Academy Awards (Oscars)

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      Oscars Gets Higher Ratings Than Last Year’s Academy Awards

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      The Academy Awards on Sunday night drew a larger audience than last year, when viewership plunged to an all-time low, but interest remained depressed amid disruptions to television- and movie-watching habits.The 94th edition of the awards show attracted 15.4 million viewers on ABC and a 3.2 rating among adults between 18 and 49 years old, according to a preliminary report from Nielsen released to ABC on Monday. The early results showed a 56 percent improvement on the 9.85 million people who watched last year’s event, according to ABC, though the show was still the second-least-watched Oscars ever on record.Initial viewership figures evolve in the days after the show to factor in West Coast audiences as well as out-of-home and livestream viewing.The telecast took a bizarre turn more than two hours in, when Will Smith strode onstage and slapped Chris Rock in the face for telling a joke about his wife. Mr. Smith then returned to his seat, and less than an hour later, he won the best actor prize.The early data did not indicate whether there was a surge in viewership after the slap, which immediately ricocheted around the internet.Organizers have been desperate to reverse a yearslong ratings slide for the Oscars, which saw viewership last year plummet 58 percent. To perk up interest, they hired the comics Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes to host a show that had been hostless since 2019; relegated some awards to a pretaped segment to hurry along what still clocked in at more than 3.5 hours; and invited fans to vote on Twitter for their favorite film (Zack Snyder’s “Army of the Dead”).The broadcast hit its peak in 1998, when 55.2 million viewers tuned in to watch “Titanic” sweep the awards, and has struggled to retain its cultural relevance since. Awards shows took an additional hit during the pandemic but had already been facing criticism for being too white, too long, too politicized and too boring. Viewership for the Grammy Awards, which will be held this weekend, slumped 53 percent to a new low last year; NBCUniversal declined to even broadcast this year’s Golden Globes.Mr. Smith’s attack happened after Mr. Rock, who was handing out the award for best documentary, joked about Mr. Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and her closely cropped hair.“Jada, I love you — ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it, all right?,” he said, referencing the 1997 film ‘G.I. Jane,’ which featured Demi Moore sporting a buzz cut.The joke prompted an eye roll from Ms. Pinkett Smith, who has been vocal about her struggles with alopecia, a condition that leads to hair loss. Mr. Smith then marched onto the stage, slapped Mr. Rock, turned around and returned to his front-row seat. Then, using an obscenity, he yelled at the comedian to stop speaking about Ms. Pinkett Smith.The slap appeared onscreen, but many viewers in the United States did not hear Mr. Smith shout at Mr. Rock because ABC cut the sound. That left many viewers initially wondering if the attack was real or a skit. Uncensored clips soon shot around the internet, leaving no doubt that it was real.Mr. Smith won best actor for his role in “King Richard.”Ruth Fremson/The New York TimesForty minutes later, Mr. Smith won the best actor trophy for his role in “King Richard.”He returned to the stage to receive the award — his first — and delivered an emotional speech apologizing to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and to his fellow nominees, but not to Mr. Rock.“I hope the academy invites me back,” he said at the end of his speech.The outburst divided Hollywood. The academy said it “condemns the actions of Mr. Smith” and that it was starting an inquiry. The actor Mark Hamill called it the ugliest Oscars moment, while the comedian Kathy Griffin said it was “very bad practice.”Tiffany Haddish, a comedian who co-starred with Ms. Pinkett Smith in the film “Girls Trip,” described Mr. Smith’s protective display as “the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” Piers Morgan, the British television host, wrote that he felt “moved to defend” Mr. Smith.Ariana DeBose, Troy Kotsur and Jessica Chastain with their Oscar statues on Sunday night.Noel West for The New York TimesThe confrontation jolted a broadcast whose most exciting moments earlier had included historic acting wins by Ariana DeBose of “West Side Story” and Troy Kotsur of “CODA” and a surprise appearance by the rapper Megan Thee Stallion in a performance “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” the hit from “Encanto,” which won best animated feature.Despite being aired on a broadcast network, the night underscored the upheaval to theatergoing and traditional television caused by streaming services and online platforms.“CODA,” which featured Mr. Kotsur as a deaf fisherman trying to relate to his hearing daughter and was snapped up by Apple TV+ for $25 million after debuting at the Sundance Film Festival last year, was the first film from a streaming service to win a best picture Oscar. Jane Campion, the director of Netflix’s “Power of the Dog,” beat out Steven Spielberg, who directed “West Side Story,” to claim the directing trophy.But the Oscars telecast continued to draw advertising attention. ABC sold out of spots for commercials the week before the show, which featured ads from Crypto.com, Pfizer, Rolex, Verizon and more. Many companies also tried to take advantage of the altercation between Mr. Smith and Mr. Rock by posting memes of the slap, to which marketing experts reacted with dismay. More

