Among the surprises, milestones and rare moments at the 88th Academy Awards was one first that actually wasn’t a first.
The 2016 Oscars were a “Spotlight” sandwich, opening the night with an original screenplay win before going silent for the rest of the night until its big Best Picture victory. “Spotlight” is the first Best Picture winner to bag less than three Oscars since “The Greatest Show On Earth” in 1953.
The film with the biggest haul was “Mad Max: Fury Road.” While it didn’t win Best Picture or Director, it did come away with six Oscars in the technical categories. There’s another wildly popular film that had the same results on Oscar night: 1977’s “Star Wars.”
The big victory for “Mad Max” also made it the most decorated Australian film in Oscar history, doubling the three Oscars won in 1993 by the previous record holder, “The Piano.”
There was no way “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” wasn’t going to have a presence at this show. C-3PO and R2-D2 came onstage with their new droid brother BB-8 to honor John Williams for his 50th Oscar nomination. He has the most nominations of any living person in any category. Walt Disney holds the all-time record with 59.
One pleasant surprise was the Best VFX win for “Ex Machina.” With a budget of $15 million, it’s the cheapest film to win in this category since “Alien” in 1979. It also beat out three Best Picture nominees, something that hasn’t happened in this category since “Tora! Tora! Tora!” beat Best Picture winner “Patton” in 1971.
“Bear Story” is now the toast of Chile after becoming the first film from that country to win an Oscar with its Best Animated Short victory. Director Gabriel Osorio and producer Pato Escala Pierart join “Life of Pi” cinematographer Claudio Miranda as the only Chilean-born Oscar winners.
Parties were thrown in Mexico City for “The Revenant” and the Oscar wins for Alejandro G. Inarritu and Emmanuel Lubezki. Inarritu now has four Oscars and is the first back-to-back Best Director winner in 65 years, joining John Ford and Joseph Mankiewicz. Lubezki, meanwhile, has an Oscar dynasty with three straight cinematography awards.
Actors take note: if you want an Oscar, consider working on a Tom Hooper film. Alicia Vikander‘s win makes “The Danish Girl” the third straight Hooper film to get an acting Oscar, joining Anne Hathaway for “Les Miserables” and Colin Firth for “The King’s Speech.”
It’s strange to say it considering he is such a legendary film music composer, but “The Hateful Eight” is Ennio Morricone’s first Oscar win. He was given a lifetime achievement award by the Academy in 2007, but this is his first Oscar win in competition after six nominations, having previously been nominated for classics like “Days of Heaven” and “The Mission.” At 87, he is the oldest Oscar winner of all time.
No, Sam Smith was not the first openly gay Oscar winner ever. He wasn’t even the first in his category. That goes to late composer Howard Ashman, who won for co-writing “Under the Sea” from “The Little Mermaid” and the theme from “Beauty and the Beast.” Other gay winners include Elton John, Pedro Almodovar and Joel Grey.