The 2012 Academy Awards started off with a bang, with Hugo taking 2 in a row. In fact, I’m happy to see that two of my favorite films of the year, The Artist and Hugo, both took home 5 Oscar’s a piece. I am glad that Hugo, my personal favorite for best pic, was recognized for its technical achievements. It was no surprise that The Artist walked away with the biggest trophy’s of the night, but a part of me was bummed to not see Scorsese take home his second Best Director win.
The biggest upset of the night was definitely Meryl Streep besting what everyone thought was a definite win for Viola Davis. The telecast itself was great, and probably the fastest moving I’ve ever seen. Billy Crystal was funny, classy, and great as expected. The Cirque de Soliel performance was interesting, but I would have given that up to see Man or a Muppet performed. Overall, the show was lightyears ahead of last years Anne Hathaway/James Franco trainwreck.
What did you think of the results? See the full list of winners below, with the winners highlighted in bold.
Best Picture
- The Artist
- The Descendants
- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
- The Help
- Hugo
- Midnight in Paris
- Moneyball
- The Tree of Life
- War Horse
Best Actress in a Leading Role
- Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
- Viola Davis, The Help
- Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
- Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Best Actor in a Leading Role
- Demian Bichir, A Better Life
- George Clooney, The Descendants
- Jean Dujardin, The Artist
- Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Best Director
- Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
- Alexdander Payne, The Descendants
- Martin Scorsese, Hugo
- Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
- Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Short Film (Animated)
- Dimanche/Sunday, Patrick Doyon
- The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
- La Luna, Enrico Casarosa
- A Morning Stroll, Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
- Wild Life, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
Documentary Short
- The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement, Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
- God is the Bigger Elvis, Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
- Incident in New Baghdad, James Spione
- Saving Face, Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
- The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen
Short Film (Live Action)
- Pentecost, Peter McDonald and Eimear O’Kane
- Raju, Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
- The Shore, Terry George and Oorlagh George
- Time Freak, Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
- Tuba Atlantic, Hallvar Witzø
Writing (Original Screenplay)
- The Artist, Written by Michel Hazanavicius
- Bridesmaids, Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
- Margin Call, Written by J.C. Chandor
- Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen
- A Separation, Written by Asghar Farhadi
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
- The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
- Hugo, Screenplay by John Logan
- The Ides of March, Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
- Moneyball, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Screenplay by Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan
Music (Original Song)
- “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets, Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
- “Real in Rio” from Rio, Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Music (Original Score)
- The Adventures of Tintin, John Williams
- The Artist, Ludovic Bource
- Hugo, Howard Shore
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesias
- War Horse, John Williams
Best Actor In a Supporting Role
- Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
- Jonah Hill, Moneyball
- Nick Nolte, Warrior
- Christopher Plummer, Beginners
- Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Visual Effects
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
- Hugo, Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
- Real Steel, Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Dan Glass, Brad Friedman, Douglas Trumbull and Michael Fink
Animated Feature Film
- A Cat in Paris, Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
- Chico & Rita, Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
- Kung Fu Panda 2, Jennifer Yuh Nelson
- Puss in Boots, Chris Miller
- Rango, Gore Verbinski
Documentary Feature
- Hell and Back Again
- If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
- Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
- Pina
- Undefeated
Sound Mixing
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
- Hugo, Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
- Moneyball, Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
- War Horse, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson
Sound Editing
- Drive, Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Ren Klyce
- Hugo, Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
- War Horse, Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
Film Editing
- The Artist, Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
- The Descendants, Kevin Tent
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
- Hugo, Thelma Schoonmaker
- Moneyball, Christopher Tellefsen
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
- Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
- Jessica Chastain, The Help
- Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
- Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
- Octavia Spencer, The Help
Foreign Language Film
- Belgium, “Bullhead”, Michael R. Roskam, director
- Canada, “Monsieur Lazhar”, Philippe Falardeau, director
- Iran, “A Separation”, Asghar Farhadi, director
- Israel, “Footnote”, Joseph Cedar, director
- Poland, “In Darkness”, Agnieszka Holland, director
Makeup
- Albert Nobbs, Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
- The Iron Lady, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Costume Design
- Anonymous, Lisy Christl
- The Artist, Mark Bridges
- Hugo, Sandy Powell
- Jane Eyre, Michael O’Connor
- W.E., Arianne Phillips
Art Direction
- The Artist: Laurence Bennett (Production Design); Robert Gould (Set Decoration)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: Stuart Craig (Production Design); Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
- Hugo: Dante Ferretti (Production Design); Francesca Lo Schiavo (Set Decoration)
- War Horse: Rick Carter (Production Design); Lee Sandales (Set Decoration)
Cinematography
- The Artist, Guillaume Schiffman
- The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Jeff Cronenweth
- Hugo, Robert Richardson
- The Tree of Life, Emmanuel Lubezki
- War Horse, Janusz Kaminski