94th Academy Awards winners: ‘CODA’ wins Best Picture, breaking 89 years of stats; Will Smith slaps Chris Rock live on stage

Well, they did say it would be exciting.

After another long Oscar season the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed the winners of the 94th Academy Awards tonight from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, celebrating best in film for 2021 where the Sundance hit CODA won Best Picture, making Oscar history as the first film to win the top prize without a directing and editing nomination and with three or less total nominations since 1932’s Grand Hotel. The film, which details the story of a grown hearing daughter of deaf parents who wants to forge out on her own, won all three of its nods, Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur and Adapted Screenplay for its director Sian Heder. Despite it’s low nomination total and no below the line support, the film hit a momentum in the post-nomination phase of the Oscar race, winning SAG, WGA and the PGA leading up to tonight. The cast charmed stars and voters alike on the way to the Dolby stage and Apple, who bought the film for a record-setting $25M became the first streamer to win Best Picture, much to the chagrin of Netflix, who have been angling for this award for a few years.

Here’s a rundown of the stats that CODA broke tonight:

• First film to win Best Picture with three or less nominations since 1932’s Grand Hotel.
• First film to win Best Picture without directing and editing nominations since 1932’s Grand Hotel.
• First film to win Best Picture after skipping all fall festivals since 2006’s The Departed.
• First film to win Best Picture as a remake of a non-English langue film since 2006’s The Departed.
• First film to win Best Picture without a BAFTA Best Film nomination since 2004’s Million Dollar Baby.
• First film to win Best Picture without a Golden Globe screenplay nomination for since 2004’s Million Dollar Baby.
• First film to win Best Picture without a DGA nomination since 1989’s Driving Miss Daisy.
• First film to win Best Picture as a Sundance Film Festival premiere.
• First film to win Best Picture from a streamer.

The night was hosted by Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes. It’s the first time ever a multiple host lineup has been comprised entirely of women. Venus and Serena Williams open the 94th Academy Awards and introduce the “Be Alive” performance by Beyonce, which was pre-recorded at a tennis court in Compton. The hosting trio took over with jokes like “The Oscars, where movie lovers unite and watch TV” and “You know what’s in the In Memoriam this year? The Golden Globes” but despite being a group of three and on their own hour to hour their presence often felt non-existent outside of one gag with Schumer dressed as Spider-Man coming down from the rafters, Sykes as (King) Richard Williams and Hall as Tammy Faye.

Despite its field-best 12 nominations, The Power of the Dog only won for Jane Campion’s direction, making it the first film to only win Best Director since 1967’s The Graduate, where Mike Nichols prevailed over heavy competition.

After a quieter and smaller ceremony at Union Station in Los Angeles last year (due to higher rates of COVID than this year), the Oscars returned to the Dolby Theatre, produced by television and film producer Will Packer. But, while last year had its share of controversy when its producer, Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh, took a big gamble by having Best Picture announced before Best Actress and Best Actor, thinking that the late Chadwick Boseman would be winning the latter and hoping for an Oscars ‘moment.’ That didn’t happen and it backfired spectacularly. Packer and his team did keep one thing from last year; the small table and intimate atmosphere for the front row seats, which had a great birds eye appeal, an angle that was used liberally throughout the show.

Dune led the overall wins with six; Film Editing, Cinematography, Score, Sound, Production Design and Visual Effects. Acting wins also went to Jessica Chastain as Best Actress for The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Ariana DeBose as Supporting Actress for West Side Story. DeBose used her speech to highlight kids at home who feel or felt alone, saying “Look in these eyes and you’ll find an openly queer woman of color…there is indeed a place for us,” echoing one of the musical’s most famous numbers.

