Oscars 2021: Winners, red carpet, live coverage
Nomadland was the big winner at an intimate, pared-back Oscars ceremony that saw stars return to the red carpet| FULL WINNERS LIST
- Full winners list
- Best picture goes to ... Nomadland
- Aussie wins for dazzling visual effects
- Our fashion editor’s red carpet verdict
- Glamour, diversity on Oscars bill
Welcome to The Australian’s live coverage of the 2021 Oscars ceremony, which saw the return of red-carpet glamour and an in-person, Zoom-less event designed to “look like a movie’’. Here’s how it all played out.
Rosemary Neill 3.35pm:Nomadland takes out three key awards
Chinese-born director Chloe Zhao cleaned up at Monday’s socially-distanced Oscars ceremony, with her elegiac feature film about nomads living in vans and caravans in the American West, taking out three key awards - best film, best director and best actress for lead performer Frances McDormand.
Zhao, 39, made Oscars history as she became the first Asian woman – and only the second woman overall – to take home the best director accolade during an often irreverent awards ceremony adapted for our COVID-19 times.
While McDormand howled like a wolf after Nomadland won best film, Zhao thanked the real-life nomads who appear in her film “for teaching us the power of resilience and hope’’. The western-educated director also praised the inherent goodness of people, and said: “Even though sometimes it might seem like the opposite is true, I have always found goodness in the people I met, everywhere I went in the world.’’
Despite predictions the late Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman would win the best actor award for his performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, 83-year-old Welsh veteran Sir Anthony Hopkins triumphed in this category for his portrayal of a man battling dementia in The Father, making him the oldest actor to win that accolade.
While there were no Australian performers or directors in the running this year, Australia’s Andrew Jackson won for visual effects for his work on the Christopher Nolan blockbuster, Tenet, alongside colleagues David Lee, Andrew Lockley and Scott Fisher. Australian star Margot Robbie is the founder of LuckyChap Entertainment, the production company behind Promising Young Woman, the feminist revenge thriller which won best original screenplay for British writer-director Emerald Fennell.
Zhao went into Hollywood’s night of nights as the clear favourite and her film’s Oscars trifecta caps a stunning awards season, in which she also won best director at the Golden Globes, the BAFTAs and Australia’s AACTA awards. She faced formidable competition in the directing category from David Fincher, whose tribute to old Hollywood, Mank, had garnered 10 nominations but won just two awards, for cinematography and production design. The category’s other contenders were Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman); Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) and Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round).
Korean actress Yuh-Jung Youn beat out acting giants Olivia Colman and Close to win the best supporting actress gong for her performance in the immigrant family saga Minari, and gave one of the night’s funniest speeches. The first Korean to win an acting Oscar, she noted that westerners often mispronounced her name but quipped: “Tonight you are all forgiven.” Although she had also won a BAFTA for her Minari performance, she asked aloud: “How can I win over Glenn Close?’’ Addressing the Hollywood superstar, she insisted she had benefited from a “little bit luck. I’m luckier than you.’’
The night’s most moving speech came from Danish director Thomas Vinterberg, whose Another Round was crowned best international feature film.
His daughter, Ida, was meant to be in the film but was killed four days into shooting by a driver distracted by a mobile phone. Dedicating his film to his late daughter, the emotional director said: “Ida, this (winning the Oscar) is a miracle that just happened and you’re a part of this miracle … This one’s for you.’’
1.32pm:The full list of Oscar winners
Original Screenplay: Promising Young Woman - Emerald Fennell
Adapted Screenplay: The Father - Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller
International Feature Film: Another Round - Denmark
Actor in a Supporting Role: Daniel Kaluuya - Judas and the Black Messiah
Makeup and Hairstyling: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom - Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson.
