THE SHAPE OF WATER Takes Home Best Picture At The 90th Academy Awards

The Academy celebrated its 90th birthday on Sunday evening in style. Filled with montages of both classic and recent films, this year’s Oscars, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, was infused with the right mix of humor that had a more relaxed and natural tone. Inclusion was the highlight of the evening and many of the acceptance speeches continued to raise attention to the Time’s Up and Me Too movements, immigrants and minorities.

Best Picture went to THE SHAPE OF WATER. The fantasy film also saw Oscars for director Guillermo del Toro, production design and original score.

Check out the full list of winners below and what the winners told the press backstage.

Best motion picture of the year
“The Shape of Water” (Fox Searchlight) A Double Dare You Production Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale, Producers. On setting the film in Baltimore, de Toro said, “You know, I fell in love ‑‑ when I was a kid I fell in love with one of the primal trilogies in cinema for me, Barry Levinson’s Baltimore trilogy, you know, and I loved the setting. And I know we screwed up with the accent. I’m very, very, very aware with that, but what I wanted was to capture that flavor. You know, it’s such an interesting mixture, the Catholic, the industrial, how near is to the ocean, all those things, and for me it was mythical. Levinson invented so many things in those films, and particularly important for THE SHAPE OF WATER was the TIN MEN and the Cadillacs in TIN MEN and how they represent America, and that isn’t there. You know, I think that those three films, AVALON, DINER and TIN MEN are fabulous landmarks of American cinema. And then the John Waters, man.”

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Gary Oldman in “Darkest Hour” (Focus Features). When asked in the pressroom the advice Winston Churchill would give to today’s world leaders, he responded with, “Well, none of them look at history. He was a big believer that you’ve learned ‑‑ that you’ve looked at history to move forward. There’s an ‑‑ actually, there’s an interesting thing. There was sort of a survey done, and the children were asked about Winston Churchill, and not just ‑‑ I’m not talking about nine or ten‑year‑olds, I’m talking about, you know, young, young sort of college people. And a great many of them thought that he was either a soldier in the First World War or he was a dog in a TV commercial in Britain, and there is a TV commercial called Churchill, and it’s a bulldog, and he talks. It’s an insurance company called Churchill. And we don’t ‑‑ we don’t teach history anymore, do we? They don’t know anything about it. “

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Sam Rockwell in “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri” (Fox Searchlight) On dedicating his award to Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rockwell said, “he was very close to me and he was an inspiration to all of my peers. You know, people like Jeffrey Wright, Billy Crudup, Liev Schreiber, you know, you know, everybody. Mark Ruffalo, Josh Brolin. I mean, whoever was in my age range, Phil Hoffman was the guy. And he was a great director and he believed in doing theater. In fact, he was ‑‑ he vowed to do a play a year, which I don’t know if he got to do because he was very busy doing movies, but he was a great inspiration and a great theater director. And I don’t know if anybody knows, he was a bit of a jock. He was a wrestler, and he played basketball, and he inspired me. And I could go on for an hour about Phil Hoffman. Philip Seymour Hoffman was a good friend and he was a huge, huge inspiration on me. Yeah.”

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Frances McDormand in “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri” (Fox Searchlight) During her acceptance speech, McDormand said “Inclusion Rider.” Backstage she explained the two words. “I just found out about this last week. There is ‑‑ has always been available to all ‑‑ everybody that get ‑‑ that does a negotiation on a film, an inclusion rider which means that you can ask for and/or demand at least 50 percent diversity in not only the casting, but also the crew. And so, the fact that we ‑‑ that I just learned that after 35 years of being in the film business, it’s not ‑‑ we’re not going back. So the whole idea of women trending, no. No trending. African Americans trending, no. No trending. It changes now, and I think the inclusion rider will have something to do with that. Right? Power in rules.”

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Allison Janney in “I, Tonya”. When asked if things will change for her, Janney said, “Starting in September when we premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and the whole journey we’ve been through is extraordinary. And it’s going to be ‑‑ I’m going to have a big crash down after this. So I’m happy that I have MOM ‑‑ the people at MOM to lift me up and keep me ‑‑ keep me going and keep me focused. And I’m just happy to have a job to go to tomorrow. But this is extraordinary.”

Best animated feature film of the year
“Coco” (Walt Disney) Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson

Achievement in cinematography
“Blade Runner 2049” (Warner Bros.) Roger A. Deakins. On winning after multiple nominations, Deakins remarked, “I was just reminded that one of the early films I did was SID AND NANCY with Gary Oldman, and it’s so wonderful to be here tonight with ‑‑ and Gary to be in the same space.”

Achievement in costume design
“Phantom Thread” (Focus Features) Mark Bridges. On collaborating with Daniel Day Lewis, Bridges said, “it was a learning experience for me, but we worked together. We went shopping together, actually, on German Street in London, which was amazing. And ‑‑ but I was always there and collaborating about, like, I know I need this many suits to be able to make this costume plot. But he did not want to plan ahead what he was going to wear, so we created a closet for him, and Paul wanted him to choose daily what he would pull from his closet and wear it.”

