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29 February 2016

Academy Awards 2016 - Spotlight wins Best Picture as Leonardo DiCaprio finally claims his Best Actor Award at the Oscars 2016




Oscars 2016: Complete list of winners





LOS ANGELES — It was a star-studded event for Hollywood’s biggest night.

The 88th Academy Awards took place on Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

Live coverage began at 7 p.m. on ABC, with Brie Laarson, Rachel McAdams, Alicia Vikander and other actresses dazzling in gorgeous gowns. Longtime friends Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet arrived together to the awards show.

Host Chris Rock opened the show and held nothing back on the #OscarsSoWhite controversy.

“I’m here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as White People Choice Awards,” Chris Rock said.

“We want opportunity. We want black actors to get the same opportunities,” the comedian continued in his opening monologue.

Many have predicted Leonardo DiCaprio to finally take home the best actor trophy for his performance in “The Revenant” and Brie Laarson to win best actress for her role in “Room.”

“The Revenant” led all films with 12 nominations and is considered the front-runner for best picture. “Spotlight” and “The Big Short” were also among the favorites.

So how accurate were the predications? Here is the complete list of winners so far:

Best original screenplay: “Spotlight,” Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy

Best adapted screenplay: “The Big Short,” Charles Randolph and Adam McKay

Best supporting actress: Alicia Vikander, “The Danish Girl”

Best costume design: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Jenny Beavan

Best production design: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” production design by Colin Gibson; set decoration by Lisa Thompson

Best makeup and hairstyling: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin

Best cinematography: “The Revenant,” Emmanuel Lubezki

Best film editing: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Margaret Sixel

Best sound editing: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Mark Mangini and David White

Best sound mixing: “Mad Max: Fury Road,” Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo

Best visual effects: “Ex Machina,” Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett

Animated short film: “Bear Story,” Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala

Best animated feature film: “Inside Out,” Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera

Best supporting actor: Mark Rylance, “Bridge of Spies”

Best documentary, short subject:“A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,” Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Best documentary feature: “Amy,” Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees

Best live-action short film: “Stutterer,” Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage

Best foreign-language film: “Son of Saul,” Hungary

Best original score: “The Hateful Eight,” Ennio Morricone

Best original song: “Writing’s on the Wall” from “Spectre”

Best director: “The Revenant,” Alejandro G. Iñárritu

Best actress: Brie Larson, “Room”

Best actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Revenant”

Best picture: “Spotlight”



TELEGRAPH UPDATE
Leonardo DiCaprio accepts the award for Best Actor in,The Revenant on stage at the 88th Oscars in Hollywood
Leonardo DiCaprio accepts the award for Best Actor for The Revenant Photo: MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
This page will automatically update every 30 secondsOn Off
• Spotlight wins Best Picture, and Leonardo DiCaprio wins Best Actor
• Brie Larson wins Best Actress, and Alejandro González Iñárritu wins Best Director
• Here's the full list of Oscars 2016 winners 
• 'Welcome to the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the white people's choice awards!' Chris Rock’s monologue shocks and delights the Oscars audience

Latest

05:00

Spotlight wins Oscar for Best Picture

This gripping dramatisation of The Boston Globe’s investigation into child abuse in the Catholic Church stars Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo. The film’s down-the-line style is clearly inspired by another journalistic classic, 1976 Oscar-winner All The President’s Men.
This film gave a voice to survivors and this Oscar amplifies that voice which we hope will become a choir that will resonate all the way to the Vatican,” the producers said while accepting the trophy. “Pope Francis, it’s time to protect the children and restore the faith.”

04:52

The Oscar for Best Actor goes to... Leonardo DiCaprio, for The Revenant

Five-time Oscar nominee DiCaprio clearly had his eyes on an award when he chose this role. Playing a 19th-century huntsman, he endured punishing sub-zero temperatures and ate raw buffalo liver while shooting the film. He's already been rewarded for his efforts, having scooped up Best Actor trophies at this year's Baftas and Golden Globes.
“Thank you all so very much! Thank you to the Academy and all of you in this room," he said in his acceptance speech.
"The Revenant was the product of the tireless efforts of an unbelievable cast and crew. I have to thank everyone from the very onset of my career."
"Making The Revenant was about man's connection to the natural world, we felt in 2015 it was the hottest year on the planet. Climate change is real, it's happening right now, it's the most urgent threat affecting our entire species, we need to work right now and stop procrastinating."
Leonardo DiCaprio - Crawl Like Skylar

04:44

Brie Larson wins Best Actress

It's the expected result - and there's no denying that Larson was absolutely fanatstic in Room.
Still...we can't be the only ones secretly wishing that Carol star Cate Blanchett had sneaked in instead.
Rising indie queen Brie Larson plays a woman kidnapped and forced to raise her child in a single room, in this adaptation of the best-selling novel by Emma Donoghue. Larson took home Best Actress awards from the Golden Globes and Baftas earlier this year.
This is the first Oscar for the 26-year-old former child actor, who's appeared in comedies such as 21 Jump Street and “Trainwreck. “I want to start big,” Larson said after accepting her award. “The thing I love about movie making is how many people it takes to make it.” She thanked the Toronto Film Festival, A24, director Lenny Abrahamson, co-star Jacob Tremblay, her boyfriend, Alex Greenwald, and her parents, among others.
The award was presented by last year's Best Actor winner, Eddie Redmayne.

