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Oscars 2019 Live Updates: Queen Opens the Show and Regina King Wins
• The 91st Academy Awards is underway at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.
• Join Wesley Morris, Aisha Harris and Dave Itzkoff in our live chat.
• Here’s the list of winners so far, including Regina King, who won for “If Beale Street Could Talk.”
• From the red carpet: Spike Lee honors Prince, women wear pink and many outfits are genderfluid.
• Our Carpetbagger, Kyle Buchanan, talked to stars and moviemakers on the red carpet.
Oscars Red Carpet 2019: Stars Arrive at the 91st Academy Awards
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The latest awards
Making Christian Bale look like Dick Cheney is no easy task. Academy voters were so impressed with the results that they gave Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia Dehaney the Oscar for best makeup and hairstyling for their work in “Vice.”
“Free Solo,” about a rock climber who scaled Yosemite’s El Capitan cliff without ropes or other safety gear, won best documentary, pulling past “RBG,” a crowd-pleasing and affectionate portrait of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It was the first Oscar win for the first-time nominees Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, who directed “Free Solo.”
Queen opens the show
The first hostless Academy Awards in 30 years took its lead from the Grammys, opening with a rowdy rendition of “We Will Rock You” by a Queen, the super-group chronicled in the blockbuster best-picture nominee “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
“Welcome to the Oscars!” shouted Adam Lambert, who has taken over for Freddie Mercury as Queen’s front man in recent years, as a waterfall of sparks fell to the Dolby Theater stage.
Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph then took the stage and — while explaining they were not the hosts — gave a mini-performance that drew relaxed laughter from the audience and seemed to make the case that the trio should be hired to co-host next year, pronto. In a quick segue, they began presenting the Oscar for best supporting actress at the show’s eight-minute mark. Last year, it took the show 18 minutes just to get through Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue.
Regina King won the trophy for the lyrical art film “If Beale Street Could Talk.”
“I’m an example of what it looks like when support and love is poured into someone,” King said, composing herself after breaking into tears.
No clear favorite for the top prize
Forget the office Oscar pool. For the first time in memory, Hollywood truly has no idea what movie will win best picture at the Academy Awards. “Roma,” “Green Book,” “Black Panther” and “BlacKkKlansman” are all plausible victors, studio executives say. The prize could also go to a dark-horse contender — “Bohemian Rhapsody,” perhaps — because of a voting system in which best picture nominees are ranked one through eight, and the second- and third-place positions can carry as much weight as first place.
Usually one movie dominates at pre-Oscar galas, signaling where the race will end up. But not this year. “Roma,” mostly seen on Netflix, was named best film by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. “Green Book” collected the big trophy at the predictive Producers Guild of America ceremony. The powerful Screen Actors Guild threw its weight behind “Black Panther.” “BlacKkKlansman” has aggressively campaigned.
Adding to the atmosphere of uncertainty is the Oscars broadcast itself. For the first time in 30 years there was no host — Kevin Hart stepped down amid new scrutiny on his past anti-gay ramblings on Twitter. And the academy has bounced from one fracas to the next during preparations.
An especially competitive year in the actress categories
Improving roles for women across Hollywood has led to a particularly competitive year in the best actress and supporting actress categories.
After wins at the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards, Glenn Close, nominated for playing a subjugated spouse in “The Wife,” is the favorite to win best actress. There is a feeling among many people in Hollywood that Close — the most Oscar-nominated living performer never to win — is overdue for her turn on the stage. This is her seventh nomination. But hot on her heels is Olivia Colman, a first-time nominee for playing a lonely Queen Anne in “The Favourite.” Colman won the Bafta.
Professional prognosticators were split on supporting actress. Variety’s awards columnist expected voters to support King, the eventual winner. The Hollywood Reporter, on the other hand, called this race for Amy Adams, singled out for playing Lynne Cheney in “Vice.” Like Close, Adams has never won, despite racking up six nominations over the years.
Could this be Spike Lee’s year?
