Contributed by Michelle Hannett and Gary Salem
The 95th Academy Awards were held Sunday evening at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Host Jimmy Kimmel presided over the ceremony, after the Navy Flyover and him parachuting inside the theater, as Oscar statuettes were awarded for all 23 categories. Two Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets flew down Hollywood Boulevard at an elevation of only 1,000 feet. The jets came from Naval Air Station Lemoore near Fresno. Inside the jets were two instructors, a squadron commander and a graduate form the Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program – known as “Top Gun.”
In case you missed it, check out Kimmel’s hilarious monologue. Note to Academy: please keep Kimmel as the host, indefinitely.
Everything Everywhere All at Once took home seven Oscars in total, also including Best Directing, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Screenplay. All Quiet on the Western Front, meanwhile, won Best International Feature Film for Germany among four total wins.
Check out the winners below – listed in order as they were announced – along with their comments both on-stage as well as backstage with the press, including We Are Movie Geeks.
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO
Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley. GUILLERMO DEL TORO: “Animation is cinema. Animation is not a genre, and animation is ready to be taken to the next step. Please, help us keep animation in the conversation.”
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
KE HUY QUAN – EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE. They say, “Stories like this only happen in the movies.” I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This this is the American dream.”
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
JAMIE LEE CURTIS – EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE. “To all of the people who have supported the genre movies that I’ve made for all these years, the thousands and hundreds and thousands of people, we just won an Oscar. Together. And my mother and my father were both nominated for Oscars in different categories, I just won an Oscar.”
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
NAVALNY
Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris
Backstage Interview: What is his condition right now? And do you expect him to be released?
A. (Daniel Roher) Maria, do you want to speak to Alexei’s current condition?
A. (Maria Pevchikh) Yeah, sure. For the last five months, he has been in solitary confinement. We’re talking about a cell which is 6 by 11 feet large. And there’s barely anything. There’s a tiny, little window, one chair, one little table, and a bed that is being chained up to the wall every day at 5:00 a.m. and chained down at 9:00 p.m. so he cannot use it during the day. He is unwell in terms of health, and I don’t like to deliver this with this news but that’s true. Due to the fact that he’s in solitary confinement, he’s under strict regime. He’s not allowed to have such basic things as, I don’t know, like, books or calls to his family, and he hasn’t seen his family members for almost a year, which is completely illegal. So I classify his prison conditions as torture. There isn’t another word.
SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
AN IRISH GOODBYE
Tom Berkeley and Ross White
ROSS WHITE: I come from Northern Ireland, and it is a complex thing for us in Northern Ireland. Our peace is an adolescent peace. It’s a fragile peace always, but we are proud of the peace and everybody I knows wants to ensure that’s protected. So I think our crew came together to make this film and from the republic of Ireland, from Britain, from northern Ireland and we’re just proud to this have collaborative way of making this film together.
TOM BERKELEY: This is actually the second most important thing about today because it’s this man’s birthday. He’s out here in Hollywood wearing a leopardprint suit jacket. We would love to use the time up here to sing for James.
“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear James. Happy birthday to you.”
Backstage Interview:
How does it feel to have just created the sweetest moment of the Oscars 2023?
A. Listen, I love James Martin. He’s a big part of our film. It’s his birthday today. This is always the second most important thing of the day, as mom said. So we just wanted to make sure that he had an extra special moment. It was amazing how everyone sang for him in the Dolby Theatre. How ridiculous.
CINEMATOGRAPHY
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
James Friend
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
THE WHALE
Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Annemarie Bradley
Backstage Interview:
(Judy Chin) How did he handle the makeup? He was a champ. The makeup took about four hours, right?
(Adrien Morot) Yeah, it took seven hours at first and then (inaudible).
(Judy Chin) Adrien created a cooling suit for him, thank goodness, that kept him cool under the prosthetics and he was so patient and willing to do anything for the role and to create that look.
COSTUME DESIGN
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER
Ruth Carter
Backstage Interview: “The first film we were introduced to Queen Ramonda as the queen, as the support to T’Chala. In WAKANDA FOREVER, we’re introduced to her as the ruler of Wakanda. So we stepped up. We ‑‑ we enhanced ‑‑ Angela always wanted to play a queen. And so, to amplify her as the ruler of Wakanda, we added vibranium, more vibranium. We added an extra element to her isicholo, the married woman’s crown that she wears. We gave her the royal color of purple and adorned in gold as she enters the UN in this gown and it was incredible to elevate Queen Ramonda to this new status. And so, the process was to give her strength and show also the ‑‑ the way that she embodied her place in Wakanda. As you can see in the film when she sits on the thrown, she’s in a gray, one‑shoulder dress. And the one ‑‑ the exposed shoulder shows her strength because, you know, Angela, she got those guns, right? So, we exposed her arms. We exposed her arms at the ‑‑ in the UN to show, you know, how beautiful women can be, how strong and vulnerable at the same time, but also can lead a nation.”