04:37

Alejandro González Iñárritu wins Best Director

The man behind The Revenant, who triumphed last year with Birdman, has become the first recipient of back-to-back directing Oscars since Joseph L Mankiewicz, who won for A Letter to Three Wives and All About Eve in 1949/50.
Should the Revenant win Best Picture later tonight, Iñárritu would also become the first director of back-to-back Best Picture winners in the Academy’s 88-year history. That’s a hell of an achievement.
During his speech, he thanked his lead actor Leonard DiCaprio for giving his "heart and soul" to the film.
"I can’t believe this is happening! But it’s much more beautiful for me to share with all the talented cast and colleagues and crew members along the continent that made this film possible," he said. "I thank you from my heart. Leo, you were The Revenant: thank you for giving your soul, your heart. To Hardy, all the Native American cast: thank you for your trust, your talent. I want to thank Chivo for bringing your light to this journey."
 Hope was alive for a little while that George Miller might pull off a coup in Best Director, bringing his film's tally to a storming seven. But it wasn't to be. Ińárritu, the heavy favourite, stepped up for his second consecutive win, making him the first director to achieve this in 65 years. The backlash is already beginning.

04.31

Ali G makes an appearance

“Here comes another token black presenter,” said Sacha Baron Cohen in Ali G guise, as he introduced a featurette on Room, accompanied by Olivia Wilde (who then introduced a series of clips from Brooklyn).

04:27

Sam Smith and James Nape win Best Original Song for Writing's on the Wall

“I can’t actually breathe righ now. Oh my God!" said the singer, as he accepted the award for the song, composed by Nape, from the soundtrack to the James Bond movie Spectre.
"I want to dedicate this to the LGBT community all around the world. I stand here as a proud gay man.”
"I stand here as a proud gay man and hope we can all stand here as equals one day."

04:22

Ennio Morricone wins Best Original Score for The Hateful Eight

The 87-year-old composer, who accepted his award through a translator, is the oldest Oscar-winner ever.

04:17

Lady Gaga makes everyone (well, some people) cry

Gaga sung Til It Happems To You, her nominated Best Song from The Hunting Ground. It’s big, melodramatic – and the crowd of luminaries absolutely loved it. Kate Winslet looks like she’s about to cry. So does Rachel McAdams.
The singer was introduced by US Vice President Joe Biden, who gave an impassioned speech on behalf of survivors of sexual abuse.
"Too many women and men on and off college campuses are still victims of sexual abuse,” he said.
"Please take a pledge," he asked everyone, that “I will intervene in situations when consent has not or cannot be given.”
“Let’s change the culture,” he added added. “We must and we can change the culture so that no abused woman or man, like the survivors you will see tonight, ever feel they have to ask themselves ‘What did I do?’ They did nothing wrong.”

04:14

We'll fight for diversity in future, says Cheryl Boone Isaacs

Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs says they will take steps to diversify its membership. “Each of you is an ambassador who can influence others in the industry. It’s not enough to listen and agree,” she said. “We must take action.”

04:09

Son of Saul wins Best Foreign Film

 Son of Saul is one hell of a debut, with the emphasis on hell: it’s set entirely, and with pitiless, unyielding intensity, inside Auschwitz-Birkenau. The film starts as it means to continue – trained tight on a Hungarian-Jewish prisoner, Saul (Géza Röhrig), who has only been given a stay of execution because he’s a part of a Sonderkommando work unit. His Faustian task is to help with the extermination of fellow Jews and the clean-up operation afterwards, bringing him face to face with horrors we can only imagine, even if they are ones we can frequently half-see, and very graphically hear.
“Even in the darkest hours of mankind, there might be a voice within us that allows us to remain human,” director László Nemes said while accepting the award. “That’s the hope of this film.”

04:04

Best Live Action Short Film goes to Stutterer

The Irish short, directed by Benjamin Cleary, tells the story of a man with a crippling speech impediment, who seeks love online - but is afraid to seek it in the "real" world.

04.03

Moving In Memoriam section wins approval from audience

For once, they really don't appear to have missed anyone out.
The section was accompanied by a performance from singer Dave Grohl.

03:58

Sly Stallone may have missed out on an Oscar - but at least he still has his pals

By his pals, we mean Arnie:
And Telegraph Film Critic Tim Robey:
 Bit of an upset in Best Supporting Actor, ruefully received by the favourite, Sylvester Stallone. Did the diversity backlash – and Michael B Jordan's lack of a nomination for CREED – weirdly work against him? Or was Mark Rylance's wizardly craft and career reputation just too hard to ignore?

