Oscars 2018: The Shape of Water wins Best Picture at political ceremony that sought to promote diversity

The awards attracted its smallest ever television audience

If the Oscars of 2016 and 2015 (and, in truth all the others before them) were remembered for being too white, and those of 2017 for being too male, then this year’s Academy Awards will likely be known for being rather too predictable.

Hosted by comedian and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, Hollywood celebrated on a night that sought to be inclusive, diverse and respectful of the greatest ambitions of the industry’s art. It took place less than six months after allegations of sexual assault levelled against producer Harvey Weinstein, triggered resignations and firings in a range of industries, forced the movie industry to undergo a period of self-examination and helped inspire the #MeToo movement.

The mood of the night was best captured by Frances McDormand, who won the Best Actress award for her performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and who provided one of the nights’ few moments of genuine drama when her statuette was allegedly stolen at an after party.

Addressing the stars and others at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, she urged all the female nominees to get to their feet, which they all did.

“Look around, ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell and projects we need financed. Don’t talk to us about it at the parties tonight,” she said. “Invite us into your office in a couple days, or you can come to ours – whichever suits you best – and we’ll tell you all about them.”

Along with McDormand, the other major prizes went to The Shape of Water, which was named Best Picture, and its director Guillermo del Toro, who won the Best Director prize. Gary Oldman won Best Actor for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, while Jordan Peele won in the Original Screenplay category for Get Out.

Christopher Nolan’s war epic Dunkirk won three awards, all of them in the technical classes.

If the awards sought to be more inclusive than previous years, and avoided screw-ups such as the incorrect naming of Best Picture as happened last year, this year’s event was somewhat lacking in energy.

This may have been reflected by the fact this year’s awards earned it smallest ever television audience. The nearly four-hour live show averaged 26.5m viewers, according to data from Nielsen, down from 32.9m in 2017 and below the 32m in 2008, now the second-least watched year.

The awards’ obvious desire to make up for crimes and omissions of past years was underscored by Kimmel's opening monologue in which he talked about the class of powerful men who preyed on women.

Pointing at the iconic Oscar statue with its folded arms, he said: “He is literally a statue of limitations. And that’s the kind of man we need more of in this town,” he said to loud laughter.

Kimmel also directly called out Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood titan who has denied the accusations of sexual assault, rape and abuse that have been made against him.

Referring to Weinstein’s expulsion last year from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, he said: “There were a lot of great nominees, but Harvey deserved it the most.”

Kimmel also addressed the widely reported disparity in pay received by actor Mark Wahlberg and actress Michelle Williams for reshooting scenes in the kidnapping drama All the Money in the World. Making Hollywood agents the butt of his joke he said both performers were represented by the same agent, adding: “If we can’t trust agents, who can we trust?”

The centrepiece for Oscar recognition of activism came midway through the show, as three actresses who were among Weinstein’s accusers – Annabella Sciorra, Ashley Judd and Salma Hayek – introduced a montage of film clips and interviews that sought to pay tribute to diversity..

The section recognised breakthroughs by women and people of colour behind and in front of the camera. It also featured the recent blockbuster Marvel superhero film Black Panther, that featured a predominantly African-American cast.

In a similar vein, rap artist Common and singer Andra Day brought the leaders of various activist movements, including #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, onstage for a performance of the Oscar-nominated song Stand Up for Something.

After McDormand spoke, Del Toro used his acceptance speech to invite young filmmakers to kick open the door of the film industry and “come in”.

“The youth [is] showing us how things are done – really, they are – in every country in the world,” he said.

“I want to tell you, everyone that is dreaming of a parable, of using genre and fantasy to tell the stories about the things that are real in the world today, you can do it. This is a door. Kick it open and come in.”

The full list of winners at the 90th Academy Awards:

Best Picture:

Call Me by Your Name

Darkest Hour

Dunkirk

Get Out

Lady Bird

Phantom Thread

The Post

The Shape of Water – WINNER

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Lead Actor:

Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name

Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread

Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour – WINNER

Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Lead Actress:

Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water

Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – WINNER

Margot Robbie, I, Tonya

Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird

Meryl Streep, The Post

Supporting Actor:

Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project

Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water

Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World

Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – WINNER

Supporting Actress:

Mary J Blige, Mudbound

Allison Janney, I, Tonya – Winner

Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread

Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird

Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

Director:

Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan

Get Out, Jordan Peele

Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig

Phantom Thread, Paul Thomas Anderson

The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro – WINNER

Animated Feature:

The Boss Baby, Tom McGrath, Ramsey Ann Naito

The Breadwinner, Nora Twomey, Anthony Leo

Coco, Lee Unkrich, Darla K. Anderson – WINNER

Ferdinand, Carlos Saldanha

Loving Vincent, Dorota Kobiela, Hugh Welchman, Sean Bobbitt, Ivan Mactaggart, Hugh Welchman

