Slaves & Masters: The 86th Annual Academy Awards Coverage


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'And the Oscar goes to...'
‘And the Oscar goes to…’

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.

Cinema-V