Yes, I made the ‘interesting’ decision to stay up all night and watch the Oscars. And yes I know I was sleep deprived- but were the producers? The 2022 Oscars sure felt like a pretty crazy ride, with more ups and downs than my tired brain could keep track of.
So, here are the weirdest, wildest and wonderfullest (I know it’s not a very eloquent word, bear with me here!) moments from the 94th Academy Awards.
- The Will Smith slap
This will without a doubt be on the front page of every newspaper and social media feed. Will Smith was expected to win Best Actor tonight for his role in King Richard… what we were not expecting was for him to storm on stage while Chris Rock was presenting and slap him. This was in response to a bad joke about Will’s wife, Jada, and it totally changed the tone of the night. Host Amy Schumer joked about it later in the night, Denzel Washington apparently stepped in to calm Will down during a commercial break, and then Will gave quite a raw Best Actor acceptance speech, seemingly apologising for his actions? Nobody breathed during this moment, and whilst it was nice to see Will attempt to take responsibility for his actions, there is no doubt that this moment will spark a deeper conversation about the actions of celebrities and comedians going forward, and will go down in the Oscars’ history, spoken about for years to come.
- All the wonderful attempts at snark, humour and sincerity
Not everyone enjoys the humour the hosts and presenters bring to the Oscars. This year was no exception- there were great moments of lightness and laughs, and there were some downright awkward ones. Wanda Sykes walking on stage as Will Smith’s character in King Richard (shorts, beard and all)- hilarious; Regina Hall calling certain male celebrities on stage for a *Covid test*- awkward (although I did love seeing the celebrity interactions); Amy Schumer returning after the Will Smith *incident* and asking “did I miss something?”- a necessary comment to relieve the tension in the room. While they don’t always hit home, these attempts at humour were fun and brought a certain lightness to the proceedings.
I particularly loved some of the societal callouts of the night- the host’s recognition of the gender pay gap for one, Rachel Ziegler joking about how she didn’t dream she would ever attend the Oscars just 6 days ago, and the abundant shouting of ‘gay’ during the opening monologue- a dig at Florida’s ‘Don’t say gay” bill.
And whilst not a moment of humour, I also really appreciated the abundant recognition of the war in Ukraine, the understanding of the hypocrisy of hosting such a lavish event at this time, the blue and yellow taking over the red carpet fashion, and the attempts of The Academy to encourage support for the nation from viewers and industry professionals alike. It could always be better, but I think this was handled relatively well.
- Dune wins everything
Okay, not everything, although it would have been wonderful to see Jason Momoa accepting the award for Best Actress. But Dune ended up sweeping 6 of its 10 nominations… luckily it’s a short title because it was announced a lot! Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Score for Hans Zimmer (finally winning an Oscar in this century, despite practically scoring every film of the last 20 years), and apparently Best Midriff- our heartfelt thanks to the stylists behind Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet’s fun Oscars outfits. But honestly, well deserved in every way, I thought Dune felt like a dream to watch! Although, did it have to take Best Editing too? It would have been nice for Tick Tick Boom to win something!
- An abundance of excited reactions and lovely speeches.
For most of the night it really felt like everyone who won really deserved that win… There were no huge shocks or snubs, and every winner seemed so, so grateful. Some of my favourite winner reactions of the night included:
- the ecstatic excitement of Billie Eilish and Finneas winning Best Original Song
- Coda’s Sian Heder (clearly unexpectedly) winning Best Adapted screenplay and her shocked leap to her feet
- Kenneth Branugh’s heartfelt speech to the “island of Ireland” after winning Best Original Screenplay for Belfast
- Ariana DeBose honouring original ‘Anita’ actress Rita Moreno while winning Best Supporting Actress for the same character 60 years later
- Jane Campion finally won Best Director 28 years after her first nomination (and her call-out to our shared homeland New Zealand- Kia Ora Kiwis!)
- Best Supporting Actor Troy Kotsur making his own interpreter tear up during his acceptance speech. Oh and the ever loveable Youn Yuh-jung staring adoringly at Troy while holding his award so he could sign his speech.
I mean, gosh! Every winner was so appreciative and deserving tonight, and no one really went on too long or got played off… except Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who recovered from an awkward orchestral interruption with style and just kept speaking.
Even just the moments where you glimpse Jessica Chastain cheering on in the background, or the camera pans to Zendaya and Andrew Garfield laughing at a Spiderman joke, or Serena and Venus ‘awwwing’ to the praise given towards their family- everyone just seemed so happy to be there. Although I did feel the noticeable absence of Hamilton legend and awards show reactor extraordinaire Lin Manuel-Miranda, who was at home caring for his Covid infected wife… I mean, how can you celebrate Encanto without Lin?
