Best film director takes minor prize
Green Book was the surprise best picture winner at the Academy Awards, yet director Peter Farrelly was not nominated.
It’s happened again: the movie that no-one directed.
The American racial drama Green Book was the surprise best picture winner at the Academy Awards yesterday, yet its director Peter Farrelly, whose CV includes Dumb and Dumber, was not nominated.
Best director went to Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron for the Spanish-language, Mexico-set, black-and-white Roma, his second Oscar after the space epic Gravity in 2014.
Green Book taking the top prize echoes the misfortune of Australia’s Bruce Beresford in 1990. His movie Driving Miss Daisy won four Oscars, including best picture, but he was not nominated as best director. The same happened to Ben Affleck with Argo in 2013. The decision appeared to upset Spike Lee, nominated for another racial drama, BlacKkKlansman. He was reported to have left his seat after the announcement.
It was the first year since 2013 that the top four categories each went to a different movie. It was also the first win for a Marvel Comics movie, with Black Panther picking up three Oscars.
Rami Malek won best actor for his performance as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody and Olivia Colman was named best actress for her role as Queen Anne in the black comedy The Favourite. Best supporting actor went to Mahershala Ali, for Green Book his second after Moonlight in 2017, and best supporting actress was Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk. Malek, 37, started his acceptance speech by thanking his mother. He then mentioned his late father. “We’re longing for stories like this. I am the son of immigrants from Egypt. I’m a first-generation American, and part of my story is being written right now.” He alluded to the fact he was not the first choice for the role. That was comedian and actor Sasha Baron Cohen. “I may not have been the obvious choice but I guess it worked out.”
English actress Colman said she hoped her children were watching the awards on television because “this is never going to happen again”. She added that she wanted to “snog” everyone, a word that probably went over the heads of the Hollywoood crowd.
The mixed results led to one expected revolution being held off: Cuaron’s Roma, made by Netflix, was favoured to become the first movie from a pay-TV network to win best picture. But in the end, a foreign-language movie shot in black and white fell short of the top prize. No foreign-language film has won best picture since the Oscars started in 1927. Roma won four Oscars, including foreign-language film and best cinematography for Cuaron, the first director to win for shooting his own movie. He thanked the Academy for recognising a film centred on “one of the 70 million domestic workers in the world without work rights’’.
Although not nominated as a director, Farrelly took home a consolation prize — on top of best picture — by winning an original screenplay Oscar. He was one of three writers on Green Book.
The winners at the 91st Academy Awards
Best picture: “Green Book”
Best actress: Olivia Colman, “The Favourite”
Best actor:Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Best director: Alfonso Cuaron, “Roma”
Best supporting actress: Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Best supporting actor: Mahershala Ali, “Green Book”
Foreign language film: Mexico’s “Roma”
Original screenplay: “Green Book,” Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly
Adapted screenplay: “BlacKkKlansman,” Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee
Original Song: “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born,” music and lyrics by Lady Gaga, MarkRonson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt.
Cinematography: Alfonso Cuaron, “Roma”
Best animated film: “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”
Original Score: “Black Panther,” Ludwig Goransson
Costume design: Ruth Carter, “Black Panther”
Production design: “Black Panther”
Sound Editing: “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Sound Mixing: “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Film Editing: John Ottman, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Animated short film: “Bao”
Documentary short subject: “Period. End of Sentence”
Visual effects: “First Man”
Live action short film: “Skin”
Documentary feature: “FreeSolo”
Makeup and hairstyling: “Vice”
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