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The 2018 Oscars: Winners and highlights from the 90th Academy Awards

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Mark Ralston / Getty Images
Mark Ralston/Getty Images

The 90th Academy Awards ended without the chaos and controversy of last year’s ceremony, but it still had a fair share of surprises.

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Jimmy Kimmel hosted the movie industry’s most prestigious awards ceremony, and it was Guillermo del Toro’s dark fantasy film The Shape of Water that finished the night as the Oscars’ big winner. Del Toro was given the Oscar for “Best Director” and The Shape of Water took home the year’s coveted “Best Picture” award in the show’s grand finale.

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Going into the 2018 ceremony, The Shape of Water garnered the highest number of nominations of any film, with 13 nods across various categories, including “Best Picture” and “Best Director,” but was still regarded as an underdog due to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ traditional aversion to horror and fantasy fare. In the end, the film won four of the 13 Oscars it was nominated for, adding awards for its original score and production design in addition to the aforementioned categories.

“This is a door — kick it open and come in,” urged del Toro in his acceptance speech.

THE SHAPE OF WATER Oscar 2018 Acceptance Speech for Best Picture

In a surprising turn, the tense drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri came into the ceremony having swept most of the awards ceremonies leading up to the Oscars, but left with only two awards. As expected, Frances McDormand won the “Best Actress” category, and Sam Rockwell won the “Best Supporting Actor” category, giving the acclaimed film its only two wins of the night.

After arriving with quite a bit of pre-Oscars buzz, writer-director Jordan Peele’s Get Out earned its talented filmmaker his very first Oscar. Peele took home the award for the year’s best original screenplay, which capped a night of records for many nominees. This year’s ceremony was the first time an African-American filmmaker (Peele) was nominated for directing, producing, and screenwriting in the same year, and Peele seemed as shocked as anyone that he was taking home an Oscar at the end of the night.

I just won an Oscar. WTF?!?

— Jordan Peele (@JordanPeele) March 5, 2018

“I just won an Oscar. WTF?!?” he posted on Twitter moments after he received the award.

Also taking home a pair of Oscars was Blade Runner 2049, which beat a crowded, competitive field in the “Best Visual Effects” category, and also took home an Oscar for cinematography.

A host of social and political causes loomed over the night’s events, with many of the nominees, presenters, and those in attendance wearing pins supporting the “Me Too” and “Time’s Up” campaigns against sexual harassment, as well as orange pins against gun violence, among other signs of support. Those same campaigns filtered into the speeches made by winners, as well as Kimmel’s monologue, which didn’t shy away from poking fun at the Oscars — and the industry as a whole — for its problems with some of those same social issues.

Frances McDormand's Oscar 2018 Acceptance Speech for Actress in a Leading Role

McDormand also made inclusion a recurring theme in her acceptance speech, and her powerful call to action for female actors and filmmakers ended with the suggestion that an “inclusion rider” become standard fare for anyone hired to work in front of the camera or behind it.

Of course, the ceremony wasn’t without its lighter moments.

Accepting the “Best Supporting Actress” Oscar for her performance in I, Tonya, Allison Janney bucked tradition by announcing “I did it all by myself.” Laughing, she quickly clarified that there was “Nothing further from the truth.”

Allison Janney's Oscar 2018 Acceptance Speech for Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Later on, in a video segment about this year’s breakthrough performances and projects featuring women and non-white actors and filmmakers, The Big Sick co-writer and star Kumail Nanjani suggested that the studios have more than just a social responsibility to make such films — they stand to make a lot of money, too.

“Don’t [make these movies] because it’s good for society,” he explained. “Do it to get rich! You’ll get that promotion.”

The full list of 2018 Oscar winners and nominees is below, listed as they were announced.

Best Picture

  • Call Me By Your Name
  • Darkest Hour
  • Dunkirk
  • Get Out
  • Lady Bird
  • Phantom Thread
  • The Post
  • WINNER: The Shape of Water
  • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Actress in a Leading Role

  • Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water)
  • WINNER: Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
  • Margot Robbie (I, Tonya)
  • Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird)
  • Meryl Streep (The Post)

Actor in a Leading Role

  • Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name)
  • Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread)
  • Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)
  • WINNER: Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour)
  • Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq)

Best Director

  • Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk)
  • Jordan Peele (Get Out)
  • Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird)
  • Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread)
  • WINNER: Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water)

Original Song

  • WINNER: Remember Me (from Coco)
  • Mystery of Love (from Call Me By Your Name)
  • This Is Me (from The Greatest Showman)
  • Mighty River (from Mudbound)
  • Stand Up For Something (from Marshall)

Original Score

  • Dunkirk
  • Phantom Thread
  • WINNER: The Shape of Water
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi
  • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Cinematography

  • WINNER: Blade Runner 2049
  • Darkest Hour
  • Dunkirk
  • Mudbound
  • The Shape of Water

Original Screenplay

  • The Big Sick
  • WINNER: Get Out
  • Lady Bird
  • The Shape of Water
  • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Adapted Screenplay

  • WINNER: Call Me By Your Name
  • The Disaster Artist
  • Logan
  • Molly’s Game
  • Mudbound

Best Live-Action Short

  • Dekalb Elementary
  • The 11 O’Clock
  • My Nephew Emmett
  • WINNER: The Silent Child
  • All Of Us

Documentary Short Subject

  • Edith & Eddie
  • WINNER: Heaven is a Traffic Jam
  • Heroin(e)
  • Knifeskills
  • Traffic Stop

Film Editing

  • Baby Driver
  • WINNER: Dunkirk
  • I, Tonya
  • The Shape of Water
  • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Visual Effects

  • WINNER: Blade Runner 2049
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
  • Kong: Skull Island
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi
  • War for the Planet of the Apes

Animated Feature Film

  • The Boss Baby
  • The Breadwinner
  • WINNER: Coco
  • Ferdinand
  • Loving Vincent

Animated Short Film

  • WINNER: Dear Basketball
  • Garden Party
  • Lou
  • Negative Space
  • Revolting Rhymes

Actress in a Supporting Role

  • Mary J. Blige (Mudbound)
  • WINNER: Allison Janney (I, Tonya)
  • Leslie Manville (Phantom Thread)
  • Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird)
  • Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water)

Foreign Language Film

  • WINNER: Fantastic Woman (Chile)
  • On Body and Soul (Hungary)
  • The Insult (Lebanon)
  • Loveless (Russia)
  • The Square (Sweden)

Production Design

  • Beauty and the Beast
  • Blade Runner 2049
  • Darkest Hour
  • Dunkirk
  • WINNER: The Shape of Water

Sound Mixing

  • Baby Driver
  • Blade Runner 2049
  • WINNER: Dunkirk
  • The Shape of Water
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Sound Editing

  • Baby Driver
  • Blade Runner 2049
  • WINNER: Dunkirk
  • The Shape of Water
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Documentary Feature

  • Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
  • Faces Places
  • WINNER: Icarus
  • Last Men in Aleppo 
  • Strong Island

Costume Design

  • Beauty and the Beast
  • Darkest Hour
  • WINNER: Phantom Thread
  • The Shape of Water
  • Victoria and Abdul

Makeup and Hairstyling

  • WINNER: Darkest Hour
  • Victoria and Abdul
  • Wonder

Actor in a Supporting Role

  • Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project)
  • Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
  • Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water)
  • Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World)
  • WINNER: Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Rick Marshall
Rick Marshall
Contributing Editor, Entertainment
A veteran journalist with more than two decades of experience covering local and national news, arts and entertainment, and…
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