03:43

Oscar for Best Documentary Feature goes to Amy

The film explores the troubled life of singer Amy Winehouse.
Director Asif Kapadia said: "This film's all about Amy, showing the world who she really was - not the tabloid persona."

03:37

A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness wins Best Documentary Short

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's powerful film is about honour killings in her native Pakistan.
This is the second Oscar and nomination for Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, whose film tells the story of an 18-year-old Pakistani woman who survived an attempted honour killing. “This is what happens when determined women get together,” Obaid-Chinoy said of the documentary.
In the wake of the film's nomination, the Pakistani government has vowed to eradicate the practice.
Obaid-Chinoy's previous Oscar-winning documentary was 2012's Saving Face, which explored the horrors endured by women who survive acid attacks.

03:29

The Oscar for Best Supporting Actor goes to Mark Rylance for Bridge of Spies

Patricia Arquette, last year's Best Supporting Actress, presented the Academy Award for Best Actor to Mark Rylance, for Bridge of Spies - the first win tonight for Steven Spielberg's period drama.
The renowned thesp was a mesmerising presence as the soft-spoken, inscrutable Russian spy defended by Tom Hanks in Steven Spielberg’s Cold War drama.
Rylance is only the second actor to ever win an Oscar for a Spielberg film (the first was Daniel Day Lewis, for Lincoln).
"For me to have the chance to work with one of the greatest storytellers of our time Steven Spielberg has been just such an honour..." he said. "I’m so pleased that our film has been nominated so many times... I think if you ever wonder about acting with Tom Hanks, 'would it help?' The answer is yes... I don’t know how they separate my acting from your acting [the other nominees]… it’s a wonderful time to be an actor."

03:25

Empire Magazine has voiced what we're all feeling


If you're also feeling that year's ceremony could do with a little more excitement/creepiness, you can remind yourself of some of his best Oscars antics here.

03:12

Inside Out wins Best Animated Film

Set inside the mind of a 11-year-old girl, Pixar’s emotional coming-of-age drama reduced even the toughest critics to tears. Amy Poehler voices the personification of Joy, alongside Mindy Kaling’s Disgust. Read our review of Inside Out


 Hurray for Inside Out. It’s such a wonderful, joyous coming-of-age film – so wonderful and joyous in fact I can’t understand why it wasn’t nominated for Best Picture. Special mention, though, for Anomalisa, Charlie Kaufman’s existential stop-motion animation. I laughed, I cried. Everyone needs to see it.

03:09

Bear Story wins Best Animated Short Film

In case (like us) you're not familiar with the film, here's the trailer. (As films about bears go, it looks a lot more exciting than The Revenant.)

03:00

Star Wars robots C-3PO, R2-D2 and BB-8 just appeared on stage

After paying tribute to Star Wars composer John Williams, who has been nominated for his 50th award, C-3PO acknowledged his resemblance to the golden Oscars statuette.
"He really is quite handsome," he said.

02:56

Ex Machina wins Best Visual Effects

Mo-cap king Andy Serkis presented the award for Best Visual Effects to Andrew Whitehouse, Paul Norris, Mark Ardlington and Sarah Bennett, for Alex Garland's chilling artifical intelligence drama Ex Machina (which also starred the Best Supporting Actress Winner Alicia Vikander).

02:52

Mad Max Fury Road picks up a SIXTH Oscar - for Sound Mixing

On Twitter (and in the Telegraph Office) fans of the film are getting a little overexcited.

 Even if the Mad Max: Fury Road sweep stops at the six it's already got, that's one hell of a haul for a film this singular. People feared that The Revenant would block it even from these technical wins; the very opposite has happened. Could it take one of the big two? Even both?

02:48

The Oscar for Best Sound Editing goes to... Mad Max: Fury Road

George Miller's Mad Max sequel has now won an impressive five Oscars.
The award was picked up by sound editors Mark Mangini and David White.

02:42

Just what was that Stacey Dash joke all about?

Dash awkwardly tripped onto the Oscars stage and seemingly made a joke about her previous comments around race.
She was introduced by host Chris Rock as the "Director of the Minority Outreach Program" and walked out on stage to gasps.
Dash declared " I cannot wait to help my people out. Happy Black History Month!"
This comes after she argued we should get rid of Black History Month, Black Entertainment Television and anything that separates people due to race.
The Fox correspondent shocked people with her views - and got little in the way of laughter tonight.


02:40

Mad Max wins fourth Oscar - for Best Film Editing

The award went to Australian editor Margaret Sixel (she's also George Miller's wife - we bet they'll have lots to celebrate tonight).


02:37

The Oscar for Best Cinematography goes to The Revenant

Michael B Jordan, who Chris Rock rightly says should have been nominated for Creed, and Rachel McAdams announced the nominees for best Cinematography. The award went to Emmanuel Lubezki for The Revenant. It's the third win in a row for the cinematographer, who won last year for Birdman, and, the year before that, for Gravity.
 Lubezki’s (deserved) win for The Revenant means that Roger Deakins, who has been nominated 13 times, goes home empty-handed for the 13th time. A frequent collaborator with the Coen brothers, the perennial Oscars bridesmaid was first nominated for The Shawshank Redemption.

