Despite its 10 nominations, the film fails to win a single award
Crime caper American Hustle suffered one of the worst shutouts in Oscars history after failing to win any awards despite its 10 nominations.
The drama had received broadly favourable reviews and had led the field in terms of nods along with eventual best picture winner 12 Years A Slave heading into Academy Awards.
As well as a nomination for best picture, the movie had also earned nods for director David O Russell as well as for actors Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence. However the film, based on a 1970s FBI sting operation known as ABSCAM, missed out in all of the major and minor categories in which it was nominated.
Only two films — 1977’s The Turning Point and Steven Spielberg’s 1985 drama The Color Purple — had ever suffered bigger snubs. Both films were nominated for 11 Oscars but came away empty-handed.
Two other films — Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York and Joel and Ethan Coen’s 2010 remake of True Grit — also won nothing after receiving 10 nominations.
The disappointment for American Hustle was arguably even more unexpected given the movie had consistently picked up honours throughout Hollywood’s awards season, including a Golden Globe for best comedy or musical and the top honor at the Screen Actors Guild award. — AFP
Ellen wins for best tweet
And the Oscar for best social media moment of the night goes to Ellen DeGeneres for breaking Twitter. DeGeneres tweeted what some have dubbed the best selfie ever, and the tweet knocked the service offline for a few minutes before recovering. The selfie shows stars Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatum, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, DeGeneres, Kevin Spacey, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Lupita Nyong’o and her brother and Angelina Jolie (with her face half obscured).
In 30 minutes, the tweet got more than 700,000 retweets and nearly 200,000 favourites. DeGeneres’ tweet is now the most retweeted ever, easily surpassing President Barack Obama’s “four more years” tweet posted after his second-term win in 2012. That tweet had 778,000 retweets. DeGeneres’ tweet is at 1.4mn and still climbing. — By Scott Kleinberg, Chicago Tribune, MCT
Cory Monteith subbed
The Oscars have failed to pay tribute to Cory Monteith, the young Canadian actor whose death at the age of 31 last year shocked both the film and TV industries. The actor was not afforded any airtime in its traditional In Memoriam section.
The Calgary-born actor had a troubled adolescence, but began to find success as an actor after winning small roles in films such as Final Destination 3 and TV shows such as Smallville. His career, however, was transformed after he was cast as Finn in Glee, and the show became a massive hit. Monteith then began to make further headway in feature films, with his final role, alongside David Morse in the crime drama McCanick, premiered at the Toronto film festival in 2013.
Monteith was found dead in a hotel room in Vancouver, Canada, after apparently overdosing on heroin and alcohol, with the coroners office concluding his death was accidental. — Guardian News & Media
In Memoriam
Sarah Jones
Sarah Jones, the camera assistant killed in an accident while working on the Gregg Allman biopic Midnight Rider, received a mention in the In Memoriam section of the 86th Academy Awards. Following a campaign by a group of her supporters, she was acknowledged in a note at the end of the pictorial segment.
Jones died on February 20 this year when she was hit by a train during preproduction of the Randall Miller-directed film, work on which has since been suspended. With seven other crew members hurt in the incident, questions have been raised about whether the production team should even have been on the tracks at the time.
Around 700 people gathered for a memorial service earlier on Sunday at Atlanta Botanical Garden, with Bruce Doering, head of the local branch of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union, telling the crowd: “Since this terrible accident happened, we’re trying to figure out how and we’re committed to taking the issue of unsafe conditions as far as we can take it.” — Peter Beech, Guardian News & Media
Shirley Temple
The Oscars paid tribute to Shirley Temple, the Oscar-winning child star who died recently devoting part of its traditional In Memoriam section to the actor. Temple was given an honorary juvenile Oscar in 1935 at the age of six, after a string of box-office successes including Bright Eyes and Baby Take a Bow helped to distract America in the throes of the Depression. Her screen career flourished during the 1930s, before taking a downturn during the World War II, followed by her official retirement in 1950. Apart from a few subsequent TV appearances, Temple turned to a political career, and served as US ambassador to both Ghana and Czechoslovakia, among other high-profile posts. Temple, who used the name Temple Black after her 1950 marriage to Charles Alden Black, died in February of natural causes, aged 85. — Andrew Pulver, Guardian News & Media
Philip Seymour Hoffman
The Oscars paid tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman, the Oscar-winning actor who died earlier this year devoting part of its traditional In Memoriam section to the actor whose death at the age of 46 shocked the film world.
Hoffman won the best actor award for his performance as Truman Capote in the 2005 biopic of the celebrated writer, and had three best supporting actor nominations for Charlie Wilson’s War, Doubt and The Master. He was one of the most widely praised actors of his generation, creating startling performances for some of America’s most acclaimed directors, including Todd Solondz (Happiness), Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, The Master) and the Coen brothers (The Big Lebowski). He also shone in Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr Ripley and George Clooney’s The Ides of March, with arguably his finest role in the Charlie Kaufman-directed Synecdoche, New York. Hoffman died of a drugs overdose in February 2014. Fellow actors including Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Joaquin Phoenix attended his funeral at the Church of St Ignatius Loyola in New York. — Andrew Pulver, Guardian News & Media
BELOW:
STAR-STUDDED SELFIE: Host Ellen Degeneres takes a group picture at the Academy Awards in Hollywood. DeGeneres tweeted what some have dubbed the best selfie ever, and the tweet knocked the service offline for a few minutes before recovering.