As expected, Octavia Spencer won Best Supporting Actress for The Help. Three of the last six Supporting Actresses have been African-American, raising the total of African-American supporting actress wins in Academy Award history to five. Christopher Plummer also won for Beginners, making him the oldest actor to ever win an Oscar.
The only major category surprise was Meryl Streep’s upset (if it can even be called an upset) over front-runner Viola Davis for Best Actress. Viola Davis won the SAG Award, making this only the sixth time in the history that the SAG Award winner for Best Actress failed to capture the Oscar in the same category. Minor upsets elsewhere include a Best Editing award for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo over front-runners The Artist and Hugo, and a Best Cinematography award for Hugo over front-runners The Artist and Tree of Life.
I got 19 out of 24 correct (I changed my ballot at home on the last day to have The Artist winning Best Costume, after going through a case of worries over my Anonymous choice) missing on Best Documentary, Best Actress, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Visual Effects. I wish I had seen the Golden Globe and BAFTA wins for Streep as a stronger sign, and I should have gone with history in the Visual Effects category, where a Best Picture nominee has never lost.
A full list of last night’s Academy Award winners is below.
Best Picture:
"The Artist"
Best Director:
Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist"
Best Actor:
Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Best Actress:
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Best Supporting Actor:
Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Best Supporting Actress:
Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
Best Original Screenplay:
"Midnight in Paris" - Woody Allen
Best Adapted Screenplay:
"The Descendants" – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash
Best Animated Feature:
"Rango"
Best Foreign Language FIlm:
"A Separation" (Iran)
Best Documentary Feature:
"Undefeated"
Best Cinematography:
"Hugo" – Robert Richardson
Best Film Editing:
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
Best Art Direction:
"Hugo" – Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo
Best Costume Design:
"The Artist" - Mark Bridges
Best Original Score:
"The Artist" – Ludovic Bource
Best Original Song:
"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets – Bret McKenzie
Best Sound Editing:
"Hugo" – Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
Best Sound Mixing:
"Hugo"– Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
Best Visual Effects:
"Hugo" – Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann, and Alex Henning
Best Makeup:
"The Iron Lady" – Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Best Animated Short:
"The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"
Best Live Action Short:
"The Shore"
Best Documentary Short:
"Saving Face"