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      Will Smith Attends the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscars Party

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      Inside the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscars Party32 PhotosView Slide Show ›Hunter Abrams for The New York TimesBEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — “In 20 years of coming, this is the most fun I’ve ever had,” Adrien Brody, the Oscar-winning actor, said at Vanity Fair’s annual Oscars party on Sunday. “I had real conversations, about politics, life and art.’’For a change at this annual convening of industry luminaries real conversation was all but unavoidable. The primary reason was the train wreck that was Will Smith slapping Chris Rock onstage.“That moment, I can’t talk about it,” said Amy Schumer, who hosted the Oscars with Wanda Sykes and Regina Hall, after chatting with Larry David just outside the tented dance floor. “It was such a big deal and I’m still processing it, and I have to be so careful,” she added, before turning to a cluster of friends for a lifeline. “Somebody get me to stop talking.”It has been nearly 40 years since Tina Brown, the former Vanity Fair editor, conceived of a party that would steal the thunder from Swifty Lazar’s Oscar wingding. Mr. Lazar not only knew how to rope in the stars, Ms. Brown observed in her published diaries. He also domesticated a “menagerie” that attended on his terms or not at all.Trevor Noah, left, greeted Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith at the Vanity Fair Oscars party.Kevin Mazur/WireImage, via Getty ImagesWhen a celebrity of Mr. Smith’s stature acts out in public, it is more than a source of clucking editorials and viral memes. It’s a threat to the fiction of show-business kumbaya. This year’s Vanity Fair party, then, had something of the air of a celebrity campfire circle. Other Oscar parties — such as one given by Madonna and Guy Oseary — may be more intimate and exclusive, but nothing tops Vanity Fair for sheer boldface volume.And so for a few late-night hours in a series of tents, gardens and outdoor lounges at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, the most famous people on the planet mingled, danced, drank and smoked (weed mostly), and proved what a great leveler celebrity can be. It is a universally established truth in Hollywood that at, a certain level of fame, everyone is your best friend.To reach the sanctum, invited guests had to pass through a series of security checkpoints (negative PCR test results were required) and a blue carpet lined with shouting photographers. Some luminous glow worms, including Billie Eilish, Pedro Almodóvar and Jessica Chastain (wearing an emerald-green Gucci dress that evoked Ariel in “The Little Mermaid”), were then immediately diverted to a private studio where Mark Seliger shot their formal portraits.Riz Ahmed, left, and Aziz Ansari.Kevin Mazur/WireImage, via Getty ImagesOthers processed directly into the actual party, where cameras phones and other recording devices had been strictly forbidden. Surprisingly few people flouted the no-phone rules to capture such theatrical moments as Kathy Hilton dancing with Marjorie Gubelmann, a.k.a. DJ Mad Marj, or Bill Murray wearing a jaunty beret, dancing alone.If they stuck around past midnight, they would have caught Will Smith, seemingly unruffled by the controversy he had just stirred up, accompanied by his wife and children, and shimmying to “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It.”They would also have snagged Serena Williams towering over the crowd in a silver minidress, and Zendaya standing beside a potted palm tree and locked in conversation with Timothée Chalamet, both surrounded by a nimbus of marijuana smoke exhaled by an acquaintance.They would have seen Jason Bateman locked in a bro-hug with Kevin Bacon; Jon Hamm momentarily alone near the men’s room looking forlorn as a pound puppy; Kristen Stewart wafting along in a floor-length black lace dress; and Zoë Kravitz chain smoking Marlboros.They would have caught Sarah Paulson shouting, “Dog! Dog! Dog!,” as she shoved past Kate Hudson and Chris Pine to pet a stranger’s fluffy white pooch.From left: Billie Eilish, Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin Bacon, Rami Malek and Alana Haim.Kevin Mazur/WireImage, via Getty ImagesIn the Before Times, it was customary for the most famous to dutifully work the red carpet and make a glad-handing circuit or two, before slipping out to another, presumably better party.Midnight was the traditional witching hour. This time around the mood was more convivial, and for obvious reasons. Two years of separation has taken its toll on the celebrity herd.“People are genuinely happy to see each other again,” said Georgina Chapman, the fashion designer, as partygoers pressed against each other so tightly on their way to one of the tequila bars that it was easy to forget such a thing as social distancing ever existed.“Of course,” Ms. Chapman added, “next week we’ll all get Covid.’” More

