LOS ANGELES: First-time Oscars host Neil Patrick Harris opened Hollywood’s biggest night of the year on Sunday with a fleeting but pointed jibe at the homogeneous field of Academy Award nominees, before launching into a spirited musical salute to the magic of movies.
“Tonight we honor Hollywood’s best and whitest, sorry, brightest,” Harris enthusiastically dead-panned to hearty laughter that seemed to break the usual pre-show jitters among the movie royalty packing the auditorium of the Dolby Theatre.
The opening joke was a reference to the criticism Oscar voters faced this year for failing to nominate a single performer of color in any of the acting categories for the first time in many years.
Without wasting another moment, Harris, 41, segued into an opening song-and-dance tribute to the movies, showing off his chops as a live comedy-musical performer, and a conscious effort of Oscar producers to connect with tech-savvy younger television viewers.
“Check out the glamor, and glitter/ people tweeting on the twitter, and no one’s drunk and bitter yet/ because no one has lost,” he sang.
Winners so far at the 87th Academy Awards
Here are the winners announced so far at the 87th Academy Awards on Sunday:
Best Film: Birdman
Best Actress: Julianne Moore for Still Alice
Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything
Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Birdman
Best Original Screenplay: Birdman
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Imitation Game
Best supporting actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Best supporting actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Best foreign language film: Ida (Poland)
Best animated film: Big Hero 6
Best cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
Best costume design: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best make-up / hairstyling: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best production design: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best documentary short subject: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Best live action short film: The Phone Call
Best animated short film: Feast
Best sound mixing: Whiplash
Best sound editing: American Sniper
Best visual effects: Interstellar
Best Original Song; ‘Glory’ from Selma
‘Citizenfour’ wins Oscar for best documentary
The Edward Snowden documentary Citizenfour has won the Oscar for best documentary. Laura Poitras’ film documents her initial meeting in Hong Kong with Snowden, as well as journalist Glenn Greenwald.
It’s an uncommonly intimate view of what became a historic and much debated act: Snowden leaking National Security Agency documents that revealed the previously undisclosed collection of Americans’ phone and email records.
Snowden was charged under the federal Espionage Act and is currently living in asylum in Russia… see more
Tags: Birdman, Entertainment, Neli Patrick harris, Oscar awards
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