It was a groundbreaking Oscars night in a lot of ways – few of them good ones – with a series of wrinkles, misjudgments and one stunning altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock drawing focus from a worthy line-up of winners. CODA pipped The Power of the Dog to win Best Picture, crowning its rise from Sundance’s little film that could to the indie crowdpleaser that did.
The family drama also picked up a Best Supporting Actor win for Troy Kotsur and a Best Adapted Screenplay win for writer-director Sian Heder.
There was consolation for The Power of the Dog writer-director Jane Campion, who became only the third woman to win a Best Director Oscar.
Elsewhere, Jessica Chastain won Best Actress for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Kenneth Branagh won Best Original Screenplay for Belfast, and Drive My Car became the first Japanese film to win Best International Feature for 14 years.
But all of the winners were overshadowed by a nasty clash between Will Smith and Chris Rock. When the latter made a crack about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith – the second joke of the night at her expense, after the pair’s open marriage was referred to in the show’s intro – the actor walked onto the stage and slapped the presenter. Smith later won Best Actor for King Richard and talked around the incident in a teary acceptance speech that jokingly suggested that the Academy might not invite him back.
It wasn’t the only sour note in a ceremony that was plagued by missteps and seemed uncomfortable in its own skin. Attempts to introduce new fan favourite categories fell flat, while as an overall show, it lacked momentum and
There were more positive firsts (and seconds) along the way, though. The openly queer Ariana DeBose won Best Supporting Actress for West Side Story, and CODA’s Kotsur became only the second deaf actor to win an Oscar, after his co-star Marlee Matlin.
Here are the winners in full:
Best Picture
Belfast
CODA
Don't Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
Best Actress
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Best Actor
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Will Smith, King Richard
Andrew Garfield, Tick, Tick... Boom!
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Javier Bardem, Being the Ricardos
Best Supporting Actress
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Judi Dench, Belfast
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
Best Supporting Actor
Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog
Troy Kotsur, CODA
Ciarán Hinds, Belfast
Jesson Plemons, The Power of the Dog
JK Simmons, Being the Ricardos
Best Director
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
Best Cinematography
Dune
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
The Tragedy of Macbeth
West Side Story
Best Documentary
Ascension
Attica
Flee
Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Writing with Fire
Best Animation
Encanto
Luca
The Mitchells vs the Machines
Raya and the Last Dragon
Flee
Best Editing
Don’t Look Up
King Richard
Dune
The Power of the Dog
Tick, Tick… Boom!
Best International Feature Film
Drive My Car
Flee
The Worst Person in the World
The Hand of God
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
Best Original Score
Jonny Greenwood, The Power of the Dog
Hans Zimmer, Dune
Nicholas Britell, Don’t Look Up
Germaine Franco, Encanto
Alberto Iglesias, Parallel Mothers
Best Adapted Screenplay
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Sian Heder, CODA
Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe, Drive My Car
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter
Denis Villeneuve, Erith Roth and Jon Spaihts, Dune
Best Original Screenplay
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
Zach Baylin, King Richard
Adam McKay and David Sirota, Don’t Look Up
Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt, The Worst Person in the World
Best Sound
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story
Dune
No Time to Die
Belfast
Best Costume Design
Cruella
Dune
Nightmare Alley
West Side Story
Cyrano
Best Animated Short
Affairs of the Art
Bestia
Boxballet
Robin Robin
The Windshield Wiper
Best Documentary Short
Audible
Lead Me Home
The Queen of Basketball
Three Songs for Benazir
When We Were Bullies
Best Live Action Short
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run
The Dress
The Long Goodbye
On My Mind
Please Hold
Best Make-up and Hairstyling
Coming to America
Dune
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Cruella
House of Gucci
Best Song
‘No Time to Die’, No Time to Die
‘Be Alive’, King Richard
‘Dos Oruguitas’, Encanto
Down to Joy, Belfast
‘Somehow You Do’, Four Good Days
Best Production Design
Nightmare Alley
The Power of the Dog
Dune
West Side Story
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Best VFX
Dune
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
No Time to Die
Free Guy
Spider-Man: No Way Home