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      Does the Academy Hate Movies? Our Critics on the 2022 Oscars.

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      Whatever you make of the slap, the telecast as a whole was a frustrating night of television that seemed based on a misunderstanding of what makes films great.Our chief film critics reflect on an Oscar night that went pretty much as expected — until it didn’t.A.O. SCOTT “The greatest night in the history of television,” said Chris Rock, a few seconds after Will Smith slapped him. Not a bad off-the-cuff punchline (so to speak). But until that moment — and Smith’s tearful, unrehearsed acceptance speech when he won best actor a short time later — it had been a dull and frustrating evening of television. Few surprises in any category (except maybe when “Belfast” won for original screenplay). Sentimentality triumphing over craft (except when Jane Campion won best director). A gnawing sense that the academy doesn’t understand movies, and maybe even hates them.MANOHLA DARGIS Bingo! Mind you, I don’t think the academy and its roughly 10,000 members hate movies; they just sometimes have really terrible taste, like everyone else, except you and me. But I think that as a TV show, the Oscars absolutely have contempt for the art, as the unfunny jokes about the hosts not finishing “The Power of the Dog” underscored.SCOTT The slap did not dispel any of that, but it did distract Twitter, which convulsed with takes about what it meant. We can get to that (or not!), but for the moment I want to stick with the question of what kind of television this was. American viewers did not actually see it on their screens. When the image froze, I thought my laptop had crashed, and it was only when people started posting uncensored video from Australian and Japanese broadcasts that anyone here knew what had happened. During Smith’s speech, the cameras cut away to Venus and Serena Williams, and then to the Oscars logo. Here was a spontaneous, complicated, emotionally intense moment — serving up more raw and painful human drama than “CODA,” “Belfast” and “King Richard” combined — and ABC just could not deal with it.DARGIS To be uncharacteristically fair about my favorite hate-watch, ABC wasn’t alone in not being able to deal. Initially, when ABC cut off Smith’s rebuke to Rock, I thought that the janky antenna that I use the rare times I watch broadcast TV had failed. Like a lot of people, I don’t watch as much traditional TV as I once did, which is part of the show’s and ABC’s intractable problem. That the network or the Oscar producers, or both, lost their nerve wasn’t surprising given that they’d already failed by not presenting some of the essential awards live.Will Smith’s slapping Chris Rock clearly overshadowed the evening.Ruth Fremson/The New York TimesSCOTT The way the “below-the-line” awards were banished to an earlier, pre-broadcast ceremony and then spliced into the main event was nonsensical. Are the acceptance speeches of cinematographers and costume designers inherently more telegenic than those of composers and editors? As it happens, Jenny Beavan, winning her third costume Oscar (for “Cruella”), was glamorous and genuine and funny, and her celebration of craft and professionalism represents the best of the Oscars. So do the honorary awards, which were held Friday night and featured Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson hugging and cracking each other up as Washington presented Jackson with his trophy. Why wouldn’t the TV audience want to see that?DARGIS Even so, this year’s event started off pretty OK, particularly given horrific world events. One of the three hosts, Regina Hall, deftly handled the bit about administering faux Covid tests to some of the men in the room, even as the camera focused on her rear. It was stupid Oscar shtick — surprise — yet as it went on (and on), I kept thinking about the fact that the United States alone is approaching one million pandemic deaths. I’m not sure how the show could have addressed Covid’s grievous toll, but asking for a moment of silence, of all things — as it did with Ukraine — might have been worse.Of course now all the focus is on the slap, which was embarrassing and very sad. Smith seems to be going through something deeply complicated, to the point that he sabotaged his own triumph. As for the rest of the show, it lacked dramatic shape and momentum, partly because those canned awards would have given the live event more tension and emotion. There was no buildup, just bits … and an obituary musical number. Among other things, the show didn’t give viewers