Academy Awards 2021: ‘Nomadland’ wins best picture at an Oscars that spreads the wealth
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“Nomadland,” director Chloé Zhao’s small-boned movie about nomads in America, earned best picture at a 93rd Academy Awards defined by the pandemic, as movies that premiered on streaming services ruled the ceremony – an in-person event mounted under Covid protocols.
In a year where the pandemic shuttered theaters and turned movie-goers into couch potatoes, 16 of the 23 statuettes went to projects that at the very least simultaneously premiered on streaming services, with “Nomadland,” which was acquired by Hulu, representing the first best picture winner from that relatively new medium.
Photos: The 2021 Academy Awards
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From left, producer Peter Spears, actress Frances McDormand, director Chloé Zhao, producer Mollye Asher and producer Dan Janvey pose with their Oscars in the press room after their film "Nomadland" won best picture on Sunday, April 25.
Photos: The 2021 Academy Awards
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A trio of Oscar winners -- from left, Yuh-jung Youn, Daniel Kaluuya and Frances McDormand -- pose together in the press room. Youn won best supporting actress for her role in "Minari." Kaluuya won best supporting actor for his role in "Judas and the Black Messiah." And McDormand won best actress for "Nomadland."
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Actor Bryan Cranston recognizes some of the vaccinated front-line workers who were at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday night. Cranston was presenting the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to the Motion Picture and Television Fund for the group's help and assistance to productions during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Yuh-jung Youn holds her best supporting actress Oscar as she stands next to presenter Brad Pitt in the press room.
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People watch Youn's acceptance speech from a railway station in Seoul, South Korea. She's the first South Korean actress to win an Oscar.
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Actress Olivia Colman poses for a photo while attending an Oscars screening in London. Many of the nominees were in Los Angeles, but some appeared remotely because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Travon Free, left, and Martin Desmond Roe accept the Oscar for the short film "Two Distant Strangers." Their shoes and the inside of their jackets carried the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other people killed by police violence.
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Nominees attend an Oscars screening in Paris.
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From left, Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross enter the press room after winning the Oscar for best original score ("Soul").
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Lakeith Stanfield, a best supporting actor nominee, is interviewed in London.
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Actress Reese Witherspoon enters the Oscars press room. She was one of the award presenters.
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Best actor nominee Gary Oldman was among those in London.
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Chloé Zhao accepts the best director Oscar for "Nomadland." She is the first woman of color and the first woman of Asian descent to win best director. "This is for anyone who has the faith and the courage to hold out to the goodness in themselves and to hold out to the goodness in each other, no matter how difficult it is to do that," she said in her acceptance speech. "You inspire me to keep going."
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Anders Hammer, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary "Do Not Split," takes part in the show from Oslo, Norway.
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From left, Mia Neal, Jamika Wilson and Sergio Lopez-Rivera pose with the Oscars they won for best makeup and hairstyling ("Ma Rainey's Black Bottom").
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Director Thomas Vinterberg accepts the Oscar for best international feature film, which went to his film "Another Round." He said this was "beyond anything I could ever imagine -- except this is something I've always imagined, since I was 5."
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Phillip Bladh, holding the best sound Oscar for "Sound of Metal," enters the press room in Los Angeles.
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Florian Zeller, speaking remotely from Paris, holds the Oscar he won for best adapted screenplay ("The Father").
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Songwriters Fat Max Gsus, left, and Savan Kotecha appear on the show from Stockholm, Sweden.
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Daniel Kaluuya examines his best supporting actor Oscar, which he won for his role as Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in "Judas and the Black Messiah."
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"Pinocchio" makeup artist Dalia Colli and hair designer Francesco Pegoretti appear on the show from Rome.
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Emerald Fennell won the first Oscar of the night, for best original screenplay ("Promising Young Woman"). "I'm trying very hard not to cry because, as an English person ... I don't cry ever," she joked.
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Actor Sacha Baron Cohen is cleaned up by his wife, Isla Fisher. They appeared on the show from Sydney.
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People attend a drive-in Oscar party in West Hollywood.
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Actress and director Regina King opened the show at Union Station. She delivered a hopeful monologue and said that if things had gone differently in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, she probably would have been out marching instead of presenting. "As a mother of a Black son, I know the fear that so many live with -- and no amount of fame or fortune changes that," she said.
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Attendees prepare for the beginning of the show at Union Station in Los Angeles.
From left, Nina Parker, Brad Goreski and Zanna Roberts Rassi were part of the panel for the E! channel's red-carpet show.
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Actress Laura Dern walks the red carpet before the show.
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Best actress nominee Viola Davis and her husband, Julius Tennon, are seen on the left after arriving on the red carpet.