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Germany
Backstage Interview with Edward Berger: “I wanted to make it when I watch American or British war films, which are usually done there, I absolutely love them. I notice that they’re told from a very different perspective and they’re allowed to have a winner’s perspective and they’re allowed to have a sense of pride and honor about what America did in the war. Because they liberated Europe from fascism in the Second World War and the First World War they were roped into a war that they were against. So they had no choice in a way. And so logically, those films must feel very different. They must have a very different feeling. I thought it might be interesting to show how German films would look like that it can’t have any heroes. That any death that happens is going to be another life lost. There’s no there’s no hero at the end, no one in a way, no one can survive because we all know what happened in history. And we view every decision in the movie with our sense of responsibility and also guilt and that makes just a very different movie than an American or English movie and I thought that is maybe worth sharing.”
DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
THE ELEPHANT WHISPERERS
Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga
KARTIKI GONSALVES: I stand here today to speak for the sacred bond between us and our natural world. For the respect of indigenous community, an empathy towards other human beings we share space with, and finally for coexistence. Thank you to the Academy for recognizing our film, highlighting indigenous people and animals.
SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
THE BOY, THE MOLE, THE FOX AND THE HORSE
Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud
CHARLIE MACKESY: Hello. I’m sorry. I’ll be brief. It’s a recurring theme. My apologies. I was in my village very recently, and a lady came up to me and said, I hear you’re going to that Oscar thing,” and I said, “Yeah.” I said, “I think I’ll need help with my clothes.” And she said, “You will.” It’s a recurring theme with clothing and myself. She took a long pause, and she said, “You know, Charlie, I think it takes a lot of courage to make a film and I think when you go there, there will be a lot of very, very brave people in the same room. And I looked and said, “Yeah, I think you’re right.”
PRODUCTION DESIGN
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Production Design: Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper
Backstage Interview: What were the first steps of making and creating such an incredible world of war?
A. (Christian M. Goldbeck) It’s simple and straight answer; it’s research. It’s digging deep into the archives. We went to Belgium, France, South Germany, you know, we visited national museums, we researched it. Only if you dig deep into what there is, or what there was, then you can replicate it and that is what we tried to do. We tried to move away from propaganda, because propaganda to beautify war would have been propaganda and we tried to make it as real as possible. And set something against nationalism, first of all. Not knowing that there was a war coming after that.
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
Volker Bertelmann
VOLKER BERTELMANN: When I was working on the film, I was thinking a couple of times of my mom because she was telling me, every now and then, when you want to change humanity and empathy in the world, you have to start by yourself and with your own surroundings because you learn by that.
VISUAL EFFECTS
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER
Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
Backstage Interview: Could you please talk to us about the sustainability aspects of this film and the relationship with the visual team?
RICHARD BANEHAM: “We shoot on a stage where we have essentially a net zero footprint from a carbon standpoint. Our stages are both stages are 28,000 square feet. They’re completely covered in solar, and we generate enough energy not just to sustain our own production but the whole lot.
So, it’s incumbent on us to walk the walk. The message in a movie obviously is about a symbiotic relationship with the earth and sustainability, and that’s one we live every day, you know, down to we actually had vegan caterers on set for I think about 9, 10 months straight and that was for the reason of not wanting to convert anybody but the idea that it is much more sustainable as far as farm to plate.”
WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Written by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Backstage Interview: As you guys were story boarding and getting everything together, how was it figuring out how you were going to bring everything to the forefront with the special effects team and everything not knowing if you could do everything that you envisioned?
Daniel Scheinert: Yeah, thank you. We came up in music videos and would, kind of, pitch an idea that we wanted to figure out, and then we would figure it out while we made it. And this movie was the same, literally the same crew that made music videos with us did the visual effects. Zak, Jeff, Ethan, and Ben have all worked on our music videos, and those are the core four, the effects guys’ first names.
But, yeah, so we don’t story board very often. We shot list. But, like, on the day, we are figuring it out. And we know what tools we have, and we know what tools we want to learn, and there’s something, I think, so inspiring about making a movie that’s going to teach you something along the way.
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
WOMEN TALKING
Screenplay by Sarah Polley
SARAH POLLEY: Thank you. Um, first of all, I just want to thank the Academy for not being mortally offended by the words women and talking so close together like that. Cheers.