a coherent point of focus, the way it has when Jack Nicholson or Meryl Streep sat front and center representing the art and industry, a place that this year should have been reserved for Denzel Washington, who looked mighty uncomfortable in that chair.SCOTT The endless pre-Oscar hand-wringing about how to shore up ratings and make the show more relevant demonstrates a lack of confidence that was very much in evidence last night. The hosts were fine. The movies that won were fine.Except for those idiotic “fan” awards. They were, somewhat hilariously, hijacked by the Zack Snyder Twitter militia. The most memorable movie moment (of all time? of the century? it was hard to tell) is supposedly that scene from “Justice League” when Flash enters the Speed Force. And the most popular movie (of 2021) was “Army of the Dead,” which beat other curiosities like “Cinderella” and “Minimata.”Is this the death of cinema?DARGIS LOL. (Also: Did you see “Minimata”?) The Oscars are a TV show, and while they reflect certain industry trends, like the transformation of the big studios, they don’t have much to do with cinema, which is doing just fine, as you and I keep saying and writing and muttering. The Oscars generated lower ratings and angry snark when independent films like “Breaking the Waves” and “Secrets & Lies” received nominations in 1997 — “The English Patient” swept, winning best picture — only to rebound with “Titanic” the next year.SCOTT The more things change, the more they stay the same. One thing that has gotten worse is the unfortunate journalistic habit of equating the state of the Oscars with the state of movies. Even when television is great, the Emmys are terrible. Nobody seriously thinks that bad Grammy Awards spell the death of pop music, or that a given year’s National Book Awards reveal much about the health of literature. But movie journalism has elevated the Oscars to a position of absurd importance.“CODA” was the first Sundance premiere to win best picture.Ruth Fremson/The New York TimesDARGIS As an epic-sized commercial for movies, the Oscars just don’t often make good television. That’s kind of funny-strange given how many movies look like TV, which means it’s time to bring up Apple TV+’s “CODA.” It’s hard to believe it would have won best picture if voters had been forced to watch it on the big screen, though maybe it would have. It’s a nice, little, pedestrian heart-tugger, so it fits perfectly on TV. It’s the kind of movie that we’ve seen repeatedly at Sundance; but it isn’t the kind that inspires colleagues to proselytize about it the way they did with, say, “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” But that’s the Oscars, right? One year, “Moonlight” wins; two years later, “Green Book” does — and then, boom, “Parasite” wins.SCOTT “CODA” is the first best picture winner to premiere at Sundance, as well as the first to be distributed by a streaming service. It also won all of the three categories in which it was nominated, none of which were for lead performances or technical achievements, making it a fascinating outlier. Its victories — especially Troy Kotsur’s supporting actor win, a wonderful Oscar-night moment — are part of the academy’s continuing efforts to present a more diverse, inclusive face to the world.And it’s worth pointing out that the 94th Oscars were not so white, or so male, as most of their precursors. For the second year in a row — and the third time ever — the best director is a woman. The best picture was directed by a (different) woman. The best documentary feature is the work of a Black filmmaker, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. The best supporting actress, Ariana DeBose, is the first openly queer woman of color to win an acting Oscar. You and I have been covering Hollywood long enough to be wary of overstating its progress or believing its promises, but I also wonder if the defensiveness and insecurity that surround the Oscar broadcast amounts to a form of backlash.DARGIS Both Kotsur’s and DeBose’s acceptance speeches were lovely, and each offered moments of grace during an otherwise often awkward, poorly paced slog of three and a half hours, plus change. As to your wondering if the increasing diversity of the awards winners has provoked a backlash — well, yeah, I bet! The movie industry is changing and is no longer the citadel of white male power that it once was. At the same time, the old guard is holding strong and the Oscars often seem more like aspirational visions of the industry rather than its reality.SCOTT Aspirational and also, as we saw last night, wildly dysfunctional. That’s entertainment! More

