It was Bong Joon-ho all the way at the 92nd Academy Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday. The South Korean filmmaker won four of some of the most important awards of the evening for Parasite – Best Picture, Original Screenplay, International Feature and Directing. This is the first time a non-English production has won Best Picture. This is also the first time ever that a South Korean title has been nominated at the Academy Awards.
The history-making satire about economic inequality was nominated in six categories. Bong thought he had finished his victory run with the International Feature, but was called back on stage two more times. Speaking through a translator, the 50-year-old filmmaker doffed his hat to the other nominees in the directing category: “If the Academy allows, I would like to get a Texas chainsaw, split the Oscar trophy into five and share it with all of you.”
He added, “Now I’m ready to drink till morning.”
Leading the nominations was Todd Phillips’s Joker, with 11 nods, followed by 10 each for Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, Sam Mendes’s 1917, and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Joker got the only two awards it was expected to win – Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Original Music for Music for Hildur Gudnadottir. The Irishman, which was nominated in 10 categories, came a cropper.
Mendes’s 1917 won three awards, all in technical departments – cinematography, visual effects and sound mixing. Tarantino’s 1969-set film bagged Brad Pitt a Best Supporting Actor award and also won for Production Design.
Greta Gerwig’s Little Women got the Academy Award for Costume Design. Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story earned Laura Dern the Oscar for Supporting Actress. Renee Zellweger was named Best Actress for Judy, and Taika Waititi picked up an Oscar for Adapted Screenplay for Jojo Rabbit.
A total of 8,469 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted this year. The ceremony kicked off with a performance by Janelle Monae that exhorted the audience (and viewers) to “come alive”.
Among the better speeches of the evening was by Laura Dern, who thanked her parents Bruce Dern and Diana Ladd, and Hildur Gudnadottir, who said after her win for Joker, “To the girls, to the women, to the mothers, to the daughters who hear the music bubbling within, please speak up.”
Bong stole the show with his wry humour and generosity. In many ways, he captured the internationalist spirit of this year’s awards. His victory will embolden filmmakers from Hollywood and around the world to erase the boundaries of language and scale what he called the “one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles”. Hollywood, meet the world.
Here is the complete list of winners.
Best Picture
Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
1917
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite
Marriage Story
The winner: Parasite
Directing
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino
Joker, Todd Phillips
1917, Sam Mendes
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino
Parasite, Bong Joon-Ho
The Irishman, Martin Scorsese
The winner: Parasite, Bong Joon-Ho
Original Screenplay
Knives Out, Rian Johnson
Parasite, Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won
1917, Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino
Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach
The winner: Parasite, Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
The Irishman, Steven Zaillian
Jojo Rabbit, Taika Waititi
Joker, Todd Phillips and Scott Silver
Little Women, Greta Gerwig
The Two Popes,Anthony McCarten
The winner: Jojo Rabbit, Taika Waititi
Actress in a Leading Role
Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Renee Zellweger, Judy
Saoirse Ronan, Little Women
Charlize Theron, Bombshell
The winner: Renee Zellweger, Judy
Actor in a Leading Role
Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Leonardo DiCaprio, Once upon a Time in Hollywood
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes
The winner: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
Original Score
Joker, Hildur Guonadottir
Little Women, Alexandre Desplat
Marriage Story, Randy Newman
1917, Thomas Newman
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, John Williams
The winner: Joker, Hildur Guonadottir
Original Song
I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away, Toy Story 4, music and lyric by Randy Newman
(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again, Rocketman, music by Elton John, lyric by Bernie Taupin
I’m Standing With You, Breakthrough, music and lyric by Diane Warren
Into The Unknown¸ Frozen II, music and lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
Stand Up, Harriet, music and lyric by Joshuah Brian Campbell and Cynthia Erivo
The winner: (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again, Rocketman, music by Elton John, lyric by Bernie Taupin
International Feature Film
Parasite (South Korea), directed by Bong Joon-ho
Pain and Glory (Spain), directed by Pedro Almodovar
Honeyland (Macedonia), directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov
Les Miserables (Frances), directed by Ladj Ly
Corpus Christi (Poland), directed by Jan Komasa
