CODA won three Academy Awards on Sunday night, including Best Picture, but its history-making win was overshadowed by an unscripted moment in which Will Smith went on stage and slapped Chris Rock in the face following a joke Rock made about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. He later invoked King Richard subject Richard Williams, who was also “a fierce defender of his family.” Yes, it was a wild evening at the 94th Academy Awards.
Dune was the big winner in terms of the below-the-line categories, winning six Oscars on the night for Cinematography (Greig Fraser), Editing (Joe Walker), Original Score (Hans Zimmer), Production Design (Zsuzsanna Sipos and Patrice Vermette), Sound (Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett), Visual Effects (Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer).
Elsewhere, Jenny Beavan won Best Costume Design for Cruella, while Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh won Best Makeup and Hairstyling for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, which also brought Jessica Chastain her first Oscar following a heated race that saw predictions all over the place.
In fact, all of the acting frontrunners won this year, from Troy Kotsur (CODA) and Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) to Smith, who apologized to the Academy for his behavior during his emotionally-charged speech, though he notably did not apologize to Rock for assaulting him in front of an audience of millions.
Kotsur actually become the Academy’s first deaf male winner 35 years after his co-star Marlee Matlin won an Oscar for Children of a Lesser God., and he made sure to thank his colleagues in the deaf theater community because if he wasn’t able to hone his craft there, he acknowledged he wouldn’t be standing on the Dolby stage Sunday night.
The Power of the Dog helmer Jane Campion won Best Director, becoming the third female winner following Kathryn Bigelow and Chloe Zhao. However, her win was Netflix’s only victory of the night, even though TPOTD racked up 12 nominations.
Despite earning just three Oscar nominations, Apple’s CODA came from behind this season to win Best Picture, defeating Netflix’s The Power of the Dog. It marks the first time a streamer has won the Academy’s top prize, as well as the first Sundance premiere to win Best Picture. CODA filmmaker Sian Heder won Best Adapted Screenplay, while Kenneth Branagh won Best Original Screenplay for Belfast, marking the very first Oscar win of his esteemed career.
Questlove‘s Summer of Soul also premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and managed to hold off Flee and Attica to win the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Disney’s Encanto also staved off stiff competition to win Best Animated Feature, while Drive My Car was named Best International Feature, likely buoyed by its nominations for Best Picture and Best Director.
Though the Danish film Flee made history with its three nominations for Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and Best International Feature, it ultimately went home empty-handed — unlike Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas, who won Best Original Song for their catchy tune “No Time to Die” from the James Bond movie of the same name.
Finally, the short film awards went to The Long Goodbye (live-action), The Queen of Basketball (documentary), and The Windshield Wiper (animated).
Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes hosted the Oscars, which were held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood — though in a controversial move, eight categories were pre-taped an hour before the live telecast and edited into the show. There were a few mentions of the controversy throughout the evening but nothing that set off any alarm bells — certainly not when compared to Smith’s attack on Rock.
Will Packer produced this year’s show, which featured five musical numbers, though a second song from Encanto, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” was performed live in place of Van Morrison‘s nominated song from Belfast, “Down to Joy.” Packer also tapped a gospel choir to sing and dance during the In Memoriam segment, which came off rather disrespectful if you ask me.
All in all, it was a crazy ending to a crazy awards season, and you can (again) expect plenty of changes before next year’s show, as the Academy’s leadership team will be changing this summer. As for this year’s Oscars, you can find the complete list of winners below:
Best Picture
Belfast (Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas)
CODA (Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger) (WINNER)
Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay and Kevin Messick)
Drive My Car (Teruhisa Yamamoto)
Dune (Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve and Cale Boyter)
King Richard (Tim White, Trevor White and Will Smith)
Licorice Pizza (Sara Murphy, Adam Somner and Paul Thomas Anderson)
Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Bradley Cooper)
The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier)
West Side Story (Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger)
Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog (WINNER)
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Best Actor
Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick… Boom!
