87th Academy Awards Take Place in LA
The 87th annual academy awards hit the red carpet tonight with a strong British contingent sat amongst the hopefuls, including lead actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne.
By Calum Archibald
Cumberbatch was nominated for best actor for his portrayal of Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, but lost out to Redmayne, who was seen as the favourite after his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in the Theory of Everything. Redmayne dedicated his win to everyone with ALS (Motor Neurone Disease) and the entire Hawking family.
Other British hopefuls included Felicity Jones, Keira Knightley and Rosamund Pike, but the leading but the leading actress gong went to Julianna Moore for her performance in Still Alice.
The hot tip for Best Motion Picture, Boyhood, which was the favourite since its release several months ago, lost out to Birdman, which picked up another two awards for the critically acclaimed film starring Michael Keaton. The film also picked up the best Director and best original screenplay awards, rounding off a fantastic night for the film and its producers.
Surprise success The Grand Budapest Hotel collected three awards, including costume design, makeup, score and production design, scooping up the lion’s share of the technical awards, and ensuring a good night for director Wes Anderson.
The Supporting Actor award went to JK Simmons for Whiplash, while Patricia Arquette’s Supporting Actress award ensured Boyhood didn’t go home empty handed.
The Imitation Game won the best adapted screenplay, while the documentary award went to CitizenFour, and the short to Crisis Hotline: Veterans press 1. The Foreign Language film award went to Poland’s ‘Ida’, Short Animated film to ‘Feast’ and Short live action film to ‘The Phone Call’.
The much talked about Best Animated film went to Disney’s Big Hero 6, after The Lego Movie was controversially overlooked for even a nomination despite its standing as both a critically acclaimed film and a massive commercial success.
American Sniper only took home one award, the Sound Editing Oscar, while Interstellar won the Visual Effects gong. The sound mixing award went to Whiplash and the Original Score went to ‘Glory’ from ‘Selma’.
Much attention was once again been paid to the Oscar’s goodie bag, reportedly worth over $125,000 each, including; A 3 night stay in Tuscany, a year’s Audi Car Rental, a Train ride through the Canadian Rocky mountain range and a visit from a physic for a free physic reading, worth a reported $20,000 alone.