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      Will Smith Hits Chris Rock at the Oscars. Here’s What We Know.

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      In an apparently unscripted moment that stunned viewers and audience members alike, Will Smith strode onstage and hit Chris Rock in the face after the comedian made a joke about the actor’s wife while presenting the best documentary award at the Oscars.Rock joked that Smith’s wife, the actress Jada Pinkett Smith, was in “G.I. Jane 2,” seemingly a reference to her short-cropped hair. Pinkett Smith has said she has alopecia, a condition that leads to hair loss.Smith yelled and cursed at Rock after returning to his seat, demanding that Rock not speak about his wife.During the heated exchange, the telecast went silent on many screens, leaving confusion about what had happened and what had been said.Rock, a presenter at the show, had been firing off jokes during a mini-monologue when he got around to actors and their spouses.“Javier Bardem and his wife are both nominated,” Rock said. “Now, if she loses, he can’t win.”“He is praying that Will Smith wins, like, please, lord,” Rock continued. “Jada, I love you. ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it, all right?”The camera panned to Smith, who appeared initially to be smiling. But the joke drew a lukewarm reception, prompting Rock to add: “That was a nice one!”Jada Pinkett Smith immediately rolled her eyes at the joke. Pinkett Smith has been open about her alopecia, posting a video on Instagram last year to explain how the hair loss had progressed. She first shared the diagnosis in 2018 on an episode of her talk show, when she said she had decided to cut her hair short after handfuls of it came out in the shower. On Sunday, after Rock spoke, her husband was soon out of his seat. Smith walked down the runway toward the stage.“Uh-oh,” Rock said. Smith approached, and hit Rock; the impact could be heard through his microphone.Uncensored broadcasts of the telecast outside the United States showed that after being struck, Rock, trying to keep the mood light, acknowledged that Smith had “smacked” him, using an expletive to describe how hard he had been hit.Back in his seat, Smith told Rock: “Keep my wife’s name out your fucking mouth!”Rock responded, “Wow dude, it was a ‘G.I. Jane’ joke.”Smith then repeated his demand.Looking shocked, Rock said, “That was the greatest night in the history of television,” then moved on to awarding the Oscar for documentary feature to “Summer of Soul.”Soon after, Smith won the Oscar for best actor, and he gave an emotional speech in which he said: “I want to apologize to the academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees.”At the end of his speech, Will Smith added: “Thank you. I hope the academy invites me back.”The academy later issued a statement on Twitter that mentioned neither Smith nor Rock, but said “The academy does not condone violence of any form.”In a statement after the evening’s telecast had concluded, the Los Angeles Police Department said it was aware of what it said was an incident involving “one individual slapping another” at the Oscars. The police said the person involved had “declined to file a police report.”“If the involved party desires a police report at a later date,” the police said, they would move forward and “complete an investigative report.” More

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      Inside the 2022 Oscar Governors Ball

