Comebacks, Everywhere, All At Once
If last year’s Oscars were marked by chaos and controversy, this year’s awards signaled a major course correction — not to mention several emotional returns to the limelight.
While not every favorite won quite as big as they maybe deserved (RIP, Banshees and Austin Butler), things went largely as expected. There were no wild upsets, and Will Smith’s pointed absence (he’s been banned for 10 years following last year’s infamous slap) saw to it that everyone’s tempers were kept well in check.
Brendan’s back
Brendan Fraser’s Best Actor win for the controversial The Whale solidified a Hollywood comeback decades in the making.
“So this is what the multiverse looks like!” he gasped as he arrived on stage, before thanking director Darren Aronofsky for “throwing me a creative lifeline.”
The 54-year-old has mainly kept a low profile since his late-90s heyday. He’s partly attributed his absence to injuries he picked up as an action star in movies like The Mummy — but he’s also alluded to his alleged sexual assault by former eight-term HFPA president Philip Berk.
The incident — which Berk denies — “was causing me emotional distress; it was causing me personal distress,” Fraser told Lee Cowan on CBS Mornings.
Awards, Everywhere, All at Once
As predicted, Everything Everywhere All At Once won big, scooping seven awards — including Best Picture, Best Actress for Michelle Yeoh, Best Supporting Actor for Ke Huy Quan, and Best Director for Daniel Scheinert. In a similar vein to Fraser’s, Quan’s acceptance speech was one of the night’s highlights.
“My mum is 84 years old and she’s at home watching. Mum, I just won an Oscar!” he began, speaking over a rapturous standing ovation.
“My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp and, somehow, I ended up here on Hollywood’s biggest stage. They say stories like this only happen in the movies – I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This is the American Dream.”
Quan referred to his long stint out of the limelight since his turn as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom aged 12, and his role in The Goonies the following year.
“I owe everything to the love of my life, my wife Echo, who month after month, year after year for 20 years told me that one day, my time will come. Dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine,” he said.
“To all of you out there, please keep your dreams alive. Thank you so much for welcoming me back. I love you.”
Quan also gave a shout-out to Yeoh, who last night became the first Asian woman to win an Oscar for best actress.
“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities,” she said during her own acceptance speech. “This is proof that … dream big, and dreams do come true. And ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime. Never give up.”
Read on for the full list of this year’s winners and nominees.
Oscar Winners 2023
Best picture
- Everything Everywhere All at Once (winner)
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- The Banshees of Inisherin
- Elvis
- The Fabelmans
- Tár
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Triangle of Sadness
- Women Talking
Best actor
- Brendan Fraser, The Whale (winner)
- Paul Mescal, Aftersun
- Bill Nighy, Living
- Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
- Austin Butler, Elvis
Best actress
- Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once (winner)
- Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans
- Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie
- Ana de Armas, Blonde
- Cate Blanchett, Tar
Best actor in a supporting role
- Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All at Once (winner)
- Brendan Gleeson – The Banshees of Inisherin
- Brian Tyree Henry – Causeway
- Judd Hirsch – The Fabelmans
- Barry Keoghan – The Banshees of Inisherin
Best actress in a supporting role
- Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All at Once (winner)
- Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- Hong Chau – The Whale
- Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin
- Stephanie Hsu – Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best director
- Daniel Kwan with Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once (winner)
- Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans
- Todd Field, Tar
- Ruben Ostlund, Triangle of Sadness
- Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Best original song
- Naatu Naatu, Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj (RRR) (winner)
- Applause, Sofia Carson and Diane Warren (Tell It Like a Woman)
- Lift Me Up, Rihanna (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)
- Hold My Hand, Lady Gaga (Top Gun: Maverick)
- This is a Life, Son Lux (Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Best original score
- All Quiet on the Western Front (winner)
- Babylon
- The Banshees of Inisherin
- Everything Everywhere All at Once
- The Fabelmans
Best makeup and hairstyling
- The Whale (winner)
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- The Batman
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- Elvis
Best costume design
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (winner)
- Babylon
- Elvis
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Mrs Harris Goes To Paris
Best cinematography
- All Quiet on the Western Front (winner)
- Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
- Elvis
- Empire of Light
- Tár
Best original screenplay
- Everything Everywhere All at Once (winner)
- Triangle of Sadness
- The Fabelmans
- The Banshees of Inisherin
- Tar
Best adapted screenplay
- Women Talking (winner)
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- Living
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Best sound
- Top Gun: Maverick (winner)
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- Avatar: The Way of the Water
- The Batman
- Elvis
Best film editing
- Everything Everywhere All at Once (winner)
- The Banshees of Inisherin
- Elvis
- Tar
- Top Gun: Maverick
Best production design
- All Quiet on the Western Front (winner)
- Avatar: The Way of the Water
- Babylon
- Elvis
- The Fabelmans
Best visual effects
- Avatar: The Way of Water (winner)
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- The Batman
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- Top Gun: Maverick
Best international feature film
- All Quiet on the Western Front (winner)
- Argentina, 1985
- Close
- EO
- The Quiet Girl
Best animated feature
- Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley (winner)
- Marcel the Shell with Shoes on – Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan and Paul Mezey
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – Joel Crawford and Mark Swift
- The Sea Beast – Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger
- Turning Red – Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins
Best documentary feature
- Navalny (winner)
- All That Breathes
- All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
- Fire of Love
- A House Made of Splinters
Best live-action short
- An Irish Goodbye (winner)
- Ivalu
- Le Pupille
- Night Ride
- The Red Suitcase
Best documentary short
- The Elephant Whisperers (winner)
- Haulout
- How Do You Measure a Year?
- The Martha Mitchell Effect
- Stranger at the Gate
Best animated short
- The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (winner)
- The Flying Sailor
- Ice Merchants
- My Year of Dicks
- An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It
