The Academy Awards, better known as the 'Oscars', had its 89th annual ceremony last Sunday and contrary to most years featured a more diverse group of nominees, which resulted in a more diverse winners list.
Zootopia, a Disney movie that addresses social problems such as racism, sexism, prejudice and fear, won Best Animated Feature, while African-American actors Mahershala Ali and the dynamic Viola Davis walked away with golden statues for their supporting roles in Moonlight and Fences, respectively.
Ali took home the first prize of the night and in doing so made history by becoming the first Muslim-born actor to win an Academy Award for playing Juan, a local drug-dealer who takes interest in a young, bullied boy who has a rough home life, in Moonlight. He was up against 7-time nominee Jeff Bridges, up-and-comers Lucas Hedges and Dev Patel and the highly underrated Michael Shannon who appeared in ten films in 2016. Ali also had a supporting role in the Oscar-Nominated film Hidden Figures and goes head-to-head with Frank Underwood in House of Cards. Moonlight was the breakthrough performance for Ali, who won Critics Choice and Screen Actors Guild Awards earlier in Awards season.
Davis swept award season with the win, having won the Critics Choice Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and British Academy Award for playing Rose, a role she previously brought to life on Broadway in 2010. Davis also made history, becoming the first African-American to earn the Triple Crown of Acting, a rare distinction for actors who have won an Oscar (film), a Tony (Broadway) and an Emmy (Television). The Oscar winner won her Emmy in 2015, becoming the first African-American to do so in the Lead Actress in a Drama Series category, for her work on the hit television show How to Get Away with Murder. She has won two Tony Awards; one for Best Supporting Actress in a Play for her work in King Headley II and another in 2010 for Best Lead Actress in a Play for the stage adaptation of Fences.
Casey Affleck and Emma Stone won in the Lead Actor and Actress categories. Affleck played Lee Chandler, an uncle who is asked to take care of his teenage nephew after the death of the boy's father in the year's most refreshing film Manchester by the Sea, which also garnered the film's director/writer Kenneth Lonergan the Award for Best Original Screenplay. Stone won for playing an aspiring Actress who works as a barista in a coffee shop on the lot of a movie studio in Los Angeles in the musical La La Land. La La Land generated the most wins of any film on the night with six, including Best Director for Damien Chazelle, who also made history by becoming the youngest recipient of the award at age 32.
Going into the night's top honor it was largely believed that La La Land was going to win the Award for Best Picture and it did....until the producers of the film were interrupted near the end of their speech to learn that there was an error and they didn't win. Instead the Indie drama Moonlight, which chronicles the life of Chiron, a gay African-American struggling to find his place in society, making it the first LGBTQ film to win Best Picture. The film's director/writer Barry Jenkins won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
It was also the first time in the show's 89-year-history where a winner was incorrectly announced. The presenters were Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway who starred as Bonnie and Clyde in the film by the same name in 1967. Beatty was handed the back-up envelope for Best Leading Actress and Dunaway pulled a Steve Harvey by announcing the wrong winner.
For the most part it was a pretty uneventful ceremony, with most of the awards going to the category's front-runners with little to no upsets. The evening's finale, however, made watching Best Live Action Short Film and Achievement in Production Design worth it.