Costume Design: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom - Ann Roth
Directing: Nomadland - Chloe Zhao
The Motion Picture & Television Fund: Jean Hersholt
Sound: Sound of Metal - Nicolas Becker, jaime Baksht, Michellee Couttolenc, Carlos Cortes and Phillip Bladh
Animated Feature Film: Soul - Pete Docter and Dana Murray
Animated Short Film: If Anything Happens I Love You - Will McCormack and Michael Govier
Documentary (Short Subject): Colette - Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard
Documentary (Feature): My Octopus Teacher - Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed and Craig Foster
Visual Effects: Tenet - Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley, Scott Fisher
Actress in Supporting Role: Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari
Production Design: Mank - Donald graham Burt and Jan Pascale
Cinematography: Mank - Erik Messerschmidt
Film Editing: Sound of Metal - Mikkel E. G. Nielsen
Music (original score): Soul - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste
Music (Original song): Fight For You from Judas and the Black Messiah
Best Picture: Nomadland
Actress in Leading Role: Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Actor in Leading Role: Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Imogen Reid 1.27pm:Anthony Hopkins takes best actor for The Father
Anthony Hopkins has won Best Actor for his role in The Father. Picking up the Oscar on behalf of Hopkins was Joaquin Phoenix who also announced the categories nominees.
“I’m supposed to talk about acting and specifically the transformative moment when an actor discovers the character and fully embodies it. But I don’t really know anything about that. I don’t think they’ve ever really had that experience,” he said.
“So I think the only thing that I can say with sincerity is that, when I watch these five performances, I feel inspired and it’s a shame that we have to choose just one.”
Hopkins’ win has come as a shock given late actor Chadwick Boseman was the favourite to win a posthumous Oscar.
Imogen Reid 1.23pm:Frances McDormand wins best actress for Nomadland
And the best actress goes to Frances McDormand for Nomadland.
McDormand has previously won two Oscars, one for her role in Fargo at the 69th Academy Awards in 1997 and again for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri in 2017.
“Look, they didn’t ask me but if I had, I would have said karaoke because when you got voices like Leslie and Marcus… we should add a karaoke bar. I have no words,” she said as she accepted her award.
“My voice is in my sword. We know the sword is our work. And I like work. Thank you for knowing that. And thanks for this.”
Best Actress nominees
Frances McDormand – Nomadland
Carey Mulligan – Promising Young Woman
Viola Davis – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Vanessa Kirby – Pieces of a Woman
Andra Day – The United States Vs. Billie Holiday
Imogen Reid 1.08pm:Nomadland takes out best picture
Nomadland has won best picture. This is the second nod director Chloe Zhao has received during the 93rd Academy Awards.
Frances McDormand, who joined Zhao on stage, finished off the speeches with a baying sound, dedicating the Oscar “to our wolf”.
“Please watch our movie on the largest screen possible and one day very soon take everyone you know into a theatre shoulder to shoulder in that dark space and watch every film that’s represented here tonight. We give this one to our wolf,” she said.
The film follows Fern (Frances McDormand) a grey nomad, interacting with other van dwellers and down on their luck migrant workers, in a documentary style following her across the American West.
Nomadland’s best picture win has meant The Trial of the Chicago 7 has missed out on picking up an Oscar, despite being nominated in six categories.
Best Picture nominees
The Father
Judas and The Black Messiah
Mank
Minari
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Imogen Reid1.00pm: H.E.R. wins Best Original Song
Fight for You wins best original song for Judas and the Black Messiah. Accepting the award was singer songwriter H.E.R., who used her speech as an opportunity to explain the power of music.
“I just want to say this - musicians, film-makers, I believe we have an opportunity and a responsibility to tell the truth and to write history the way that it was and how it connects us to today and what we see going on in the world today,” she said.
“Knowledge is power. Music is power. And as long as I’m standing, I’m always going to fight for us, I’m always going to fight for us, I’m always going to fight for my people and fight for what’s wrong and that’s what music and storytelling does.”
The biographical drama follows the betrayal of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party during the 1960s.
Best Original Song nominees
Speak Now - One Night in Miami
Io Si - The Life Ahead
Husavik - Eurovision Song Contest
Fight for You - Judas and the Black Messiah
Hear My Voice - The Trial of the Chicago 7
Imogen Reid12.39pm:Soul and its composers win Best Original Score
Zendaya has awarded Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste best original score. During his acceptance speech, Batiste - one of the three composers for the film score - said the moment was a “combination of miracles”.
