Oscars Special | In an upset, ‘Green Book’ wins best picture

Brian May (left) and Adam Lambert of Queen perform at the Oscars

The segregation-era road-trip drama “Green Book” was crowned best picture at the 91st Academy Awards yesterday, handing Hollywood’s top award to a film seen as a feel-good throwback by some and ridiculed as an outdated inversion of “Driving Miss Daisy” by others.

In a year where Hollywood could have made history by bestowing best picture on Netflix (“Roma”) or Marvel (“Black Panther”) for the first time, the motion picture academy instead threw its fullest support behind a traditional interracial buddy tale that proved as popular as it was divisive. But Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” weathered criticism that it was retrograde and inauthentic to triumph over more acclaimed films and bigger box-office successes.

It was an unexpected finale to a brisk, hostless ceremony that was awash in historic wins for diversity, including Spike Lee’s first competitive Oscar. More women and more individual black nominees won than ever before.

The Oscars otherwise spread awards around for Ryan Coogler’s superhero sensation “Black Panther,” Alfonso Cuaron’s black-and-white personal epic “Roma” and the Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Lee, whose “Do the Right Thing” came out the same year that “Driving Miss Daisy” won best picture, was among those most visibly upset by the award handed to “Green Book.” After presenter Julia Roberts announced it, Lee stood up, waved his hands in disgust and appeared to try to leave the Dolby Theatre before returning.

“Green Book” also won best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali and best original screenplay.

“The whole story is about love,” said Farrelly, a filmmaker best known for broad comedies like “Dumb and Dumber” and “There’s Something About Mary.” ‘’It’s about loving each other despite the differences and find out the truth about who we are. We’re the same people.”

Backstage, Lee clutched a glass of champagne while reflecting on the 30 years between “Driving Miss Daisy” and “Green Book.” ‘’I’m snake bit,” he said, laughing. “Every time somebody’s driving somebody, I lose!”

Lee’s win for best adapted screenplay for his white supremacist drama “BlacKkKlansman,” an award he shared with three co- writers, gave the ceremony its signature moment. The crowd rose in a standing ovation, Lee leapt into the arms of presenter Samuel L. Jackson and even the backstage press room burst into applause.

Spike Lee, best adapted screenplay, “BlacKkKlansman”

Lee, whose film includes footage of President Donald Trump following the violent white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, urged mobilization for the upcoming election.

“Let’s be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love and hate,” said Lee, who was given an honorary Oscar in 2015. “Let’s do the right thing! You knew I had to get that in there.”

One of the biggest surprises of the night was in the best actress category. Olivia Colman won for her Queen Anne in the royal romp “The Favourite,” denying Glenn Close her first Oscar. Close remains the most-nominated living actor never to win, with seven nominations.

“Ooo. It’s genuinely quite stressful,” said a staggered Colman, who later turned to Close to say she was her idol, “And this is not how I wanted it to be.”

The night’s co-lead nominee “Roma” won best director and best cinematography for Cuaron, whose film also notched Mexico’s first foreign language film Oscar. Cuaron and his “Three Amigos” countrymen — Alejandro Inarritu and Guillermo del Toro, who presented Cuaron with best picture — have had a stranglehold on the category, winning five of the last six years.

Cuaron, who becoming the first director to ever win for serving as his own director of photography, referenced an especially international crop of nominees in one of his three acceptance speeches.

“When asked about the New Wave, Claude Chabrol said there are no waves, there is only the ocean,” said Cuaron, referring to the French filmmaker. “The nominees tonight have proven that we are a part of the same ocean.”

The wins for “Roma” gave Netflix its most significant awards yet but “Green Book” denied the streaming giant the best picture win it dearly sought. Netflix remains to some a contentious force in Hollywood, since it largely bypasses theaters. The wins for “Black Panther” — along with best animated film winner “Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse” — meant the first Academy Awards for Marvel, the most consistent blockbuster factor Hollywood has ever seen.

The lush, big-budget craft of “Black Panther” won for Ruth Carter’s costume design, Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart’s production design, and Ludwig Göransson’s score. Beachler had been the first African-
American to ever be nominated in the category. Beachler and Carter became just the second and third black women to win non-acting Oscars.

“It just means that we’ve opened the door,” Carter, a veteran costume designer, said backstage. “Finally, the door is wide open.”

Two years after winning for his role in “Moonlight,” Mahershala Ali won again for his supporting performance in “Green Book” — a role many said was really a lead. Ali is the second black actor to win two Oscars following Denzel Washington, who won for “Glory” and “Training Day.” Ali dedicated the award to his grandmother.

