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The 2023 Academy Awards were about as smooth as an awards show can be. As the first post-slap Oscars, this probably came as a relief to the producers. Perhaps that wasn’t the case for audiences, who watched a 3½-hour television show with absolutely no drama, as the expected winners took home the grand prizes – mostly “All at once” – and all were on their best behavior.
There have been many references to the infamous moment when Will Smith slammed Chris Rock, including this year’s host Jimmy Kimmel, who changed a sign that read ‘Number of Oscars Telecasts Without Incident’ from ‘000’ to ‘001’. At the 95th Oscars, onstage showdowns gave way to triumphant comebacks, uplifting speeches and some historic victories.
Here are more highlights from Sunday night:
EEAAO won top awards, a huge – and historic – triumph for Studio A24
A24’s sci-fi extravaganza entered the night with the most nominations of any film and lived up to its potential with a total of seven wins. Notable wins included Best Picture, Best Director (the Daniels, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), and three of the four acting categories (Best Actress for Michelle Yeoh, Best Supporting Actress for Ke Huy Quan, and Best Supporting Actress for Jamie Lee Curtis). ).
With Brendan Fraser winning Best Actor for another A24 film, The Whale, the studio picked up all six of the night’s top awards — the first in Oscars history.
How A24 thrived while breaking Hollywood rules
Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian actress to win Best Actress
Michelle Yeoh (EEAAO) and Cate Blanchett (“Tár”) essentially took turns winning Lead Actress awards throughout the season. But as the Oscars approached, Yeoh stood out as the favorite. In the end, she won and became the first Asian actress to win the Best Actress Oscar.
Acknowledging the broader meaning of her performance on stage, she began her speech with, “To all the little boys and girls who look like me tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibility. This is proof that dreams… do come true.”
“And ladies,” she added, “don’t let anyone tell you you’ve ever passed your prime.”
‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ star Michelle Yeoh is the first Asian woman to win the Oscar for Best Actress. Here’s a look back at her most famous roles. (Video: Julie Yoon/Washington Post)
‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ had a pretty good night
The harrowing German film about the First World War was awarded best international feature film and received several other Oscars, including for cinematography, film music and production design. Those who have been following the Oscar race closely over the past few weeks may not have been surprised by the success of Edward Berger’s film, but it hasn’t garnered nearly as much attention as others in the race.
Distributed by Netflix, the film is the third feature-length adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel of the same name; the first received the Oscar for best picture in 1930.
Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue referred (of course) to the slap
Hosting the Academy Awards is generally a thankless job, but Kimmel managed to get a decent number of laughs, particularly in his monologue, as he ticked off hot topics with the efficiency of someone who’s read a lot on Twitter.
He poked fun at that haunting AMC advertisement (“Glad to see that Nicole Kidman has finally been released from this abandoned AMC where she has now been held captive for almost two full years”); the Hollywood weight loss/Ozempic craze (“Everyone looks so great. Looking around this room, I ask myself: Is Ozempic right for me?”) and “Top Gun: Maverick” star Tom Cruise within Scientology (“Take his shirt off in that beach football scene? L. Ron Hubba Hubba”).
And of course he went all in on the slap. He didn’t mention Smith or Rock by name, but did make a few “getting jiggy wit it” and “hitch” jokes.
“If someone commits an act of violence in this theater at any point during the show… you get an Oscar for best actor and you get to give a 19-minute speech,” Kimmel chuckled in one of his many jokes about the incident throughout the show . “Seriously! The academy has set up a crisis management team. If something unpredictable or violent happens during the ceremony, just do what you did last year: nothing. Sit there and do absolutely nothing. Maybe even hug the attacker. “
Ruth E. Carter made history
The costume designer became the first black woman to win two Academy Awards when she won Best Costume Design for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. (She also won the award for the first film in the franchise in 2019.) “Nice to see you again,” Carter said as she accepted the trophy.
“Thank you to the Academy for recognizing this superhero who is a black woman. She perseveres. She loves. She overcomes. She is every woman in this film. She’s my mom,” Carter told the audience, saying her mom passed away last week.
“This film prepared me for this moment. Chadwick, please take care mom,” Carter said, referring to “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman, who died of colon cancer in 2020 at the age of 43.
Ke Huy Quan gave a moving speech
The tears (on stage and in the audience) started in the early evening when Ke Huy Quan won the Best Supporting Actor award for EEAAO.
“Mom, I just won an Oscar!” Quan sobbed as he held up the statuette, reflecting on his long Hollywood journey. His family fled Vietnam during the war when he was a child. After moving to Los Angeles and landing roles in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies, he left the acting world for about 20 years when he struggled to get roles.
“My journey began on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. And somehow I ended up here on Hollywood’s biggest stage. It is said that such stories only exist in the cinema. I can’t believe it’s happening to me. This is the American dream,” he said. “Dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up mine. To all of you out there, please keep your dreams alive.”
Jamie Lee Curtis finally won an Oscar
It took her entire career, but Curtis — Hollywood’s favorite self-proclaimed Nepo babe — finally earned an Oscar nomination for EEAAO this year. And she won! The audience seemed delighted and Curtis broke down in tears as she remembered that her mother (Janet Leigh) and father (Tony Curtis) were also nominated for an Oscar.
“To all the people who have supported the genre films that I’ve made all these years, the thousands and hundreds of thousands of people — we just won an Oscar together!” she said.
Lady Gaga got her (extreme) close-up shot
For reasons nobody knows, except that it’s just Lady Gaga’s world and we live in it, she wiped off her makeup and swapped her dress for a t-shirt and ripped jeans while the camera zoomed up on her face during she sang an acoustic version of “Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick”.
The trophy for Best Original Song eventually went to Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava’s “Naatu Naatu” from “RRR” after a wild, energetic performance. Earlier in the night, Rihanna belted out “Lift Me Up” from “Wakanda Forever,” complete with an accompanying orchestra; Actress Stephanie Hsu filled in for Mitski and joined David Byrne to sing EEAAO’s “This Is a Life” along with Hot Dog Fingers; and Sofia Carson sang “Applause” from Tell It Like a Woman, accompanied on piano by songwriter Diane Warren, who just lost her 14th Oscar nomination.
Diane Warren would love to win the Oscars. But don’t regret her losing streak.
Malala had the perfect answer to a silly joke
About 2½ hours later, Kimmel decided it would be fun to bug the celebrities in the audience with “questions” sent in by “viewers” and first approached 25-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai: Was she thinking Harry Styles ? Really Spit On Chris Pine During The Whole Don’t Worry Darling Drama?!
Malala, of course, had an answer ready: “I only talk about peace.”
Hugh Grant offered an agonizing red carpet interview
Pandemic social awkwardness came for the red carpet — or at least that’s one way of explaining why there have been so many awkward interviews this year. But Grant accepted the award for most agonizing when poor ABC red carpet co-host Ashley Graham was desperately trying to get something, anything out of their minute-long interaction.
Grant refused to play ball, from his favorite thing about the Oscars (“Uhh…well…it’s fascinating”); who he was looking forward to (“No one in particular”) and even who designed the suit he was wearing (“I don’t remember. My tailor.”) Graham tried again to get him to talk about the shooting “Glass Onion,” but he pointed out that he was only a few seconds into the film.
“But you still showed up and had fun, didn’t you?” Graham asked cheerfully.
“Almost,” Grant replied, and the interview mercifully ended.
A short Washington Post documentary that reveals the hidden dangers of film and television production. (Video: Lindsey Seat, Ross Godwin/Washington Post)
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