By all means, it seemed that this year would have to be vast improvement on that but AMPAS, ABC (who airs the Oscars) and Packer said ‘hold my beer’ and unveiled in February a plan to take eight craft categories off the live show, announce them in a non-televised portion in the Dolby during the one-hour red carpet between 4-5pm PT, and then integrate them into the main show, albeit severely edited for time. The idea was met with immediate backlash, as they had in the past when AMPAS entertained the idea, but with just a month before the show it was too late. Despite guilds, hundreds of technical artists and even big name directors like James Cameron and Steven Spielberg, the die was cast and Film Editing, Production Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score, Sound plus all of the shorts – Animated, Documentary and Live Action – were not moving back to the main show in their entirety. Some acting nominees, including Jessica Chastain and Javier Bardem, vowed to not appear on the red carpet and instead support the nominees in the eight categories and several tech contenders have said they’ll wear their guild signatory pins upside down in protest. The pre-winner segment will be presented by Dune stars Jason Momoa and Josh Brolin and winners were announced via the Academy’s Twitter and other social media. Dune dominated, winning 4/4 of those awards (see below).

To add insult to injury, in an effort to boost ratings after last year’s all-time low, the Academy created two fan-based categories set to be announced on the main show. The ‘Oscars Fan Favorite’ and ‘Oscars Cheer Moment’ nominees and winners were selected by voting on Twitter and the Oscars website and also featured a sweepstakes were one winner will find themselves presenting an Oscar on stage at the 95th Academy Awards next year.

But the biggest moment of the night was as unscripted and shocking as they come. During his opening bit before presenting Documentary Feature, Chris Rock (a previous Oscar host) made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s shorn hair (she suffers from alopecia). Almost instantly, Will Smith walked up on stage and slapped Rock in the face, open-handed. At first it seemed like a bit but Rock was in shock and the U.S. feed went mute and tried to cut away. But an Australian feed of the show revealed that it was dead serious, with Smith repeatedly yelling at Rock from his seat “You keep my wife’s name out of your FUCKING mouth!”

Near the end of the show, when it was time for Best Actor, Smith, the favorite, won and used his speech to apologize to the Academy (but not Rock) in a roundabout way and then use the most of the rest to defend his actions as ‘protecting’ his family and women.

“I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying for winning an award. It’s not about winning an award for me. It’s about being able to shine a light on all of the people. Tim and Trevor and Zack and Saniyya and Demi and Aunjanue and the entire cast and crew of ‘King Richard,’ Venus and Serena, the entire Williams family. Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams,” Smith said, crying through his acceptance speech.

He continued, “Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family. In this time in my life, in this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world. Making this film, I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis, who is one of the strongest, most delicate people I’ve ever met. I got to protect Saniyya and Demi, the two actresses that played Venus and Serena,” he said, as he began to tear up. “I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people. I know to do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse. You got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business you got to be able to have people disrespecting you. And you got to smile and you got to pretend like that’s okay.”

The night was filled with several anniversary groupings as presenters including Juno’s Jennifer Garner, Elliot Page and J.K. Simmons, Pulp Fiction’s Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman and John Travolta and White Men Can’t Jump’s Wesley Snipes, Rosie Perez and Woody Harrelson. Tributes to 60 years of James Bond and one for the 50th anniversary of The Godfather, with director Francis Ford Coppola and stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro filled out the nearly 3h 45m runtime.

Oscar winners Lady Gaga and Liza Minelli presented Best Picture where Minelli, in a wheelchair, was visibly confused at times with Gaga at her side to assist.

Here is the complete list of winners of the 94th Academy Awards.

BEST PICTURE

Belfast (Focus Features) Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas, Producers

CODA (Apple Original Films) Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger, Producers – WINNER

Don’t Look Up (Netflix) Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers

Drive My Car (Sideshow/Janus Films)Teruhisa Yamamoto, Producer

Dune (Warner Bros) Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve and Cale Boyter, Producers

King Richard (Warner Bros) Tim White, Trevor White and Will Smith, Producers

Licorice Pizza (MGM/UAR) Sara Murphy, Adam Somner and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers

Nightmare Alley (Searchlight Pictures) Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Bradley Cooper, Producers

The Power of the Dog (Netflix) Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier, Producers

West Side Story (20th Century Studios) Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers

BEST DIRECTOR

Belfast – Kenneth Branagh

Drive My Car – Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Licorice Pizza – Paul Thomas Anderson

The Power of the Dog – Jane Campion – WINNER

West Side Story – Steven Spielberg

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Javier Bardem in Being the Ricardos

Benedict Cumberbatch in The Power of the Dog

Andrew Garfield in tick, tick…BOOM!

