The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored the best achievements in film in the past year on Sunday’s (February 9) 92nd Annual Academy Awards.
Held at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, Tinseltown’s biggest stars brought the glitz and glam to the red carpet on Hollywood’s biggest night.
The internet’s “respectful king,” Keanu Reeves, made his first appearance in a decade at the Academy Awards. Looking dapper in a tux, he sweetly brought his mom, Patricia Taylor as his date.
Awww…
And when Timothee Chalamet spotted Margot Robbie striking a pose on the red carpet near him, it seems he couldn’t resist having his photo taken with her. He totally photobombed her photos. She had the cutest reaction to seeing her photobomber – greeting him “Oh, hi!” and cupping his face with a huge grin on hers.
It was definitely an evening to remember. Janelle Monae kicked off the evening on a high note with a larger-than-life number, singing the Mister Roger’s Neighborhood theme surrounded by an army of dancers dressed in costumes representing the key characters from the films being honored that evening. Billie Porter later joined her for The ArchAndroid track “Come Alive (The War of the Roses).”
“I’m so excited to stand here as a black, queer artist,” Janelle said at one point during the performance. “Happy Black History Month!”
Steve Martin and Chris Rock followed their performance with the opening monologue (dialogue?), roasting the Oscars for it’s lack of diversity and female nominees. They also made it clear they were NOT the evening’s hosts.
Idina Menzel was joined by Elsas from around the world – Denmark’s Maria Lucia Heiberg Rosenberg, German’s Willemijn Verkaik, Japan’s Takako Matsu, Latin America’s Carmen Garcia Saenz, Norway’s Lisa Stokke, Poland’s Kasia Laska, Russia’s Anna Buturlina, Spain’s Gisela and Thailand’s Gam Wichayanee – to perform Frozen’s “Into The Unknown” in their native languages.
Eminem made a surprise appearance when the evening’s ceremonies paid tribute to the music that played an integral role in cinema, performing 8 Mile’s “Lose Yourself.”
He went on Twitter after his performance, writing, “Look, if you had another shot, another opportunity… Thanks for having me @TheAcademy. Sorry it took me 18 years to get here.”
Billie Eilish covered the Beatles’ “Yesterday,” with the help of her brother, Finneas, on the piano, to soundtrack the “In Memoriam” segment.
The segment opened with a tribute to Kobe Bryant, who tragically died in a helicopter crash on January 26th. The emotional tribute also featured past Oscar nominees, including Robert Evans, the legendary producer of Chinatown and The Godfather, screenwriter Buck Henry who penned The Graduate and Catch-22, Cross Creek and Men in Black star Rip Torn, Blade Runner star Rutger Hauer, French documentarian and Faces Places director Agnes Varda, as well as Pillow Talk actress and singer Doris Day. Fans on Twitter, however, pointed out that the Academy seemed to have missed two stars who also passed away in the past year – Luke Perry and Cameron Boyce.
James Corden and Rebel Wilson went full-on Cats (as in, they took the stage wearing full cat costumes) to present the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. They also hilariously poked fun at themselves onstage and their recent film, which didn’t exactly get stellar reviews from critics and audiences.
“Nobody understands better than us the importance of good visual effects,” James said.
Parasite made history for being the first-ever South Korean film to win an Oscar AND the first foreign language film to win Best Picture – the Academy’s highest honor. As the film’s team made their speeches onstage, the lights soon began to dim to mark the end of the allotted time for the speech. But the audience, including Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie and more began chanting “Up! Up!” to get the award ceremony’s producers to bring the lights back on and let them finish their speech.
Surrounded by Bong Joon-ho and the cast, “I’m speechless,” producer Kwak Sin Ae said. “We never imaged this to ever happen. We are so happy. I feel like a very opportune moment in history is happening right now.”
“I’d really like to thank director Bong, thank you for being you,” Korean entertainment mogul Miky Lee said. “I like everything about him. His smile, his crazy hair. The way he talks. The way he walks. And especially the way he directs.”