02:34

Adam McKay is a fan of Chris Rock

If Chris Rock offended anyone with his no-holds-barred lampooning of Hollywood for the Oscars' all-white nomination shortlist, it didn't include Adam McKay. The director of The Big Short gave his endorsement to Rock's monologue in the interview room after picking up the Oscar for the best screen play. "I thought it was great," he told journalists. "I thought it was jabbing at Hollywood but at the same time, even-handed."
McKay also expanded on his winning speech exhortation for Americans not to vote for presidential candidates taking money from "big oil or weirdo billionaires".
Asked if he had any candidates in mind, he replied: "Big money has taken over our government. We've got to stop this, man. Google it! You can see what the candidates have been paid."

02.26

The Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling goes to Mad Max: Fury Road

 That's three wins so far for Mad Max - more than any other film so far.
To celebrate, here's a reminder of just how great Miller's fiery epic (easily this year's most exciting Best Picture nominee) is:

02:23

Mad Max wins Best Production Design

That's two wins so far for Miller's Mad Max.
Winning Best Production Design, Colin Gibson said this award was "the first Oscar for diversity" because the film is about a "man with mental health issues, an amputee and five sex slaves".

02:20

The Oscar for Best Costume Design goes to Jenny Bevan for Mad Max: Fury Road

Cate Blanchett presented the award to British designer Bevan (aka "Stephen Fry's bag lady) for her work on George Miller's gloriously over-the-top road movie.
"What another lovely day. it was a year of our lives in the Namibian desert," she said on stage. "We had the most amazing crew, it was an incredible experience. Mad Max could be horribly prophetic if we're not kinder to each other and we don't stop polluting our atmosphere."
In George Miller’s antipodean dystopia, water is scarce and petrol is king. The film, a long-awaited follow-up to his classic Eighties action/sci-fi trilogy, stars Tom Hardy as the grizzled Max, although Charlize Theron steals the show as one-armed truck driver Imperator Furiosa. Read our review of Mad Max: Fury Road

02.11

The Best Supporting Actress Award goes to Alicia Vikander

Last year's Best Supporting Actor JK Simmons - much less scary when not in Whiplash - presented the Best Supporting Actress Award to Alicia Vikander, for her moving performance in The Danish Girl.
The Swedish actress was the breakout star of 2015 thanks to star turns in Ex Machina, Testament of Youth, The Man from UNCLE and this Tom Hooper-directed biopic. She played Gerda Wegener, an artist from Copenhagen whose husband (played by Best Actor nominee Eddie Redmayne) is Lili Elbe, one of the first people to undergo sex reassignment surgery.
Vikander's win is thororughly deserved - although, like her fellow nominee Rooney Mara, it would have made more sense if she'd have been nominated for Best Actress instead of Best Supporting: both her screen time, and contribution to the film, were more than equal to Redmayne's.
"I share this with our fabulous crew and cast. Eddie [Redmayne], thank for for being the best acting partner, I could never have done it without you, you raised my game," she said, as she accepted the award. "To my parents - thank you for giving me the belief anything can happen, even though I never would have believed this."

02:01

Sam Smith performs Writing's on the Wall, his Oscar-nominated song from Spectre

He was introduced by comedian Sarah Silverman, who used her intro to take a jab at some of the more ridiculous - and sexist - aspects of the Bond franchise.
 Not quite sure why Sam Smith was rocking from side to side like a metronome, or how Writing's On The Wall made it to the screen as an actual Bond anthem, but it sounded better up there than it does in the movie. A good performance of a bad song.

01:58

'Everyone will be talking about Chris Rock tomorrow'

 Any doubt about how much Chris Rock would hammer the diversity issue was put to rest approximately 0.003 seconds into his increasingly uproarious opening monologue. Was the very start just a little fudged, material-wise? Maybe. But his knockout riffs on 1960s civil rights struggles ("Swinging from trees, it's kind of hard to care about Best Documentary Short?") kicked it right up, and there were at least a couple of huge, dangerous laughs in every remaining minute. Crunchy and provocative, it's the thing everyone will be talking about tomorrow, and the most substantial intro to an Oscar ceremony in years. Extra points for the white tux.

01.52

Best Adapted Screenplay Award goes to The Big Short

The Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, presented by Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, has gone to Charles Randolph and Adam McKay for The Big Short, a portrait of the "weirdos" who profited from the 2008 financial collapse, based on the bestselling book by Michael Lewis. Read our review of The Big Short

01:45

Best Original Screenplay Award goes to Spotlight

Charlize Theron and Emily Blunt have presented the award for Best Original Screenplay to writer Josh Singer and Spotlight director Tom McCarthy, for Spotlight.
This gripping dramatisation of The Boston Globe’s investigation into child abuse in the Catholic Church stars Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo.
McCarthy, accepting for Best Original Screenplay for Spotlight, said: "We made this film for all those journalists who hold those accountable and for the survivors - we have to make sure this never happens again." Read our review of Spotlight

01:30

Chris Rock's opening monologue: how is Twitter reacting?

