Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody, Roma win big at 2019 Oscars

Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody, Roma win big at 2019 Oscars
Photo credit: Getty

Green Book has pulled off a surprise win by taking out Best Picture at the 91st Academy Awards.

It beat odds-on favourite Roma, which claimed other major honours including Best Director - often a sure indicator of the film that'll win the big one.

Both films won multiple Oscars, as did other favourite Bohemian Rhapsody, which claimed Best Actor for Rami Malek, Best Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing.

The ceremony's other major upset was Olivia Colman of The Favourite triumphing over The Wife star Glenn Close for Best Lead Actress.

A Star is Born only won one of the eight awards it was nominated for - Best Original Song for 'Shallow'. Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga's live performance of the song, however, was easily one of the event's most talked-about moments.

After much controversy in the lead-up to this year's Academy Awards, the broadcast was fairly controversy-free - although Spike Lee did drop the word "motherf**ker" in his speech.

Below is a recap of how the 2019 Oscars played out, as it happened (in NZ time).

5:14pm - In one of today's rare surprises, Green Book wins Best Film. Roma was the odds-on favourite for the award and looked to have the biggest win locked in when it won Best Director.

Green Book is directed by Peter Farrelly, who also directed Dumb and Dumber To, Movie 43, Stuck On You and The Three Stooges.

While accepting the award, the film's producers say it's about "living together despite our differences" and dedicated the win to Carrie Fisher.

 

5:07pm - Best Director goes to Alfonso Cuaron for Roma. He's already accepted the trophies for Best Foreign Film and Best Cinematography - but missed out on Best Original Screenplay.

While accepting the award, he thanks the Academy "for recognising a film centred around an indigenous woman - one of the 70 million domestic workers around the world without work rights, who have been historically relegated to the background in cinema. This is much more important in times when we're being encouraged to look away."

4:58pm - Lady Gaga misses out on Best Lead Actress, which goes to Olivia Colman for The Favourite.

"This is genuinely quite stressful," Colman says at the start of her speech.

She's in tears and clearly overcome with her win, but still able to deliver several jokes that have the audience - and the Newshub office - in fits of laughter.

This is the first major upset of the night as Glenn Close was the odds-on favourite to win. Colman even apologises to her, saying: "You've been my idol for so long - this is not how I wanted it to be!"

4:44pm - The first of the big four awards has been announced - Best Lead Actor goes to Rami Malek, for his performance as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. It's the fourth award for the Queen film, which has won everything it's been nominated for so far, with just Best Film left to be announced.

"We made a film about a gay man, an immigrant, who lived his life just unapologetically himself," Malek says.

"And the fact that I'm celebrating him and this story with you is proof that 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."

4:26pm - The fairytale continues - Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper follow up their passionate performance of A Star Is Born hit 'Shallow' with it winning Best Original Song.

The 'Just Dance' hitmaker has tears streaming down her face as she accepts the trophy.

"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," says Gaga.

"I have worked hard for a long time and it's not about, you know, winning, but what it's about is not giving up."

4:23pm - Black Panther wins again! Ludwig Goransson just picked up Best Original Score for his work on the hit Marvel film.

4:14pm - Best Adapted Screenplay goes to BlackkKlansman, written by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Wilmott and Spike Lee.

Lee drops an F-bomb as he launches into a powerful speech about the history of the US. Speaking about the 2020 presidential election, he tells viewers: "Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Do the right thing!"

It's the first ever Oscar win for the acclaimed Do The Right Thing filmmaker.

4:12pm - Best Original Screenplay goes to Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly, for Green Book.

4:07pm - Best Live Action short goes to Skin. This is the last of the minor awards - from here, we're into the music winners and then the major acting, directing and writing awards, along with Best Picture.

4pm - And here's the moment a lot of people have been waiting for - Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga are performing 'Shallow' from A Star Is Born.

The pair walked onstage together, arm-in-arm, and are maintaining a very intense eye contact while they sing to each other.

At the song's conclusion, the camera lingers super close on the c̶o̶u̶p̶l̶e̶'̶s̶ pair's super closer faces as they passionately kiss each other with their eyes... but don't actually lock lips.

3:57pm - Best Visual Effects goes to First Man. It feels like the first time in well over a decade that New Zealand's own Weta Digital wasn't in the running for this category.

3:47pm - Best Documentary Short goes to Period. End of Sentence., and the acceptance speech is kicked off with a period joke.

3:44pm - Pixar's Bao wins Best Animated Short. Director Domee Shi said during her speech: "To all the nerdy girls out there who hide behind their sketchbooks, don't be afraid to tell your stories to the world."

3:40pm - Wayne's World! Wayne's World! Party time! Excellent! Mike Myers and Dana Carvey just reunited onstage to introduce a clip from Bohemian Rhapsody.

Myers said the pair were "humbled to be associated with that brilliant song", which triggered some - perhaps unintentional - laughs from the audience.

3:30pm - Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse wins Best Animated Feature. This is the second speech that has been cut short by producers in a fairly brutal fashion - mics turned off, music cranked right up. Nothing subtle about it.

