‘Spotlight’ wins top prize but limelight on diversity

Nicole Rocklin, pictured at front, and cast and crew of “Spotlight” accept the award for best picture for “Spotlight” at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

LOS ANGELES—In an underdog win for a movie about an underdog profession, the newspaper drama “Spotlight” took best picture on Sunday at the 88th Academy Awards that was riven by protest and outrage, and electrified by an unflinching show host, Chris Rock.

Tom McCarthy’s film about the Boston Globe’s investigative reporting on sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests won over the favored frontier epic “The Revenant.”

McCarthy’s well-crafted procedural, led by a strong ensemble cast, had lagged in the lead-up to the Oscars, losing ground to the flashier filmmaking of Alejandro Iñarritu’s film.

But “Spotlight”—an ode to the hard-nose, methodical work of a journalism seldom practiced now—took the night’s top honor despite winning only one other Oscar for the screenplay by McCarthy and Josh Singer. Such a sparsely awarded best picture winner hasn’t happened since 1952’s “The Greatest Show On Earth.”

“We would not be here today without the heroic efforts of our reporters,” said producer Blye Pagon Faust. “Not only do they effect global change, but they absolutely show us the necessity for investigative journalism.”

Charged atmosphere

The night, however, belonged to Chris Rock, who launched immediately into the uproar over the lack of diversity in this year’s nominees, and he didn’t let up.

“The White People’s Choice Awards,” the show host called the Oscars, which were protested beforehand outside the Dolby Theatre by the Rev. Al Sharpton, and saw some viewers boycotting the broadcast.

In an award show traditionally known for song-and-dance routines and high doses of glamour, Rock gave the 88th Academy Awards a charged atmosphere, keeping with the outcry that followed a second straight year of all-white acting nominees.

“Is Hollywood racist? You’re damn right it’s racist,” Rock said. “Hollywood is sorority racist. It’s like: We like you Rhonda, but you’re not a Kappa.”

DiCaprio, Iñarritu

After going home empty-handed four times previously, Leonardo DiCaprio won his first Oscar for best actor in “The Revenant”—a gruff, grunting performance that traded little on the actor’s youthful charisma.

DiCaprio, greeted with a standing ovation, took the moment to talk about climate change. “Let us not take our planet for granted,” he said. “I do not take tonight for granted.”

His director, Iñarritu, won back-to-back directing awards after the triumph last year of “Birdman.” His win meant three straight years of Mexican filmmakers winning the Oscar for best director.

“What a great opportunity for our generation to really liberate ourselves from all prejudice and this tribal thinking and to make sure for once and forever that the color of our skin becomes as irrelevant as the length of our hair,” Iñarritu said in his acceptance speech.

“The Revenant” also won best cinematography for Emmanuel Lubezki, who became the first cinematographer to win three times in a row (following wins for “Gravity” and “Birdman”), and only the seventh to three-peat in Oscar history.

The night’s most-awarded film, however, went to George Miller’s apocalyptic chase film, “Mad Max: Fury Road,” which sped away with six awards in technical categories for editing, makeup, production design, sound editing, sound mixing and costume design.

“Us Mad Maxes are doing OK tonight,” said editor Margaret Sixel, who’s married to Miller. The flurry of wins brought a parade of Australian craftsmen onstage in an Oscars that was at least internationally diverse.

Best actress went to Brie Larson, the 26-year-old breakout of the mother-son captive drama “Room.” The Sweden-born Alicia Vikander took best supporting actress for the transgender pioneer tale “The Danish Girl.”

Stallone loses

Gasps went around the Dolby when Mark Rylance won best supporting actor over Sylvester Stallone. Nominated a second time for the role of Rocky Balboa 39 years later, Stallone had been expected to win his first acting Oscar for the “Rocky” sequel “Creed.”

But Rylance, the famed stage actor who costarred in Steven Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies,” won instead.

Adam McKay and Charles Randolph took best adapted screenplay for their self-described “trauma-dy,” “The Big Short,” about the mortgage meltdown of 2008.

Best known for broader comedies like “Anchorman” and “Step Brothers,” McKay gave an election-year warning of the sway of “big money” and “weirdo billionaires” in the presidential campaign.

‘Writing’s on the Wall’

Vice President Joe Biden was met by a standing ovation before talking about sexual assault on college campuses in an introduction to best-song nominee Lady Gaga.

The composer John Williams (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which went away empty-handed despite being the biggest box-office hit of the decade) came in with his 50th nomination.

But Williams lost to Ennio Morricone, who, at 87, landed his first competitive Oscar for Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight.” (He was given an honorary one in 2009.)

Sam Smith and songwriting partner Jimmy Napes picked up the Academy Award for best song for “Writing’s on the Wall,” from the James Bond film “Spectre.”

“I stand here tonight as a proud gay man and I hope we can all stand together as equals one day,” Smith said.

Best animated feature film went to “Inside Out,” Pixar’s eighth win in the category since it was created in 2001. (See related story on Page A1.)

‘Son of Saul’

Asif Kapadia’s Amy Winehouse portrait, “Amy,” took best documentary. Hungary scored its second best foreign language Oscar for Laszlo Nemes’ “Son of Saul,” a harrowing drama set within a concentration camp.

“Even in the darkest hours of mankind, there might be a voice within us that allows us to remain human,” Nemes said. “That’s the hope of this film.”

Down the street from the Dolby Theatre, Sharpton led several dozen demonstrators in protest against a second straight year of all-white acting nominees.

“This will be the last night of an all-white Oscars,” he vowed.

Quick response

In a quick response to the growing crisis, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, led reforms to diversify the academy’s overwhelming white and male membership.

But those changes (which included stripping older, out-of-work members of their voting privileges) precipitated a backlash, too. A chorus of academy members challenged the reforms.

In remarks during the show, Boone Isaacs strongly defended the changes, quoting Martin Luther King Jr. and urging each Oscar attendee to bring greater opportunity to the industry. She was received politely, if not enthusiastically, by the audience.

How the controversy will affect ratings for ABC was one of the night’s big questions. Last year’s telecast, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, slid 16 percent to 36.6 million viewers, a six-year low.