“It’s just so incredibly powerful to be standing here in the lineage that we come from and the lineage in this film,” he said.
“The collaborators on this film were the best that you could have ever asked for, the most generous, rigorous collaborators.”
Best Original Score nominees
Soul - Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Minari - Emile Mosseri
Mank - Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
News of the World - James Newton Howard
Da 5 Bloods - Terence Blanchard
Elle Halliwell 12.35pm:Viola Davis presents Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Academy award winner Viola Davis presented Tyler Perry with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, a gong usually presented at the Academy’s Governors Awards.
Perry turned his studio into a quarantine camp during the filming of his show Sistas, enabling cast and crew to work safely through the pandemic.
“When you’ve been given a voice there is a huge responsibility to use it in a way that sustains change,” Davis said of the filmmaker.
“So he created a living legacy that keeps on living.”
Elle Halliwell 12.30pm:Harrison Ford reveals Blade Runner feedback
Before announcing Mikkel E.G. Nielsen - Sound of Metal as the winner of Best Film Editing, Harrison Ford shared some editing feedback his acclaimed 1992 film Blade Runner had received after its screening. “Opening - too choppy,” he began. “Why is this voiceover track so terrible? He sounds drugged. Were they all on drugs?”
“The editor will work tirelessly, often in isolation,
to make thousands of choices, placing the right piece of the right length in the right order to arrive at the best version of what the movie wants to be. “It’s an extremely difficult process, not for the impatient, not for the faint of heart.”
It's official! #Oscarspic.twitter.com/yhKWZgsncJ
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) April 26, 2021
Film editing nominees
The Father – Yorgos Lamprinos
Nomadland – Chloé Zhao
Promising Young Woman, Frédéric Thoraval
Sound of Metal, Mikkel E. G. Nielsen – Winner
The Trial of the Chicago 7 – Alan Baumgarten
Elle Halliwell 12.10pm:Halle Berry debuts her new look
Halle Berry scored major hair points for her dramatic bob, which she debuted on the red carpet. Accessorising with a mauve Dolce & Gabbana gown (the choppy ‘do was definitely the main event here), she presented the award for Best Production Design, which went to Mank.
The drama film about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, also took home Best Cinematography.
Production design nominees
The Father
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank - Winner
News of the World
Tenet
Cinematography nominees
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank - Winner
News of the World
Nomadland
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Elle Halliwell12.01pm:Minari’s Yuh-jung Youn takes best supporting actress
Brad Pitt awarded Yuh-jung Youn best supporting actress. The Korean star seemed almost more excited to meet Pitt than receive the prestigious award, saying “Mr Pitt, finally it’s nice to meet you. Where were you while we were filming? It’s very honoured to meet you.”
She also gave a nod to Glenn Close and her other fellow nominees, saying humbly:
“We are the winner for the different movie, we played the different role, so we cannot compete with each other,” she said, adding “I think I’m luckier than you.”
Best supporting actress nominees
Maria Bakalova – Subsequent Moviefilm
Glenn Close – Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman – The Father
Amanda Seyfried – Mank
Yuh-jung Youn – Minari - winner
Elle Halliwell11.57am:Australian takes Oscar for dazzling visual effects
We won! This year Aussie Oscar nominees were thin on the ground, so this was our only chance at a gong, and Tenet’s visual effects team which included Aussie Andrew Jackson delivered.
The nominees
Love and Monsters
The Midnight Sky
Mulan
The One and Only Ivan
Tenet - Winner
Elle Halliwell11.48am:My Octopus Teacher wins best documentary feature
My Octopus Teacher wins best documentary feature. The film documents the unusual friendship between filmmaker Craig Foster and an octopus living in a kelp forest off the South African coast.
Director Pippa Ehrlich thanked The Sea Change Project for their work protecting the octopus’s habitat, and her co-director James Reed also acknowledged Forster, saying “…he kind of showed us that if a man can kind of form a friendship with an octopus, it does sort of make you wonder what else is possible.”
