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Tuesday, March 4, 2014
AWARDS SEASON 2014
The 86th Annual
Academy Awards
History Rises For "12 Years A Slave"
And 86 Oscar Years
Steve McQueen, director and a
producer of "12 Years A Slave", during an historic Best Picture win
on Sunday night at the Dolby
Theatre in L.A.
A.M.P.A.S.
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Tuesday,
March 4,
2014
The film world
held its collective breath on Sunday night as Will Smith opened the Best Picture
envelope. An entertaining night at the Dolby Theatre, venue of the 86th Annual
Academy Awards, had gone according to plan. Seconds later, an exhale:
"12 Years A Slave"
was cemented as the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences' best picture
of 2013. Cue Oscar history and oceans of relief among many.
Steve McQueen probably didn't have the time to soak the
historic moment up, but he had
just become the first black director to win a Best Picture Oscar. Mr.
McQueen was a producer of his film "12 Years A Slave", the powerful and heartbreaking
drama based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a New York free man
kidnapped into slavery in 1841.
The Best Picture win was a collective reward for an excellent cast, ardently
committed producers and a highly-skilled artist and filmmaker whose power in
Hollywood became instantly exponential. In a close race The Academy chose
artistic magnificence over technical masterpiece, even if the latter numerically
dominated, seven Oscars to three. Even without the night's biggest prize
"Gravity" made history of its own when Alfonso Cuarón became the first Mexican
director to win the Best Director Oscar.
Lupita Nyong'o also made history as the first Mexican winner of a supporting
actress Oscar, and only the
seventh black actress to win an Oscar. Her heartfelt speech summed up her
journey as a first-time actress in Mr. McQueen's film. A production
assistant on "The Constant Gardener", which won a supporting actress Oscar for
Rachel Weisz in 2006, Ms. Nyong'o wanted to act and got advice from
"Gardener" actor Ralph
Fiennes.
Cate Blanchett last won an Oscar in 2005 and on Sunday coupled her previous win with a
Best Actress triumph for the finest work of her career in
"Blue Jasmine".
The much-discussed re-allegations against Woody Allen ultimately had no bearing
on the outcome, or, may have only further enhanced it. Amy Adams, Ms.
Blanchett's main competition, was part of an ignominious shut-out for "American
Hustle", which had been nominated for ten Academy Awards.
Jared Leto won for his supporting work as the transgendered Rayon in "Dallas
Buyers Club". In the same film Matthew McConaughey won best actor playing
Ron Woodruff, a real-life homophobe afflicted with HIV/AIDS. Mr.
McConaughey, who in 2013 hadn't been nominated despite four strong performances
in 2012, got his due in a year where he was also impressive in "Mud" and
"The Wolf Of Wall Street". Sunday was the
first time in ten years that a film had both lead and supporting actor Oscar
winners. "Mystic River" saw both Sean Penn and Tim Robbins win Oscars in
2004.
John Ridley became only the second black person to win a screenplay Oscar when
he won best adapted screenplay for"12 Years A Slave" on Sunday. Geoffrey Fletcher was the first in 2010
for "Precious". Spike Jonze
won an original screenplay Oscar for
"Her".
Other significant winners:
Best Animated Feature: "Frozen"
Best Documentary Feature: "20 Feet From Stardom"
Best Foreign Language Film: "The Great Beauty"
Best Editing: "Gravity"
Best Cinematography: "Gravity"
Related: Ellen DeGeneres
crashes Twitter but not Oscar traditionalism
Related:
A likely split on Oscar night
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