Oscars 2019: ‘Green Book’ wins best picture at the 91st Annual Academy Awards

The crowd-pleasing Green Book won the Academy Award for best picture last night, edging out favorite Roma.

The movie tells the true story of the friendship that developed between black jazz musician Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and the racist driver (Viggo Mortensen) hired to take him through the South on a concert tour in the early 1960s.

“The whole story is about loving each other despite our differences,” said director Peter Farrelly, who also won best original screenplay, one of three awards Green Book won on the evening.

The picture had earned some criticism from the Shirley family for historical accuracy, but Academy voters were won over by its superb acting (Ali won best supporting actor), and good-humored approach — writer-director Farrelly built his long career in Hollywood making such broad comedies as There’s Something About Mary.

The movie’s win is bound to spark speculation that it benefited from the ranked-preference voting system that rewards popular movies and works against movies that are in some way polarizing (Roma, for instance, was produced by Netflix, the kind of streaming service that Hollywood regards as a threat to its theatrical-distribution business model).

But Green Book by no means swept. Oscar voters spread the love at the 91st Academy Awards last night, handing out multiple awards to Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, Roma, and Green Book and making history with ground-breaking awards for African American artists. Even a University of Pennsylvania sophomore’s film won an award.

Alfonso Cuaron won best director for Roma.

“Being here doesn’t get old,” said Cuaron, who also won for cinematography, and who directed the Oscar-winning Gravity. The film is his love letter to the loving housekeeper worker who raised him, and he dedicated the award to the world’s 70 million domestic workers.

Olivia Colman won best actress for her work as England’s 17th-century Queen Anne in the period drama The Favourite, as a monarch who played court rivals against one other. The film had been nominated for 10 awards, as many as best picture co-favorite Roma, but Colman’s was the only win for the movie. She nodded to fellow nominee Glenn Close, who had been favored to win for The Wife, and said accepting the best-actress statue was “not how I expected it to go.”

Rami Malek won the best-actor Oscar for his work as Freddie Mercury in the rock biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, the smash hit movie ($800 million) about the life and musical career of Queen’s lead singer, Freddie Mercury. Malek said that, as a first-generation immigrant, he connected with Mercury’s story, and said the movie’s success proves that audiences are hungry for similar stories.

“I may not have been the obvious choice,” said the first-time nominee, “but I guess it worked out.”

Malek had been in a tight race with Christian Bale, who played Dick Cheney in Vice, but won most of the important pre-Oscars awards, and surely benefited by the movie’s enormous popularity and crowd-pleasing appeal. The Oscar telecast opened with singer Adam Lambert leading surviving members of Queen in a medley of the band’s greatest hits. The movie also won for best sound editing, sound mixing, and film editing.

Ali won best supporting actor for Green Book, playing jazz artist Shirley. It’s the second Oscar for Ali, who previously won for his supporting work in Moonlight. The fact-based Green Book follows Shirley on a concert tour of the South in the early 1960s, during which Shirley changes the heart of his racist driver (Viggo Mortensen).

“I want to thank Dr. Shirley. Trying to capture his essence pushed me to my ends,” Ali said. He thanked writer-director Farrelly, who shared in Green Book’s win for best original screenplay.

Regina King won best supporting actress for If Beale Street Could Talk, playing a woman who fights ferociously to keep her prospective son-in-law out of prison. The movie, written and directed by Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) is based on the novel by James Baldwin, whom King praised in receiving the award.

“To be standing here representing one of the greatest artists of our time, James Baldwin, is a little surreal,” said King, who also thanked her mother, in the audience and the actress’ guest for the affair. To her mother she said, “Thanks for teaching me that God is always leaning in my direction.”

Period. End of Sentence won best documentary short subject. The film grew from a project initiated by Penn sophomore Claire Sliney, who learned of the obstacles that impoverished women around the world faced in obtaining sanitary napkins, and along with others raised nearly $50,000 to fund a means for women in India to produce their own safe and hygienic products. Skin won best short subject, live action.

Lady Gaga won for best song for A Star Is Born, which she performed with co-star and director Bradley Cooper. This was the lone award for A Star Is Born, which entered the evening with eight nominations.

“Thank you for believing in us,” she said to Cooper during the show.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won for best animated feature. Peter Ramsey, one of several directors on the popular film, was the first African American to win an award in his category. The award was shared by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who were pleased that the movie’s inclusive “anyone can wear the mask theme” was such a hit with audiences. Pixar’s Bao won for best animated short.

