AWARDS
2015 Academy Awards Winners - Iñárritu's 'Birdman' is Best Picture
by Alex Billington
February 22, 2015
The 87th Academy Awards are upon us and it's time to watch the show and discover the winners of the most prestigious award in Hollywood. The Oscar ceremony is being broadcast live from the Dolby Theatre with the always-entertaining Neil Patrick Harris as our host this year. With a line-up of eight Best Picture nominees, everyone is anxious to find out if Boyhood will beat Birdman, and if Selma will get any love, or if American Sniper or The Grand Budapest Hotel or even The Imitation Game will sneak in for the win. It's finally time to find out who is taking home an Oscar, and who isn't, at the Academy Awards this year. The full list below will be updated with winners marked as they're announced live tonight - refresh for updates.
Birdman
Alejandro G. Iñárritu
for Birdman
Eddie Redmayne
Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore
for Still Alice
Read on for a complete list of #Oscars2015 nominees & winners. Let us know what you think of the results!
This will be updated throughout the night to reflect the winners as revealed. Additionally, I might be adding a small bit of editorial commentary beneath each category. Winners are highlighted in BOLD below.
PICTURE:
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Thoughts: Yep, it's all about the Birdman! No problem here. I'm actually fine with with this! Boyhood was great, but so was Birdman. "Popularity is the slutty little cousin of prestige."
DIRECTOR:
Alejandro G. Iñárritu - Birdman
Richard Linklater - Boyhood
Bennett Miller - Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum - The Imitation Game
Thoughts: Yay! I was hoping that Iñárritu would sneak in for the win! Yes, Linklater did some great work, but so did Iñárritu and he really deserves this after all the hard work he's put into crafting his films.
ACTOR:
Steve Carell - Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper - American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton - Birdman
Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything
Thoughts: Congrats to this very luck young actor. Not my first pick, but he's very talented.
ACTRESS:
Marion Cotillard - Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones - The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore - Still Alice
Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon - Wild
Thoughts: Pretty much as expected, but she's incredible in this film so I am perfectly happy with this.
SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Robert Duvall - The Judge
Ethan Hawke - Boyhood
Edward Norton - Birdman
Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons - Whiplash
Thoughts: As expected, he wraps it up after a fantastic award season taking home pretty much everything.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
Laura Dern - Wild
Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game
Emma Stone - Birdman
Meryl Streep - Into the Woods
Thoughts: Yay! I'm happy that it wasn't Meryl Streep honestly, but also happy because Patty is wonderful.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Birdman - Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo
Boyhood - Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher - E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson
Nightcrawler - Dan Gilroy
Thoughts: Tough category, I would've been fine with Nightcrawler or Boyhood but alright with Birdman.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
American Sniper - Jason Hall
The Imitation Game - Graham Moore
Inherent Vice - Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything - Anthony McCarten
Whiplash - Damien Chazelle
Thoughts: Another interesting pick for screenplay, but I'm fine with it. I like the film.
ANIMATED FEATURE:
Big Hero 6 - Don Hall & Chris Williams
The Boxtrolls - Graham Annable & Anthony Stacchi
How to Train Your Dragon 2 - Dean DeBlois
Song of the Sea - Tomm Moore
The Tale of Princess Kaguya - Isao Takahata
Thoughts: Okay, not really my pick, but so be it. Should've been LEGO Movie, or Dragon 2, or Kaguya.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Ida (Poland) - Pawel Pawlikowski
Leviathan (Russia) - Andrey Zvyagintsev
Tangerines (Estonia) - Zaza Urushadze
Timbuktu (Mauritania) - Abderrahmane Sissako
Wild Tales (Argentina) - Damián Szifrón
Thoughts: Congrats! Great little B&W film from Poland, worth seeing - we featured it last year.
CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Emmanuel Lubezki - Birdman
Robert Yeoman - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal & Ryszard Lenczewski - Ida
Dick Pope - Mr. Turner
Roger Deakins - Unbroken
Thoughts: Congrats! That's two in a row for Lubezki, and he's the best. Getting the awards he deserves.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Citizenfour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga
Thoughts: As expected it went on to win, although I would've been just as happy with Virunga, too.