As expected, Rock jumped right into the #OscarSo White controversy, referring to the ceremony as the "White People's Choice Awards", and quipping: "if they nominated hosts, I wouldn't be doing this job".


"Ricky takes place in a world where white athletes are as good a sblack athletes," he later joked, in reference to the Rocky sequel Creed (which he dubbed "Black Rocky"). "Rocky is a science fiction movie."


Chris Rock softened his audience nicely by poking fun at the black protests before ripping into Hollywood mercilessly for its hypocrisy.
"Is Hollywood racist?" he asked, after pointing out that many white Hollywood liberals had openly supported President Barack Obama yet seemed reluctant to hire black actors. "You're damned rights its racist but not the racism you are accustomed to. Hollywood is sorority racist.....It's not about boycotting anything. It's that we want opportunity. We want black actors to get the same opportunity.

01:28

Sandy Powell mistaken for Tilda Swinton on the red carpet

British costume designer and nominee Sandy Powell paid tribute to the late, great, David Bowie at this year's Baftas, and it looks like she has done it again at the Oscars, sporting a green and metallic check print Ziggy Stardust-esque suit.
E!'s fashion panelists, including Giuliana Rancic and Kris Jenner, applauded this look as a brave alternative to the sea of princess gowns on the red carpet. But there was one problem, they talked about the suit and her red hair at length (for at least five minutes) thinking she was actress Tilda Swinton rather than the double-nominated costume designer.

01:23

The tension builds: just how hard-hitting is Chris Rock's opening monologue going to be?

Here's some thoughts from Telegraph film critic Tim Robey:
 In an Oscar year where a lot of major categories feel locked down, most of the narrative tension is down to how hard, how far, and how funny Chris Rock will go with the #OscarSoWhite controversy, especially in his opening monologue. Neil Patrick Harris threw out some quips in passing last year, and commiserated with David Oyelowo in the crowd. How determinedly will Rock push the Academy's guilt button?
And here's Rock earlier tonight - making sure his script is as mean and lean as possible.

01.03

Leo is here

All things considered, it'd probably be more newsworthy if Leo wasn't here.
Either way, the six-times nominee, hotly tipped to finally win this year, has delighted fans by reuniting with his Titanic co-star Kate Winslet, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in acclaimed biopic Steve Jobs.

DiCaprio, who has brought his mum with him, said: “I think we’re all nervous right now. It's the culmination of so much effort – it was really years in the making, in really tough conditions. I think Alejandro has achieved something that is transcendent. The truth of the matter Is that I feel blessed to do movies like this."

00:56

Charlotte Rampling hits the red carpet in Armani

Here's the verdict from our Fashion desk's Olivia Lidbury:
Back in January we mused whether nominee Charlotte Rampling was attending Giorgio Armani's Haute Couture show in Paris because she was in the hunt for a red carpet-worthy frock. Turns out she was doing just that: she's rocked up looking effortless in a blue and white long-sleeved gown with pocket details, embellished with small geometric patterns and Swarovski crystals. Her lithe figure lends itself to a straight dress and it's such a refreshing choice over a poufy frock.
 When Charlotte Rampling was overlooked in this year’s Bafta nominations, the collective groan from British film critics could have probably been heard inside the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Los Angeles – so it’s satisfying, if also slightly exasperating, that the Academy saw fit to set things right.
Rampling’s performance as a wife coming to terms with the true nature of her marriage in Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years is one of the great performances of the last 12 months, so it’s entirely right that she’s turned up in what may be the year’s most hotly contested category.

00:48

Leo deserves to win, says Alejandro Iñárritu

The Revenant director Alejandro González Iñárritu has told reporters, "No matter what happens, I will celebrate.” On DiCaprio, he added: “He worked like crazy. He deserves to win.”

00:40

Cate Blanchett has arrived

Here's Cate Blanchett, who is nominated for a Best Actress Award for her outstanding performance in Todd Haynes's Carol, which was probably one of the best film's of the year. (That's the same Carol that isn't nominated for Best Picture. We might have already mentioned that fact once or twice tonight.)
 Playing the eponymous Carol, an unhappy, divorcing woman who falls instantly in love with Rooney Mara’s department store assistant, Blanchett is an exquisite mass of juxtapositions: elegant and haughty; scared and vulnerable.

00:36

Best Actress nominee (and favourite to win) Brie Larson has arrived

 Rising indie queen Brie Larson is the favourite to win Best Actress. While she’s hugely affecting in Room as a mother forced to raise her child in a shed, Cate Blanchett’s turn in Carol is simply exquisite. She won’t win though: apparently the Academy isn’t that jazzed about Carol (unlike us, obviously).