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      Ariana DeBose with her Oscar for best supporting actress.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesJessica Chastain with her best actress award.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesThe stars of ”CODA,” which won best picture, from left: Amy Forsyth, Daniel Durant, Eugenio Derbez, Emilia Jones, Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesThe Governors Ball is the first stop of the final night of an exhausting and bitter award season, where nominees, both winners and losers, can finally breathe, thankful that their months of staying on brand and on message has come to a close.It takes place just a few escalators up from the Ray Dolby Ballroom itself, a short ride that in most years helps give the party a rarefied feel. Not this year, when all anyone could talk about was the slap seen around the world. It was top of mind for most conversations.“It hijacked the night,” “It was like watching a car crash in real time,” were just some comments uttered by guests.Yet not all of the ball’s attendees let the incident ruin their celebration. Anthony Hopkins, who had the dubious honor of winning best actor in 2020 when everyone thought it was going to Chadwick Boseman, took to a relatively empty dance floor with his wife for an energetic salsa.The scene at the Governors Ball. Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesQueen Latifah and Regina Hall, right, who hosted this year’s Oscars.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesJacob Elordi of “Euphoria.”Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesIt was a stark contrast to the Apple team, who skedaddled before you could say “truffle mac ‘n’ cheese.” Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, the Apple executives who oversaw the release of “CODA,” which won for best picture, left early with Tim Cook, the Apple chief executive who attended the ceremony for the first time.The team at Netflix, which was nominated for 27 Oscars and won only one, partied like they were the belles of the ball. Ted Sarandos, the co-chief executive of Netflix, belted out the lyrics to “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” while his marketing associate Albert Tello mugged with Jane Campion’s best director Oscar for “The Power of the Dog.” Ms. Campion swayed with Lisa Nishimura, another Netflix executive, while D.J. D-Nice kept the tunes going.Ari Wegner, who lost out on making history as the first female cinematographer to win an Oscar, didn’t appear worse for wear, thrilled that Ms. Campion nabbed the prize. “All of our nominations are her,” Ms. Wegner said, adding that if it weren’t for Ms. Campion, none of them would have been in that room. “I have nothing at all to complain about.”Kenneth Branagh, left, and Francis Ford Coppola.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesJane Campion with her Oscar for best director.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesBenedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesMs. Wegner, who had been in the United States for over a month campaigning, was eager to get back to her home in Australia, comparing the campaign season to being on a movie shoot. “You have no agency over your life for a bit,” she said with a pause. “I would happily do it again.”D-Nice’s tunes got the cast of “Power of the Dog” onto the dance floor, including Kodi Smit-McPhee, who was holding a rose — either a deliberate or inadvertent nod to his character.Benedict Cumberbatch found his parents on a couple of high-backed stools, gave them a kiss and escorted them out. It may have served as the cue to leave.Moments later Ms. Campion began her exit, parting the dance floors with people on either side chanting “Jane, Jane, Jane.” She held up her Oscar in triumph and waltzed out the door.From left: Maya Rudolph, Renate Reinsve and Bill Murray.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesTed Sarandos, the chief executive of Netflix.Krista Schlueter for The New York TimesFrom left: Billie Eilish, Questlove and Finneas O’Connell.Krista Schlueter for The New York Times More

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      Billie Eilish and Her Brother Finneas Win Oscar for Best Song

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      “No Time to Die,” from the James Bond film of the same name, took home the Oscar for best song. The accolade is the first Oscar win for Billie Eilish and Finneas, the brother and sister team who co-wrote the track. The song made Eilish the youngest artist ever to record a Bond theme.“This is the first song I know Daniel’s opinion of, of ours,” Finneas told the BBC, referring to the movie’s star, Daniel Craig, who has said this is his last turn in the role. “If Daniel doesn’t like it, you don’t get the job.”The previous two Bond themes also won Oscars, for Adele (“Skyfall”) and Sam Smith (“Writing’s on the Wall,” from “Spectre”).Last fall, Finneas spoke to The New York Times about recording the Bond theme with Eilish, the composers Hans Zimmer and Johnny Marr, and others at Air Studios, a 19th-century former church, in London. After he and his sister wrote the song, Finneas said they linked up with Zimmer, who has two Oscars (including one he earned on Sunday for “Dune”), to produce it.“I was very prepared for him to go, ‘I’ve scored every movie ever made, I know exactly what to do — shut up, listen to me.’ You know, I would’ve been really understanding,” Finneas said. “I would’ve been like, ‘Yeah, he knows more than me, of course.’”Instead, he recounted, Zimmer welcomed their musical ideas. “What do you guys want? I’ll tell you what I think, I think what’s great is how intimate Billie’s voice sounds, and I definitely don’t want to get in the way of that,” Finneas recalled Zimmer telling them. “‘Maybe it should build at the end. What do you guys think?’”Zimmer’s openness and the deep relationship he has with his orchestra members — some of whom have played with him for decades — impressed Finneas. “I was like, man, I hope if I get to have a career as long as Hans, I am the way he is when I’m his age,” said Finneas, who is 24. To be “deep into your illustrious, successful career, and have these brand-new kids come in and show as much deference as he did — I was really floored by that.” More

