The 94th Academy Awards are over. “CODA” won Best Picture as expected. “Dune” won big as expected. Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, which was not expected. Gold Derby editors and Experts Christopher Rosen and Joyce Eng are here to break it all down.
“CODA” destroyed nearly a century of stats with its Best Picture win and going a perfect three for three in its categories, taking Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur as well. It did so with no directing or any below-the-line nominations, something that hasn’t happened since 1932’s “Grand Hotel,” which was only nominated for and won Best Picture. And it left in its wake 12-time nominee “The Power of the Dog,” which only took home Best Director for Jane Campion, the third woman and second consecutive one to win the award. “CODA’s” big win was hardly shocking after its huge momentum surge the last few weeks, but where will it rank in Oscar history among Best Picture champs? And what to make of “The Power of the Dog’s” dramatic fall from pole position?
SEE Full list of Oscar winners
The winners overall were predictable as all but one winner — Best Animated Short champ “The Windshield Wiper” — was first in the odds — and frankly by the back half of the show, the only suspense was what Smith was going to say when he won Best Actor for “King Richard,” nearly an hour after slapping Rock for a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith‘s baldness (she has alopecia). We discuss the whole incident and Smith’s lengthy speech in which he apologizes to everyone except Rock.
Elsewhere, we go over the entire show, which ran for three hours and 42 minutes despite demoting eight categories, some of its questionable choices, and most importantly, those two Twitter awards.
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