3:24pm - Mahershala Ali has won the second acting gong of the evening for his supporting role in Green Book. It's his second Best Supporting Actor win after he claimed the award in 2017 for Moonlight.

Ali dedicated the award to his grandmother, who he said always pushed him to think positively and to never, ever give up.

3:18pm - Bohemian Rhapsody snags its third Oscar of the evening - this one for Achievement in Film Editing, which went to John Ottman.

3:08pm - Keegan-Michael Key made what will definitely be the ceremony's best entrance. In keeping with the theme of the Mary Poppins Returns song he introduced, he was lowered down from the ceiling - twirling and holding an umbrella.

Bette Midler also chanelled Mary Poppins in her ensuing performance of 'The Place Where Lost Things Go'.

3:06pm - Perhaps the least surprising win of the event - Roma wins Best Foreign Language Film.

Filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron accepted the trophy and joked about the "foreign language films" he loved as a youngster - including the likes of Jaws and Citizen Kane.

Alfonso Cuaron accepts the 2019 Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his film, Roma.
Alfonso Cuaron has already picked up two Oscars for his film Roma. Photo credit: Getty

2:59pm - Make that the first two wins for Bohemian Rhapsody. Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali just won Best Sound Mixing for their work on the Queen film.

2:56pm - And first Oscar of the night for Bohemian Rhapsody has been won - John Warhurst and Nia Hartstone just won Best Sound Editing.

Meanwhile, Hollywood Reporter writer Chris Gardner gives a glimpse into what happens in the Dolby Theatre during ad breaks:

2:44pm - Alfonso Cuaron just won Best Cinematography for Roma - likely the film's first of multiple awards.

2:39pm - Black Panther wins again! With Best Production Design, it's the first film so far to win more than one award. The award was accepted by Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart.

Bleachler choked back tears and panted as she accepted the award, initially scrambling to find her speech on her phone.

"I stand here with agency and self-worth because of [director] Ryan Coogler, who not only made me a better designer, a better storyteller, a better person," she told viewers.

"This man offered me a different perspective of life, who offered me a safe space, who's patient and gave me air, humanity and brotherhood.

"I did my best and my best is good enough!"

2:30pm - Best Costume Design goes to Black Panther's Ruth Carter.

"Marvel may have created the first black superhero, but through costume design, we turned him into an African king", Carter said in her acceptance speech.

Carter is the first African-American costume designer to win the category, after being nominated for her work on Amistad and Malcolm X.

2:25pm - The first win of the night for Vice, which claimed the award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. It was accepted by Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia DeHaney.

2:16pm - Rock climbing documentary Free Solo has been awarded Best Documentary Feature.

2:10pm - First winner of the ceremony is: Regina King, for Best Actress in a Leading Role, for her performance in Barry Jenkins' James Baldwin adaptation If Beale Street Could Talk.

"James Baldwin birthed this baby, and Barry [Jenkins] you surrounded her, you nurtured her, with so much love and support," said King as she accepted the trophy.

Pointing at her mother, who was sitting in the audience, she said: "Thank you for teaching me that God is always leaning, always has been leaning in my direction".

2:05pm - Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph reunite onstage to present the first award. They joke about the fact there's no host this year - and give viewers a taste of what would've happened if they were actually hosting.

"We are not your hosts. But we're going to stand here a little too long so that the people who get USA Today tomorrow will think that we hosted," said Fey.

2pm - The show starts with a bang

Instead of a host's monologue, this year the Oscars kicked off with a performance from legendary rock band Queen.

Fronted by Adam Lambert, the group performed in celebration of his film Bohemian Rhapsody.

The belted out a medley of 'We Will Rock You' and 'We Are The Champions'. Oddly, they didn't perform 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

1:20pm - Red carpet best and worst dressed

Newshub's broadcast entertainment editor Kate Rodger's best dressed star so far is Amandla Stenberg (The Hate U Give).

"She had me at 'silver full length flapper dress', but her amazing braided hair finishing off her '20s-inspired Miu Miu dress was a total sell for me," says Rodger.

He worst look so far is that of Linda Cardelinni (Green Book).

"In clearly a fire-the-stylist moment, the Oscars Tulle Duel has been resoundingly won by the gorgeous but woefully-styled Linda Cardelinni. She wears a hot mess of red tulle that would be more at home as a toilet brush than on a beautiful human being."

Amandla Stenberg and Linda Cardelinni on the 2019 Oscars red carpet.
Amandla Stenberg and Linda Cardelinni. Photo credit: Getty

1:10pm - Revealed: The red carpet fashion trend of 2019

"Tulle is dominating the red carpet; there are more ruffles than in 12th century England," says Newshub's lifestyle editor Sarah Templeton.

"So far this is exhibited beautifully by Helen Mirren wearing hot pink Tulle, a bold colour choice for her but I'm here for having fun at the Oscars. Kacey Musgraves also is also fulfilling my wildest Barbie dreams."

Helen Mirren and Kacey Musgraves on the 2019 Oscars red carpet.
Helen Mirren and Kacey Musgraves. Photo credit: Getty
The Oscars 2019 red carpet at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.
The 2019 Oscars red carpet. Photo credit: Getty

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