The 94th Academy Awards have come and gone and Gold Derby editors Chris Beachum, Denton Davidson, Marcus James Dixon and Daniel Montgomery are hashing everything out with a morning-after slugfest. Which winners thrilled us? What was the biggest disappointment? And what to make of that Will Smith slap heard around the world? Watch the 2022 Oscars recap slugfest video above to hear our final thoughts on this awards season.
SEE Oscar Best Picture Gallery: History of Every Academy Award-Winning Movie
“I was thrilled for Jessica Chastain because a lot of people were ready for a Penelope Cruz upset,” Denton says. “That was a late-breaking, weird trend. All of these people were jumping on this bandwagon based on secret ballot votes. It didn’t have any logic behind it. I was happy to see people go off that cliff without me, but in general, my score was awful.”
One of the top moments for Chris was “Belfast” winning for Best Original Screenplay. “I’m thrilled for Kenneth Branagh,” he admits. “He personally had three nominations this year for producing, directing and writing. That brought his career total up to eight. Such a standup guy. Such a great career. His very first film got him three nominations over 30 years ago. That’s a really great win for the academy.”
Even though Daniel was predicting Lin-Manuel Miranda to win Best Song for “Dos Oruguitas,” the editor was excited when Billie Eilish and Finneas took home gold for “No Time to Die” instead. “Billie Eilish is the first person born in the 21st century to win an Oscar, which is exciting,” Daniel reveals. “She was born in 2001 and she is 20 years old.” Chris adds, “For as young as they are, they really knew the history. It really meant a lot to them.”
SEE Oscar Best Actress Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Awards History
We go on to discuss more of our favorite moments from the telecast, including hosts Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes and other moments that didn’t quite work so well. We also have to address what everyone is talking about — Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. “In 94 years the academy has never had to release a statement saying, ‘We do not condone violence,'” Marcus mentions. “But they kind of did condone violence. They let him stay in the theater and they gave him a standing ovation! Overall it was probably the grossest moment I’ve ever seen on the Oscar stage.”
