Everything Everywhere All At Once has made history at the Oscars, winning three acting awards and the night’s big prize, for best picture.
The multiverse sci-fi comedy took home seven awards in total, with gongs for stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis, as well as the directing prize for Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, aka “the Daniels”.
Other big winners included Brendan Fraser, who was named best actor for his performance as a reclusive, morbidly obese teacher in The Whale, while German anti-war epic All Quiet On The Western Front picked up four awards, including best international feature and cinematography.
Everything Everywhere cleans up and stars head for after party – Oscars live updates
Despite going into the ceremony with nine nominations, it was a disappointing evening for The Banshees Of Inisherin, which left empty-handed – as did Austin Butler’s Elvis, which had eight nods. Meanwhile, the three blockbuster sequels – Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way Of Water and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – were all honoured, taking home an award apiece.
But the night belonged to a film about laundry, taxes and exploring other universes – Everything Everywhere All At Once
Yeoh’s best actress win makes her the first Asian woman to win the award in 95 years of the Oscars. Addressing all the women watching, the 60-year-old said: “Ladies, never let anyone tell you you are past your prime.”
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She fought off competition from two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, Ana De Armas, Andrea Riseborough and Michelle Williams to win the award.
“For all the little boys and girls who look like me, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities,” she said in her acceptance speech. “Dream big, dreams do come true.”
She dedicated the award to her mother – who was pictured cheering her victory in Malaysia – and “all the mums in the world because they are really the superheroes and without them none of us would be here tonight”.
Yeoh added: “This is history in the making.”
From Goonie to Oscar winner
Former child star Quan, who appeared in The Goonies and Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom in the 1980s, was reunited with his old pal Dr Jones when the Everything Everywhere cast took to the stage to pick up the best film award from none other than Harrison Ford.
Earlier in the night, he received a standing ovation as he accepted the award for best supporting actor, telling the audience: “My mom is 84 years old and she is at home watching. Ma, I just won an Oscar!”
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Quan told how his story “started on a boat” and that, after spending a year in a refugee camp, “somehow I ended up here on Hollywood’s biggest stage”.
He continued: “They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe this is happening to me – this is the American dream.”
‘We just won an Oscar together’
For Curtis, 64, the win was about all the people who have supported her along the way.
“I know it looks like I am standing up here on my own but I am not,” she said, getting emotional on stage. “There are hundreds of people and hundreds of people – we just won an Oscar…
“To all of the people who have supported the genre movies that I have made for hundreds and hundreds of thousands – we just won an Oscar together.”
Fraser’s win completed a dramatic career comeback after years out of the spotlight, with the actor taking the prize ahead of Butler, for Elvis; Colin Farrell, for The Banshees of Inisherin; Paul Mescal, for Aftersun; and Bill Nighy, for Living. The Mummy star was also emotional as he accepted his award, thanking The Whale director Darren Aronofsky for “throwing me a creative lifeline”.
‘If anyone commits an act of violence…’
Elsewhere, costume designer Ruth E Carter became the first African-American to win two Oscars for best costume design – for her work on the first Black Panther film and now its sequel, Wakanda Forever.
The award for best documentary feature film went to Navalny, about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the events related to his 2020 poisoning.
Comedian Jimmy Kimmel, hosting for the third time, kicked off the night by entering the stage attached to a parachute, in a nod to best picture nominee Top Gun: Maverick.
He also made reference to last year’s slap by Will Smith pretty early on in his opening speech. “If anyone in this theatre commits an act of violence at any point during the show, you will be awarded the Oscar for best actor,” he joked.
“No, but seriously the Academy have a crisis team in place, if anything unpredictable or violent happens during the ceremony, just do what you did last year – nothing. Maybe even give the assailant a hug.”
Four British wins
It wasn’t the most successful Oscars for British talent, with four awards – the lowest tally since 2017, when the UK came away with just a single prize.
The UK winners included James Friend, who picked up the cinematography award for his work on the First World War film All Quiet On The Western Front, and An Irish Goodbye, which was shot entirely on location in Northern Ireland, was named best short film.
Best animated short film went to The Boy, The Mole, The Fox & The Horse, a UK-US co-production, while the award for best sound went to the team who worked on Top Gun: Maverick, which included British talent Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor.
Rihanna and Lady Gaga were both up for the best song award, for tracks in the Black Panther and Top Gun sequels respectively, and both performed on the night. However, they lost out to Naatu Naatu, from the film RRR, making it the first song from an Indian film to take the prize.
This year’s Academy Awards carpet looked a little different to previous years, with organisers swapping the traditional red for a champagne colour, apparently to allow all the outfits to stand out more.