By JAKE COYLE (AP Film Writer)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ke Huy Quan gained finest supporting actor, “RRR” introduced the home down, “Cocaine Bear” tried to maul Malala and Ruth Carter made historical past on the ninety fifth Academy Awards on Sunday, as Hollywood appeared to maneuver previous the infamy of final 12 months’s Oscars.
The former youngster star Quan capped his extraordinary comeback with the Oscar for finest supporting actor for his efficiency within the indie hit “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Quan, beloved for his roles as Short Round in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and Data in “Goonies,” had all however given up performing earlier than being solid in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
His win, among the many most anticipated of the night time, was however one of many ceremony’s most shifting moments. The viewers — together with his “Temple of Doom” director, Steven Spielberg — gave Quan a standing ovation as he fought again tears.
“Mom, I just won an Oscar!” stated Quan, 51, whose household fled Vietnam within the battle when he was a toddler.
“They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I can’t believe it’s happening,” stated Quan. “This is the American dream.”
Minutes later, Quan’s castmate Jamie Lee Curtis gained for finest supporting actress. Her win, in one of the crucial aggressive classes this 12 months, denied a victory for comic-book followers. Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) would have been the primary performer to win an Oscar for a Marvel film.
It additionally made historical past for Curtis, a first-time winner who alluded to herself as “a Nepo baby” throughout her win on the Screen Actors Guild Awards. She’s the uncommon Oscar winner whose mother and father have been each Oscar nominees, one thing she emotionally referenced in her speech. Tony Curtis was nominated for “The Defiant Ones” in 1959 and Janet Leigh was nominated in 1961 for “Psycho.” Curtis thanked “hundreds” of people that put her in that place.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which got here in with a number one 11 nominations, later additionally gained for finest authentic screenplay for the script by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the filmmaking duo generally known as the Daniels. “My imposter syndrome is at an all-time high,” stated Kwan.
The German-language WWI epic “All Quiet on the Western Front” — Netflix’s prime contender this 12 months — took 4 awards because the academy heaped honors on the craft of the harrowing anti-war movie. It gained for cinematography, manufacturing design, rating and finest worldwide movie.
Though Bassett missed on supporting actress, Ruth E. Carter gained for the costume design of “Wakanda Forever,” 4 years after turning into the primary Black designer to win an Oscar, for “Black Panther.” This one makes Carter the primary Black girl to win two Oscars.
“Thank you to the Academy for recognizing the superhero that is a Black woman,” stated Carter. “She endures, she loves, she overcomes, she is every woman in this film.”
Carter devoted the award to her mom, who she stated died final week at 101.
The telecast, airing stay on ABC, opened historically: with a montage of the 12 months’s movies (with Kimmel edited right into a cockpit in “Top Gun: Maverick”) and a prolonged monologue. Kimmel, internet hosting for the third time, didn’t dive proper into revisiting Will Smith’s slap of Chris Rock ultimately 12 months’s ceremony.
The late-night comic struggled to search out classes from final 12 months’s incident, which was adopted by Smith profitable finest actor. If anybody tried any violence this 12 months, Kimmel stated, “you will be awarded the Oscar for best actor and permitted to give a 19-minute-long speech.”
But Kimmel, internet hosting for the third time, stated anybody who wished to “get jiggy with it” this 12 months must come by means of a fearsome battalion of bodyguards, together with Michael B. Jordan, Michelle Yeoh, Steven Spielberg and his present’s “security guard” Guillermo Rodriguez.
After landmark wins for Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) and Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”), no girls have been nominated for finest director. Sarah Polley, although, gained finest tailored screenplay for the metaphor-rich Mennonite drama “Women Talking.”
“Thank you to the academy for not being mortally offended by the words ‘women’ and ‘talking,’” stated Polley.
Daniel Roher’s “Navalny,” in regards to the imprisoned Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny, took finest documentary. The movie’s win got here with clear overtones to Navalny’s ongoing imprisonment and Vladimir Putin’s continued battle in Ukraine. Yulia Navalnaya joined the filmmakers on the stage.
“My husband is in prison just for telling the truth,” stated Navalnaya. “Stay strong my love.”
Some massive names weren’t in attendance for different causes. Neither Tom Cruise, whose “Top Gun: Maverick” is up for finest image, nor James Cameron, director of best-picture nominee “Avatar: The Way of Water,” have been on the ceremony. Both have been forefront in Hollywood’s efforts to get moviegoers again after years of pandemic.
“The two guys who asked us to go back to theater aren’t in the theater,” stated Kimmel, who added that Cruise with out his shirt on in “Top Gun: Maverick” was “L. Ron Hubba Hubba.”
After final 12 months’s Oscars, which had stripped some classes from being handed out within the stay telecast, the academy restored all awards to the present and leaned on conventional tune and and dance numbers. That meant some show-stopping numbers, together with the elastic suspenders dance of “Naatu Naatu” from the Telugu action-film sensation “RRR,” an intimate, impassioned efficiency by Lady Gaga of “Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick,” and an Super Bowl follow-up by Rihanna. Best tune went to “Naatu Naatu.”
It additionally meant a protracted present. “This kind of makes you miss the slapping a little bit, right?” Kimmel stated mid-show.
The night time’s first award went to “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” for finest animated movie. That handed Netflix its first Oscar within the class.
After final 12 months’s slap, the academy created a disaster administration crew to higher reply to surprises. Neither Rock, who lately made his most forceful assertion in regards to the incident in a stay particular, nor Smith, who was banned by the academy for 10 years, attended.
The Academy Awards is trying to recapture a few of its previous luster. One factor working in its favor: This 12 months’s finest image subject was stacked with blockbusters. Ratings often go up when the nominees are extra fashionable, which definitely goes for “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
Neither gained a lot, although. “The Way of Water,” with greater than $2.28 billion in field workplace, gained for finest visible results. The “Top Gun” sequel ($1.49 billion), took finest sound.
Last 12 months, Apple TV’s “CODA” grew to become the primary streaming film to win finest image. But this 12 months, 9 of the ten finest image nominees have been theatrical releases. After the film enterprise cratered in the course of the pandemic, moviegoing recovered to about 67% of pre-pandemic ranges. But it was an up and down 12 months, filled with smash hits and anxiety-inducing lulls in theaters.
This 12 months, ticket gross sales have been sturdy due to releases like “Creed III” and “Cocaine Bear” — which made not one however two cameos at Sunday’s present. But there stay storm clouds on the horizon. The Writers Guild and the most important studios are set to start contract negotiations March 20, a looming battle that has a lot of the trade girding for the opportunity of a piece stoppage all through movie and tv.
The Oscars, too, are looking for steadiness. Last 12 months’s telecast drew 16.6 million viewers, a 58% enhance from the scaled-down 2021 version, watched by a document low 10.5 million.
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AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr contributed to this report.
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For extra protection of this 12 months’s Academy Awards, go to: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