Rami Malek best actor in a leading role for “Bohemian Rhapsody”

“Bohemian Rhapsody,” which kicked off the ABC telecast with a performance by Queen, won four awards despite pans from many critics and sexual assault allegations against its director, Bryan Singer, who was fired in mid-production for not showing up. Its star, Rami Malek, won best actor for his full-bodied and prosthetic teeth-aided performance, and the film was honored for editing, sound mixing and sound editing.

“We made a film about a gay man, an immigrant who lived his life unapologetically himself,” said Malek who after the ceremony fell and was checked out by medics before making the rounds at post-
show festivities. “We’re longing for stories like this. I am the son of immigrants from Egypt. I’m a first-
generation American, and part of my story is being written right now.”

Queen launched the ceremony with a medley of hits that gave the awards a distinctly Grammy-like flavor, as Hollywood’s most prestigious ceremony sought to prove that it’s still “champion of the world” after last year’s record-low ratings.

To compensate for a lack of host, the motion picture academy leaned on its presenters, including an ornately outfitted Melissa McCarthy and Brian Tyree Henry and a Keegan-Michael Key who floated down like Mary Poppins. Following Queen, Tina Fey — alongside Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph — welcomed the Dolby Theatre audience to “the one-millionth Academy Awards.”

Rudolph summarized a rocky Oscar preamble that featured numerous missteps and backtracks by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: “There is no host, there won’t be a popular movie category and Mexico is not paying for the wall.”

The trio then presented best supporting actress to Regina King for her pained matriarch in Barry Jenkins’ James Baldwin adaptation “If Beale Street Could Talk.” The crowd gave King a standing ovation for her first Oscar.

The inclusivity of the winners stood in stark contrast to the #OscarsSoWhite backlash that marked the 2016 and 2015 Oscars. Since then, the academy has worked to diversify its largely white and male membership, adding several thousand new members and opening the academy up internationally. Still, this year’s nominations were criticized for not including a female best director nominee or a best-picture nominee directed by a woman.

Though the once presumed front- runner “A Star Is Born” saw its chances flame out, it won, as expected, for the song “Shallow,” which Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper performed during the ceremony. As she came off the stage, Cooper had his arm around Gaga as she asked, “Did I nail it?”

Best documentary went to Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “Free Solo,” which chronicles rock climber Alex Honnold’s famed, free solo ascent of Yosemite’s El Capitan, a 3,000-foot wall of sheer granite, without ropes or climbing equipment. “Free Solo” was among a handful of hugely successful documentaries last year including the nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary “RBG” and the snubbed Fred Rogers doc “Won’t You Be My Neighbor.” Jake Coyle, Los Angeles, AP

Peter Farrelly (center) and the cast and crew of “Green Book” accept the award for best picture

Olivia Colman best actress in a leading role for “The Favourite”

Alfonso Cuaron, best cinematography, “Roma”

Mahershala Ali, best supporting actor, “Green Book”

Regina King, best supporting actress, “If Beale Street Could Talk”

TOP Moments

BUOYANT SPIKE LEE, DAFFY OLIVIA COLMAN

Samuel L. Jackson embraces Spike Lee, winner of the award for best adapted screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman” as Brie Larson (right) looks on

Spike Lee bounding into the arms of Samuel L. Jackson, and trading shout-outs to Brooklyn (and hats!) with Barbra Streisand. A weeping Lady Gaga in her elegant up-do, extolling the virtues of hard work. A stunned Olivia Colman and her delightfully daft acceptance speech. Historic breakthroughs for winners of color, and for women.

Yes, the hostless Oscars at first threatened to be a rather antiseptic affair, but the brisk-moving ceremony soon came alive with genuinely moving feel-good moments and heartwarming surprises — though it finished on a decidedly unsettled note with a best-picture win for the divisive segregation-era drama “Green Book.”

Some key moments from one of the more unusual nights in recent Oscar memory:

WAKANDA MAKES HISTORY, AGAIN

It was a great night for diversity at the Oscars, thanks in part to the groundbreaking Marvel film “Black Panther.” Celebrated costume designer Ruth E. Carter won for her vivid, futuristic designs, the first black winner in the category, and moments later Hannah Beachler became the first black winner (and nominee, too) in production design. “This has been a long time coming,” mused Carter, who thanked the academy for honoring “the empowered way women can look and lead onscreen.” As for Beachler, she gave a deeply emotional speech, singling out the ways she had become stronger. “I give the strength to all of those who come next to keep going, to never give up,” she said.