The award for best foreign-language film went to Roma, the ninth from Mexico to be nominated in this category and the first to win the Oscar. Director Cuaron, who made the movie in part as a tribute to the neighborhood in Mexico City where he grew up (as a lover of movies), accepted the award.

“I grew watching foreign-language films, like Citizen Kane, Jaws, Rashomon and The Godfather,” Cuaron joked.

Ruth E. Carter won for best costume design, becoming the first African American woman to win the award. She had previously been nominated for Spike Lee’s Malcolm X (1992), and also for Amistad.

“Wow, I got it! This has been a long time coming. Spike Lee, thank you for my start. I hope this makes you proud,” she said. She said the costume design in the movie was intended to show how empowered women "can look and lead on screen.”

Lee shared in the best adapted screenplay award for his contribution to BlacKkKlansman. It was his first win after five nominations. He said his opportunity to make the movie was the culmination of hundreds of years of sacrifice from his ancestors, and called on everyone to honor that legacy.

“Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let’s do the right thing. You knew I had to get that in there,” Lee said.

The success of Black Panther was historic in other ways. Hannah Beachler won best production design, becoming the first African American woman to win in this category. She thanked director Ryan Coogler for giving her a chance and for believing she could handle the massive job.

“I stand here with agency and self-worth because of Ryan Coogler,” said Beachler who also thanked her family, and Marvel Studios. Black Panther also won for best original score.

The early awards for Black Panther showed it would not be a sweep for Roma, but the black-and-white film did win best cinematography for director Cuaron. Bohemian Rhapsody, in fact, had much of the early momentum, winning for best editing, best sound editing, and for sound mixing — the technicians mixed the voices of actor Rami Malek and Freddie Mercury. First Man won best visual effects.

Free Solo scored a mild upset in the best-documentary-feature category, defeating favored RBG, the biography of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Free Solo follows climber and daredevil Alex Honnold as he scales, without ropes or assistance, the sheer, 3,000-foot face of El Capitan. The movie wowed critics and audience for its suspenseful if-he-slips-he-dies narrative and impressive cinematography.

Vice, which featured the remarkable transformation of Christian Bale into former Vice President Dick Cheney, won for best makeup and hair styling.

Best Picture Green Book (Universal) A Charles B. Wessler/Innisfree Pictures/Participant Media/DreamWorks Pictures Production; Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga, Producers

Best Director Alfonso Cuarón in Roma (Netflix)

Best Actress Olivia Colman in The Favourite (Fox Searchlight)

Best Actor Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody (20th Century Fox)

Best Supporting Actor Mahershala Ali in Green Book (Universal)

Best Supporting Actress Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk (Annapurna Pictures)

Best Original Song "Shallow” from A Star Is Born (Warner Bros.) Music and Lyrics by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt

Best Original Score Black Panther (Walt Disney)Music and Lyrics by Ludwig Goransson

Best Adapted Screenplay BlacKkKlansman (Focus Features) Written by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee

Best Original Screenplay Green Book (Universal) Written by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly

Achievement in Visual Effects First Man= (Universal) Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J.D. Schwalm

Best Documentary Short Subject Period. End of Sentence. (A Pad Project Production) Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton

Best Animated Short Film Bao (Walt Disney) A Pixar Animation Studios Production, Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb

Best Live Action Short Film Skin (Salaud Morisset) A New Native Pictures Production

Best Animated Feature Film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Sony Pictures Releasing) Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Best Foreign Language Film Roma (A Netflix/Participant Media/Esperanto-Filmoj Production)

Achievement in Sound Mixing Bohemian Rhapsody (20th Century Fox) Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali

Achievement in Sound Editing Bohemian Rhapsody (20th Century Fox) John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone

Achievement in Cinematography Alfonso Cuarón in Roma (Netflix)

Achievement in Production Design Black Panther (Walt Disney) Hannah Beachler, Jay Hart

Achievement in Film Editing Bohemian Rhapsody (20th Century Fox) John Ottman

Achievement in Costume Design Black Panther (Walt Disney) Ruth Carter

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling Vice (Annapurna Pictures) Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia DeHaney

Best Documentary Feature Free Solo (National Geographic) A National Geographic Documentary Films/Little Monster Films/Itinerant Media/Parkes+MacDonald/Image Nation Production