The world of film gathered in Hollywood to award the highest honor in the industry, the golden statue known as an Oscar. As in years past, best acting and best picture looked to be tight races among their respective nominees. On Sunday, Feb. 26, the stars took to the red carpet donning their best looks for the 84th Academy Awards ceremony held at the historic Kodak Theatre. At home, audiences could watch the stars pose and do quick interviews with live coverage from E! News.
Airing on ABC, this year’s show was hosted by Billy Crystal, who has done so eight times before according to his IMDB bio, giving audiences many laughs. Crystal opened the ceremony by interacting within a montage of scenes from various films over the past year, followed by a little song and dance number.
An early winner in the acting categories was Octavia Spencer, for her supporting role in “The Help.” Although the popular film itself and Spencer’s talented costars were nominated, her win was the only golden statue which “The Help” achieved. Spencer was clearly moved as her name was called as the Oscar winner and as she gave her acceptance speech.
Martin Scorsese’s animated film, “Hugo,” started out with a lead over its competition with several early wins. Winning an Oscar for visual effects, “Hugo” beat out heavy hitters in special effects such as “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and the final “Harry Potter” installment.
Between awards for documentary, animated and foreign language film, as well as technical achievements, two more acting categories made for notable moments. Acting legend Christopher Plummer, 82, finally became an oscar-winning star of the big screen for his supporting role in “Beginners.” Meryl Streep saw an end to a long-awaited third Oscar win after starring in “The Iron Lady,” a biopic about British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
As the ceremony drew closer to the most anticipated award, Best Picture, “The Artist” had to play catch-up with “Hugo” in Oscar count. However, the modern-day silent film directed by Michel Hazanavicius eventually tied with “Hugo” for five Oscars and won three of the biggest categories.
Hazanavicius won Best Director, Jean Dujardin won Best Actor against George Clooney (“The Descendants”) and lastly, “The Artist” won Best Picture. With such major wins, the end of awards season 2012 belonged to a film that took audiences back to the silent era of Hollywood.
Throughout the show, commentary by various actors and actresses was included in which they discussed their own early movie-going experiences. These commentaries allowed for the show’s audience to reminisce about such memories and in doing so, relate to today’s biggest stars.
If you missed out on the Academy Awards, you can see the full list of winners at the Huffington Post.
