Well, that’s a wrap. More analysis and insight tomorrow, but in brief, “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” topped the night with four awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Alejandro González Iñárritu and in a surprise win for Best Original Screenplay. ‘Birdman’ actually tied with Wes Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” that was clearly admired by the Academy, and also won four awards in the art and design categories like production design, make-up, costume and score.
Unfortunately for the Sundance indie kids Richard Linklater and “Boyhood,” the movie was mostly shut out, besides Patricia Arquette winning Best Supporting Actress. Even "Whiplash" took home more prizes. All the winners below, and much more tomorrow.
*EARLIER*: If you’re exhausted by the awards season, don’t worry, we hit that fatigue point long ago. But it all ends tonight! The 87th Annual Academy Awards are about to start, and we’ll finally get to see how 2014 played out — at least in the minds of Oscar voters. And maybe we’re remembering it wrong, but we have to say it seems like less of an ugly year in terms of campaign controversies. Sure, every season has its share, but no one really tried to derail “Boyhood,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel” or “Birdman” in any way that compared to, say, what happened to “Selma” or the politically-charged think pieces that swirled around “American Sniper.”
We won’t be surprised if this is a lesser-watched year, with ratings lower than usual; it was a strong year for film, but not a populist one. “American Sniper” is the only movie that has grossed over $100 million domestically of all of the eight Best Picture nominees — in fact, at $310 million, Warner Bros‘ Clint Eastwood-directed juggernaut has outgrossed all of the other seven Best Picture nominees combined. Ironically, Eastwood isn’t even nominated for Best Director.
It’s a slightly fragmented year in terms of the 2015 nominees. Bennett Miller is nominated for Best Director this year, but “Foxcatcher” isn’t even nominated for Best Picture. Conventional wisdom says whatever wins Best Editing wins Best Picture — usually, anyhow — but one of the main frontrunners, “Birdman,” isn’t even nom’d in the editing category.
So it’s a lot of relatively smaller indie movies this year, two of them from Sundance. The real question on everyone’s (at least those that keep close tabs on our industry) mind tonight is: will the Oscars simply be a repeat of the Indie Spirit Awards that took place last night? And, if so, what does that say about the Spirits? Is it “Birdman” vs. “Boyhood,” as many assume? Or will something like “American Sniper” surprise? We’ll find out soon enough. All the nominees are listed below and we’ll be updating the winners throughout the night as they’re announced. If you want to join in with commentary, we encourage you to do so on our Oscar Live Blog.
Additional pieces to check out in the meantime: The 10 Biggest Snubs From The 2015 Oscar Nominations, The 10 Biggest Surprises From The 2015 Oscar Nominations, 2015 Oscar Nominations: By The Numbers and In A Perfect World Here’s What Our 2015 Oscar Nominations Would Have Looked Like.
The Oscars will be awarded on February 22nd.
Best Picture
WINNER: “Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“Selma”
“The Theory of Everything”
“The Imitation Game”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“American Sniper”
“Whiplash”
Actress in a Leading Role
WINNER: Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”
Felicity Jones, “The Theory of Everything”
Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon, “Wild”
Marion Cotillard, “Two Days One Night”
Actor in a Leading Role
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
WINNER: Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game”
Steve Carell, “Foxcatcher”
Bradley Cooper, “American Sniper”
Directing
WINNER: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, “Birdman”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Morten Tyldum, “The Imitation Game”
Bennett Miller, “Foxcatcher”
Writing – Adapted Screenplay
WINNER: Graham Moore, “The Imitation Game”
Damien Chazelle, “Whiplash”
Anthony McCarten, “The Theory of Everything”
Jason Hall, “American Sniper”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “Inherent Vice”
Writing – Original Screenplay
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
WINNER: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, “Birdman”
Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Dan Gilroy, “Nightcrawler”
E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, “Foxcatcher”
Music – Original Score
Hans Zimmer, “Interstellar”
Alexandre Desplat, “The Imitation Game”
Johann Johannsson, “The Theory of Everything”
WINNER: Alexandre Desplat, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Gary Yershon, “Mr Turner”
Music – Original Song
WINNER: “Glory” by Common and John Legend, “Selma”
“Lost Stars” by Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois, Nick Lashley and Nick Southwood, “Begin Again”
“Everything Is Awesome” by Shawn Patterson, “The LEGO Movie”
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” by Glen Campbell, “Glenn Campbell: I’ll Be Me”
“Grateful,” “Beyond the lights”
Documentary Feature
WINNER: “Citizenfour”
“Last Days in Vietnam”
“Virunga”
“The Salt of the Earth”
“Finding Vivian Maier”
Film Editing
Sandra Adair, “Boyhood”
WINNER: Tom Cross, “Whiplash”
William Goldenberg, “The Imitation Game”
Joel Cox and Gary Roach, “American Sniper”
Barney Pilling, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Cinematography
WINNER: Emmanuel Lubezki, “Birdman”
Roger Deakins, “Unbroken”
Robert D. Yeoman, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Dick Pope, “Mr. Turner”
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lynzewski, “Ida”
Production Design
“Into the Woods”
WINNER: “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Interstellar”
“The Imitation Game”
“Mr. Turner”
Animated Feature Film
WINNER: “Big Hero 6”
“How to Train Your Dragon 2”
“The Boxtrolls”
“The Tale of the Princess Kaguya”
“Song of the Sea”
Short Film – Animated
WINNER: “Feast”
“The Bigger Picture”
“A Single Life”
“The Dam Keeper”
“Me and My Moulton”
Visual Effects
WINNER: “Interstellar”
“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”
“Captain America: Winter Soldier”
“X-Men: Days of Future Past”
Actress in a Supporting Role
WINNER: Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
Emma Stone, “Birdman”
Keira Knightley, “The Imitation Game”
Meryl Streep, “Into the Woods”
Laura Dern, “Wild”
Sound Editing
“Interstellar”
“Unbroken”
“The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”
WINNER: “American Sniper”
“Birdman”
Sound Mixing
Mark Weingarten, “Interstellar”
WINNER: Thomas Curley, ”Whiplash”
“Unbroken”
“American Sniper”
“Birdman”
Documentary Short Subject
WINNERS: “Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1”
“Joanna”
“Our Curse”
“White Earth”
“The Reaper”
Short Film – Live Action
“Boogaloo and Graham”
“Aya”
“Butterlamp”
“Parvenah”
WINNER: “The Phone Call”
Foreign Language Film
WINNER: “Ida”
“Leviathan”
“Tangerines”
“Wild Tales”
“Timbuktu”
Makeup and Hairstyling
“Foxcatcher”
WINNER: “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Guardians of the Galaxy”
Costume Design
Colleen Atwood, “Into the Woods”
Anna B. Sheppard, “Maleficent”
WINNER: Milena Canonero, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Jacqueline Durran, “Mr. Turner”
Mark Bridges, “Inherent Vice”
Actor in a Supporting Role
WINNER: J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”
Edward Norton, “Birdman”
Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”
Mark Ruffalo, “Foxcatcher”
Robert Duvall, “The Judge”