FINALLY, OSCAR DOES THE ‘RIGHT THING’

Carter also thanked Lee, with whom she worked on the 1992 “Malcom X,” and soon Lee himself was onstage, accepting his award for best adapted screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman.” It was perhaps the feel-good moment of the night as the director, who’d never won a competitive Oscar, leaped up into the arms of presenter Jackson. His speech touched on Black History Month, Jamestown, and his own grandmother, “who called me Spikey-poo,” and used her Social Security checks to put him through school. He ended with a political call to arms: “Let’s all be on the right side of history,” he said of the presidential election. “Let’s do the right thing!”

A GREAT NIGHT FOR GRANDMA…

It wasn’t just Lee’s grandma who came in for special praise. Best supporting actor Mahershala Ali dedicated his second Oscar to his own grandmother, “who has been in my ear my entire life, telling me that if first I don’t succeed, try try again, that I could do anything I put my mind to.” And if it wasn’t Grandma, it was Mom. Best supporting actress Regina King brought mother Gloria as her date, and thanked her tearfully “for teaching me that God is always leaning in my direction.” Best actor Rami Malek also pointed out his mom as he accepted his award for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” saying, “I love you, lady.” Carter, winning her costume award, called her own 97-year-old mother “the original superhero.” Best actress nominee Yalitza Aparicio brought her mother as her date, at one point introducing her to actor Diego Luna. Not to be outdone, while closing the show presenter Julia Roberts thanked her children — and “Bradley Cooper’s mother.”

… AND ACTUALLY FOR ALL WOMEN…

Melissa Berton, center left, and Rayka Zehtabchi accept the award for best documentary short subject for “Period. End of Sentence”

A record number of women took home Oscars yesterday — 15. It had been a record year for female nominees, too . But that doesn’t mean the picture is entirely rosy. After all, none of this year’s nominated films for best picture had a female director. And there’s still the glaring statistic that only one woman has won best director in the history of the Oscars: Kathryn Bigelow. And only five have been nominated, including none this year.

AND FOR … BUNNIES?

So there may not have been an actual Oscar host giving regular comic asides, but Melissa McCarthy delivered a huge laugh just when it was needed. Presenting the costume award along with Brian Tyree Henry, McCarthy, a nominee for best actress, appeared in an elaborate royal get-up, channeling Olivia Colman’s Queen Anne in “The Favourite,” including a cape embellished with stuffed rabbits — a reference to the queen’s beloved pets. The two actors dryly hailed costume designers for their “nuance and sophistication,” and also for “never distracting from the story.” This, as McCarthy wrestled with a stuffed rabbit on her hand that prevented her from opening the envelope.

THE QUEEN PREVAILS

In the night’s most stunning upset, it was Colman, and not the heavily favored Glenn Close, who took the best actress trophy for her blazingly eccentric turn in “The Favourite.” The British actress then proceeded to charm the audience — and the world — with a tearful yet goofy acceptance speech. “Ooh, this is genuinely quite stressful,” she began, adding that it was “hilarious” that she had an Oscar. Her delightfully daft remarks got better and better, culminating with a random gush: “LADY GAGA!!”

OH, SPEAKING OF GAGA

Lady Gaga, left, and Bradley Cooper perform “Shallow” from “A Star is Born”

While the lady herself didn’t take home the actress prize for “A Star Is Born,” she did get her Oscar, for the addictive song “Shallow,” which she performed with co-star and director Bradley Cooper. Gaga was weeping with joy as she accepted the award along with co-writers Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt and Anthony Rossomando. After thanking Cooper for believing in her, she gave the kind of inspirational talk she’s become known for on the awards circuit : “If you are at home and you’re sitting on your couch, and you are watching this right now, all I have to say is that this is hard work,” she said. “I’ve worked hard for a long time, and it’s not about winning. But what it’s about is not giving up.”

A FIRST FOR MEXICO

This was definitely not the first rodeo for Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron, who’d already won the best director prize for the 2014 “Gravity.” With this year’s much-lauded and highly personal project “Roma,” he picked up another directing award and the cinematography prize, but “Roma” also won the foreign language award, a first for Mexico. “I grew up watching foreign language films and learning so much from them and being inspired,” Cuaron said, noting slyly that they included “Citizen Kane” and “Jaws” and “The Godfather.” Despite his growing Oscar haul, Cuaron remarked with a smile: “It never gets old being up here.” AP