Oscars 2014: An in-depth look at the winners and losers of the 86th Academy Awards

It’s unlikely, but in case you weren’t aware, last night the 86^th Academy Awards took place in LA. Hosted by the confident and self-assured Ellen DeGeneres, who opened with some surprisingly funny, deprecating jokes about her industry and a rather risky dig at Liza Minnelli (saying she looked like a drag queen!) the marathon event got off to a fittingly entertaining start.

Amongst the winners revealed was Best Documentary Feature where The Act of Killing, a film about Indonesia’s death squads was nominated. Considering the film has been so well received by critics and audiences alike, it was surprising to see it beaten by 20 Feet from Stardom, a film about the backing singers whose voices are behind some of the greatest records of the 20^th century.

In portraying an unusual but appealing dynamic, director and audiophile Morgan Neville allows these hidden talents to take the limelight whilst established artists such as Mick Jagger and Bruce Springsteen take the back seat roles of talking heads. On second thoughts it provides a refreshing contrast to the heavy issues, from slavery to AIDS, which were covered by films in this year’s shortlist.

The two biggies, Best Leading Actor and Actress went to Matthew McConaughey and Cate Blanchett for their roles in Dallas Buyers Club and Blue Jasmine, respectively. McConaughey’s win comes as no great shock given the attention that has been shown for his recent reinvention from reliable rom-com heartthrob to serious thespian. Indeed, his acceptance speech was as heartfelt as they come and brimming with motivational verve (the first person he thanked was God).

His depiction of Ron Woodruff in the biopic was, to be fair, outstanding and not reliant on the spectacular weight loss which had so many wincing at their cinema screens. Jared Leto was similarly justified in winning his golden figurine for Best Supporting Actor in the same film, a casual feat considering it was his first performance after a six-year hiatus from acting. No big deal then.

Blanchett, accepting the award for her fascinating depiction of a frustrated New York socialite in Woody Allen’s feature gave a feminist themed acceptance speech in which she emphasised the demand for movies with female leads and their ability to draw critical acclaim as well as to make money (newsflash!). It rightly drew loud cheers from the crowd.

Perhaps the most memorable win of the night, the award for Best Supporting Actress was picked up by Kenyan newcomer Lupita Nyong’o for her captivating performance as Patsey in 12 Years a Slave. She received a standing ovation and hugs all round before delivering an eloquent and touching speech including the recognition that “it doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else’s”.

Elsewhere, Best Costume Design went to The Great Gatsby, deservingly, as the film’s embellishments were probably the most impressive thing about it and Gravity mopped up an impressive collection of little gold men for: Best Cinematography, Best Directing, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects, no less.

Best original screenplay went to Her, surely the most justified of the selection as it outranked the dull American Hustle and avoided awarding a man who has been accused of sexually abusing a child (when will Hollywood shake its own star dust from its eyes and recognise Woody Allen’s moral shortcomings?). A romantic tale for a modern generation, Spike Jonze’s Her tells the unique story of a man who falls in love with a machine and it does so beautifully. It is a merited first Oscar win for the writer/director.

Last but not least, Steve McQueen energetically accepted the award for Best Feature Film for 12 Years a Slave, and in a moving statement dedicated it to all the people who have “endured slavery and the 21 million people who still suffer slavery today”. It was a reminder of the great importance, power and responsibility of cinema.

Kate Knowles

Read our reviews of this year’s Oscar-nominated movies here. For further information about the 86^th Academy Awards visit here.

The full list of winners

Best Picture

12 Years a Slave – Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, and Anthony Katagas

American Hustle – Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, and Jonathan Gordon
Captain Phillips – Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, and Michael De Luca
Dallas Buyers Club – Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter
Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman
Her – Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze, and Vincent Landay
Nebraska – Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa
Philomena – Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, and Tracey Seaward
The Wolf of Wall Street – Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joey McFarland, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff

Best Director

Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity

David O. Russell – American Hustle
Alexander Payne – Nebraska
Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor

Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club as Ron Woodroof

Christian Bale – American Hustle as Irving Rosenfeld
Bruce Dern – Nebraska as Woody Grant
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street as Jordan Belfort
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave as Solomon Northup

(We regret to inform you that once again, Leonardo DiCaprio has been overlooked for an Oscar. One day Leo, one day.)