Animated Short:

Dear Basketball, Glen Keane, Kobe Bryant – WINNER

Garden Party, Victor Caire, Gabriel Grapperon

Lou, Dave Mullins, Dana Murray

Negative Space, Max Porter, Ru Kuwahata

Revolting Rhymes, Jakob Schuh, Jan Lachauer

Adapted Screenplay:

Call Me by Your Name, James Ivory – WINNER

The Disaster Artist, Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber

Logan, Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green

Molly’s Game, Aaron Sorkin

Mudbound, Virgil Williams and Dee Rees

Original Screenplay:

The Big Sick, Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani

Get Out, Jordan Peele - WINNER

Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig

The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro, Vanessa Taylor

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Martin McDonagh

Cinematography:

Blade Runner 2049, Roger Deakins - WINNER

Darkest Hour, Bruno Delbonnel

Dunkirk, Hoyte van Hoytema

Mudbound, Rachel Morrison

The Shape of Water, Dan Laustsen

Best Documentary Feature:

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, Steve James, Mark Mitten, Julie Goldman

Faces Places, JR, Agnès Varda, Rosalie Varda

Icarus, Bryan Fogel, Dan Cogan - WINNER

Last Men in Aleppo, Feras Fayyad, Kareem Abeed, Soren Steen Jepersen

Strong Island, Yance Ford, Joslyn Barnes

Best Documentary Short Subject:

Edith+Eddie, Laura Checkoway, Thomas Lee Wright

Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405, Frank Stiefel - WINNER

Heroin(e), Elaine McMillion Sheldon, Kerrin Sheldon

Knife Skills, Thomas Lennon

Traffic Stop, Kate Davis, David Heilbroner

Best Live Action Short Film:

DeKalb Elementary, Reed Van Dyk

The Eleven O’Clock, Derin Seale, Josh Lawson

My Nephew Emmett, Kevin Wilson, Jr.

The Silent Child, Chris Overton, Rachel Shenton - WINNER

Watu Wote/All of Us, Katja Benrath, Tobias Rosen

Best Foreign Language Film:

A Fantastic Woman (Chile) – WINNER

The Insult (Lebanon)

Loveless (Russia)

On Body and Soul (Hungary)

The Square (Sweden)

Film Editing:

Baby Driver, Jonathan Amos, Paul Machliss

Dunkirk, Lee Smith – WINNER

I, Tonya, Tatiana S. Riegel

The Shape of Water, Sidney Wolinsky

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Jon Gregory

Sound Editing:

Baby Driver, Julian Slater

Blade Runner 2049, Mark Mangini, Theo Green

Dunkirk, Alex Gibson, Richard King – WINNER

The Shape of Water, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira

Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Ren Klyce, Matthew Wood

Sound Mixing:

Baby Driver, Mary H. Ellis, Julian Slater, Tim Cavagin

Blade Runner 2049, Mac Ruth, Ron Bartlett, Doug Hephill

Dunkirk, Mark Weingarten, Gregg Landaker, Gary A. Rizzo - WINNER

The Shape of Water, Glen Gauthier, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern

Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Stuart Wilson, Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick

Production Design:

Beauty and the Beast, Sarah Greenwood; Katie Spencer

Blade Runner 2049, Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola

Darkest Hour, Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer

Dunkirk, Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis

The Shape of Water, Paul D. Austerberry, Jeffrey A. Melvin, Shane Vieau - WINNER

Original Score:

Dunkirk, Hans Zimmer

Phantom Thread, Jonny Greenwood

The Shape of Water, Alexandre Desplat - WINNER

Star Wars: The Last Jedi, John Williams

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Carter Burwell

Original Song:

“Mighty River” from Mudbound, Mary J. Blige

“Mystery of Love” from Call Me by Your Name, Sufjan Stevens

“Remember Me” from Coco, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez – WINNER

“Stand Up for Something” from Marshall, Diane Warren, Common

“This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul

Makeup and Hair:

Darkest Hour, Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski, Lucy Sibbick - WINNER

Victoria and Abdul, Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard

Wonder, Arjen Tuiten

Costume Design:

Beauty and the Beast, Jacqueline Durran

Darkest Hour, Jacqueline Durran

Phantom Thread, Mark Bridges – WINNER

The Shape of Water, Luis Sequeira

Victoria and Abdul, Consolata Boyle

Visual Effects:

Blade Runner 2049, John Nelson, Paul Lambert, Richard R. Hoover, Gerd Nefzer - WINNER

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, Dan Sudick

Kong: Skull Island, Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza, Mike Meinardus

Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Ben Morris, Mike Mulholland, Chris Corbould, Neal Scanlan

War for the Planet of the Apes, Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett, Joel Whist