Frances McDormand also won for the film, three years after her Oscar for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” Anthony Hopkins, meanwhile, was named best actor for his role as a dementia-ridden man in “The Father,” eclipsing the emotional moment that would have come had Chadwick Boseman been only the third actor to receive posthumous honors for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”
At 83, Hopkins becomes the oldest winner ever. His previous Oscar came almost 30 years ago, for “The Silence of the Lambs.”
Unlike some past ceremonies that have seen one film dominate, this year’s awards spread the wealth among multiple movies. “Nomadland” led the way with three awards, while five other films nabbed a pair.
Among the producers’ several puzzling choices, best picture was actually presented before the two top acting awards, breaking with years of precedent.
Frances McDormand stars in "Nomadland" (2020), directed by Chloé Zhao
Searchlight Pictures
Overall, Netflix garnered seven trophies, marking the culmination of the leading streamer’s courtship of Oscar voters, despite resistance and misgivings within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that presides over the awards.
After the nominations made history on a variety of fronts, the awards did as well, Breaking with tradition, the producers chose to hand out best director early, with the Chinese-born Zhao becoming only the second woman ever to claim that prize, following Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker” in 2010.
“Minari” co-star Yuh-jung Youn also became the first Korean actress to win an Oscar, in the process adding a more dubious footnote to Glenn Close’s illustrious career: With her eighth bid for “Hillbilly Elegy,” she ties Peter O’Toole as the actor with the most nominations without ever having won.
Chloé Zhao won best director. (Photo by Matt Petit/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images)
Matt Petit/A.M.P.A.S./Getty Images
Adding to the international flavor, the evening began with screenplay awards that went a pair of Europeans: “Promising Young Woman’s” Emerald Fennell – for a story that dealt with sexual assault – and “The Father’s” Florian Zeller, both of whom also directed those films. (The latter accepted remotely, but most nominees were in Los Angeles.)
Daniel Kaluuya earned his first Oscar for “Judas and the Black Messiah,” playing Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton, in a movie that released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, and also saw H.E.R. earn best song for “Fight For You.” (Both Warner Bros. and the streaming service are, like CNN, a unit of WarnerMedia.)
"Soul." Courtesy: Disney/Pixar
Disney+
“Soul,” one of the movies redirected to streaming – in this case, Disney+ – was named best animated film, marking the third Pixar movie from director Pete Docter (with Kemp Powers as co-director) so honored, following “Up” and “Inside Out.” It’s also the first of the studio’s movies to feature a predominantly African-American cast, with Jamie Foxx voicing the central character, and added an Oscar for best musical score.
Daniel Kaluuya won the Oscar for best supporting actor. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, Pool)
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“Another Round,” the Danish movie, received the prize for international feature film. Director Thomas Vinterberg delivered an emotional speech about the death of his 19-year-old daughter Ida in a car accident during the making of the film.
The makeup/hairstyling team from Netflix’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” also became the first Black winners in that category, with the Netflix film receiving the Oscar for costume design as well.
In other technical categories, “Mank,” the Hollywood history lesson about the making of “Citizen Kane,” took honors for production design and cinematography, “Sound of Metal” claimed sound and editing, and Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi thriller “Tenet” earned best visual effects.
Regina King presents the Oscar for original screenplay. (Photo by Todd Wawrychuk/A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images)
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Regina King opened the ceremony, referencing the recent verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, and saying that she wouldn’t apologize for injecting politics into the show. As the mother of a Black son, she said, “I know the fear that so many live with, and no amount of fame or fortune changes that.”
Later in the show, the provocative “Two Distant Strangers,” about a police killing of a Black man, was recognized as outstanding short film.
Other political issues, such as gun violence, played a role in the ceremony, but one of the most impassioned pleas came from the winner of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ humanitarian award, Tyler Perry, who urged viewers to join him to “refuse hate” when it came to other people.
Andrew Howard as Merk and Joey Bada$$ as Carter in "Two Distant Strangers."
Netflix
Due to the pandemic, this year’s Oscars extended the awards calendar by two months and made what was described as a one-time-only exception allowing movies that premiered via streaming and weren’t released theatrically to compete. But those same factors also resulted in several movies that might have contended for awards being delayed beyond the eligibility window, hoping for a more traditional release – and greater box-office revenue – once theaters reopen.
As a result, five of the eight best-picture contenders premiered exclusively or simultaneously on streaming services, with Netflix amassing 35 nominations, more than any other distribution entity.
Award-show ratings have been in steep decline during the pandemic, and after record-low results for Emmys, Golden Globes and Grammys, the Oscars – which already hit a low point in 2020, when “Parasite” made best-picture history – are expected to be no exception. The focus has been, rather, on putting on the best possible show, and hoping for better in 2022.
The pre-show included a video urging people to return to theaters as the movie industry heads into the summer, using the hash tag #TheBigScreenIsBack.
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the number of Oscars Netflix won. It is seven.
