“Everything Everywhere All at Once” was named best picture at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday, capping off an improbable awards season run by winning the movie business’s highest honour.
The film, a gonzo adventure about a Chinese-American laundromat owner grappling with an IRS audit and inter-dimensional attackers, earned seven statues, including original screenplay and directing honours for its creators Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (collectively known as the Daniels). The victory is a triumph for A24, the indie studio that pushed the zany film to an impressive $100 million at the box office, a stunning achievement at a time when the market for arthouse movies has shriveled. The studio also managed the rare feat of nabbing all four acting honors — three of which were won by “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and one by “The Whale.”
It was a night of comebacks and reassessments. “Everything Everywhere All at Once’s” Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to be recognized as best actress. The honor came after a long career in martial arts and action movies like “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” and “Yes, Madam.”
“Ladies, don’t ever let anyone tell you that you are past your prime,” Yeoh said. “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibility,” she added.
Brendan Fraser took best actor honors for his performance as a morbidly obese man trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter in “The Whale.” Fraser, once a prominent actor known for his work in popcorn flicks such as “George of the Jungle” and “The Mummy,” had spent the last decade and change away from the spotlight dealing with health and personal struggles. His win continues his remarkable resurgence.
“I started in this business 30 years ago, and this – they certainly didn’t come easily to me, but there was a facility that I didn’t appreciate at the time until it stopped,” Fraser said, acknowledging his career setbacks. He thanked his director Darren Aronofsky for “throwing me a creative lifeline and hauling me aboard.”
Ke Huy Quan won best supporting actor for his performance as Yeoh’s frazzled husband in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” A former child star who appeared in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and “The Goonies,” Quan had given up on acting in recent years, frustrated by his lack of opportunities. Accepting his award, he fought back tears while sharing his personal history.
“My journey started on a boat,” he said. “I spent a year in a refugee camp and somehow I ended up here on Hollywood’s biggest stage. They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This is the American dream.”
“Dreams are something that you have to believe in,” he added. “I almost gave up on mine. To all of you out there, please keep your dreams alive.”
Jamie Lee Curtis, a veteran headliner of horror hits such as “Halloween” and the daughter of Hollywood legends Janet Lee and Tony Curtis, won best supporting actress for her turn as an IRS inspector in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
Curtis dedicated her statue “to all of the people who have supported the genre movies that I’ve made for all these years” and also acknowledged her family history in entertainment, noting, “my mother and my father were both nominated for Oscars in different categories.” Choking up, she ended with: “I just won an Oscar.”
With its multiverse storyline, and off-beat touches such as a character with hot dog hands and weaponized dildos, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” represents a radical departure from the kind of staid prestige fare that historically dominated the Oscars, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has changed dramatically in recent years. In the wake of the#OscarsSoWhite controversy after no actors of color were nominated in two consecutive years, the Academy made a big push in 2016 to diversify the pool of voters. In subsequent years its membership has gotten younger, and now includes more people of color and women.
The ceremony unfolded at a tense time for Hollywood. As consumers have shifted away from cable and towards subscription streaming services, major studios and their corporate parents have spent a lot of time and coin launching their own in-house Netflix challengers. The entertainment industry has also undergone a period of consolidation, with Discovery merging with WarnerMedia, Disney buying much of 21st Century Fox and Amazon snatching MGM, deals that in the first two cases left the purchaser with a lot of debt on their balance sheet. Investors have become increasingly concerned that major media companies are over-leveraged and that the new ways that they are making money with streaming have failed to replace the old ways they once profited from such as cable subscriptions and movie ticket sales. That’s hurt the share prices of everyone from Netflix to Disney to the newly rechristened Warner Bros. Discovery, sparking a period of layoffs and cost-cutting. With a possible recession looming and studios facing tangled labor negotiations with the unions representing writers, directors and actors that could lead to strikes, there were dark clouds gathering that could have overshadowed the Oscars’ celebratory air.
Presiding over it all and (mostly) keeping things light and breezy was Jimmy Kimmel, returning for the third time as the host of the Oscars. The late night comic wasted no time bringing up the big moment from last year’s ceremony, when Will Smith charged the stage and slapped Chris Rock for making a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head (Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia which leads to hair loss).
“If anyone in this theater commits an act of violence at any point during this show you will be awarded the Oscar for best actor and permitted to give a 19-minute-long speech,” Kimmel joked.
“If anything unpredictable or violent happens during the ceremony, just do what you did last year — nothing,” he added. “Sit there and do absolutely nothing. Maybe even give the assailant a hug.”
“All Quiet on the Western Front,” an adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s novel about trench life during World War I, picked up four Oscars, including the prize for best international features. Other major winners included “Pinocchio,” Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion musical, which was named best animated film, as well as “Women Talking,” which earned best adapted screenplay for Sarah Polley.
“Navalny,” a look at Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, won best documentary. Yulia Navalny, the imprisoned politician’s wife, came to the stage after the award was announced with a message aimed at Vladimir Putin. “I’m dreaming of the day when you will be free and our country will be free,” she said.
The Oscars did opt not to wade fully into international affairs. For the second year in a row, the program turned down overtures by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to address the global audience about his country’s struggles against Russia’s illegal invasion.
This year’s crop of best picture nominees included smaller films such as “Tár,” but also several popular favorites like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water.” It’s unclear how much that will help this year’s ratings, but the Oscars have been on a ratings nosedive. Last year’s telecast drew 16.6 million viewers, the second-lowest ratings in history. In contrast, in 2014, the Oscars drew 43 million viewers, a sign of the telecast’s propitious drop in popularity.
