The 86th Academy Awards proved to be a historic night in Hollywood.
On March 2, the film industry celebrated the year in movies by handing out 26 statues in a wide range of categories. The winners turned out to be less surprising than anticipated.
“12 Years a Slave,” the story of a freed slave who is sold back into slavery, took home the top prize as Best Picture of 2013. Director and producer Steve McQueen became the first African American to win the award.
The film also received two other major awards, Lupita Nyong’o for Best Supporting Actress and the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
“Gravity” was recognized for its visual and technical achievements by winning the most Oscars with a total of seven. Alfonso Cuarón earned the honor as Best Director, becoming the first Latino to win the award. The movie received its other six Oscars in technical categories.
Another movie with multiple wins was “Dallas Buyers Club.” Both acting nominees for the movie, Matthew McConaughey for Best Actor and Jared Leto for Supporting Actor, won for their transformative roles in the film.
Disney’s “Frozen” won both Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for “Let It Go.”
Other notable winners were Cate Blanchett, receiving Best Actress for her captivating performance in “Blue Jasmine,” and Spike Jonze, winning with Best Original Screenplay for the film “Her.”
This year’s awards ceremony felt simple yet elegant with the perfect combination of funny and heartfelt.
The theme “Heroes and Hollywood” highlighted heroic characters and filmmaking over the years through various movie montages shown throughout the evening. Each of the nine Best Picture nominees were also recognized.
Ellen DeGeneres hosted the Oscars for the second time and opened the night with a hilarious monologue that poked fun at many of this year’s nominees, including Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and Jonah Hill.
DeGeneres’ interaction with the movie stars in the audience provided some of the funniest moments of the night. She ordered pizza for the audience and took a selfie with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Bradley Cooper. After posting the picture on Twitter, it received over one million retweets, breaking the all-time record.
The producers of the show made a smart decision to not cut off any winners’ speeches with music if they went over the allotted time, allowing for countless inspiring and memorable speeches.
Jared Leto paid tribute to the people who have lost their battle with AIDS. Cate Blanchett gave an empowering message about women in movies. Lupita Nyong’o showed great appreciation for all of the people who had helped her follow her dreams.
”When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child, that no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid,”Nyong’o said in during her speech.
Several musical numbers were featured throughout the evening. The four Best Original Song nominees performed, including a joyful and upbeat performance from Pharrell Williams singing “Happy” from the movie “Despicable Me 2.” In honor of the 75th anniversary of “The Wizard of Oz,” Pink sang the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
These moments and more truly made the Academy Awards a night to remember.
Popular films like “American Hustle” and “Nebraska” may have gone home empty-handed on Oscar night, but with all of the categories loaded with brilliant performances and remarkable talent, moviegoers were the real winners in 2013.