BEST PICTURE: Birdman

 

It was a big night for Birdman, taking away four Oscars out of the nine it was nominated for, including Best Picture. Innaritu’s backstage one-shot comedy film was funny, moving and technically smart.

 

BEST DIRECTOR: Alejandro G. Innaritu, Birdman

 

Inarritu began his acceptance speech by claiming that “good luck charms” really do work, before revealing that he was currently donning Michael Keaton’s tightie-whities from the movie – his own good luck charm for the night. “It smells like balls,” He joked.

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Birdman

 

Undoubtedly, the night belonged to Birdman. With Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel expected to take this one home, Innaritu’s complex style of filmmaking got him all the praises, and the Oscar, of course.

 

BEST ACTOR: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

 

This British actor beat the likes of Michael Keaton, Steve Carell and Benedict Cumberbatch with his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything. Much of Redmayne’s performance required him to act with limited mobility as he depicted the progression of Hawking’s disease — something that the Academy was clearly quite impressed with. This is Redmayne’s first nomination and first win.

 

BEST ACTRESS: Julianne Moore, Still Alice

 

Despite being nominated five times, this is Moore’s first Oscar win for Still Alice. The 54-year-old actress was the red hot favourite for the win after securing a Golden Globe and a Bafta for the role. The film, based on a bestselling novel by Lisa Genova, tells the tale of a linguistics professor who is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: JK Simmons, Whiplash

 

JK Simmons’ outstanding performance as a maniacal music teacher in Whiplash earned him his first Oscar. The film, written and directed by Damien Chazelle, was adapted from a short film also starring Simmons. The 60-year-old actor urged people to call their parents in his acceptance speech, “If you’re lucky enough to have a parent or two alive on this planet, call ’em. Don’t text. Don’t email. Call them on the phone. Tell ’em you love ’em, and thank them, and listen to them for as long as they want to talk to you.”

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

 

After picking up the Bafta and the Golden Globe, Patricia Arquette now has an Oscar for her 12-year stint in Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. But it was her badass speech that got even Meryl Streep to jump up from her seat and scream “YES.” “It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America!” The actress proclaimed.

 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Imitation Game

 

Newcomer Graham Moore took the Oscar home for the best adapted screenplay for The Imitation Game.  The Imitation Game tells the story of Alan Turing, the father of modern computing, who cracked impossible German codes during World War II and helped end the war. But Turing was subsequently convicted by UK’s anti-gay laws of the 1950s which led to his subsequent suicide.

 

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Backstage images courtesy: Monica Almeida/The New York Times