DOCUMENTARY SHORT:
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper (La Parka)
White Earth
ANIMATED SHORT:
The Bigger Picture - Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper - Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Feast - Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Me and My Moulton - Torill Kove
A Single Life - Joris Oprins
Thoughts: It's adorable! A lovely short, I'm so happy it won it's so perfect. Nice work Disney.
LIVE-ACTION SHORT:
Aya - Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham - Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak) - Hu Wei and Julien Féret
Parvaneh - Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
The Phone Call - Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Thoughts: Haven't seen this short, but you can watch it online here if you're interested.
VISUAL EFFECTS:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Thoughts: Whoa! I was hoping for Apes, but I'm fine with Christopher Nolan's sci-fi spectacle winning.
PRODUCTION DESIGN:
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner
Thoughts: Another for Wes Anderson! I'm so happy it keeps winning because it's such a beautiful film.
COSTUME DESIGN:
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Milena Canonero
Inherent Vice - Mark Bridges
Into the Woods - Colleen Atwood
Maleficent - Anna B. Sheppard
Mr. Turner - Jacqueline Durran
Thoughts: Awesome! A win for Wes Anderson, and Grand Budapest Hotel. Fantastic, I'm down with this.
MAKE-UP & HAIR:
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
FILM EDITING:
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash
Thoughts: I'm good with this win, Whiplash is going far and picking up some great awards! Bring it on!
SOUND MIXING:
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash
Thoughts: I'll take it! Whiplash had excellent sound work in it, no complaints here.
SOUND EDITING:
American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken
ORIGINAL SCORE:
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Alexandre Desplat
The Imitation Game - Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar - Hans Zimmer
Mr. Turner - Gary Yershon
The Theory of Everything - Jóhann Jóhannsson
Thoughts: As long as it was Desplat! He's the best composer working today and deserves to win.
ORIGINAL SONG:
"Everything is Awesome" from The LEGO Movie
"Glory" from Selma
"Grateful" from Beyond the Lights
"I'm Not Gonna Miss You" from Glen Campbell… I'll Be Me
"Lost Stars" from Begin Again
Thoughts: Yay! Glory! It really is the best song of the year, deserved to win this one hands down.
Final Thoughts: Overall I'm quite happy with these awards, despite the disagreements sure to follow. I don't know why there's so much hate for Birdman, it's a great film, but Linklater's Boyhood did get a bit screwed (only one award). That said, these are some solid Oscar winners that make sense – including everything for Whiplash and Grand Budapest Hotel. You can't argue that those aren't outstanding films. Redmayne is fine for Best Actor, but I would've chosen Cumberbatch or Keaton instead. I've seen Still Alice and Julianne Moore is incredible, but the film is okay… so it's passable. I'm even a big Desplat fan, despite Hans Zimmer losing out (he looked happy for Desplat anyway). The only really wacky wins in my opinion were the screenplay picks, which should've gone to Nightcrawler and maybe Inherent Vice. But who am I to say, this is what happened. I'm not too upset, I'm fairly satisfied against the popular opinion. That's just me.
[For last year's list of Academy Awards winners, including 12 Years a Slave and Alfonso Cuarón, click here.]
Chime in below after reviewing the list of 2015 Oscars winners updated throughout the night and let us know if you're satisfied with this year's results, and what your thoughts are on the actual Oscar ceremony with Neil Patrick Harris. It's always fun to watch it go down live. Plus, of course, a big congratulations to all of this year's winners and all of the nominees, too! Thoughts on the 2015 Academy Awards so far?
Reader Feedback - 37 Comments
2
What a mistake! Once again the academy falls for the movie that talks about actors and hollywood, pure ego masturbation. Boyhood deserved so much more
Ricardo_PT on Feb 22, 2015
3
Birdman is a brilliant film if anything it's Anti-Hollywood
Rob on Feb 22, 2015
4
Or is it "converse-Hollywood"?
DAVIDPD on Feb 23, 2015
5
It's both!
Rob on Feb 23, 2015
6
I would say BIRDMAN disses Hollywood, but in a winking, cute faced way. So Hollywood types can feel smug about being "in" on the joke (that most people get anyways, so there's nothing really to be smug about).
DAVIDPD on Feb 24, 2015
7
Zimmer robbed....desplat best composer today? Hahahahahhahahahha
BigJohnson on Feb 22, 2015
8
Agreed that Zimmer's score was more innovative and interesting. But Desplat writes really well when it comes to the more traditional stuff. He is for sure one of the best composers in the biz today (as is Hans)...
