OSCARS FEVER
Colman reigns supreme at Tinseltown’s biggest night of the year
OLIVIA Colman has been crowned queen of the Oscars after delighting the Hollywood elite with a funny and heartwarming acceptance speech as she took home the prize for best actress.
The Norwich-born star who played Queen Anne in The Favourite beat Glenn Close, Lady Gaga, Melissa Mccarthy and Yalitza Aparicio for an unexpected win and was visibly shocked as her name was called out.
The actress had to be helped to her feet by her husband Ed Sinclair and co-star Emma Stone as she made her way to the stage, before telling the audience: “It’s genuinely quite stressful.
This is hilarious. I got an Oscar. OK, I have to thank lots of people. If, by the way, I forget anybody I’m going to find you later and I’m going to give you all a massive snog and I’m really sorry if I might forget now.”
Paying tribute to her director Yorgos Lanthimos, as well as Stone and fellow co-star Rachel Weisz, she added: “Yorgos, my best director and the best film, and with Emma and Rachel, the two loveliest women in the world to fall in love with, and to go to work with every day, I mean, you can imagine, it wasn’t a hardship.
“And to be in this category with these extraordinary women, and Glenn Close... you’ve been my idol for so long and this is not how I wanted it to be and I think you’re amazing and I love you very much.”
She added that she hoped her children were watching, saying: “If you’re not, then, well done, but I sort of hope you are.
“This is not going to happen again.
“And any little girl who is practising their speech on the telly, you never know. I used to work as a cleaner and I loved that job, I did spend quite a lot of my time imagining this.”
Green Book won the biggest prize of the night as the surprise winner of best picture, a category largely expected to go to Roma. The film about a black jazz musician and a white driver travelling through the segregated US deep south also won the best supporting actor Oscar for Mahershala Ali, as well as best original screenplay.
Rami Malek was named best actor for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and planted a passionate kiss on the lips of his girlfriend and co-star Lucy Boynton before making his way to the stage. He used Queen lyrics to spread a message of positivity.
He said: “It’s not about being from one place or looking one way or one race. We are all human beings and collectively we are all the champions.”
Malek also paid tribute to Mercury, praising his ability to speak to an entire audience while on stage.
Regina King took the best supporting actress prize for her role in If Beale Street Could talk, leading to the most diverse group of acting winners in the history of the Oscars.
Shallow from A Star Is Born was named best original song and Lady Gaga addressed her director and co-star Bradley Cooper as she collected the gong, saying: “Bradley, there is not a single person who could have sung this song with me but you. Thank you for believing in me.
“If you are at home sitting on your couch and watching this now, all I can say is this is hard work.
“I’ve worked hard for a long time. This is not about winning, what it’s about is not giving up. If you have a dream fight for it.
“It’s not about how many times you are rejected and how many times you fall down, it’s how many times you stand up and keep going.”
Cooper and Gaga also performed the song at the ceremony, with the pair looking intently into each other’s eyes during the duet before Cooper sat next to her at the piano.
History was made earlier in the night when Ruth Carter became the first black winner to collect the best costume design prize, while Hannah Beachler became the first black winner of the production design gong, both for their work on Black Panther.
The Marvel superhero movie was also recognised for its original score.
The black-and-white, Spanishlanguage film Roma won three prizes, collecting the best director prize for Alfonso Cuaron, best cinematography, also for Cuaron, and best foreign language film.
Bohemian Rhapsody was the most awarded film at the ceremony, with prizes for Malek, film editing, sound mixing and sound editing.
In the fashion stakes, actor Billy Porter stole the show, defying the normal dress code by opting for a tuxedo on top of a full-skirted velvet gown.