Best documentary feature nominees
Collective
Crip Camp
The Mole Agent
My Octopus Teacher - winner
Elle Halliwell11.40am: Collette wins best documentary short subject
Colette wins best documentary short subject. Director Anthony Giacchino told the crowd the film’s heroine, Colette Catherine, who fought the Nazis as part of the French Resistance, was “Colette’s birthday”. “She was born just 22 days before the very first Oscars in 1929,” he said.
It's official! #Oscarspic.twitter.com/4kSVAYMveq
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) April 26, 2021
The nominees
Colette - winner
A Concerto Is a Conversation
Do Not Split
Hunger Ward
A Love Song for Latasha
Elle Halliwell11.29am:Soul takes best animated feature film
Reese Witherspoon told the crowd she fell in love with animated films after seeing The Secret of Nimh with her mum at the movies as a child. “It was my first experience of seeing a strong woman at the centre of a film,” The Big little Lies star said.
“And that is the power of really great animation. It shows you as a child that anything is possible, that you can change the world, even if you’re as small as a mouse.”
She then announced Soul as the winner of the category, with director Pete Doctor saying the film – which stars Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey “started as a love letter to jazz”. “We had no idea how much jazz would teach us about life,” he added.
Best animated feature nominees
Onward
Over the Moon
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Soul - winner
Wolfwalkers
Elle Halliwell 11.22am:Reese Witherspoon presents best animated short film
Reese Witherspoon’s arrival on the red carpet was one of the most anticipated, given it’s been a few years since she made an appearance on the iconic rug.
The Academy Award winner didn’t disappoint, donning a classic, red Dior halter neck gown and a few exquisite Bulgari diamonds.
She presented the awards for Best Animated Short Film, which went to Will McCormack and Michael Govier.
Animated short film nominees
Burrow
Genius Loci
If Anything Happens I Love You (Will McCormack and Michael Govier) - winner
Opera
Yes-People
Elle Halliwell11.17am:Two Distant Strangers wines best live action short film
“How many of you started off your career working as cast or crew on a short film?” Asked British actor Riz Ahmed before announcing the winner of best Live Action Short Film - Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe for Two Distant Strangers. Most hands in the building shot up.
It's official! #Oscarspic.twitter.com/s7j0sGyHEp
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) April 26, 2021
Live action short film nominees
Feeling Through
The Letter Room
The Present
Two Distant Strangers – Travon free and Martin Desmond Roe - winner
White Eye
Elle Halliwell11.05am: Chloe Zhao takes best director for Nomadland
Chloe Zhao wins best director! The second woman to win this award in the award’s 93-year history.
This is possibly the most anticipated award of the night, with Korean Director Bong Joon-ho, best known for his work on Academy Award winning film Parasite, presenting the award from Seoul.
“People at birth are inherently good,” Nomadland’s Zhao said in her Oscars speech. “And those six letters had such a great impact on me when I was a kid and I still truly believe them today.
“So this is for anyone who had the faith and the courage to hold on to the goodness in themselves, and to hold on to the goodness in each other no matter how difficult it is to do that. And this is for you, you inspire me to keep going. Thank you.”
The only other woman to win Best Director was Kathryn Bigelow, who won for her work on The Hurt Locker in 2010.
This is VERY early to hand out the Best Director award - usually it’s one of the last awards of the night. They’ve changed the order up quite a bit tonight, and with mixed results. Having Regina King open up the ceremony with the two screenplay categories was inspired, but handing out director now feels far too early. It should be the crowning event of the night, leading right into the final acting categories and Best Picture.
Zhao spoke to The Weekend Australian Review about her hybrid movie, following Fern (Frances McDormand) a grey nomad, interacting with other van dwellers and down on their luck migrant workers, in a documentary style following her across the American West.
