Alfonso Cuaron bagged a hat trick of Oscars on Sunday for “Roma,” his love letter to his childhood in 1970s Mexico City, but civil rights drama “Green Book” crashed his party with a win for best picture.
The 57-year-old Mexican filmmaker won the prizes for best director, cinematography and foreign language film, capping a brilliant awards season for him — and offering streaming giant Netflix a new feather in its cap.
Diversity, though, was perhaps the biggest winner on a night when a beloved black filmmaker won his first competitive Oscar, a superhero blockbuster set in Africa scored big, and two black actors and an Egyptian first-generation American won three of the four acting prizes.
And the wide range of films honored at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre bridged the divide between arthouse fare and popular blockbusters.
“I grew up watching foreign language films, learning so much from them, being inspired — films like ‘Citizen Kane,’ ‘Jaws.’ And there are no waves, there’s only the ocean,” an emotional Cuaron said.
“I think the nominees tonight have proven that we are part of the same ocean.”
Rock legends Queen, fronted by US singer Adam Lambert, opened what turned out to be one of the more enjoyable ceremonies in recent years with a mini-medley of mega-hits “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions.”
The British rockers may have experienced more nerves than during a normal gig: biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” was up for several awards and ended up the biggest winner of the night with four Oscars.
The film — which tracks the band’s rise to fame from the moment when Freddie Mercury joined the band in 1970 to their legendary 1985 Live Aid performance — took statuettes for best actor Rami Malek, as well as sound editing, sound mixing and film editing.
“We made a film about a gay man, an immigrant, who lived his life just unapologetically himself. The fact that I’m celebrating him and this story with you tonight is proof that we’re longing for stories like this,” said Malek, whose spell-binding turn as Mercury captivated audiences.
‘Not about… winning’
“Roma” was the frontrunner going into the night with 10 nominations, despite spending little time in movie theaters, in keeping with Netflix’s customary release strategy.
“Green Book” started off with a widely expected best supporting actor trophy for Mahershala Ali, and a best original screenplay award.
It was expected to lose out to “Roma” for best picture, but crept up to take the honors after winning the same prize at the influential Producers Guild Awards.
“The whole story is about love. It’s about loving each other, despite our differences, and finding out the truth about who we are,” said director Peter Farrelly.
Another frontrunner for the 91st Academy Awards was offbeat royal romp “The Favourite,” which also had 10 nominations, but turned out to be one of the night’s big losers.
It went home with just one win — albeit one of the night’s biggest shocks — for best actress Olivia Colman, who bested heavy favorite Glenn Close.
Crowd favorite “A Star is Born,” too, came away with only one statuette, for Lady Gaga’s song “Shallow.”
“I’ve worked hard for a long time, and it’s not about… winning,” the Grammy-winning Gaga said, tears streaming down her face.
“What it’s about is not giving up. If you have a dream, fight for it.”
Tribute to Prince
Celebrated filmmaker Spike Lee provided one of the few eyebrow-raising moments as he accepted an Oscar, his first ever competitive prize, for best adapted screenplay for race drama “BlacKkKlansman.”
Dressed all in purple in tribute to late pop legend Prince, the director put the ABC network’s anti-profanity bleeping machine through its paces with some colorful language.
But then he got serious with an impassioned tribute to his grandmother and a plea for voters to be “on the right side of history” in the 2020 US presidential election.
Among all the contenders, Marvel superhero movie “Black Panther” likely had the best brand recognition among the TV audience — it took in more at the box office than its best picture rivals combined.
The 7,900-odd voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences saw fit to add gold to the blockbuster’s haul of green, with statuettes for its production design, costumes and original score.
FULL LIST OF WINNERS
Performance by an actor in a leading role nominees:
Christian Bale in VICE
Bradley Cooper in A STAR IS BORN
Willem Dafoe in AT ETERNITY’S GATE
Rami Malek in BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY – WINNER!!
Viggo Mortensen in GREEN BOOK
Performance by an actor in a supporting role nominees:
Mahershala Ali in GREEN BOOK – WINNER!!
Richard E. Grant in CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
Performance by an actress in a leading role nominees:
Yalitza Aparicio in ROMA
Glenn Close in THE WIFE
Olivia Colman in THE FAVOURITE – WINNER!!
Melissa McCarthy in CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
Performance by an actress in a supporting role nominees:
Regina King in IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK – WINNER!!