- We almost talked about Bruno
Speaking of which… when the Academy announced they were producing the first live performance of ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ the internet erupted with glee. I was particularly excited to see how they would bring such a theatrical sensation to life. And it was… interesting. It started promising, with the cast appearing in outfits similar to that of their characters, each singing snippets of the first verse. THEN MEGHAN THEE STALLION APPEARED. A wonderful surprise for sure… But it only went downhill after this. The stage erupted with a host of colourfully dressed dancers, the cast were now nowhere to be seen and the song’s lyrics were changed to praise the Oscars… no Dolores dancing, none of Camilo’s excellent Bruno impersonations, no final multi-harmony chorus. It just ended, short and weird and with nothing to say about Bruno. Quite a let down to all the Encanto fans who tuned in for this supposedly epic number.
Now, was it weirder than Beyoncé opening the night dressed like a tennis ball… no. But a least Beyoncé’s song was nominated!
- Those movie moments
The theme of the night was “Movie lovers unite”- a nice theme, if a little cheesy. But it allowed for a great array of films to be recognised on their big birthdays, including James Bond’s 60th, Pulp Fiction’s 28th and The Godfather’s 50th, amongst others. As a fan of this particular Italian mafia myself, the standing ovation Francis Ford Coppalla, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro received was tear-jerking and a reminder of why the Oscars exist – to honour such ground-breaking and iconic films. I know I know, I played right into the producer’s propaganda- oh well!
These were the good recognitions of movie moments and then there were bad ones. Voted on by twitter, two awards showed up on the screens randomly and unannounced, praising Justice League for Most Cheery-Worthy moment and Army of the Dead for Fan Favourite Film- while I do appreciate the attempt to include fans in the process and award films which capture the hearts of global, blockbuster audiences, I’m not sure if this went the way the Academy intended. In what world is the Flash a more beloved or electric (no pun intended) moment than that of Endgame’s “Avengers Assemble”. I’m happy to be proven wrong, but in the (likely) case I’m not- maybe next year don’t let the Snyder fandom take over the hashtag.
7. A different In Memoriam
In Memoriam is always a hard section to do well. There is always criticism for missing a certain actor/director/crew member, ordering them incorrectly or a poor song choice. This year did get some things right. Lovely onstage tributes honouring legacies of Sidney Poitier, Ivan Reitman and Betty White, from Tyler Perry, Billy Murray and Jamie Lee Curtis (and a puppy), respectively. A wide range of fields were represented too, from actors, directors, techies, managers, producers, and a message telling viewers to head online for the full tribute, ensuring that everyone’s loss was reflected. However, I felt the song choice was weird. While it was nice to hear some celebratory music, it felt a little out of place with the medley jumping around too much. Plus, in a year where legendary composer Stephen Sondheim dies, and his composition West Side Story is nominated for Best Picture, maybe use a Sondheim piece? His music would certainly make for a melancholy montage and would have been a gorgeous addition to the on-stage tributes for other icons.
8. And in a stunning turn of events… Coda Wins
In one of the more heart-warming moments of the night, Coda, the film about a Child Of Deaf Adults and her gorgeous family, snuck in (right under Power of the Dogs’ nose) to win Best Picture. It was joyous, it was electric, the room was on its feet, with sign language claps and ‘I love you’s filling the theatre. All through the awards season, Coda has slowly gained momentum and appreciation across the industry, with its core of loveable and relatable deaf actors and allies creating a snuggly warm feeling every time they graced an awards show stage.
This was a wonderfully deserved win, and an iconic, representative moment for the deaf community and independent filmmaking. Coda also marks the first film to win Best Picture with less than four Oscar nominations since 1932’s Grand Hotel, showing just how beloved the story and cast were, in and off themselves. And the proof is in the audience- this film taught people across every guild, awards show and living room how to speak sign language, igniting dazzling clapping hands and “I love you” signs across every venue of this year’s awards season.
This Oscars night sure wasn’t perfect, it never is. It BARELY managed to achieve its job of honouring filmmaking. There were some weird moments, some lovely moments and some downright disastrous moments- but it was a mostly enjoyable way to spend a Monday morning.
However, I am sleep deprived so maybe it was all awful. Maybe this was all just a wacky dream and Don’t Look Up really won Best Picture? Yikes.
But it’s now 6am, the birds are chirping, the celebs are partying, and I’m going to sleep.