Will Smith in King Richard – WINNER

Denzel Washington in The Tragedy of Macbeth

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye – WINNER

Olivia Colman in The Lost Daughter

Penélope Cruz in Parallel Mothers

Nicole Kidman in Being the Ricardos

Kristen Stewart in Spencer

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Ciarán Hinds in Belfast

Troy Kotsur in CODA – WINNER

Jesse Plemons in The Power of the Dog

J.K. Simmons in Being the Ricardos

Kodi Smit-McPhee in The Power of the Dog

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Jessie Buckley in The Lost Daughter

Ariana DeBose in West Side Story – WINNER

Judi Dench in Belfast

Kirsten Dunst in The Power of the Dog

Aunjanue Ellis in King Richard

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

CODA – Screenplay by Siân Heder – WINNER

Drive My Car – Screenplay by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe

Dune – Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth

The Lost Daughter – Written by Maggie Gyllenhaal

The Power of the Dog – Written by Jane Campion

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

Belfast – Written by Kenneth Branagh – WINNER

Don’t Look Up – Screenplay by Adam McKay; Story by Adam McKay & David Sirota

King Richard – Written by Zach Baylin

Licorice Pizza – Written by Paul Thomas Anderson

The Worst Person in the World – Written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier

FILM EDITING

Don’t Look Up – Hank Corwin

Dune – Joe Walker – WINNER

King Richard – Pamela Martin

The Power of the Dog – Peter Sciberras

tick, tick…BOOM! – Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Dune – Greig Fraser – WINNER

Nightmare Alley – Dan Laustsen

The Power of the Dog – Ari Wegner

The Tragedy of Macbeth – Bruno Delbonnel

West Side Story – Janusz Kaminski

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Dune – Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos – WINNER

Nightmare Alley – Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau

The Power of the Dog – Production Design: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Amber Richards

The Tragedy of Macbeth – Production Design: Stefan Dechant; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

West Side Story – Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo

COSTUME DESIGN

Cruella – Jenny Beavan – WINNER

Cyrano – Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran

Dune – Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan

Nightmare Alley – Luis Sequeira

West Side Story – Paul Tazewell

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Don’t Look Up – Nicholas Britell

Dune – Hans Zimmer – WINNER

Encanto – Germaine Franco

Parallel Mothers – Alberto Iglesias

The Power of the Dog – Jonny Greenwood

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

“Be Alive” from King Richard
Music and Lyric by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter

“Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto
Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda

“Down To Joy” from Belfast
Music and Lyric by Van Morrison

“No Time To Die” from No Time to Die – WINNER
Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell

“Somehow You Do” from Four Good Days
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

SOUND

Belfast – Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri

Dune – Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett – WINNER

No Time to Die – Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor

The Power of the Dog – Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb

West Side Story – Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Coming 2 America – Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer

Cruella – Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon

Dune – Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr

The Eyes of Tammy Faye – Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh – WINNER

House of Gucci – Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras

VISUAL EFFECTS

Dune – Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer – WINNER

Free Guy – Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick

No Time to Die – Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings – Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver

Spider-Man: No Way Home – Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Encanto – Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer – WINNER

Flee – Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie

Luca – Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren

The Mitchells vs. the Machines – Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Kurt Albrecht

Raya and the Last Dragon – Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Ascension – Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell

Attica – Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry

Flee – Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie

Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) – Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein – WINNER

Writing with Fire – Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM

Drive My Car (Japan)

Flee (Denmark)

The Hand of God (Italy)

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan)

The Worst Person in the World (Norway)

ANIMATED SHORT

Affairs of the Art – Joanna Quinn and Les Mills

Bestia – Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz

Boxballet – Anton Dyakov

Robin Robin – Dan Ojari and Mikey Please

The Windshield Wiper – Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez – WINNER

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

Audible – Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean

Lead Me Home – Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk

The Queen of Basketball – Ben Proudfoot – WINNER

Three Songs for Benazir – Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei

When We Were Bullies – Jay Rosenblatt

LIVE ACTION SHORT

Ala Kachuu – Take and Run Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger

The Dress – Tadeusz Łysiak and Maciej Ślesicki

The Long Goodbye – Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed – WINNER

On My Mind – Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson

Please Hold – K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse

Photo: Blaine Ohigashi / A.M.P.A.S.