Best animated feature film of the year nominees:
Brad Bird, John Walker and Nicole Paradis Grindle
Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson
Mamoru Hosoda and Yuichiro Saito
Rich Moore, Phil Johnston and Clark Spencer
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE – WINNER!!
Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller
Achievement in cinematography nominees:
Łukasz Żal
Robbie Ryan
Caleb Deschanel
ROMA – WINNER!!
Alfonso Cuarón
Matthew Libatique
Achievement in costume design nominees:
Mary Zophres
BLACK PANTHER – WINNER!!
Ruth Carter
Sandy Powell
Sandy Powell
Alexandra Byrne
Achievement in directing nominees:
Spike Lee
Paweł Pawlikowski
Yorgos Lanthimos
ROMA – WINNER!!
Alfonso Cuarón
Adam McKay
Best documentary feature nominees:
FREE SOLO – WINNER!!
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes and Shannon Dill
HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING
RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes and Su Kim
Bing Liu and Diane Quon
Talal Derki, Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme and Tobias N. Siebert
Betsy West and Julie Cohen
Best documentary short subject nominees:
Ed Perkins and Jonathan Chinn
Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman
Skye Fitzgerald and Bryn Mooser
Marshall Curry
PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE. – WINNER!!
Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton
Achievement in film editing nominees:
Barry Alexander Brown
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY – WINNER!!
John Ottman
Yorgos Mavropsaridis
Patrick J. Don Vito
Hank Corwin
Best foreign language film of the year nominees:
Lebanon
Directed by Nadine Labaki
Poland
Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski
Germany
Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
ROMA – WINNER!!
Mexico
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
Japan
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling nominees:
Göran Lundström and Pamela Goldammer
Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Jessica Brooks
VICE – WINNER!!
Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia Dehaney
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) nominees:
BLACK PANTHER – WINNER!!
Ludwig Goransson
Terence Blanchard
Nicholas Britell
Alexandre Desplat
Marc Shaiman
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) nominees:
“All The Stars” from BLACK PANTHER
Music by Kendrick Lamar, Mark “Sounwave” Spears and Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith
Lyric by Kendrick Lamar, SZA and Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“The Place Where Lost Things Go” from MARY POPPINS RETURNS
Music by Marc Shaiman
Lyric by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman
“Shallow” from A STAR IS BORN – WINNER!!
Music and Lyric by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt
“When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” from THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS
Music and Lyric by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
Best motion picture of the year nominees:
Kevin Feige, Producer
Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee, Producers
Graham King, Producer
Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday and Yorgos Lanthimos, Producers
GREEN BOOK – WINNER!!
Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga, Producers
Gabriela Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón, Producers
Bill Gerber, Bradley Cooper and Lynette Howell Taylor, Producers
Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers
Achievement in production design nominees:
BLACK PANTHER – WINNER!!
Production Design: Hannah Beachler
Set Decoration: Jay Hart
Production Design: Fiona Crombie
Set Decoration: Alice Felton
Production Design: Nathan Crowley
Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas
Production Design: John Myhre
Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
Production Design: Eugenio Caballero
Set Decoration: Bárbara Enríquez
Best animated short film nominees:
Alison Snowden and David Fine
BAO – WINNER!!
Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb
Louise Bagnall and Nuria González Blanco
Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas
Trevor Jimenez
Best live action short film nominees:
Vincent Lambe and Darren Mahon
Jeremy Comte and Maria Gracia Turgeon
Marianne Farley and Marie-Hélène Panisset
Rodrigo Sorogoyen and María del Puy Alvarado
SKIN – WINNER!!
Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman
Achievement in sound editing nominees:
Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boeddeker
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY – WINNER!!
John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone
Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
Sergio Díaz and Skip Lievsay
Achievement in sound mixing nominees:
Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter Devlin
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY – WINNER!!
Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Ai-Ling Lee and Mary H. Ellis
Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan and José Antonio García
Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder and Steve Morrow
Achievement in visual effects nominees:
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl and Dan Sudick
Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones and Chris Corbould
FIRST MAN – WINNER!!
Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J.D. Schwalm
Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler and David Shirk
Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Dominic Tuohy
Adapted screenplay nominees:
THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS
Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
BLACKkKLANSMAN – WINNER!!
Written by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee
CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
Screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
Written for the screen by Barry Jenkins
A STAR IS BORN
Screenplay by Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters
Original screenplay nominees:
Written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara
FIRST REFORMED
Written by Paul Schrader
GREEN BOOK – WINNER!!
Written by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly
Written by Alfonso Cuarón
Written by Adam McKay