00:30

Free chicken and tiramisu are up for grabs on the red carpet

Here's Robert Tait, with the latest from LA.
One big plus point of reporting from the Oscars over the conflict zones of the Middle East? The food: free handouts of sesame chicken and fresh tirimasu generally weren't on offer during the Gaza war or siege of Kobane!

00:22

Carol star Rooney Mara has arrived (but Twitter says she's weaing 'a table cloth')

 Next to arrive is Rooney Mara, nominated bizarrely for Best Supporting Actress (for Carol) when she has just as much screen time as Cate Blanchett (who’s up for Best Actress). She’s brilliant. More than holding her own against Blanchett, she's all doe-eyes and sullen lips as Carol’s callow maybe-girlfriend Therese Belivet.
Mara says that she and Blanchett "so proud of the film” - and that she plans to get “wasted” later on, regardless of whether she wins or not.

Over on Twitter (yes, that place) people are less worried about Rooney's lack of a Best Actress nomination, and more exercised about the actress's hairstyle and dress, which is being unfavourably compared to "a table cloth". (We still think she looks lovely.)



00:17

Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber have arrived

Naomi's glittering gown is by Armani.

00:03

Forget the red carpet: it's all about the Redmayne

Last year's Best Actor winner has arrived, accompanied by his wife Hannah Bagshawe.
Redmayne is also up for the Best Actor gong this year, for his heart-rending performance in The Danish Girl, in which he plays Lily Elbe, the first-ever person to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Despite the fact that his performance is both subtler, and perhaps more accomplished better than the winning one he gave last year (as physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything), Redmayne didn't eat any bison livers in the film, and is consequently not expected to win.

23.58

Saoirse Ronan is here - in sparkly green Calvin Klein

 Twenty-one-year-old Saoirse Ronan, nominated for Best Actress for Brooklyn, has arrived in Calvin Klein. The heart and soul of Nick Hornby’s screen translation of Colm Tóibin’s novel, she gives easily the most mature performance of her career as a young Irish woman persuaded to move to New York. Etched across her face is a captivating mix of youthful innocence and world weariness.
She also looks a bit like a mermaid tonight. Mermaids are great.

23.53

Daisy Ridley says it's 'amazing that Star Wars was recognised'

Star Wars: The Force Awakens actress Daisy Ridley has gone for Chanel, a move that hardly dispels the Keira Knightley comparisons.
Ridley says she is presenting an award tonight with someone “she likes very much”. As for the film's nomination for Best Visual Effects, she says, rather prosaically, “It’s amazing for the film to be recognised.”

23.43

George Miller is 'surprised' to be at the Oscars

Director George Miller, whose Mad Max is nominated for 10 Oscars, seems surprised to be there. “We never expected to be at the Oscars,” he said. “It’s not your typical Oscar movie. It’s an action movie it’s the fourth of a series. And it’s not a movie with a lot of dialogue. We might pick up two or three tonight.”

23:41

Nine-year-old Jacob Tremblay isn't just one of this year's most talented actors (you can read more about him in this piece by Patrick); he's also got some unfeasibly photogenic parents. Here he is en-route to the Oscars - looking absolutely adorable in a mini Armani suit.

Here's another picture of Jacob, on the carpet. Just because.

23.38

Alicia Vikander, Sofia Vergara and Sam Smith have arrived on the red carpet

Here's our fashion desk's Olivia Lidbury on Vikander's lemon-yellow dress:
One of the big-name nominees has already arrived, and she looks like a princess - or, as many are pointing out on social media, like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Olive-skinned Alicia Vikander is one of very few who can pull off a lemon-yellow gown adorned with crystals and not look like she's on her way to a kid's tea party. The Danish Girl star has been dressed by French fashion house Louis Vuitton in a custom-made gown that features a puffball, rise-and-fall hem.
Sam Smith, who is nominated for Best Original Song for his Writing's on The Wall (for Spectre)
Smith said: “It’s a chilled red carpet. We’re not drunk. We were drunk on the red carpet at the Golden Globes.” If he loses, he added, he’s going to go crazy. “I might punch someone,” he joked.
Sofia Vergara in Marchesa

23.30

Lady Gaga is 'rooting for Leo'

Their "tense" Golden Globes encounter has apparently been all but forgotten...

23:24

'Straight Outta Compton: Best Movie of the Year'

Here's the first Oscars report from 'our man in LA'.
The Telegraph's Los Angeles correspondent, Robert Tait, has arrived at the 2016 Oscars ceremony dressed very differently - if not necessarily more comfortably - from his standard attire during years of covering the Middle East.
On his way in on the mini bus provided by the ceremony organisers, he passed a protest against this year's all-white nominee list organised by Rev Al Sharpton's National Action Network. One protester held a placard reading: Straight Outta Compton. Best Movie of the Year. The protest seemed a modest affair, with many of those present in what looked like a vacant lot on a street corner several blocks from the Dollby Theatre appearing to work for television news networks. Rev Sharpton and his movement are calling on advertisers - who largely underwrite the lavishness of the ceremony - to boycott future awards until the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the major Hollywood studios honour pledges to provide greater racial diversity.

