Slave), and contemporary drama (Dallas Buyers Club).
Most of the people behind the big ones were no strangers to the Academy Awards even before the ceremony. In fact, all of the nominated directors had been there before several times. Living legend Martin Scorsese, of course, spearheaded an impressive class of filmmakers – only to go home with empty hands for the seventh time in eight attempts. The big winners of 2014 are Alfonso Cuarón, already nominated for Childen Of Men seven years ago, and his movie Gravity starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. They take home seven Oscars, including best achievement in directing and pretty much all the audiovisual categories.
Now, the science-fiction drama is a spectacular experience for eyes and ears, but it can certainly be debated whether the Mexican filmmaker should have gone home with the award as Best Director. David O. Russell, whose Silver Linings had been voted one of the favorites in 2013, would certainly have been a worthy candidate for his work on American Hustle. The same is true for Martin Scorsese and The Wolf Of Wall Street as well Steve McQueen and 12 Years A Slave, the one film among the 2014 candidates that eventually scored the big trophy, Best Motion Picture of the Year.
Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt emerged victorious as a co-producer, getting even with his buddy George Clooney, who had won in the same capacity for Argo a year ago. The movie also took home the Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay by John Ridley and Best Actress in a Supporting Role by newcomer Lupita Nyong’o, who outrivaled Academy Awards veterans Jennifer Lawrence and Julia Roberts. The other female winning actor, however, was less of a surprise. For her role in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine, Cate Blanchett defied her excellent competitors Amy Adams, Sandra Bullock, Dame Judi Dench, and Meryl Streep.
Leonardo DiCaprio was probably the most disappointed man in the whole theater. After winning at the Golden Globes, he was considered the favorite for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in The Wolf Of Wall Street, his fifth collaboration with Martin Scorsese. Yet Matthew McConaughey, who also had a small part in that movie, emerged victorious for his role in the AIDS drama Dallas Buyers Club. His co-star, 30 Seconds To Mars frontman Jared Leto, also won in the Best Supporting Actor category. Both defeated other prominent candidates such as Christian Bale, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Bruce Dern, Jonah Hill, Michael Fassbender, and Bradley Cooper.
The big losers of 2014, then, have to be American Hustle and The Wolf Of Wall Street, which were nominated for ten and five Academy Awards, respectively. Neither scored even a single trophy, making it the second time after Gangs Of New York in 2003 that one of Martin Scorsese’s movies was nominated in that many categories and couldn’t win an Oscar at all. Each of the two films would definitely have deserved it: American Hustle for its impressive cast and direction, and The Wolf Of Wall Street for being such a scathing satire of capitalism. At least Leonardo DiCaprio’s second major motion picture of the year, The Great Gatsby by Baz Luhrmann, won two ‘Golden Boys’ for its opulent costume and production design.
As for the presentation itself, comedian Ellen De Generes proved to be a lot less controversial choice than Seth MacFarlane the year before. She even managed to break all-time Twitter records for posting a spontaneous picture of herself and a variety of nominated stars. That she also came down the aisle to spread some pizza wealth among the trophy-hungry audience made her even more likable and appealing to the general public. And now, without much fanfare, let’s proceed to the full list of winners and nominees from the 86th Annual Academy Awards. The victors are written in bold letters.
Best Motion Picture of the Year
American Hustle – Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, Jonathan Gordon
Captain Phillips – Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca
Dallas Buyers Club – Robbie Brenner, Rachel Winter
Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman
Her – Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze, Vincent Landay
Nebraska – Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa
Philomena – Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, Tracey Seaward
12 Years A Slave – Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, Anthony Katagas
The Wolf Of Wall Street – Leonardo DiCaprio, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Joey McFarland, Martin Scorsese
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Christian Bale for American Hustle
Bruce Dern for Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio for The Wolf Of Wall Street
Chiwetel Eijofor for 12 Years A Slave
Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Amy Adams for American Hustle
Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock for Gravity
Judi Dench for Philomena
Meryl Streep for August: Osage County
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Barkhad Abdi for Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper for American Hustle
Michael Fassbender for 12 Years A Slave
Jonah Hill for The Wolf Of Wall Street
Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Sally Hawkins for Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years A Slave
Julia Roberts for August: Osage County
June Squibb for Nebraska
Best Achievement in Directing
Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity
Steve McQueen for 12 Years A Slave
Alexander Payne for Nebraska
David O. Russell for American Hustle
Martin Scorsese for The Wolf Of Wall Street
Best Writing, Original Screenplay
American Hustle – Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine – Woody Allen
