Oscars 2016: Spotlight, Larson & DiCaprio win

Feature by News Team | 29 Feb 2016

Spotlight wins best picture over bookies' favourites The Revenant and The Big Short, while Leonardo DiCaprio joins the Oscars club with his win for best actor.

Forget the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. This year’s Academy Awards were starting to look a little #OscarsSoBeige. A few months ago this was shaping up to be the most unpredictable Oscars in years, with The Revenant, The Big Short and Spotlight all looking to be in with a chance of Best Picture, but in the last few weeks the waters settled, with all Oscar pundits and bookies pointing to Alejandro González Iñárritu’s epic revenge film The Revenant as the likely winner. Those still hedging their bets suggested The Big Short – winner of the Producers Guild Association award, a key Best Picture indicator – was the dark horse.

But they were all wrong. Although it looked like The Revenant was marching to victory on the night, picking up awards for its cinematographer (Emmanuel Lubezki), its lead actor (Leonardo DiCaprio) and director (Iñárritu), Tom McCarthy's gripping ensemble piece Spotlight, which tells the story of the Boston Globe’s sensational 2002 exposé of sexual abuse in the Catholic church, swooped in to take the big prize.

This wasn’t the only surprise. The supporting actor categories proved the most difficult to predict, with Mark Rylance and Bridge of Spies winning over Sly Stallone for Creed, and Alicia Vikander winning for The Danish Girl over Kate Winslet for Steve Jobs.

It’s been a great year for Vikander, with her role in Ex Machina being one of the year’s highlights. That indie film also caused an upset of sorts too, beating sci-fi behemoths The Martian and Star Wars: The Force Awakens to the best visual effects prize.

Other categories went as expected, though. Lead actress went to Brie Larson for Room and Leonardo DiCaprio took home his first Oscar from his fifth nomination.

Overall Mad Max: Fury Road was the biggest winner, taking home six awards from ten nominations, including best editing, best costumes and best production design.

As for the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, it dominated event, but the Academy didn’t receive the public scalding from host Chris Rock as expected, with his most barbed jokes being aimed at the actors boycotting the Oscars: “Jada [Pinkett Smith] boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties... I wasn’t invited.”

The full list of winners are below.

BEST PICTURE

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

Brooklyn

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Room

Spotlight – WINNER

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo

Matt Damon, The Martian

Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant – WINNER

Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs

Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Cate Blanchett, Carol

Brie Larson, Room – WINNER

Jennifer Lawrence, Joy

Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years

Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Christian Bale, The Big Short

Tom Hardy, The Revenant

Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight

Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies – WINNER

Sylvester Stallone, Creed

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight

Rooney Mara, Carol

Rachel McAdams, Spotlight

Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl – WINNER

Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Anomalisa

Boy and the World

Inside Out – WINNER

Shaun the Sheep Movie

When Marnie Was There

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Carol

The Hateful Eight

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant – WINNER

Sicario

COSTUME DESIGN

Carol

Cinderella

The Danish Girl

Mad Max: Fury Road – WINNER

The Revenant

DIRECTING

The Big Short

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Revenant – WINNER

Room

Spotlight

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

Amy – WINNER

Cartel Land

The Look of Silence

What Happened, Miss Simone?

Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

Body Team 12

Chau, Beyond the Lines

Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah

A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness – WINNER

Last Day of Freedom

FILM EDITING

The Big Short

Mad Max: Fury Road – WINNER

The Revenant

Spotlight

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Embrace of the Serpent

Mustang

Son of Saul – WINNER

Theeb

A War

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Mad Max: Fury Road – WINNER

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

The Revenant

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Bridge of Spies

Carol

The Hateful Eight – WINNER

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

Earned It, Fifty Shades of Grey

Manta Ray, Racing Extinction

Simple Song #3, Youth

Til It Happens To You, The Hunting Ground

Writing’s On The Wall, Spectre – WINNER

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Bridge of Spies

The Danish Girl

Mad Max: Fury Road – WINNER

The Martian

The Revenant

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

Bear Story – WINNER

Prologue

Sanjay’s Super Team

We Can’t Live without Cosmos

World of Tomorrow

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

Ave Maria

Day One

Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)

Shok

Stutterer – WINNER

SOUND EDITING

Mad Max: Fury Road – WINNER

The Martian

The Revenant

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

SOUND MIXING

Bridge of Spies

Mad Max: Fury Road – WINNER

The Martian

The Revenant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

VISUAL EFFECTS

Ex Machina – WINNER

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

The Big Short – WINNER

Brooklyn

Carol

The Martian

Room

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

Bridge of Spies

Ex Machina

Inside Out

Spotlight – WINNER

Straight Outta Compton