Sascha Dikiciyan on Feb 23, 2015
9
I didn't see Still Alice so I can't comment on Moore winning, I was pulling for Rosamond Pike from Gone Girl for that award. I thought there were a lot of layers to that character and she pulled it off very well. Kind of reminded me of Rooney Mara from Side Effects (which was my favourite from 2013). Very pleased with Whiplash's awards, including editing, which was one of the best aspects of the movie. It was my favourite movie of the year but I knew it wouldn't win best picture, I figured it was between Birdman and Boyhood. My favourite score was Interstellar. I can still hum the theme, it's very memorable and really really enhanced the movie. I'm surprised by Eddie Redmayne winning for Best Actor because I didn't see the movie and there wasn't much buzz behind him. Of the nominees listed my favourite was Cumberbatch. Overall, I'm liking the results - Good stuff.
NathanDewey on Feb 22, 2015
10
First the music awards ...now the oscars...this was the worst Ive ever seen! All the politics in both of them!!! I'll never watch them again! What a bunch of racist...political BS...HOLLYWOOD HAS JUST LOST OUR FAMILYS TO WATCH THESE MORONS!!! Boycott time.All the regulars that got involved with the politics and black Ferguson and pity me blacks. Are off our tv and movie goings!!! Goodbye hollyfools!!!!! EGOS!
jazzy on Feb 22, 2015
11
Wow... to has to be one of, if not the most, ignorant and unintelligible post I've ever read on here. Bravo.
John Doe on Feb 23, 2015
12
Right after yours.
tommyturner on Feb 23, 2015
13
Oh boy, yet another loon who agrees with this idiot's nonsensical teabagger ranting. Hey, whatever floats your boat.
John Doe on Feb 23, 2015
14
You shouldn't refer to yourself as an idiot. You're just wrong.
tommyturner on Feb 24, 2015
15
Riiiiiight.
John Doe on Mar 2, 2015
16
I don't get the praising of boyhood. I didn't like it at all. Slow pacing, not great acting and a boring boyhood. Birdman is the correct winner because he should already won it for amos perros... In my opinion one of the best movies ever...
ari smulders on Feb 22, 2015
17
I can accept that you didn't like Boyhood, but giving an award to a director because he deserved it for a movie he made more than a decade ago is stupid.
Ricardo_PT on Feb 23, 2015
18
And you think it's never happened?
ari smulders on Feb 23, 2015
19
I am absolutely sure it did happen, what I'm saying is that it shouldn't and makes no sense.
Ricardo_PT on Feb 24, 2015
20
It will always happen because afterworths people feel ashamed they didn't vote for the right one. It happened to Spielberg with his holocaust drama, because he should have won with the color purple, ET...
ari smulders on Feb 24, 2015
21
Yeah, because Schindler's List is such a bad movie. But I get what you're saying and I know it's true (it's still a shame though)
Ricardo_PT on Feb 24, 2015
22
I agree Boyhood was kind of slow and dull, but if you really think about it that's one of the more brilliant aspects of the film. The movie was intended to show a typical kid growing up. Past movies about topics like this tend to be either melodramatic or overdramatic. Boyhood did a really good job of showing what a kid goes through in a split home. The first half of the movie is more interesting because he's a kid, and by nature kids tend to be more interesting than teens because teens are either A) overdramatic or B) locked away in their own heads. This film went with option B to avoid the norm and despite being somewhat dull I think Linklater did a great job of portraying a very 'typical' boy growing up....and growing up, well it's kind of boring.
UrAllThumb on Feb 23, 2015
23
well said...
ari smulders on Feb 23, 2015
24
Really disappointed that Apes didn't win for vfx. Interstellar was great but the actors are really what sold that movie. It could have been fine with shitty vfx. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes on the other hand...ummm there is no movie without VFX. The reason why I love this movie is how much I was sold on Caesar and the main ape characters. I wasn't a fan of Birdman either. Boyhood was so much better and if they were even on the scale in terms of praise then Boyhood should have won on effort alone. People underestimate the vision it would take to carry out a 12 year project. I have a hard enough time thinking on next weeks shopping list. I would have gone with The Grand Budapest Hotel for best original screenplay. That movie was just brilliant. Am I the only one that wasn't sold on Birdman??
