2016 Oscars
The 2016 Oscars was hosted for the second time by actor, writer, director, producer, and comedian Chris Rock. The ceremonies needed saving due to the impact of #OscarSoWhite and there was no better man to save the day and perform the duties of master of ceremonies than Chris Rock.
The opening montage of films was powerful and a good mix of movies.
Chris Rock Address the Black Out
Chris Rock took the stage and went right into the color issue by saying, “I counted at least 15 Black people in that montage.” He also said the Oscars should be called the “White Peoples Choice Awards.”
“If they nominated hosts I won’t even get this job.”
He mentioned how he was told he shouldn’t host the program because there were no Black nominees. “Chris you should boycott. Chris, you should quit. Why is it always unemployed people that tell you to quit?”
“The last thing I need is to lose another job to Kevin Hart.”
Then he asked, “Why this Oscars? It’s the 88th Academy Awards. This whole no Black nominees thing has happened at least 77 other times.”
He did a few jokes about lynching that were a bit much, before talking about Jada Pinkett Smith boycotting the Oscars by saying, “Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I was invited to.”
His joke about Black people being shot by the cops on the way to the movies was another one that was a bit too much.
But he did add, “We want opportunities. We want Black actors to get the same opportunities. That’s it.”
“Look at Jamie Foxx he’s one of the best actors in the world. He’s so good they went to the hospital and unplugged the real Ray Charles and said we don’t need two of these.”
The Oscar Goes to …
He wrapped up his 2016 Oscars open monologue by welcoming the audience to the 88th Academy Awards and introducing and Charlize Theron and Emily Blunt to present Best Original Screenplay. The Academy Award went to Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy for Spotlight.
This was the first time the “thank you” portions of acceptance speeches ran across the screen, but acceptance speeches were the same as if the credits didn’t run across the screen. So much for that plan.
Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe were next. They presented the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The Academy Award went to Charles Randolph and Adam McKay for The Big Short. He thanked the books author, his wife, and children. He got political and mentioned the candidates and who not to vote for before they were played off the stage.
Chris came back again and said for the second year in a row all the acting nominees are White actors, and then introduced a video addressing the issue starring Whoopie Goldberg, Leslie Jones from Saturday Night Live, Tracy Morgan and Chris Rock all featured in the Best Picture nominated films, which was a very funny way to approach the issue.
He ended the joke by introducing Stacey Dash who came out honoring Black History Month due to her recent comments to get rid of Black History Month. The audience acted shocked and didn’t really clap for her. They missed the joke.
Sarah Silverman was the next presenter. She introduced a performance by Sam Smith of Writing’s On The Wall, one of the nominated songs for Best Original Song. And ended up being the winner in that category.
Kerry Washington and Henry Cavill were up next to introduce highlights of Best Picture nominees.
J.K. Simmons followed to introduce the nominees for Best Supporting Actress. The Academy Award went to Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl. The names rolled by so quickly you could barely catch them, but the acceptance speeches didn’t change. She also thanked everyone including her mom and dad before being played off the stage.
Mad Max Fury Road Cleans Up!
The next presenter was Cate Blanchett. She introduced the category of Costume Design. The Academy Award went to Jenny Beavan for Mad Max Fury Road. “What another lovely day.” She was the first winner not to rattle off a list of names but did mention her agent before being played off the stage.
Tina Fey and Steve Carell were next and introduced Production Design. The Academy Award went to Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson for Mad Max Fury Road.
The Oscar Award for Makeup and Hair Styling was next, and the winner was Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Domina Martin for Mad Max Fury Road. Mad Max was the surprise winner of the evening.
Chris introduced Rachel McAdams and Michael B. Jordan who Chris referred to as “should have been a nominee” to introduce the category of Cinematography. The Oscar went to Emanuel Lubezki for The Revenant. He has eight career nominations.
Achievement in Film Editing was the next category and the Oscar went to Margaret Sixel for Mad Max Fury Road. Wow, the movie cleaned up!
Chris introduced a video he said was by the Academy in honor of Black History Month. It featured Angela Bassett jokingly honoring Jack Black. It was a funny Black History Minute.
Patricia Arquette introduced the nominees for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The Oscar went to Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies, his first nomination and Oscar. He thanked Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. He also thanked his fellow nominees.
Louie C.K. presented the award for Best Documentary Short Film. The Oscar went to A Girl in the River, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. The Oscar for Best Documentary Feature went to Amy, Asif Kapadia, and James Gay-Rees.
Three kids represent PricewaterhouseCoopers for voting calculations. They were so cute, but the Asian reference wasn’t appreciated.