Dallas Buyers Club – Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack
Her – Spike Jonze
Nebraska – Bob Nelson
Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
Before Midnight – Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke
Captain Phillips – Billy Ray
Philomena – Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
12 Years A Slave – John Ridley
The Wolf Of Wall Street – Terence Winter
Best Achievement in Cinematography
The Grandmaster – Philippe Le Sourd
Gravity – Emmanuel Lubezki
Inside Llewyn Davis – Bruno Delbonnel
Nebraska – Phedon Papamichael
Prisoners – Roger Deakins
Best Achievement in Costume Design
American Hustle – Michael Wilkinson
The Grandmaster – William Chang
The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin
The Invisible Woman – Michael O’Connor
12 Years A Slave – Patricia Norris
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Captain Phillips – Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, and Chris Munro
Gravity – Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, and Chris Munro
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug – Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, and Tony Johnson
Inside Llewyn Davis – Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, and Peter F. Kurland
Lone Survivor – Andy Koyama, Beau Borders, and David Brownlow
Best Achievement in Film Editing
American Hustle – Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers, and Alan Baumgarten
Captain Phillips – Christopher Rouse
Dallas Buyers Club – Jean-Marc Vallée and Martin Pensa
Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger
12 Years A Slave – Joe Walker
Best Achievement in Sound Editing
All Is Lost – Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns
Captain Phillips – Oliver Tarney
Gravity – Glenn Freemantle
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug – Brent Burge
Lone Survivor – Wylie Stateman
Best Achievement in Visual Effects
Gravity – Timothy Weber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, and Neil Corbould
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, and Eric Reynolds
Iron Man 3 – Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash, and Daniel Sudick
The Lone Ranger – Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams, and John Frazier
Star Trek: Into Darkness – Roger Guyett, Pat Tubach, Ben Grossman, and Burt Dalton
Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Dallas Buyers Club – Adruitha Lee and Robin Matthews
Jackass: Bad Grandpa – Steve Prouty
The Lone Ranger – Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua Casny
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Despicable Me 2 – Pharrell Williams (music & lyrics), “Happy”
Frozen – Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (music & lyrics), “Let It Go”
Her – Karen O (music & lyrics) and Spike Jonze (lyrics), “The Moon Song”
Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom – Bono (music & lyrics), The Edge (music), Adam Clayton (music), and Larry Mullen (music), “Ordinary Love”
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
The Book Thief – John Williams
Gravity – Steven Price
Her – Will Butler and Owen Pallett
Philomena – Alexandre Desplat
Saving Mr. Banks – Thomas Newman
Best Short Film, Animated
Feral – Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden
Get A Horse! – Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim
Mr Hublot – Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares
Tsukomo – Shuhei Morita
Room On The Broom – Max Lang and Jan Lachauer
Best Short Film, Live Action
Aquel no era yo – Esteban Crespo
Avant que de tout perdre – Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras
Helium – Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson
Pitääko mun kaikki hoitaa? – Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari
The Voorman Problem – Mark Gill and Baldwin Li
Best Documentary, Short Subjects
Cavedigger – Jeffrey Karoff
Facing Fear – Jason Cohen
Karama Has No Walls – Sara Ishaq
The Lady In Number 6 – Malcolm Clarke and Nick Reed
Prison Terminal: The Last Days Of Private Jack Hall – Edgar Barens
Best Documentary, Features
The Act Of Killing – Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
Cutie And The Boxer – Zachary Heinzerling and Lydia Dean Pilcher
Dirty Wars – Rick Rowley and Jeremy Scahill
Al midan – Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer
Twenty Feet From Stardom – Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, Caitrin Rogers
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
The Broken Circle – Belgium
La Grande Bellezza – Italy
The Hunt – Denmark
L’image manquante – Cambodia
Omar – Palestine
Best Animated Feature
The Croods – Chris Sanders, Kirk De Micco, and Kristine Belson
Despicable Me 2 – Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin, and Christopher Meledandri
Ernest & Celéstine – Benjamin Renner and Didier Brunner
Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and Peter Del Vecho
Kaze tachinu – Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki
Best Achievement in Production Design
American Hustle – Judy Decker (production design) and Heather Loeffler (set decoration)
Gravity – Andy Nicholson (production design), Rosie Goodwin (set design), and Joanne Woollard (set decoration)
The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin (production design) and Beverley Dunn (set decoration)
Her – K.K. Barrett (production design) and Gene Serdena (set decoration)
12 Years A Slave – Adam Stockhausen (production design) and Alice Baker (set decoration)
Honorary Award
Angela Lansbury – Oscar statuette for her extravagant achievements in cinematic industry of her career of 75 years.
Steve Martin – Oscar statuette for his excellence achievement as a stand-up comedian, musician, and producer.
Piero Tosi – Oscar statuette for his phenomenal achievements in costume designing for the last 75 years.