Achievement in directing
“The Shape of Water” (Fox Searchlight) Guillermo del Toro. On his win, the filmmaker said, “I think every time we can demonstrate in any forum, be it sports, science, art, culture, anywhere, what we have to bring to the world discourse, to the world conversation, is extremely important, and it’s extremely important when we do it to remember where we’re from, because it’s honoring your roots, honoring your country. Now I’m going ‑‑ my next stop is I’m going to see my mom and my dad this week. I’m going back home with these two ‑‑ with these two babies.”

Best documentary feature
“Icarus” (Netflix) A Netflix Documentary in association with Impact Partners, Diamond Docs, Chicago Media Project and Alex Production Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan. “It’s an extraordinary opportunity for filmmakers that we never would have had before them. At the touch of a button now, you are in 190 million homes. There’s nothing like it, and it’s a huge honor for us to win the first Oscar for a feature‑length film for Netflix. We consider that a piece of history, and we’re deeply honored.”

Best documentary short subject
“Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405” A Stiefel & Co. Production Frank Stiefel

Achievement in film editing
“Dunkirk” (Warner Bros.) Lee Smith. On creating the tension with the score by Hans Zimmer, Smith said, “the momentum in the film was designed by Chris right from the get‑go. When I first arrived in Dunkirk when we started shooting, he put a pair of headphones on me and played me the sound of a watch ticking, but with a very interesting cadence. And that cadence is ‑‑ it’s something that just always sounds like it’s ascending, and it’s always ‑‑ makes ‑‑ so it’s making your heart beat faster and faster. And no matter where you cut you’ve made this ascension forever. And that’s what we did with the music. So no matter where you drop into the track, if you just drop in and listen, it sounds like it’s ascending. It’s an audio illusion… it really was a mathematical and technical marvel. And it has a lot to do with why your heart races in the movie from the get‑go because it’s ascension, it’s continually sounding like it’s getting worse. And then we briefly pause it when we’re on the beach and then we re‑instigate it again. Yeah, it is one of the most unique scores I think in history.”

Best foreign language film of the year
“A Fantastic Woman” A Fabula Production –  Chile. On giving a voice to the unheard, Sebastián Lelio said, “it is a film that has managed to contribute to a necessary and urgent conversation. I think that there no ‑‑ there’s no such thing illegitimate people. Period.”

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
“Darkest Hour” (Focus Features) Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“The Shape of Water” (Fox Searchlight) Alexandre Desplat. On working with del Toro, Desplat said to the press, “Guillermo, you know, he brings everybody in his team together behind him like a ‑‑ you know, like a king with his knights, and is total bonding. I don’t know. There’s a magic about him that makes us all want to be at our top ‑‑ at our best. He was always benevolent and enthusiastic and happy, and it was a marvelous experience. One of my rare, beautiful, beautiful experience.”

“Remember Me” from Disney-Pixar’s “Coco” performance during the live ABC Telecast of The 90th Oscars

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Remember Me” from “Coco” (Walt Disney) Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. Speaking on being an example to immigrants, Robert Lopez said, “I’ve always felt “other” in this country, even though I was raised very assimilated. If our success can help someone pursue their dream, I know that examples play a huge role and I want to encourage every brown kid to pursue their dream just like my mom did to me.”

Achievement in production design
“The Shape of Water” (Fox Searchlight) Production Design: Paul Denham Austerberry, Set Decoration: Shane Vieau and Jeff Melvin

Best animated short film
“Dear Basketball” (Verizon go90) A Glen Keane Production Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant

Best live action short film
“The Silent Child” A Slick Films Production Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton

Achievement in sound editing
“Dunkirk” (Warner Bros.) Richard King and Alex Gibson

Achievement in sound mixing
“Dunkirk” (Warner Bros.) Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker and Gary A. Rizzo. Landaker said to the press backstage, “this film ended up my career. It didn’t end my career, but I decided to put a period on it. And this was my 207th feature film, ninth nomination and fourth win for a soundtrack. My first win was for EMPIRE STRIKES BACK back in the ’80s. But Chris has always encouraged me to reach further into our art craft of mixing a film, to bring something completely different to the soundtrack that the audience would step up and notice.”

Achievement in visual effects
“Blade Runner 2049” (Warner Bros.) John Nelson, Gerd Nefzer, Paul Lambert and Richard R. Hoover

Adapted screenplay
“Call Me by Your Name” (Sony Pictures Classics) Screenplay by James Ivory. On being the oldest winner in Academy’s history, Ivory said, “Well, imagine how it would feel. I mean, being 90 years for anything that you would do is extraordinary. But to be here having won the Oscar at that age, this seems as like a hiccup in nature, possibly, something like that. But it feels great, and it certainly feels good ‑‑ it feels good to be holding on to that Oscar ‑‑ it’s my Oscar ‑‑ for the first time.”

Original screenplay
“Get Out” (Universal) Written by Jordan Peele. Backstage the filmmaker remarked about his historic win, “I instantly realized that an award like this is much bigger than me. This is about paying it forward to the young people who might not believe that they could achieve the highest honor in whatever craft they want to push toward. You’re not a failure if you don’t get this, but I almost didn’t do it, because I didn’t believe that there was a place for me. Whoopi Goldberg and her acceptance speech for best supporting actress for GHOST was a huge inspiration for me. And when I got nominated, one of the first things I did was reach out and call her and thank her for telling young people who maybe doubted themselves if they can do it. So I hope that this does the same and inspires more people to use their voices.”

Contributed by Gary Salem, Cate Marquis and Michelle Hannett