Everything Everywhere All At Once was the big winner at this year’s Academy Awards, taking home secven Oscar statuettes out of the eleven nominations it received, winning Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay for its writing/directing team of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert as well as three acting categories it was nominated in.
Germany’s All Quiet On The Western Front went into the evening with nine nominations and winning four for Best International Feature, Cinematography (James Friend). Production Design and Original Score (Volker Bertelmann).
Accepting his award For his performance in The Whale, a tearful Brendan Fraiser stated, “I am grateful to our director Darren Arronofski for throwing me a creative lifeline and hauling me aboard the USS Whale.”
Michelle Yeoh’s acceptance speech for best actress in Everything Everywhere All At Once was equally heartfelt. “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is the beacon of hope that dreams do come true,” she stated while dedicating her win to mothers around the world, calling them “the real superheroes.” Yeoh makes Academy Awards history as the first Asian actress to win in the Best Actress category.
Ke Huy Quon’s win for Best Supporting actor in Everything Everywhere All At Once caps off a comeback story has been one of the most inspiring in Oscar history. After a brief explosion of visibility as a child actor in such 1980s hits as The Goonies and Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, he found acting work slowly drying up. His career transitioned to work behind the camera. His role in Everything Everywhere All At Once was a return to acting, and one which saw him winning award after award through the whole award season.
“My journey started in a boat,” he excitedly said after being awarded his Academy Award. “I spent a year in a refugee camp, and here I am on a Hollywood stage. This is the American dream! Please keep your dreams alive!”
Moments later, as she accepted her statuette for Best Supporting Actress in Everything Everywhere All At Once, Curtis thanked not only all the people who worked on Everything Everywhere All At Once, but on every movie she ever made. “I know I am standing up here by myself, but I am hundreds of people,” she exclaimed. “We just won an Oscar!”
“Naatu Naatu”from RRR made Academy Awards history by being the first song from an Indian film to be nominated in the Best Origibnal Song category, let alone with the Oscar.
Other noteworthy moments of the evening included the producers of Best Live Action Short winner An Irish Goodbye leading the auditorium in singing “Happy Birthday” to star James Martin, David Byrne sporting hotdog fingers while performing the Oscar nominated “This is a Life” from Everything Everywhere All At Once, host Jimmy KImmel bringing on stage Jenny the Donkey from Banshees Of Inisherin and Lady Gaga’s personal introduction to her performance of her Best Original Song nominated “Hold My Hand.”
Despite multiple nominations in various categories, Tar, Elvis, Babylon and Banshees Of Inisherin were all shut out, leaving the evening empty-handed.
The complete list of winners is as follows –
Best Picture
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Directing
Everything Everywhere All At Once – Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Brendan Fraser – The Whale
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Adapted Screenplay
Women Talking – Screenplay by Sarah Polley
Best Original Screenplay
Everything Everywhere All At Once – Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Best Animated Film
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Best Animated Short Film
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Best Cinematography
All Quiet On The Western Front – James Friend
Best Costume Design
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Best Documentary Feature
Navalny
Best Documentary Short Subject
The Elephant Whisperers
Best Film Editing
Everything Everywhere All at Once – Paul Rogers
Best International Feature Film
All Quiet on the Western Front – Germany
Best Live-Action Short Film
An Irish Goodbye
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
The Whale – Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley
Best Original Score
All Quiet on the Western Front – Volker Bertelmann
Best Original Song
“Naatu Naatu” from RRR – Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose
Best Production Design
All Quiet on the Western Front – Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper
Best Sound
Top Gun: Maverick
Best Visual Effects
Avatar: The Way of Water – Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