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine as Jeanette “Jasmine” Francis

Amy Adams – American Hustle as Sydney Prosser
Sandra Bullock – Gravity as Dr Ryan Stone
Judi Dench – Philomena as Philomena Lee
Meryl Streep – August: Osage County as Violet Weston

Best Supporting Actor

Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club as Rayon

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips as Abduwali Muse
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle as Agent Richard “Richie” DiMaso
Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave as Edwin Epps
Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street as Donnie Azoff

Best Supporting Actress

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave as Patsey

Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine as Ginger
Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle as Rosalyn Rosenfeld
Julia Roberts – August: Osage County as Barbara Weston-Fordham
June Squibb – Nebraska as Kate Grant

Best Writing – Original Screenplay

Her – Spike Jonze

American Hustle – Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine – Woody Allen
Dallas Buyers Club – Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack
Nebraska – Bob Nelson

Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay

12 Years a Slave – John Ridley

Before Midnight – Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke
Captain Phillips – Billy Ray
Philomena – Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
The Wolf of Wall Street – Terence Winter

Best Animated Feature Film

Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and Peter Del Vecho

The Croods – Kirk DeMicco, Chris Sanders, and Kristine Belson
Despicable Me 2 – Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, and Chris Meledandri
Ernest & Celestine – Benjamin Renner and Didier Brunner
The Wind Rises – Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki

Best Foreign Language Film

The Great Beauty (Italy) in Italian – Paolo Sorrentino

The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium) in Dutch – Felix Van Groeningen
The Hunt (Denmark) in Danish – Thomas Vinterberg
The Missing Picture (Cambodia) in French – Rithy Panh
Omar (Palestine) in Arabic – Hany Abu-Assad

Best Documentary – Feature

20 Feet from Stardom – Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, and Caitrin Rogers

The Act of Killing – Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
Cutie and the Boxer – Zachary Heinzerling and Lydia Dean Pilcher
Dirty Wars – Richard Rowley and Jeremy Scahill
The Square – Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer

Best Documentary – Short Subject

The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life – Malcolm Clarke and Nicholas Reed

CaveDigger – Jeffrey Karoff
Facing Fear – Jason Cohen
Karama Has No Walls – Sara Ishaq
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall – Edgar Barens

Best Live Action Short Film

Helium – Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson

Aquél no era yo (That Wasn’t Me) – Esteban Crespo
Avant que de tout perdre (Just Before Losing Everything) – Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras
Pitääkö mun kaikki hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?) – Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari
The Voorman Problem – Mark Gill and Baldwin Li

Best Animated Short Film

Mr Hublot – Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares

Feral – Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden
Get a Horse! – Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim
Possessions – Shuhei Morita
Room on the Broom – Max Lang and Jan Lachauer

Best Original Score

Gravity – Steven Price

The Book Thief – John Williams
Her – William Butler and Owen Pallett
Philomena – Alexandre Desplat
Saving Mr Banks – Thomas Newman

Best Original Song

“Let It Go” from Frozen – Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

“Happy” from Despicable Me 2 – Pharrell Williams
“The Moon Song” from Her – Karen Orzolek and Spike Jonze
“Ordinary Love” from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – U2
“Alone, Yet Not Alone” from Alone Yet Not Alone – Bruce Broughton and Dennis Spiegel (nomination revoked)

Best Sound Editing

Gravity – Glenn Freemantle

All Is Lost – Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns
Captain Phillips – Oliver Tarney
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Brent Burge and Chris Ward
Lone Survivor – Wylie Stateman

Best Sound Mixing

Gravity – Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, and Chris Munro

Captain Phillips – Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, and Chris Munro
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, and Tony Johnson
Inside Llewyn Davis – Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, and Peter F. Kurland
Lone Survivor – Andy Koyama, Beau Borders, and David Brownlow

Best Production Design

The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin (Production Design); Beverley Dunn (Set Decoration)

American Hustle – Judy Becker (Production Design); Heather Loeffler (Set Decoration)
Gravity – Andy Nicholson (Production Design); Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard (Set Decoration)
Her – K. K. Barrett (Production Design); Gene Serdena (Set Decoration)
12 Years a Slave – Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Alice Baker (Set Decoration)

Best Cinematography

Gravity – Emmanuel Lubezki

The Grandmaster – Philippe Le Sourd
Inside Llewyn Davis – Bruno Delbonnel
Nebraska – Phedon Papamichael
Prisoners – Roger Deakins

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Dallas Buyers Club – Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – Stephen Prouty
The Lone Ranger – Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny

Best Costume Design

The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin

American Hustle – Michael Wilkinson
The Grandmaster – William Chang Suk Ping
The Invisible Woman – Michael O’Connor
12 Years a Slave – Patricia Norris

Best Film Editing

Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger

American Hustle – Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers, and Alan Baumgarten
Captain Phillips – Christopher Rouse
Dallas Buyers Club – John Mac McMurphy[13] and Martin Pensa
12 Years a Slave – Joe Walker

Best Visual Effects

Gravity – Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, and Neil Corbould

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, and Eric Reynolds
Iron Man 3 – Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash, and Dan Sudick
The Lone Ranger – Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams, and John Frazier
Star Trek Into Darkness – Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann, and Burt Dalton