A Recap of the 2019 Academy Awards

The Oscars 2019 ceremony is now one for the history books. Let’s take a look and break some of the highlights from the show.

The show remained host-less due to Kevin Hart’s stepping down as host of the Oscars back in December due to controversy. Without a host, however, the show went at a more swifter pace compared to previous ones. Maya Rudolph, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler, who all found success from acting on SNL, served as the ceremony’s emcees, jokingly saying, “We are not your hosts, but we’ll stand here a little too long so the people who get USA Today tomorrow will think that we hosted.”

Roma received praise as it took home the Oscars of Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography, and Best Director [Alfonso Cuarón]. During his acceptance for Best Director, he said, “As artists, our job is to look where others don’t. This responsibility becomes even more important at times when we are told to look away.”

The huge upset of the night was, undoubtedly, Green Book winning Best Picture. A majority of audiences weren’t convinced by the movie and wanted a different take on race relations from the era. The film’s popularity, however, picked up as award season loomed over and it started becoming more and more noticed.

Another highlight was that extremely sultry performance of “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and her A Star Is Born co-star Bradley Cooper. The performance received more than a lot of media attention amidst relationship rumors surrounding Gaga and Cooper. Towards the end of the song, they were embracing on the piano bench and gave each other a passionate smile. “Shallow” later won the Oscar for Best Song.

Spike Lee’s win for Best Adapted Screenplay for BlacKkKlansman turned out to be his first as he leaped into presenter Samuel L. Jackson’s arms in joy. As he accepted the award, he urged the audience and the viewers to vote in the next presidential election, saying, “ Let’s do the right thing! You know I had to get that in there.”

Bohemian Rhapsody owned most of the night as Queen, joined by Adam Lambert, opened the ceremony with their classic songs “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions.” The film later went on to win Oscars for Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing. Rami Malek, who portrayed Freddie Mercury in the film, ended up snagging the award for Best Actor, against Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Viggo Mortensen, and Willem Dafoe.