It was a night of upset in Hollywood, as Green Book took home Best Picture–and dashed Netflix’s $30 million bet on scoring a win in the hotly-contested category with Roma.
The Universal buddy drama, starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen, overcame stiff competition from superhero movie Black Panther, racially-charged comedy BlacKkKlansman, Queen historyBohemian Rhapsody, off-kilter period drama The Favourite, black-and-white autobiography Roma, musical tragedy A Star Is Born and Dick Cheney biopic Vice.
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The film tells the tale of a black concert pianist Don Shirley and his Italian-American driver Tony Vallelonga traveling through the racist deep South. It overcame criticism for its portrayal of Mortensen’s character, Tony Vallelonga, as a white savior. The backlash was furthered by the Shirley family, who claimed it misrepresented the prodigy’s relationship with them.
Green Book was not the only controversial film to emerge triumphant. Bohemian Rhapsody led the awards scoreboard with four statuettes, including Best Actor for Rami Malek, despite a damning investigation by The Atlantic into sexual conduct by its director, Bryan Singer. (Singer has denied the accusations.) Black-and-white Spanish-language film Roma and blockbuster Black Panther were close behind with three apiece.
“I think to anyone struggling with their [identity] and trying to discover their voice, we made a film about a gay man, an immigrant, who lived his life just unapologetically himself,” said Malek, as he accepted his award.
“And the fact that I’m celebrating him and this story with you tonight is proof that we’re longing for stories like this.”
Beyond scandal, it was also an evening of firsts: Auteur Spike Lee landed his first Oscar in his three decade-plus career for race comedy BlacKkKlansman, though he lost out on Best Picture. Lee, who was also snubbed years ago because of Driving Miss Daisy, had a few words to say. “Every time somebody is driving somebody, I lose,” Spike Lee told the press, while sipping champagne backstage.
Superhero smash hit Black Panther won Marvel the studio’s first statuettes ever, nabbing costume design, production design and best original score. And Mahershala Ali became the first Black actor to win two Oscars in the Best Supporting Actor category, following his performance in interracial roadtrip movie Green Book.
The biggest shock of the night, besides Green Book: Best Actress, which was won by Olivia Colman for The Favourite. She beat out Glenn Close (The Wife), who was widely expected to take the category.
“When I used to work as a cleaner–and I loved that job–I did spend quite a lot of my time imagining this,” Colman said onstage.
Critically-acclaimed period comedy The Favourite and Netflix’s autobiographical drama Roma had the most nominations going into the show, with 10 nods apiece.
Oscars 2019: Full List Of Winners:
BEST PICTURE
Green Book
DIRECTING
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Green Book
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
BlacKkKlansman
ORIGINAL SCORE
Black Panther
ORIGINAL SONG
“Shallow,” A Star Is Born
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Free Solo
DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Period. End of Sentence.
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Vice
COSTUME DESIGN
Black Panther
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Black Panther
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roma
SOUND EDITING
Bohemian Rhapsody
SOUND MIXING
Bohemian Rhapsody
FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
Roma
FILM EDITING
Bohemian Rhapsody
VISUAL EFFECTS
First Man
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Bao
LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
Skin
-Natalie Robehmed;Forbes Staff