TK on Feb 23, 2015
25
Just because it took BH 12 years to make doesn't automatically mean = Oscar. In my opinion, Birdman is far the superior movie and the Academy obviously felt the same way. Always good to agree to disagree. 🙂
Sascha Dikiciyan on Feb 23, 2015
26
I agree. If Boyhood one it would have been based on the 12 year gimmick kind of like how The Artist won based on being a silent black and white film. However part of me feels like Birdman only won because of the single shot technique. Take that out of the film and Birdman is pretty mundane, and just another film about Hollywood patting itself on the back.
UrAllThumb on Feb 23, 2015
27
I didn't like Birdman either. I thought the single shot filming technique was really cool, but the movie itself was kind of stupid. The humor was quirky but I felt like I was forcing myself to laugh just so I felt like something was happening. Take out the interesting single shot technique and this movie is one of those great ensemble films that goes direct to video and everyone wonders what went wrong. In the end I also feel like I didn't "get" the film and what ultimately happened in the end, but that's my own shortcoming. I'm somewhat surprised Keaton was nominated for best actor. He basically played Bruce Wayne during the "you wanna get nuts, c'mon let get nuts!" fire poker scene from the first Batman. He showed more acting diversity in Multiplicity to be honest.
UrAllThumb on Feb 23, 2015
28
BIRDMAN. Good.
DAVIDPD on Feb 23, 2015
29
The only thing I'm disappointed about is Big Hero 6 winning best animated feature. I think that the other nominees brought much more to the table for a classic animated movie that people will remember the coming years.
HarryFiddleSticks on Feb 23, 2015
30
I was hoping for The Tale of The Princess Kaguya
Rob on Feb 23, 2015
31
32
Birdman? rly? Well okey dokey. Guess I'd better see it then. Since it's apparently the best movie ever. (lol?) Also, Hans Zimmer must've really rubbed somebody the wrong way.
avconsumer2 on Feb 23, 2015
33
SEE IT NOW! Phenomenal.
Adam on Feb 23, 2015
34
2014 will always be the year we remember 'Boyhood.' It now joins the ranks of Citizen Kane, It's a Wonderful Life, Dr. Strangelove, Vertigo, Grand Illusion, Psycho and Taxi Driver as one of greats to not win the statue.
Marcus on Feb 23, 2015
35
I was pulling for Birdman the whole night. I'm extremely happy it took home best director and best picture, very well deserved. I haven't seen Boyhood but it was against some tough competition so I'm not surprised it only received 1 Oscar. HOW DID KEATON GET SNUBBED?!?!?!?! I feel so bad for him. He nailed that role!
Adam on Feb 23, 2015
36
F***ing bullshit Interstellar beat Dawn of Apes! There's never any variety, it's all the same "types" of films for all these award ceremonies. I'm glad this year's Oscars had one of the lowest viewer ratings.
JBroti on Feb 23, 2015
37
Surprised more people weren't for Redmayne winning best actor. His regression into ALS, and then his acting once in that state was seamless and convincing. It looked like a painful performance to put on because of how long I imagine he had to hold certain postures and positions while filming. I think this was one of the toughest fields for actor in recent memory, even Cooper who usually just passes off on charisma (and I doubt Carrel will ever pull off a performance like he did in Foxcatcher again), but Redmayne really showed impressive quiet reserve, pain and hope scene by scene. I'm surprised The Theory of Everything didn't get more attention. I didn't have any interest in seeing it, but was completely engrossed in that film more than any of the other nominee's. Whiplash was my favorite just because I'm amazed at how intense they made a film about jazz band, but I was perhaps the most surprised and impressed by the overall feel, look, and story of The Theory of Everything. I may be alone in saying this but I think Birdman was one of my least favorite movies of the year. The single shot technique was really cool, but I won't be upset if I never see that movie again. I thought the story was tedious, the acting over dramatic, and the movie just seemed to swirl with nothing really happening until an ending which I still fail to find relevance in. And I really like Inarritu's other movies, so I was really bummed after all the hype and I came away not liking the film. I think this will go down as one of those Oscars where better films are remembered from this year and Birdman becomes a very avg to below avg best picture winner.
UrAllThumb on Feb 23, 2015
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