The Oscar for Sound Editing went to Mark Mangini and David White for Mad Max Fury Road. What a shocker! The winners were shocked too. The Oscar for Sound Mixing also went to Mad Max, Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff, and Ben Osmo.
Andy Circus, Capture Artist was the next presenter for Visual Effects. The Oscar went to Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett for Ex Machina.
Oliva Munn and Jason Seagal introduced a segment on the Scientific and Technical Awards. The ceremony is held separately from Oscar night, followed by an on-stage appearance from R2 D2 and BB-8 the rolling robot.
Chris Rock Sold Girl Scout Cookies
Chris came back from the commercial break in the audience saying he missed Girl Scout cookie season and ask everyone to reach into their pockets and buy Girl Scott cookies from his daughters. The girls came into the audience with cookies and folks started buying the cookies.
The Minions were the next presenters for Animated Short Film. The Oscar went to Bear Story, Gabriel Osorio, and Pato Escala. They said it was the first Oscar for Chile and very important to them.
Buzz Lightyear and Woody presented the Animated Feature Film award, and the Oscar went to Inside Out Boucher and Janessa Rivera.
Kevin Hart was the next presenter and he said, “Make some noise for Chris Rock doing an amazing job.” He said he wanted to take a moment to, “Applaud all the Black actors and actresses that didn’t get nominated tonight.” He also mentioned that he thought he would get a seat in the front row and it didn’t happen. He then introduced The Weeknd to perform his nominated song, Earned It.
Kate Winslet and Reese Witherspoon came next to promote another Best Picture nominee, Bridge of Spies and Spotlight.
Chris Rock then introduced a video where he went to a movie theater in Compton to interview people about the lack of Black nominees. He asked people about the movies nominated for Best Picture and most people he interviewed never heard them. He also asked them to pretend to give acceptance speeches.
Chris then came back to let the audience know how much money was raised from the Girl Scout cookies. It was a whopping $65,243 dollars. He thanked the Girl Scouts of Los angels as well.
He then introduced Whoopie Goldberg to announce the winners of the Board of Governors Awards and the people who received Honorary Oscars including Gena Rowlands, Debbie Allen, Spike Lee, and Debbie Reynolds.
President of the Academy Awards, Cheryl Boone Isaacs gave a speech on the changes the industry needs to make to accurately reflect the world today. “While change is often difficult, it is necessary.”
Louis Gossett, Jr. followed with the In Memoriam segment remembering all the talent we have lost through last year. It’s always too many.
Two young stars, Jacob Tremblay from Room and Abraham Attah of Beasts of No Nation presented the award for Best Live Action Short. The Oscar went to Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage for Stutterer.
Son of Saul for Hungry won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
Vice President Joe Biden
Vice President Joe Biden was next and received a rousing standing ovation. He addressed the issue of sexual abuse on college campuses and asked everyone to take the pledge that says I will intervene when consent has not been given. “Let’s change the culture.” Visit ItsOnUs.Org. Lady Gaga followed with the song Til It Happens to You. She also received a standing ovation.
The lights went up and the stage was full of victims of rape who held hands in solidarity. It was a very moving moment in the broadcast.
Pharrell Williams and Quincy Jones were next to present the nominees for Best Original Score. The Oscar went to Ennio Morricone for The Hateful Eight. He received a long standing ovation and his acceptance speech was translated as he read it.
Common and John Legend came together for Best Original Song. The Oscar went to Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith for Writings On The Wall. Sam Smith said, “I actually can’t breathe right now.” He dedicated his Oscar to the LGBT community around the world.
Olivia Wilde and Sacha Baron Cohen came together. He was pretending to be a rapper while they highlighted Best Picture nominees Room and Brooklyn.
J.J. Abrams had the honor of awarding the Oscars for Directing. The Oscar went to Alejandro G. Inarritu for The Revenant, his second year to win this award. They tried to play him off, but he continued his speech.
Eddie Redmayne introduced the Best Actress nominees, and the Oscar went to Brie Larson for Room. She was the favorite to win this category.
Julianne Moore introduced the nominees for Best Actor, and the Oscar went to Leonardo DiCaprio. He was also favored for this Oscar.
Morgan Freeman took the honors to present the top award to Best Picture, and the Oscar went to Spotlight. Another shocker of the evening!
Chris Rock invited everyone to the BET Awards this summer and closed the show.
The 2016 Oscar was full of surprises and went over 3 ½ hours. Scrolling names didn’t help to shorten the show. Even Chris Rock had to say, “It is late!”
Hopefully, they will change several things about the Academy Awards next year.
Tanya Hart
