The 2017 Academy Awards brought together the best of the best in all aspects of cinema. In a room filled with the best actors, cinematographers, production designers and audio mixers, Hollywood gave itself a pat on the back and handed out golden awards. The most nominated film of the evening “La La Land” won a fair share of awards while many other films also got their fair share of the pie. Here are some highlights from the show.
Emma Stone wins best actress
As the five best actress performance clips were shown, the odds were in favor or either French actress Isabelle Huppert or Emma Stone winning the award.
Though Natalie Portman was the early favorite to take home a second Oscar, the appeal of her film, “Jackie” wore away by the SAG Awards. Many people thought that Huppert had a great shot to win the award because she made an incredibly amoral character in some way sympathetic in the film, “Elle.” However, the Academy has a long history of handing out the best actress Oscar to young ingénue roles. That fits the description of Stone’s character in the film because she is an actress playing an actress. As Leonardo Dicaprio opened the envelope and read the name Emma Stone, there was both a gasp and meek acceptance that the safe pick won the award. Stone’s performance was the best thing about “La La Land” but this win will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of many people who felt as Huppert gave a more heartbreaking and multi-dimensional performance in her movie.
A shocking mix up leads to Oscar glory
As the biggest award of the night, best picture, was set to be announced, the Academy decided to bring forth two acting legends. Warren Beatty and the eternally beautiful Faye Dunaway came onstage to read the nominees and announce the winners. When “La La Land” was announced as the best picture, it seemed as though everyone agreed with the pick.
Writer and director, Damien Chazelle looked overjoyed when producer Jordan Horowitz grabbed the envelope and realized that a mistake was made. He announced that “Moonlight” had actually won best picture and that Warren Beatty had read the card wrong. Everyone was shocked and it seemed as though Steve Harvey had made a comeback.
As Barry Jenkins realized that it was not a joke, he and the rest of the cast walked on stage to accept the award that they had earned. It was strange ending to an overall great Academy Awards. Host, Jimmy Kimmel was spectacular and kept the show moving at a great pace. The musical performances were fantastic, especially those by John Legend.