SOUND
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor
Backstage Interview on the win and TOP GUN saving movie theaters and getting people back into a dark place to see a movie collectively: “it had to be perfect and it had to supersede what the original film did, which was already an amazing film. And so, the expectations were very elevated. And so throughout the process, it was how can we make this better from story to production to sound? So we all worked very, very hard to get it to the point to where it met the expectations that Tom Cruise had set for this film. And so we’re grateful that sound won an award. So many of the crafts, including the story, including the directing, including what Jerry Bruckheimer put together with Tom Cruise and Chris McQuarrie, deserve amazing credit for making theater cinema something that people wanted risk and invest in again. We’re so thankful for that.”
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)
NAATU NAATU from RRR; Music by M.M. Keeravaani; Lyric by Chandrabose
M. M. KEERAVAANI: Thank, Academy. I grew up listening to the Carpenters. And now here I am with the Oscars. [Sings]:”There was only one wish on my mind. So it was Rajamouli and my families. RRR has to win pride of every Indian, and I must put me on the top of the world.” Thank you Kannadiga and Radiance Films for making this possible. Love you all. Thank you.
CHANDRABOSE: Namaste.
FILM EDITING
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Paul Rogers
Backstage Interview: what is the magic?
A. What is the magic? That’s a great question, because we as we were cutting it, and I think even as we were writing it, shooting it, they knew that there was some magic there, but it was hard to figure out what exactly it was because there’s so much in this film. But, in general, I think it’s just people telling a good story. It’s as simple as that. You know, I think people… you know, we see a lot of movies that tell stories about certain types of people, right? And they tend to focus on kind of the story of the man, the story of the white man. And and having this beautiful story of an immigrant family was amazing. And I think it’s just, you know, like James Hong was describing in his speech, it’s just it’s long, long, long overdue. And, like, you know, this kind of thing unfortunately does happen to guys like me a lot, too much most of the time. And so, I think that we what Dan and Daniel are really conscious of is paying attention to who are we mentoring, who are we hiring, how are we what kind of stories are we lending our hard time and our energy to tell? And that’s an you know, I don’t know if that’s the one if there’s one thing that is the magic to this film, but that’s part of it. I think it’s a combination of good people making good films with other good people and telling good stories.”
DIRECTING
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
DANIEL SCHEINERT: Our fellow nominees — you guys are our heroes. This is weird. We want to dedicate this to the mommies. All the mommies in the world.
DANIEL KWAN: And I want to acknowledge my context. My immigrant parents — my father who fell in love with movies because he needed to escape the world and, thus, passed that love of movies onto me. My mother, who is a creative soul, who wanted to be a dancer, actor, and singer, but could not afford the life of that life path and, then, gave it to me.
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
BRENDAN FRASER – THE WHALE
Backstage Interview: What has this past year meant to you, and what was the first thought in your head when you heard your name called?
BRENDAN FRASER: “This has been incredibly rewarding and affirming, and it’s given me a lesson in humility and gratitude. What did I hear when I first heard my name? I heard my name but I thought, “that can’t be right.” But it was, so I guess I should get up there and say something quick. I’m sorry. Now I know what the metaverse really looks like. And thank you to all my ‑‑ my internet friends who’ve been so generous and I hope that I live up to this. “
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
MICHELLE YEOH – EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Backstage Interview: Hey, Michelle. So, yesterday was exactly a year ago when EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE premiered at South by Southwest. Can you take us back to that day last year and refer to that day to how you are feeling today, with all this success today?
A. It’s been quite a marathon, hasn’t it? To be honest, when we did South by Southwest, that was the first time when everybody ‑‑ why do we make movies? For the cinema that we want a collective experience where we want to enjoy, share that laughter, crying, or whatever it is together. That is what the magic of being at the movies ‑‑ at South by Southwest, it was the first actual ‑‑ not streaming, not virtual, festival. And we were so blessed that everyone came, and we were blown away. Because you know, you give your heart and soul to a movie, but there is never any guarantee how ‑‑ when you put up in the sky, please don’t fall flat on your face, right? And please breathe. I swear to God, it’s you, all of you, because you made it interesting. You made it wild and wacky to people who hadn’t had an opportunity to watch it. You made it so interesting. They had to come to the cinemas to watch this ‑‑ what crazy wacky movie are we talking about? Because you didn’t want to be left out of the conversation. So in that way, thank you to all of you. You propelled our little gem of a film.
BEST PICTURE
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert and Jonathan Wang, Producers
Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, the film won 7 Oscars. A year ago A24’s movie debuted in Austin, TX as SXSW’s opening night film. Wang said, “this is for my dad who like so many immigrant parents died young. And he’s so proud of me not because of this, but because we made this movie with what he taught me to do, which is no person is no more important than profits. And no one is more important than anyone else.”