The winner: Parasite (South Korea), directed by Bong Joon-ho
Actress in a Supporting Role
Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell
Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit
Margot Robbie, Bombshell
Florence Pugh, Little Women
The winner: Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Actor in a Supporting Role
Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes
Al Pacino, The Irishman
Joe Pesci, The Irishman
The winner: Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Film Editing
Ford v Ferrari, Michael McCusker, Andrew Buckland
The Irishman, Thelma Schoonmaker
Jojo Rabbit, Tom Eagles
Parasite, Yang Jin-mo
Joker, Jeff Groth
The winner: Ford v Ferrari, Michael McCusker, Andrew Buckland
Cinematography
The Irishman, Rodrigo Prieto
Joker, Lawrence Sher
1917, Roger Deakins
The Lighthouse, Jarin Blaschke
Once upon a Time in Hollywood, Robert Richardson
The winner: 1917, Roger Deakins
Makeup and hairstyling
Bombshell, Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker
Joker, Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou
Judy, Jeremy Woodhead
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Paul Gooch, Arjen Tuiten and David White
1917, Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis and Rebecca Cole
The winner: Bombshell, Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker
Visual Effects
Avengers: Endgame, Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken and Dan Sudick
The Irishman, Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser and Stephane Grabli
The Lion King, Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman
1917, Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy
The winner: 1917, Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy
Sound Editing
Ford v Ferrari, Donald Sylvester
Joker, Alan Robert Murray
1917, Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Wylie Stateman
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Matthew Wood and David Acord
The winner: Ford v Ferrari, Donald Sylvester
Sound Mixing
Ad Astra, Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano
Ford v Ferrari, Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A Morrow
Joker, Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic and Tod Maitland
1917, Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Michael Minkler, Christian P Minkler and Mark Ulano
The winner: 1917, Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson
Production Design
Parasite, production design Lee Ha Jun; set decoration Cho Won Woo
The Irishman, production design Bob Shaw, set decoration Regina Graves
1917, production design Dennis Gassner; set decoration Lee Sandales
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, production design Barbara Ling; set decoration Nancy Haigh
Jojo Rabbit, production design Ra Vincent, set decoration Nora Sopkova
The winner: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, production design Barbara Ling; set decoration Nancy Haigh
Costume Design
The Irishman, Sandy Powell
Jojo Rabbit, Mayes C Rubeo
Joker, Mark Bridges
Little Women, Jacqueline Durran
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Arianne Phillips
The winner: Little Women, Jacqueline Durran
Documentary Feature
American Factory, directed by Steven Bognar and Julie Reichert
The Cave, directed by Feras Fayyad
For Sama, directed by Waad Al-Kateab
Honeyland, directed by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov
The Edge of Democracy, directed by Petra Costa
The winner: American Factory, directed by Steven Bognar and Julie Reichert
Documentary Short Subject
In the Absence, Yi Seung-jun
Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl), directed by Caryl Dysinger
Walk Run Cha-Cha, directed by Laura Nix
St Louis Superman, directed by Sami Khan and Smriti Mundhra
Life Overtakes Me, directed by John Haptas, Kristine Samuelson
The winner: Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl), directed by Caryl Dysinger
Live Action Short Film
Brotherhood, Meryam Joobeur and Maria Gracia Turgeon
Nefta Football Club, Yves Piat and Damien Megherbi
The Neighbors’ Widow, Marshall Curry
Saria, Bryan Buckley and Matt Lefebvre
A Sister, Delphine Girard
The winner: The Neighbors’ Window, Marshall Curry
Animated Feature Film
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, directed by Dean DeBlois
I Lost My Body, directed by Jeremy Clapin
Klaus, directed by Sergio Pablos, Carlos Martinez Lopez
Toy Story 4, directed by Josh Cooley
Missing Link, directed by Chris Butler
The winner: Toy Story 4, directed by Josh Cooley
Animated Short Film
Dcera (Daughter), Daria Kashcheeva
Hair Love, Matthew A Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver
Kitbull, Rosana Sullivan and Kathryn Hendrickson
Sister, Siqi Song
Memorable, Bruno Collet and Jean-Francois Le Corre
The winner: Hair Love, Matthew A Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver
Also read:
Oscars 2020: South Korea’s ‘Parasite’ makes history, wins Best Picture
Oscars 2020: Joaquin Phoenix wins Best Actor award for ‘Joker’
Oscars 2020: Renee Zellweger wins Best Actress for ‘Judy’
Oscars 2020: Roger Deakins wins cinematography award for ‘1917’
Oscars 2020: ‘Joker’ wins for Original Score by Hildur Gudnadottir
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