HOLLYWOOD — “Birdman” has captured Hollywood’s top honor at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, where the jazzy, surreal comedy about an actor fleeing his superhero past took won best picture at a ceremony punctuated by passionate pleas for equality.
Oscars’ voters opted for a movie that epitomizes much of Hollywood – showy, ego-mad, desperate for artistic credibility – over one (“Boyhood”) that prized naturalism and patience.
“Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)” also won best director for Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, best original screenplay and best cinematography.
The Oscars host Neil Patrick Harris gave the 87th Academy Awards a humorous tone that sought to celebrate Hollywood, while also slyly parodying it.
“Tonight we honor Hollywood’s best and whitest – I mean brightest,” he began the night, alluding to the much-discussed lack of diversity in this year’s all-white acting nominees.
Julianne Moore won her first Oscar as best actress for “Still Alice.”
For his portrayal of physicist Stephen Hawking, who was diagnosed with motor neuron disease at the age of 21, Eddie Redmayne has won the Academy Award for best actor for “The Theory of Everything.”
One of the highlights of the show was Patricia Arquette advocating for wage equality after accepting the Oscar for best supporting actress in “Boyhood”, during an emotional outburst at the end of her carefully scripted speech.
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