“I think I’m naturally attracted to the nomads and their philosophy of life. I guess it’s this desire to constantly want to reinvent yourself and to shed all the things that make you comfortable so you can keep growing and never lose a sense of who you are. Because there are all these things that are piling up on top of us,” Zhao said.
Best director nominees
Lee Isaac Chung – Minari
Emerald Fennell – Promising Young Woman
David Fincher – Mank
Thomas Vinterberg – Another Round
Chloé Zhao – Nomadland – winner
Glynis Traill-Nash10.58am:Our fashion editor’s red carpet verdict
A “fusion of inspirational and aspirational” was the key dress code for the 93rd Oscars ceremony, the first in-person affair in recent awards ceremonies, held in a number of locations around the globe. The mildly passive-aggressive dictate continued: “Formal is totally cool if you want to go there, but casual is really not.”
So, with tracksuits and hoodies officially verboten, the stars were left to lift their game once more, just like in the Before Times.
For some, the chance to dress up for the red carpet once again was too tempting to question. Carey Mulligan’s gold bandeau and princess skirt by Valentino was epic in scale and stature; Andra Day also opted for gold in a dress that was cut in at the side and alarmingly so in the leg. Our own Margot Robbie continued her love affair with Chanel, in a silver-embellished sheath.
Regina King was a queen in her ice-blue and crystal-embellished gown that flew wide at the shoulder line, while Maria Bakalova was princess-like in white tulle Louis Vuitton with a deep-V bodice. Emerald Fennell’s fluted floral chiffon gown was ultra-feminine and an oddly refreshing palate cleanser.
Hedging her bets in the most glamorous of ways was Laura Dern, in a hybrid gown with long-sleeved black poloneck bodice and explosive white feather skirt. Glenn Close also fused formal with practical in a shimmering Armani tunic dress over slimline black trousers, while Julia Roberts’ black cocktail dress suggested she wasn’t quite ready to get back into full gown glamour.
Chloe Zhao’s ecru pleated gown and sneakers ensemble might have pushed the boundaries of the dress code, but no-one is going to begrudge the director on what is largely expected to be her day for her film Nomadland.
The opportunity to stand out in bold colour on the red carpet was welcome after the past year. Red was popular, Amanda Seyfried’s Armani Prive tulle gown and Angela Bassett’s balloon-sleeved gown out-crimsoned the red carpet.
Men continue to express their more creative side in more expressive takes on formal wear. If anything, the traditional black tuxedo-white shirt pairing seems positively passe, as colour loomed large. Leslie Odom Jr took the gold in a metallic suit of the same hue, while Colman Domingo’s Schiaparelli pink suit with embellished detailing by Versace could set a new standard for how far the envelope can be pushed.
Mini Minari star Alan S. Kim has already proved his style credentials in the recent round of virtual awards ceremonies, and in his short tuxedo by Thom Browne with long socks, he charmed all once again.
Hannah-Rose Yee 10.55am:An intimate crowd for the Oscars this year
This is the Oscars, but not as you know it. The crowd is smaller and more intimate, in a specialty built stage in downtown Los Angeles. None of the speeches so far have been cut off by the orchestra playing the winner out, which adds to the celebratory atmosphere.
Here we go! #Oscars
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) April 26, 2021
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Courtesy of Spencer Lowell & Rockwell Group. pic.twitter.com/tbhO3e1FId
But we have to admit, we’re missing the big, packed audience feel of the Oscars, and how the room feels full of people who worked on all the nominated films, from the biggest blockbuster to the smallest documentary short, and not just a select few important faces. The shrunken size is down to Covid restrictions, but we’re hoping that next year will see a return to epic, larger-than-life Academy Awards.
Elle Halliwell10.52am:Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom scoops another award
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom just landed another gong, this time for Best Costume design. Cheadle explained that to prepare for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, costume designer Ann Roth “reads the script and asks herself questions about the character like, when she goes to bed, where are those clothes? Do they fall on the floor?”
It's official! #Oscarspic.twitter.com/1vS4pgyBYj
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) April 26, 2021
Roth has won an Oscar before, in 1997 for her work on The English Patient, and is a five time Oscar nominee.