The Oscars made some notable cosmetic changes, subbing in a champagne-colored carpet for the usual red one. That choice, however, led to some last minute scrambling after a rainy weekend left organizers cutting up sections of the carpet that had been ruined by the bad weather and dirty shoe soles. However, some near disasters were averted. On Saturday, Ovation Hollywood, the shopping center and entertainment complex that hosts the Academy Awards, suffered power outages. By Sunday, though, the skies cleared and the only sign of flickering lights were the flashbulbs greeting the stars as they made their way into the auditorium.
Here is the full list of Oscar winners:
Best Picture
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” — Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, producers
“All Quiet on the Western Front” — Malte Grunert, producer
“Avatar: The Way of Water” — James Cameron and Jon Landau, producers
“The Banshees of Inisherin” — Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin and Martin McDonagh, producers
“Elvis” — Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, Patrick McCormick and Schuyler Weiss, producers
“The Fabelmans” — Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, producers
“Tár” — Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan and Scott Lambert, producers
“Top Gun: Maverick” — Tom Cruise, Christopher McQuarrie, David Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer, producers
“Triangle of Sadness” — Erik Hemmendorff and Philippe Bober, producers
“Women Talking” — Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Frances McDormand, producers
Best Lead Actress
Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Cate Blanchett (“Tár”)
Ana de Armas (“Blonde”)
Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”)
Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”)
Best Lead Actor
Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”)
Austin Butler (“Elvis”)
Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Paul Mescal (“Aftersun”)
Bill Nighy (“Living”)
Best Director
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Martin McDonagh (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Steven Spielberg (“The Fabelmans”)
Todd Field (“Tár”)
Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness”)
Best Film Editing
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” — Paul Rogers
“The Banshees of Inisherin” — Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
“Elvis” — Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
“Tár” — Monika Willi
“Top Gun: Maverick” — Eddie Hamilton
Best Original Song
“Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” — music by M.M. Keeravaani, lyric by Chandrabose
“Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman” — music and lyric by Diane Warren
“Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick” — music and lyric by Lady Gaga and BloodPop
“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” — music by Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Goransson; lyric by Tems and Ryan Coogler
“This Is a Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — music by Ryan Lott, David Byrne and Mitski; lyric by Ryan Lott and David Byrne
Best Sound
“Top Gun: Maverick” — Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor
“All Quiet on the Western Front” — Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte
“Avatar: The Way of Water” — Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges
“The Batman” — Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson
“Elvis” — David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller
Best Adapted Screenplay
“Women Talking” — Sarah Polley
“All Quiet on the Western Front” — Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell
“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” — Rian Johnson
“Living” — Kazuo Ishiguro
“Top Gun: Maverick” — screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie; story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
Best Original Screenplay
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” — Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
“The Banshees of Inisherin” — Martin McDonagh
“The Fabelmans” — Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner
“Tár” — Todd Field
“Triangle of Sadness” — Ruben Östlund
Best Visual Effects
“Avatar: The Way of Water” — Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
“All Quiet on the Western Front” — Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar
“The Batman” — Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” — Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick
“Top Gun: Maverick” — Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher
Best Original Score
“All Quiet on the Western Front” — Volker Bertelmann
“Babylon” — Justin Hurwitz
“The Banshees of Inisherin” — Carter Burwell
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” — Son Lux
“The Fabelmans” — John Williams
Best Production Design
“All Quiet on the Western Front” — production design by Christian M. Goldbeck, set decoration by Ernestine Hipper
“Avatar: The Way of Water” — production design by Dylan Cole and Ben Procter, set decoration by Vanessa Cole
“Babylon” — production design by Florencia Martin, set decoration by Anthony Carlino
“Elvis” — production design by Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy, set decoration by Bev Dunn
“The Fabelmans” — production design by Rick Carter, set decoration by Karen O’Hara
Best Animated Short Film
“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” — Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud
“The Flying Sailor” — Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
“Ice Merchants” — João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano
“My Year of Dicks” — Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon
“An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It” — Lachlan Pendragon
Best Documentary Short Film
“The Elephant Whisperers” — Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga
“Haulout” — Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev
“How Do You Measure a Year?” — Jay Rosenblatt
“The Martha Mitchell Effect” — Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison
“Stranger at the Gate” — Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones
Best International Feature Film
“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany)
“Argentina, 1985” (Argentina)
“Close” (Belgium)
“EO” (Poland)
“The Quiet Girl” (Ireland)
Best Costume Design
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” — Ruth E. Carter
“Babylon” — Mary Zophres
“Elvis” — Catherine Martin
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” — Shirley Kurata
“Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” — Jenny Beavan
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
“The Whale” — Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley
“All Quiet on the Western Front” — Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová
“The Batman” — Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” — Camille Friend and Joel Harlow
“Elvis” — Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti
Best Cinematography
“All Quiet on the Western Front” — James Friend
“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” — Darius Khondji
“Elvis” — Mandy Walker
“Empire of Light” — Roger Deakins
“Tár” — Florian Hoffmeister
Best Live Action Short
“An Irish Goodbye” — Tom Berkeley and Ross White
“Ivalu” — Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan
“Le Pupille” — Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón
“Night Ride” — Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen
“The Red Suitcase” — Cyrus Neshvad
Best Documentary Feature Film
“Navalny” — Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris
“All That Breathes” — Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” — Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov
“Fire of Love” — Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman
“A House Made of Splinters” — Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström
Best Supporting Actress
Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”)
Hong Chau (“The Whale”)
Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Best Supporting Actor
Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”)
Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway”)
Judd Hirsch (“The Fabelmans”)
Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”)
Best Animated Feature Film
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” — Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley
“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” — Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan and Paul Mezey
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” — Joel Crawford and Mark Swift
“The Sea Beast” — Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger
“Turning Red” — Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins (Variety)