23:18

12,000 people to rally in support of Leonardo DiCaprio

Here's our trending expert Helena Horton, on how Leo's LOndon-based fans will be celebrating the actor's (probable) win tonight.
Twelve thousand people have signed up to a Leonardo DiCaprio support group on Facebook, and are declaring if he wins they will rally in Leicester Square in support of the Oscar-nominated actor.
To be honest, it would probably be more helpful to rally if he doesn't win, like a kind of vigil, as if he doesn't get the Oscar after all he went through in The Revenant, there really is no hope for him.
Leicester Square Odeon is hosting free screenings of Titanic tonight on a first come first served basis - and a Facebook group called If Leonardo DiCaprio wins the Oscar, everyone meet in Leicester Square, has 32,000 people interested and 12,000 people definitely attending.
This page has been set up to "support London's love for Leo" and purports to be from "The Odeon Team".
The cinema, in a cynical marketing stunt, has called itself The LeoDeon for the duration of the event.
It's unlikely all those people will fit in the cinema - but we're assuming there will be a Titanic rave in the square itself. We might pop down in the morning after our shift to enjoy the DiCaprio party!

23:06

Let's talk about dresses

Ahead of this year's main arrivals, our fashion gallery have put together a gallery of the best dresses of yester-year: from Gwyneth Paltrow in pink spaghetti straps (remember spaghetti straps? They're what we wore to school discos when we wanted to look "sexy") to Lupita Nyong'o in perfect, pale blue Prada.

22:43

Tonight's going to be a nail-biter

Here's some thoughts from our critic Robbie Collin on this year's three big contenders for Best Picture: The Revenant, The Big Short, and Spotlight. (Obviously, we're still hoping that Mad Max: Fury Road might still pull through and unexpectedly claim the top prize.)
 Though I don’t think this is a particularly strong year for Oscar contenders, it’s been one of the most exciting Oscar races for ages – because no single film has managed to pull far enough ahead of the pack for tonight’s main result to feel anything like a foregone conclusion.
Will The Revenant take top honours, and turn Alejandro González Iñárritu into the first filmmaker to direct back-to-back Best Picture-winners in Academy history? Very possibly.
But The Big Short’s crucial Producers’ Guild Award victory, Spotlight’s heroic awards-season endurance and the vagaries of the instant-runoff ballot, which prizes generally well-liked films over the love-‘em-or-hate-‘em sort, mean Iñárritu’s chances aren’t as strong as a lot of people seem to think.
However the rest of the ceremony plays out, this one’s going down to the wire. Which means whatever film you’re backing, tonight is going to be a nail-biter.

22:13

Your hosts for this evening have arrived

Expect perfectly-timed jokes and great rapport. Just like 2011 Oscars hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway.
Good evening. I’m Becki, and I’m mainly here to demonstrate the Telegraph’s commitment to equality: for the first time in Oscars history, our Academy Awards live blog is going to have a woman at the helm. (Don’t panic though, readers - my co-blogger Patrick is still a white, middle-aged man.)
On a serious note, the issue of diversity - and the #OscarSoWhite controversy - has dominated this year’s awards season. Several stars, including Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith and director Spike Lee, have boycotted the ceremony. They’re protesting both the lack of representation for minorities in this year’s nominations (our critic Tim Robey has a great piece on all the non-white performers who probably should have been nominated) and in the industry as a whole.
Others, such as Best Supporting Actor nominee and Spotlight star Mark Ruffalo, seriously considered not attending - Ruffalo later explained that he decided to go to show his support for the victims of the child abuse depicted in the film. The debate swiftly became heated: Best Actress nominee Charlotte Rampling famously got herself into trouble after she declared that the row was “racist to whites”.
We’d obviously boycott ourselves, if it weren’t for the fact that wedesperately need the clicks are a news organisation dedicated to quality, in-depth film coverage.

One man who definitely won’t be boycotting the awards, however, is liver-guzzling, bear-battling, horse-destroying Leonardo DiCaprio, star of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant. After a history of almost-wins - the actor was previously nominated for The Wolf of Wall Street, Blood Diamond, The Aviator and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? - the King of Near Misses finally has the lusted-after gong in his sights. Pretty much everyone is saying that 2016 is Leo’s year.
Obviously, like most people, we’re secretly hoping he won’t win. Mostly just because it’d be funny (and a bit of scahdenfreude is never a bad thing).
Leonardo DiCaprio - Crawl Like Skylar
 Middle-aged? Ha. Anyway, as you said Becki, all the talk leading up to this year’s Oscars has been about two things: the lack of diversity and Leo. We know that DiCaprio is a copper-bottomed certainty to win – he devoured a raw bison liver for goodness sake! – but what about Alejandro González Iñárritu?
The man behind The Revenant, who triumphed last year with Birdman, stands a very good chance of becoming the first recipient of back-to-back directing Oscars since Joseph L Mankiewicz, who won for A Letter to Three Wives and All About Eve in 1949/50. Should the Revenant win Best Pic, meanwhile, Iñárritu would also become the first director of back-to-back Best Picture winners in the Academy’s 88-year history. That’s a hell of an achievement - and yet there has been very little fanfare about him.
Speaking of Best Picture, I’m still gobsmacked that Carol, Todd Haynes’s gorgeous adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel, was so egregiously overlooked in the category. Consider the films up for the award - not one of them has the style, finesse, nuance, performances, splendour etc etc of Carol. I must get over this. But I fear, by 5.30am, I might have another rant in me. I’ll shut up now.