Will Smith, King Richard (WINNER)
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye (WINNER)
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Penelope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Best Supporting Actor
Ciarin Hinds, Belfast
Troy Kotsur, CODA (WINNER)
Jesse Plemons, The Power of the Dog
J.K. Simmons, Being the Ricardos
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
Best Supporting Actress
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story (WINNER)
Judi Dench, Belfast
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
Best Original Screenplay
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast (WINNER)
Adam McKay and David Sirota, Don’t Look Up
Zach Baylin, King Richard
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt, The Worst Person in the World
Best Adapted Screenplay
Siân Heder, CODA (WINNER)
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe, Drive My Car
Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth, Dune
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Best Animated Feature
Encanto (Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer) (WINNER)
Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie)
Luca (Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren)
The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Kurt Albrecht)
Raya and the Last Dragon (Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho)
Best Documentary Feature
Ascension (Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell)
Attica (Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry)
Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie)
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein) (WINNER)
Writing With Fire (Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh)
Best International Feature
Drive My Car (Japan) (WINNER)
Flee (Denmark)
The Hand of God (Italy)
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan)
The Worst Person in the World (Norway)
Best Cinematography
Greig Fraser, Dune (WINNER)
Dan Laustsen, Nightmare Alley
Ari Wegner, The Power of the Dog
Bruno Delbonnel, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Janusz Kaminski, West Side Story
Best Costume Design
Jenny Beavan, Cruella (WINNER)
Massimo Cantini Parrini, Cyrano
Jacqueline West, Dune
Luis Sequeira, Nightmare Alley
Paul Tazewell, West Side Story
Best Film Editing
Hank Corwin, Don’t Look Up
Joe Walker, Dune (WINNER)
Pamela Martin, King Richard
Peter Sciberras, The Power of the Dog
Myron Kerstein & Andrew Weisblum, Tick, Tick… Boom!
Best Makeup/Hairstyling
Coming 2 America (Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer)
Cruella (Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon)
Dune (Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr)
The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh) (WINNER)
House of Gucci (Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras)
Best Original Score
Nicholas Britell, Don’t Look Up
Hans Zimmer, Dune (WINNER)
Germaine Franco, Encanto
Alberto Iglesias, Parallel Mothers
Jonny Greenwood, The Power of the Dog
Best Original Song
“Be Alive” from King Richard – Beyoncé Knowles-Carter and Darius Scott
“Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto – Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Down to Joy” from Belfast – Van Morrison
“No Time to Die” from No Time to Die – Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell (WINNER)
“Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days – Diane Warren
Best Production Design
Zsuzsanna Sipos and Patrice Vermette, Dune (WINNER)
Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau, Nightmare Alley
Grant Major and Amber Richards, The Power of the Dog
Stefan Dechant and Nancy Haigh, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Rena DeAngelo and Adam Stockhausen, West Side Story
Best Sound
Belfast (Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri)
Dune (Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett) (WINNER)
No Time to Die (Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor)
The Power of the Dog (Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb)
West Side Story (Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy)
Best Visual Effects
Dune (Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer) (WINNER)
Free Guy (Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick)
No Time to Die (Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick)
Best Live Action Short Film
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run (Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger)
The Dress (Tadeusz Łysiak and Maciej Ślesicki)
The Long Goodbye (Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed) (WINNER)
On My Mind (Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson)
Please Hold (K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse)
Best Animated Short Film
Affairs of the Art (Joanna Quinn and Les Mills)
Bestia (Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz)
Boxballet (Anton Dyakov)
Robin Robin (Dan Ojari and Mikey Please)
The Windshield Wiper (Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez) (WINNER)
Best Documentary Short Subject
Audible (Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean)
Lead Me Home (Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk)
The Queen of Basketball (Ben Proudfoot) (WINNER)
Three Songs for Benazir (Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei)
When We Were Bullies (Jay Rosenblatt)
