Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water won big at the 90th Academy Awards. Here are all the winners, nominees, and highlights from the 2018 Oscars ceremony.
The 90th Academy Awards ended without the chaos and controversy of last year’s ceremony, but it still had a fair share of surprises.
Jimmy Kimmel hosted the movie industry’s most prestigious awards ceremony, and it was Guillermo del Toro’s dark fantasy film The Shape of Water that finished the night as the Oscars’ big winner. Del Toro was given the Oscar for “Best Director” and The Shape of Water took home the year’s coveted “Best Picture” award in the show’s grand finale.
Going into the 2018 ceremony, The Shape of Water garnered the highest number of nominations of any film, with 13 nods across various categories, including “Best Picture” and “Best Director,” but was still regarded as an underdog due to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ traditional aversion to horror and fantasy fare. In the end, the film won four of the 13 Oscars it was nominated for, adding awards for its original score and production design in addition to the aforementioned categories.
“This is a door — kick it open and come in,” urged del Toro in his acceptance speech.
In a surprising turn, the tense drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri came into the ceremony having swept most of the awards ceremonies leading up to the Oscars, but left with only two awards. As expected, Frances McDormand won the “Best Actress” category, and Sam Rockwell won the “Best Supporting Actor” category, giving the acclaimed film its only two wins of the night.
After arriving with quite a bit of pre-Oscars buzz, writer-director Jordan Peele’s Get Out earned its talented filmmaker his very first Oscar. Peele took home the award for the year’s best original screenplay, which capped a night of records for many nominees. This year’s ceremony was the first time an African-American filmmaker (Peele) was nominated for directing, producing, and screenwriting in the same year, and Peele seemed as shocked as anyone that he was taking home an Oscar at the end of the night.
“I just won an Oscar. WTF?!?” he posted on Twitter moments after he received the award.
Also taking home a pair of Oscars was Blade Runner 2049, which beat a crowded, competitive field in the “Best Visual Effects” category, and also took home an Oscar for cinematography.
A host of social and political causes loomed over the night’s events, with many of the nominees, presenters, and those in attendance wearing pins supporting the “Me Too” and “Time’s Up” campaigns against sexual harassment, as well as orange pins against gun violence, among other signs of support. Those same campaigns filtered into the speeches made by winners, as well as Kimmel’s monologue, which didn’t shy away from poking fun at the Oscars — and the industry as a whole — for its problems with some of those same social issues.
McDormand also made inclusion a recurring theme in her acceptance speech, and her powerful call to action for female actors and filmmakers ended with the suggestion that an “inclusion rider” become standard fare for anyone hired to work in front of the camera or behind it.
Of course, the ceremony wasn’t without its lighter moments.
Accepting the “Best Supporting Actress” Oscar for her performance in I, Tonya, Allison Janney bucked tradition by announcing “I did it all by myself.” Laughing, she quickly clarified that there was “Nothing further from the truth.”
Later on, in a video segment about this year’s breakthrough performances and projects featuring women and non-white actors and filmmakers, The Big Sick co-writer and star Kumail Nanjani suggested that the studios have more than just a social responsibility to make such films — they stand to make a lot of money, too.
“Don’t [make these movies] because it’s good for society,” he explained. “Do it to get rich! You’ll get that promotion.”
The full list of 2018 Oscar winners and nominees is below, listed as they were announced.
