Lupita Nyong'o's breakout performance trumping presumptive favourite Jennifer Lawrence's enthusiastic stomping in American Hustle and Best Adapted Screenplay, which screenwriter John Ridley accepted without ever acknowledging Steve McQueen.I have a feeling Ridley's apparent snub of his director won't prove as contentious as Cate Blanchett's thanking of hers. The Best Actress winner's praise of Blue Jasmine writer-director Woody Allen will launch a thousand thumbsuckers about whether artists should support each other during scandals, most of them ignoring the fact that the Academy is the same body that gave convicted child rapist and fugitive-from-justice Roman Polanski its Best Director prize a decade ago.
It's likely Academy members spent more time thinking about whether to honour Blanchett for her egregious scenery-chewing than they did worrying about the controversy surrounding her director. Allen never had a real shot at winning Best Original Screenplay; his nomination for a subpar Tennessee Williams knockoff felt like a reflex action in January. And it was great to see Spike Jonze take that prize for Her, a challenging and soulful examination of relationships that just happens to be a'pelling work of speculative fiction.It's certainly far more of a sci-fi work than Gravity.
Jean-Marc Vallée's Dallas Buyers Club was the night's other big winner, with Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto winning Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, and the film picking up Best Makeup and Hairstyling as well. I would have rather seen the Actor prize go to Chiwetel Ejiofor, who is utterly devastating in 12 Years A Slave, but this was simply McConaughey's time. And Leto, who matched him pound for lost pound, was the clear favourite for Supporting Actor from the get-go, having spent months racking up critics' awards, including one from Toronto.The Great Gatsby won Best Production Design and Best Costume Design, retroactively justifying its existence and making Warner Bros.the undisputed winner of the evening, with 10 Oscars in total. Disney's Frozen won Best Original Song and Best Animated Feature, Best Original screenplay has been won by Spike Jonze. "This is an amazing moment.