87th Academy Award Winners: Birdman Soars

Birdman won Best Picture at the 87th Academy Awards, ending a 34-year streak since a film has won the top prize at the Oscars with a Film Editing nomination. The last Best Picture winner to do that was 1980’s Ordinary People. This was Fox Searchlight’s 2nd Best Picture winner in a row after triumphing with 12 Years a Slave last year. With Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel, the studio grabbed 8 Oscars in total. Despite being an early frontrunner and even a favorite heading into the night’s awards, Boyhood only managed a single win in Supporting Actress for Patricia Arquette.

Julianne Moore finally won herself an Oscar, for Still Alice, after four previous nominations. Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) beat Michael Keaton (Birdman) for Best Actor, J.K. Simmons won Supporting Actor for Whiplash (which picked up two other Oscars, in Film Editing and Sound Mixing) and Arquette used her acceptance speech time to fight for equal pay for women in the workplace. With Redmayne’s win the streak continues of at least one acting winner playing a real-life person and an interesting fun fact: all four acting winner this year portrayed teachers.

With single wins for Selma (Original Song), The Imitation Game (Adapted Screenplay), American Sniper (Sound Editing) and The Theory of Everything (Best Actor) the Academy spread the wealth, with every Best Picture nominee walked away with at least one award.

BEST PICTURE
American Sniper
Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – WINNER
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

BEST DIRECTOR
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Alejandro G. Iñárritu – WINNER
Boyhood, Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher, Bennett Miller
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson
The Imitation Game, Morten Tyldum

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything – WINNER

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice–  –   WINNER
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash – WINNER 

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood – WINNER
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Big Hero 6 – WINNER
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of The Princess Kaguya

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – WINNER
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Mr. Turner
Unbroken

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel – WINNER
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr. Turner

BEST DOCUMENTARY – FEATURE
CITIZENFOUR – WINNER
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga

BEST DOCUMENTARY – SHORT SUBJECT
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 – WINNER
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper (La Parka)
White Earth

BEST FILM EDITING
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash – WINNER

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Ida (Poland) – WINNER
Leviathan (Russia)
Tangerines (Estonia)
Timbuktu (Mauritania)
Wild Tales (Argentina)

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel – WINNER
Guardians of the Galaxy

BEST MUSIC – ORIGINAL SCORE
The Grand Budapest Hotel – WINNER
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Mr. Turner
The Theory of Everything

BEST MUSIC – ORIGINAL SONG
“Lost Stars” from Begin Again
“Everything is Awesome” from The LEGO Movie
“Glory” from Selma – WINNER
“What is Love” from Rio 2
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel – WINNER
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner

BEST SHORT FILM – ANIMATED
The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Feast – WINNER
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life

BEST SHORT FILM – LIVE ACTION
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh
The Phone Call – WINNER

BEST SOUND EDITING
American Sniper – WINNER
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

BEST SOUND MIXING
American Sniper
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash – WINNER

WRITING – Adapted Screenplay
American Sniper, Written by Jason Hall
The Imitation Game, Written by Graham Moore – WINNER
Inherent Vice, Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything, Screenplay by Anthony McCarten
Whiplash, Written by Damien Chazelle

WRITING – Original Screenplay
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo – WINNER
Boyhood, Written by Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher, Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
Nightcrawler, Written by Dan Gilroy

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar – WINNER
X-Men: Days of Future Past