The nominees
Alexandra Byrne – Emma
Ann Roth – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – winner
Trish Summerville – Mank”
Bina Daigeler, “Mulan”
Massimo Cantini Parrini, “Pinocchio”
Elle Halliwell10.48am:Cheadle announces makeup and hairstyling winners
Don Cheadle announces the winners for makeup and hairstyling – Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson – for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom..
The nominees
Emma
Hillbilly Elegy
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – winner
Mank
Pinocchio
Elle Halliwell10.33am:Best supporting actor goes to Daniel Kaluuyah
Best supporting actor goes to Daniel Kaluuya. Laura Dern thanked the actor before the announcement for “the inspiration you gave us with not only the role but the words you shared and the reminder that you can’t murder freedom.”
Well said, Daniel. #Oscarspic.twitter.com/YoEvjftY5b
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) April 26, 2021
The nominees
Sacha Baron Cohen –The Trial of the Chicago 7
Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah - winner
Leslie Odom Jr. – One Night in Miami
Paul Raci – Sound of Metal
Lakeith Stanfield – Judas and the Black Messiah
Nicholas Adams-Dzierzba10.31am: Minari director nominated for two Oscars
Minari director Lee Isaac Chung, is nominated for two Oscars for best achievement in Directing, and Best Original Screenplay.
The semi-autobiographical film about Korean family moving to Arkansa in the 1980s, and stars Steven Yeun (Burning) and Yuh-Jung Youn, is nominated for six Academy Awards. Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Yeun, best actress in a supporting role for Youn, and Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures.
It’s already won a number of awards, including the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language, and BAFTA for Youn as Best Supporting Actress.
In an interview with the Weekend Australian Review, Chung said his grandma would be really proud to see him getting this kind of recognition.
“Any time we were speaking English in the home, my grandmother would yell at us: “That’s a foreign language.” She’s the real reason I stuck to speaking Korean and learned Korean and was able to direct a movie in two different languages — English and Korean.”.
Chung recalled what Youn (who plays Soonja, the grandmother) said to the director: “ ‘This is a good time, the work of making films and touching people’s lives and telling stories. That’s why we’re doing this.’ We’re living life because of all those relationships and all those beautiful things and not the exterior stuff. Not the glory.”
Elle Halliwell 10.25am:Best International Feature Film goes to Another Round
Laura Dern, who is a vision in Oscar de la Renta, announces Another Round as the winner of Best International Feature film. “I’ve been preparing speeches in train stations, at school, in the toilet, and here I am, it’s real,” says Thomas Vinterberg.
In a very moving speech, Vinterberg dedicated the film to his daughter, who was killed in an accident two months before the movie was filmed. “She loved this and she felt seen by this. And she was supposed to be in this. And, if anyone dares to believe that she is with us somehow, you will be able to see her clapping and cheering with us. We ended up making this movie for her, as her monument. So Aida, this is a miracle that just happened and you’re a part of this miracle. Maybe you’ve been pulling some strings somewhere, I don’t know, but this one is for you.”
Nominees
Quo Vadis, Aida? – Bosnia and Herzegovina
Another Round, Denmark – winner
Better Days – Hong Kong
Collective – Romania
The Man Who Sold His Skin – Tunisia
Elle Halliwell10.18am: Best Adapted Screenplay goes to...
Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher are celebrating in Sydney, with Cohen nominated for two gongs for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. He missed out on the award for writing (adapted screenplay) which went to Christopher Hampton and Florian Zeller, The Father.
Despite not being on ground, Fisher brought her style A-game, wearing a classic black Dior gown, Louboutin heels and dripping in Bulgari jewels. “Such a special moment!” she told her followers in an Instagram post. “Off to the Oscars. I’m so proud of my double nominated husband.” Special screenings are being held throughout the world for international nominees including Europe, the UK and Sydney.