Alfonso Cuarón, the force behind “Roma,” which is based on his childhood in Mexico City, could easily win best director. He previously won in the category in 2014, for “Gravity.” If his name is called, it will be the fifth time in six years that a Mexican filmmaker has triumphed in the category. Besides Cuarón, Guillermo Del Toro and Alejandro González Iñárritu have been victorious.
But some people in Hollywood think that Lee, who directed and co-wrote “BlacKkKlansman,” also has a chance. Lee has never won a competitive Oscar in his singular career — this is the first time he has even been nominated for directing — and he has campaigned hard, making a smattering of television appearances as voting went into its final stretch.
‘Spider-Man’ vs. Disney
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences started awarding an Oscar for feature animation in 2001, and one company — Disney — has won 70 percent of the time, including the last six years in a row.
But best animated film could slip away from the studio this year.
Sony Pictures, which has been working hard to build up its animation operation, is poised to win for its stylized “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”
Disney could, however, pull off an upset. “Incredibles 2,” from the company’s Pixar division, is also a strong contender.
Whatever the outcome for feature animation, Disney is unlikely to leave the ceremony without at least a little gold. Pixar’s “Bao,” featuring a dumpling that comes to life and directed by Domee Shi, will almost surely win best animated short.
Certainty amid the chaos
There are some sure bets out there. Rami Malek, for instance, is the favorite to win best actor for his turn as Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” having collected one trophy after another on his way to the Oscars. Look for the Queen musical drama to also pick up best sound mixing.
There is little doubt that Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson and their fellow “Shallow” songwriters will be called to the stage for best song. Gaga, also nominated for her lead acting in “A Star Is Born,” will perform “Shallow” during the ceremony, with her co-star Bradley Cooper, a multiple nominee, joining her.
The trio of experts who transformed Christian Bale into Dick Cheney in “Vice” are expected to win Oscars for achievement in makeup and hairstyling.
The nominees are diverse. Let’s see about the winners.
Part of the reason that the Academy Awards have become harder to predict involves the organization’s membership, which has been expanding rapidly — particularly overseas — in an effort to make the voting pool less awash with white men. Academy leaders are thrilled by their progress, which could lead to a more inclusive group of honorees.
A win for Lee would be the first time that a black filmmaker has taken home the best director Oscar. Hannah Beachler, nominated for her “Black Panther” production design, and Ruth E. Carter, a costume design front-runner for “Black Panther,” could end the night as the first African-Americans to win in their categories.
And “Roma,” filmed in Spanish and Mixtec, would be the first foreign-language movie to reign as best picture.
All eyes on Netflix
In many ways, this year’s best picture race has become a referendum on Netflix, which has never won.
The streaming giant’s new in-house campaigner, Lisa Taback, mounted a colossal get-out-the-vote push for “Roma,” turning off some academy members. Other voters do not believe that Netflix movies should be eligible for Oscars in the first place — that “Roma” should be considered a made-for-television movie because the internet has been its primary home. Netflix offered theaters only a three-week period of exclusivity to show the film (three months is standard), resulting in a boycott by multiplex chains. “Roma” was ultimately booked into about 250 smaller theaters in the United States, but Netflix has refused to disclose ticket sales.
Not everyone in Hollywood sees Netflix as the enemy — certainly not when the company has revved up its moviemaking operation, countering a downturn at traditional studios like 20th Century Fox. Going forward, Netflix intends to release roughly 90 films annually, including documentaries. Maybe specialty films like “Roma” don’t need a wide theatrical release? The cultural tide has clearly swung toward streaming.
“Roma,” with 10 overall nominations, is not the only Netflix film vying for Oscars. “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” from the writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen, is competing in the adapted screenplay, song and costume design categories. And a Netflix documentary short called “Period. End of Sentence.,” which counts Ms. Taback as a producer, could collect a trophy. The film follows women in rural India who fight menstrual stigma by making sanitary pads.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/24/movies/oscars-academy-awards.html
2019-02-25 01:18:45Z
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