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      Will Smith’s Full Oscars Speech for Best Actor 

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      Will Smith, who started his acting career in 1990 in an after-school special on ABC and became one of Hollywood’s most bankable and prolific action stars and producers, finally achieved the one thing that had always eluded him: He won an Oscar.Moments earlier, Smith had brought the ceremony to an awkward standstill by striding onstage from his seat and — in what at first seemed like a preplanned bit — hitting Chris Rock, who had just cracked a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. (“Jada, I love you. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait,” Rock had said, an apparent reference to her short-cropped hair.)Smith then returned to his seat and angrily shouted twice at Rock to not utter his wife’s name, using an expletive that was bleeped by ABC. A rattled Rock tried to regain his composure, and a stunned audience, both in the theater and at home, tried to figure out what happened. “Right now, we’re moving on with love,” Sean Combs said, arriving onstage soon afterward to introduce a celebratory montage from “The Godfather.”Smith was celebrated for his performance in “King Richard” as the fiery, flawed coach and father of the tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams — mirroring best actor wins at major film awards ceremonies this year, including the Critics Choice Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.“Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family,” an emotional Smith said in his acceptance speech. “In this time in my life, in this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world.”He went on to apologize to the academy and to his fellow nominees, but not to Rock. “This is a beautiful moment,” Smith said. “And I’m not crying for winning an award. It’s not about winning an award for me, it’s about being able to shine a light on all of the people.”Smith was previously nominated for best actor in 2007 for “The Pursuit of Happyness” and in 2002 for “Ali.” Rather incredibly, given the lack of diversity in the movie business, he lost to a Black actor in both instances: first to Denzel Washington and then to Forest Whitaker.In 2016, however, Smith became part of the #OscarsSoWhite movement. After nominating only white actors and actresses for its awards in 2015, drawing widespread criticism, the academy did it again the next year — overlooking performances like the one Smith gave in “Concussion.” Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, was outspoken about what many people saw as an urgent need for the academy to become more inclusive. Smith was less pointed in his criticism, but joined her in a boycott of the ceremony. In the years since, the academy has dramatically expanded its voting membership.Also nominated for best actor on Sunday were Washington (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”), Javier Bardem (“Being the Ricardos”), Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Power of the Dog”) and a hard-campaigning Andrew Garfield (“Tick, Tick … Boom!”).Here is Smith’s entire acceptance speech:Oh, man. Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family. In this time in my life, in this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world. Making this film, I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis, who is one of the most strongest, most delicate people I’ve ever met. I got to protect Saniyya [Sidney] and Demi [Singleton], the two actresses that played Venus and Serena.I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people. I know to do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse, you got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business you got to be able to have people disrespecting you, and you got to smile and pretend like that’s OK. But Richard Williams, and what I loved — thank you, D. — Denzel [Washington] said to me a few minutes ago, he said, “At your highest moment, be careful. That’s when the devil comes for you.”It’s like, I want to be a vessel for love. I want to say thank you to Venus and Serena — I just spit, I hope they didn’t see that on TV — I want to say thank you to Venus and Serena and the entire Williams family for entrusting me with your story. That’s what I want to do. I want to be an ambassador for that kind of love and care and concern.I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment, and I’m not crying for winning an award. It’s not about winning an award for me. It’s about being able to shine light on all of the people: Tim [White] and Trevor [White] and Zach [Baylin] and Saniyya and Demi and Aunjanue and the entire cast and crew of “King Richard” and Venus and Serena, the entire Williams family. Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said. I look like the crazy father, just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things.To my mother, a lot of this moment is really complicated for me, but to my mother — she didn’t want to come out; she has her knitting friends, she has a knitting crew that she’s in Philly watching with. Being able to love and care for my mother and my family and my wife. I’m taking up too much time. Thank you for this honor. Thank you for this moment. And thank you on behalf of Richard and Oracene [Price] and the entire Williams family. Thank you. I hope the Academy invites me back. Thank you.Nancy Coleman More

