Live music triumphs at the Oscars 2019
Sunday night’s 91st Academy Awards were a celebration of both live music and cinema, as Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody and music touring road film Green Book were among the evening’s most successful films.
Bohemian Rhapsody, the filmic celebration of Queen, the band’s music and lead singer Freddie Mercury, took home the most awards of the night. Rami Malek’s portrayal of Mercury earned him the Oscar for best actor, following his Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Bafta wins.
The film, directed by Brian Singer and Dexter Fletcher, also won the awards for film editing, sound editing and sound mixing.
Another big music-focused winner came in the form of Peter Farrelly’s Green Book, a film inspired by the true story of African-American pianist, Dr Don Shirley, and his 1962 tour across the deep south of the United States with driver and de facto road manager, Anthony Vallelonga.
Green Book won the coveted Oscar for best picture, as well as the original screenplay award. Mahershala Ali took home the prize for best supporting actor for his role as pianist Shirley.
Congratulations to the #GreenBookMovie team on 3 Academy Award wins! #Oscars pic.twitter.com/OCN7yv97qN
— Green Book (@greenbookmovie) February 25, 2019
Live performances on the night came from Queen, as well as from artists featuring in the best original song category.
Fronted by Adam Lambert in the place of the late Mercury, Queen opened the ceremony with live renditions of ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are the Champions’. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper performed A Star is Born hit ‘Shallow’, winner of best original song.
Other performances came from Bette Midler, who sang ‘The Place Where Lost Things Go’ from Mary Poppins Returns. Jennifer Hudson performed ‘I’ll Fight’ from RBG, the documentary film about the career of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Grammy award-winning Kacey Musgraves introduced David Rawlings and Gillian Welch’s live rendition of ‘When a Cowboy Trades his Spurs for Wings’ from Coen brothers western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
Elsewhere, Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma won three awards, for best director, cinematography and best foreign language film. It is the fifth time in six years that a Mexican director has won the award.
Black Panther also proved successful, clinching the awards for original score, production design and costume design. The film’s score consists of original songs produced by Kendrick Lamar and compositions by Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson.
See a full list of winners below:
Best Picture
Green Book
Director
Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Actor
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Actress
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Supporting Actress
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Original Screenplay
Green Book
Adapted Screenplay
BlackKklansman
Foreign Language Film
Roma
Animated Feature
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Sound Editing
Bohemian Rhapsody
Visual Effects
First Man
Film Editing
Bohemian Rhapsody
Animated Short
Bao
Live Action Short
Skin
Documentary Short
Period. End of Sentence.
Original Score
Black Panther
Original Song
‘Shallow’ from A Star Is Born
Production Design
Black Panther
Cinematography
Roma
Costume Design
Black Panther
Makeup and Hairstyling
Vice
Documentary Feature
Free Solo
Sound Mixing
Bohemian Rhapsody
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