#OSCARS: “THE SHAPE OF WATER” WINS TOP HONOURS AT 90TH ACADEMY AWARDS

The 90th Academy Awards took place at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles tonight. Sweeping top honours after gaining the most nominations (13) was Guillermo del Toro‘s Toronto-filmed Fantasy The Shape of Water winning four awards including Best Picture, Directing, Production Design and Original Score. The Film’s Toronto Crew celebrating tonight at Palais Royale, were credited for being a part of the Film’ success. del Toro, who has been vocal about his love for Toronto using the City regularly to base his productions, encouraged other Genre Filmmakers to continue breaking ground with the door he helped open.

See del Toro’s speech:

 

#ShapeOfWater‘s Guillermo Del Toro wins for Best Director at the 90th #Oscars! Don’t miss this amazing speech! pic.twitter.com/g0T9ICGtSn

— ABC Network (@ABCNetwork) March 5, 2018

 

While many saw Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as the favourite to win Best Picture, it still took acting honours for Leading Actress with Frances McDormand and Supporting Actor with Sam Rockwell. McDormand gave a memorable speech which had her laughing nervously, devoting her time on-stage getting all her fellow female nominees to stand together in a call for inclusion and equality.  Both The Shape of Water and this premiered at TIFF ’17 with the latter winning the coveted People’s Choice Award and the two are released by Fox Searchlight.

See McDormand’s speech:

 

Best Actress winner Frances McDormand rallies the crowd. Presented by @ATT. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/6loAtYheKZ

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 5, 2018

 

Dunkirk‘s win tally would come in at three with scores for Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Film Editing. Blade Runner 2049 by Canadian Director Denis Villeneuve, would win for Cinematography and Visual Effects. Disney’s Coco was awarded Animated Feature and also for Original Song with Remember Me, performed on the broadcast by Gael García Bernal, Miguel and Natalie Lafourcade. Call Me By Your Name earned one win for Adapted Screenplay. Allison Janney nabbed Supporting Actress for her work in I, Tonya, which presenter Jodie Foster who appeared on-stage in crutches, would joke that Meryl Streep was responsible for her injury, having “I, Tonya-ed” her.

The Evening was hosted by Funnyman Jimmy Kimmel who tackled head-on several issues of now including #MeToo and #TimesUp using case in point, the substantial pay gap between Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams on re-shoots for nominated All the Money in the World. Despite both being represented by William Morris Endeavor, Wahlberg was paid eight-times Williams‘ salary, although the former made right by donating his earnings to #TimesUp.

Kimmel joked that the Oscar statue is the ideal man in that he “keeps his hands to himself, never says a rude word and doesn’t have a penis. He is a statue of limitations”.  A running joke for the evening was that the winner with the shortest speech would win a jet ski in the same vein as The Price is Right, which Leading Actor winner Gary Oldman was clear he wouldn’t be winning as he took his time thanking those responsible for his success. Oldman‘s Film Darkest Hour would win also for Makeup.

 

See Kimmel‘s running joke with the help of Helen Mirren:

 

Following an outcry that the Oscars lacked diversity, that certainly was addressed full force this year and repeatedly the theme of inclusion was brought-up throughout the night.  We would see female nominees in categories like Directing (Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird) and Cinematography (Rachel Morrison, Mudbound) and first-time Nominee Jordan Peele winning Original Screenplay for Get Out. A Fantastic Woman starring Chilean transgender Actress Daniela Vega, would win Foreign Language Film.  Basketball icon Kobe Bryant also would win his first Oscar for Animated Short Film, Dear Basketball.

 

Complete list of winners here.

 

(Photo/video credit: The Academy/Getty Images/ABC)