21:37

Just how #white are the Oscars?

As people have been pointing out on social media tonight, Oscars boycotts over a lack of diversity are nothing new:

21:07

The Revenant: your new favourite poem?

The Revenant looks set to win across the board tonight. You’ve seen the film, you’ve read the incredible true story that inspired it, and now you’re running out of Revenant-related fun to fill the hours until the Oscars. Why not read the poem? A 1915 epic by John Neihardt called The Song of Hugh Glass told the story of Leonardo DiCaprio’s fur-trapper character with even more grit and gusto than Inarritu’s film:
“Gray-bearded, gray of eye and crowned with gray
Was Glass. It seemed he never had been young;
[…] And hate in him was like a still, white hell.”
It’s chilling stuff. Alternatively, you could just play the Leonardo DiCaprio video-game. The choice is yours.
HELP LEO GET AN OSCAR - Leos Red Carpet Rampage

20:45

R2D2 and C-3PO crash the Oscars

John Boyega might have been snubbed in the nominations, but there's still a Star Wars presence at tonight's Oscars: it looks like our two favourite droids (and newcomer BB-8) have turned up early.

20:15

Celebrities: they're just like us

Yesterday, presenters at this year's ceremony rehearsed their lines. And look at them: snapping selfies, like a bunch of teenagers.
Here's Jennifer Garner and Benicio Del Toro leaning in for a snap. There was lots of love for Del Toro's performance in the Mexican drug-cartel drama Sicario, but no nomination.
(PIC: Rex Features)
And here's Kerry Washington, stealing a moment with Henry Cavill. God only knows what dreadful repartee the writers have dreamed up for them, but they look quite jolly at the moment.
(PIC: Rex Features)
If there's anyone who could fix the Oscars telecast, it's surely this woman: Tina Fey, saviour of the Golden Globes, pictured below with Steve Carell, star of the financial crash comedy and five-time nominee The Big Short.
(PIC: Rex Features)
Not that we don't have faith in Chris Rock, who'll be hosting tonight's ceremony. If you want to get a taste of what to expect from him, here's some of his funniest bits.

19:50

Could The Big Short beat The Revenant?

According to The Telegraph's Robbie Collin, Adam McKay's financial crisis comedy is the only film with a chance of beating The Revenant in the Best Picture category. Read our critics' full predictions for who will win tonight(and who actually deserves to).

19:25

In bed with Mark Ruffalo

Mark Ruffalo was still in bed well after 10am this morning. In between catching up on his beauty sleep, the Best Supporting Actor nomineeoffered his thoughts on what would happen at tonight's awards.

19:16

Chris Rock is juiced up and ready to go

Feeling peckish, Chris Rock has popped into his local McDonalds drive-thru for a portion of hot-cakes with sausage, and an orange juice.

If you want to know what the stars will be eating after the ceremony, have a look at these gorgeous photos from the Oscars Governors Ball (scroll down for a glimpse of an egg-shaped Oscars cocktail).

19:00

How long does it take to prepare for the red carpet?

Quite a long time, judging from this tweet sent by Joy Mangano, the inventor of the Miracle Mop, whose rags-to-riches life story was told in David O Russell's Joy. At 9:41 US time, more than six hours before she'll head down the red carpet, she was being attended to by these two gentlemen.

Mangano is played by Jennifer Lawrence in the movie, a performance that earned her a third Best Actress nomination. But Lawrence isn't the favourite to take the prize this year: read about her rivals in the category here.

18:30

Adele backs Leo

Yesterday Eddie Redmayne backed Leonardo DiCaprio to take the Best Actor gong for his role in The Revenant; today it's Adele's turn. The singer is a long-time fan of DiCaprio's, and sent her good wishes to him via a tweet referencing Titanic, which won 11 Oscars back in 1998.

The staircase was where DiCaprio's Jack and Kate Winslet's Rose were reunited in the afterlife at the end of the movie.
DiCaprio is the odds-on favourite to win this year. It would be his first victory after having been nominated five times previously.

18:00

And we're off!

The statuettes have been shined, the dresses have been pressed and the limos are waiting: it’s Oscars time!
W

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