Hannah-Rose Yee10.27am: Why Emerald Fennell’s win is significant
The Oscars track record when it comes to recognising female screenwriters is abysmal. The last time a woman won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar, George W Bush was the president. That changes today, with Emerald Fennell defeating previous Oscar-winner Aaron Sorkin to take out the award for her incendiary drama Promising Young Woman. She is now one of a select group of women to succeed in the category. The last was Diablo Cody, who picked up the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for her film Juno in 2008.
Elle Halliwell10.09am:Emerald Fennell wins Best Original Screenplay
Regina King kicks off the official ceremony. “Think of this as a movie set,” she tells the intimate crowd, who are all socially distanced in felt booths. “Over 200 nominees, people have been vaxxed, tested and retested. When we were are rolling masks off and when we are not rolling masks off.”
Emerald Fennell just won the best Original Screenplay Oscar for Promising Young Woman. Mulligan is crying.
“He’s so heavy and so cold,” she says of the Oscar. This film was made by the most incredible people in the world. It was made in 23 days.”
congrats to a truly promising young woman, @emeraldfennell ✨✨✨@TheAcademy#Oscar2021pic.twitter.com/Tuobfpqahq
— GIPHY Pop (@GiphyPop) April 26, 2021
Brighette Ryan10.06am:All the nominees to watch out for
As the 2021 Oscars ceremony officially kicks off, here are the nominees across all categories.
Elle Halliwell 10.02am:Questlove rocks gold Crocs on the red carpet
You know US stars have been in lockdown too long when you see Crocs on a red carpet. Sure, they’re a thing. Sure, we’ve seen Gucci, Balenciaga and Nike join forces with the therapeutic-looking plastic clog brand.
But at the Oscars? Organisers had issued a request for no casual attire on the glittering Awards night red carpet, but musician Questlove clearly felt that in a pandemic world, gold Crocs were now considered formal wear. And they actually looked kind of cool.
Elle Halliwell 9.51am:Robbie stuns in striking Chanel gown
She is the star we’ve all been waiting to see. There was no prize for guessing who Margot Robbie would be wearing tonight, with Chanel always her fashion house of choice.
The Australian actress opted for a simple yet striking silver Chanel gown with her hair pulled back in a tousled pony. An effortlessly chic look.
Elle Halliwell9.47am:Surprise micro trend emerges
A surprise Oscars micro trend has hit the red carpet - the statement clutch. From red lips (Bassett) to pearl prawns (Erica Rivinoja), the kitsch box clutch is a thing.
Elle Halliwell9.44am:Stars heat things up in red hot looks
Amanda Seyfried and Angela Bassett are heating things up in red hot looks. Seyfried, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actress, is wearing Armani.
Oversized sleeves seem to be this year’s most popular red carpet silhouette, and Bassett has embraced it completely in this showstopping look. Some are comparing it to a floatation device, but drama is what makes this red carpet the most compelling, and that’s exactly what she’s delivered.
Elle Halliwell9.37am: Nine-year-old Alan Kim brings the swagger
He’s only nine, but Minari actor Alan Kim has brought more swagger to this year’s ruby rug than anyone else so far. His Thom Browne suit is both adorable and oh so chic. He’s already become somewhat of an awards style-setter, donning a cowboy-inspired look to Minari screenings last year.
“It’s time for the Oscars, but first I have to walk Cream,” he told his Instagram followers ahead of the event. Cream is his dog.
Elle Halliwell 9.23am: Andra Day adds golden star power
Andra Day is also adding some golden star power to the carpet, wearing a metal Vera Wang dress and baring some seriously toned abdominals. Day is nominated for Best Actress for her role in The United States vs Billie Holiday.
Elle Halliwell9.15am:Carey Mulligan a vision in gold
Glamour is officially back! Carey Mulligan is a vision is gold. The promising Young Woman star is wearing a sequined Valentino SS21 Couture look.
The little gold statue seems to be the a standout fashion muse for this year’s Awards, with One Night in Miami star Leslie Odom Jr also rocking a dapper gold suit.
Elle Halliwell9.07am: Hollywood A-listers hit the red carpet
Glenn Close is looking resplendent in Blue as she arrives on the Oscars red carpet. This is her eighth nomination, for Best Supporting Actress in Hillbilly Elegy.