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      Troy Kotsur Becomes First Deaf Man to Win an Acting Oscar

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      In an important step for representation in Hollywood, Troy Kotsur became the first deaf man in academy history to win an Oscar for acting. Voters honored his heartstring-tugging supporting performance in “CODA” as a fisherman struggling to relate to his hearing daughter.“My dad, he was the best signer in our family, but he was in a car accident and he became paralyzed from the neck down, and he no longer was able to sign,” Kotsur said in his acceptance speech, delivered in American Sign Language. “Dad, I learned so much from you. I’ll always love you. You are my hero.”He dedicated his win to the deaf community, the CODA community and the disabled community. “This is our moment,” he said.Kotsur had been the favorite to win the supporting actor Oscar after receiving similar honors from more than a dozen awards groups. (One exception: Golden Globe voters instead gave their supporting actor trophy to Kodi Smit-McPhee from “The Power of the Dog.”) On Sunday, Kotsur beat Smit-McPhee, Jesse Plemons (“The Power of the Dog”), Ciaran Hinds (“Belfast”) and J.K. Simmons (“Being the Ricardos”).Until tonight, Kotsur’s “CODA” co-star, Marlee Matlin, was the only deaf person to win an acting Oscar. She received her gold-plated best actress statuette in 1987 for “Children of a Lesser God.”Seeing her in that film, when he was 17 and growing up in Arizona the son of a police officer, is what gave Kotsur the confidence to pursue a career in acting, he has said interviews. His career has not been easy. Kotsur has flourished on the stage, but his pre-“CODA” television and film credits have been slight, with a guest role in a TV series here and an indie film there. (Fun fact: He helped create the sign language that Tusken Raiders use in “The Mandalorian.”)Here is Kotsur’s full acceptance speech:This is amazing to be here on this journey. I cannot believe I’m here. Thank you so much to all the members of the Academy for recognizing my work. It’s really amazing that our film “CODA” has reached out worldwide; it even reached all the way to the White House. And they invited the cast of “CODA” to visit and have a tour of the White House. We met our president, Joe, and Dr. Jill, and I was planning on teaching them some dirty sign language, but Marlee Matlin told me to behave myself. So don’t worry, Marlee; I won’t drop any F-bombs in my speech today. Instead, I really want to thank all of the wonderful Deaf theater stages where I was allowed and given the opportunity to develop my craft as an actor. Thank you.I read one of [Steven] Spielberg’s books recently, and he said that the best director, the definition of the best director was a skilled communicator. Sian Heder, you are the best communicator. And the reason why is you brought the Deaf world and the hearing world together, and you are our bridge. And your name will forever be on that bridge, Sian Heder Bridge, here in Hollywood. And that was supported by Apple, Sundance, all of our cast, our crew, our producers and the community of Gloucester, Mass. So I just want to say: Hey, fishermen! Hey, Popeyes! Don’t forget to eat your spinach.My dad, he was the best signer in our family. But he was in a car accident, and he became paralyzed from the neck down, and he no longer was able to sign. Dad, I learned so much from you. I’ll always love you. You are my hero. Thank you to my biggest fans, my wife and my daughter, Kyra, and my hometown of Mesa, Ariz., and Mark Finley, my manager, and our team.I just wanted to say that this is dedicated to the Deaf community, the CODA community and the disabled community. This is our moment. To my mom, my dad and my brother Mark, they’re not here today. But look at me now. I did it. I love you. Thank you.Nancy Coleman More