Close said the socially distanced red carpet felt “civilised, which is nice”. “It’s such a weird time. I’m so happy to be here. I’m so happy to meet my fellow actors.”
The veteran star said she felt the film industry was in the midst of a reinvention.
“I think that we are now in the midst of an industry reinventing itself from every aspect including how they’re going to be presenting the Oscars tonight.”
Chloe Zhao, nominated for Best Director for her film Nomadland, giving this year’s Oscars a definite COVID vibe in sneakers and formalwear. She told reporters it’s “really exciting to celebrate here in person.”
Rosemary Neill8.54am: Glamour, diversity on Oscars bill
With a diverse line-up of nominees in key categories, the 2021 Oscars ceremony on Monday could be a history-making affair, and will also see the return of red-carpet glamour and an in-person, Zoom-less event designed to “look like a movie’’.
While recent screen awards ceremonies have been largely virtual, the producers behind the 93rd Academy Awards — Jesse Collins, Stacey Sher and renowned director Steven Soderbergh — have discouraged nominees from dressing down and giving their acceptance speeches from their sofas over Zoom.
“In keeping with our awards-show-as-a-movie approach, we’ve assembled a truly stellar cast of stars,” the producers said in a statement. “There’s so much wattage here, sunglasses may be required.”
The roll call of presenters will include A-list actors and directors Halle Berry, Regina King, Bong Joon Ho, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon and Renee Zellweger. The ceremony is taking place two months later than usual, due to the coronavirus pandemic still ravaging the US. To allow for social distancing, it will be broadcast from the historic Union Station in Los Angeles, usual venue the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and international locations including dedicated studios in London and Sydney.
While Mank, David Fincher’s Netflix biopic about Citizen Kane scriptwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, leads the nominees with 10 nods, Nomadland, Chloe Zhao’s poignant tale of ageing nomads leading an itinerant life in America’s West, is expected to take out the highly coveted Best Picture and Best Director categories.
Zhao, 39, has already won Best Director accolades at the Golden Globes and British Academy Film Awards. Her film stars Frances McDormand, who is up for the Best Actress award (tipped to go to Promising Young Woman’s Carey Mulligan).
If Zhao snares the Best Director Oscar, she will be the first Chinese woman to win this category and just the second woman to prevail, 11 years after Kathryn Bigelow bagged her gong for the Iraq war film, The Hurt Locker.
Zhao has been nominated in the directing category alongside Promising Young Woman’s Emerald Fennell — the first time two women have been nominated for Best Director.
Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman, who died last year, is considered a favourite for the Best Actor accolade for his turn in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, but faces formidable competition from Anthony Hopkins, who recently won a BAFTA for his portrayal of a man with dementia in The Father.
The Father is up for Best Picture alongside Judas and the Black Messiah, Mank, Minari, Nomadland, Promising Young Woman, Sound of Metal and The Trial of the Chicago 7.
While Australia’s stars have missed out on nominations this year, five Aussies were short-listed in the visual effects category, among them Genevieve Camilleri, a special effects supervisor on Netflix’s post-apocalyptic film, Love and Monsters.
Matt Everitt, Matt Sloan, and Brian Cox have also earned a nod for their work on Love and Monsters, while visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson is nominated for his work on Tenet.
Camilleri is only the fourth woman to date to be nominated in the visual effects category.
“It’s the pinnacle,” she has said. “Definitely exciting.”
Academy Awards organisers have been attacked in recent years for producing nominee line-ups that were overwhelmingly white and male, but this year the nominees across the acting and directing categories are far more diverse.
The ceremony will be broadcast in Australia on Channel 7 and 7 Plus, while E! Entertainment’s red-carpet coverage will be broadcast on Foxtel.
While the producers described their preferred dress code as a “fusion of inspirational and aspirational’’, the red carpet will be smaller than usual, due to the pandemic. “It’s not a traditional red carpet, it’s a teeny tiny red carpet,” Sher said.
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