Oscars 2015: Minute to Minute Coverage

Ellie Wells ’18 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Emertainment Monthly brings you minute to minute coverage of the 87th Annual Academy Awards.

The Red Carpet 

Best Actress nominee Felicity Jones has just arrived on the red carpet. She looks gorgeous and is up for her powerful performance as Stephen Hawking’s first wife, Jane in The Theory of Everything. 
Best Actress Julianne Moore has just arrived on the red carpet. She’s nominated tonight for her harrowing role as Alice Howland, a women stricken with early onset Alzheimer’s disease in Still Alice.
Dakota Johnson, presenter and in attendance with mom Melanie Griffith, talked Fifty Shades of Grey and her future with reporters.
Best Actress nominee Marion Cotillard has arrived on the red carpet, nominated for her role in Two Days One Night. Having previously won an oscar for her role as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, she looks like she couldn’t be more delighted to be back.
Best Actor nominee Benedict Cumberbatch talked about the importance of Alan Turning with reporters.
Best Actress nominee Reese Witherspoon talked with reporters of creating dynamic roles for women. She’s up for her role as Cheryl Strayed in Wild, the real life story of a woman who hiked over a thousand miles on the Pacific Crest Trail after the death of her mother and the dissolution of her marriage.
Best Supporting Actress nominee Emma Stone, first time nominee for her role in Birdman, looks radiant and like she couldn’t be happier to be there.
Taya Kyle, the real life widow of Chris Kyle (portrayed by Bradley Cooper in American Sniper), spoke about the humbling experience of the film’s massive success and why it was important for her to attend the ceremony to uphold her husband’s legacy.
And that wraps coverage of the red carpet! Let’s do this — best of luck to all the nominees!

The Ceremony

Neil Patrick Harris get things going with a hilarious jab at the lack of diversity in this year’s nominees and “Moving Pictures”, joined by Anna Kendrick (reprising her role in Into the Woods as Cinderella), an energetic number paying tribute to the history of film.
Best Supporting Actor 
Lupita Nyongo presents the award for Best Supporting Actor to JK Simmons. Miles Teller gives co-star a standing ovation as Simmons thanks his family.
Best Costume Design
Jennifer Lopez and Chris Pine present the award for Best Costume Design to Milena Canonero for her The Grand Budapest Hotel. Wes Anderson’s film about a Hotel Concierge and his lobby boy was a visual treat – congratulations!
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Reese Witherspoon presents the award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling to Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier for their work on The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Best Foreign Language Film
Chiwitel Ejifor and Nicole Kidman present the award for Best Foreign Language Film to Ida director Pawel Pawlikowski, who gives an overlong yet energetic acceptance speech.
Governor’s Awards
Viola Davis presents coverage of the 6th Annual Governor’s Awards from November, where Jean-Claude Carriere, Hayao Miyazaki, and Maureen O’Hara each received lifetime achievement awards and Harry Belafonte received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
Scientific and Technical Awards
Margot Robbie and Miles Teller present coverage from the Scientific and Technical Awards, which they hosted, honoring those who made contributions to technical areas of filmmaking.
 Sound Mixing and Sound Editing 
Whiplash wins Best Sound Mixing
The thrilling film about a drum student and his teacher was truly visceral, especially due to its thrilling sound.
American Sniper wins Best Sound Editing
The film’s wartime sequences were thrilling, keeping us on the edge of our seat and making this a deserved win.
Best Supporting Actress
Beating out extraordinary performances by her fellow nominees, Patricia Arquette wins for her performance as a hard-working single mother in Boyhood and gives an out of breath speech as her Boyhood co-stars look on happily.
Best Visual Effects

Interstellar wins Best Visual Effects for its amazing practical effects that made us feel like we were really in space.
Best Animated Short
This touching story of the bond between a dog and his owner which originally played in front of Big Hero 6 won a well deserved Oscar.
Best Animated Feature 
And Big Hero 6 wins Best Animated Feature! Could this be the beginning of a second Disney renaissance?
Best Production Design 
The Grand Budapest Hotel continues its sweep of art-related categories with its well-deserved oscar for production design.
Best Cinematography
Effortlessly made to appear like a single shot, Birdman picks up an award for Cinematography, which Emmanuel Lubezki’s second consecutive win in this category (he won last year for his stunning work on Gravity).
In Memoriam 
We lost many greats in 2014, and the dreamlike music and charcoal effect make for a moving tribute to their legacies.
Best Editing

With its electric and visceral pacing, Whiplash managed to keep us glued to our seats from start to finished and thus took home a very well deserved Oscar win.
Best Documentary Feature
Citizenfour took home the top nonfiction prize at the Oscars for its look at the controversial figure.
Best Original Song
After thrilling and powerful performances of songs from Begin Again, The Lego Movie, Selma, Glen Campell..I’ll Be Me and Beyond the Lights, John Legend and Common took home the Oscar and delivered a powerful speech about Martin Luther King’s legacy, appropriately presented by Idina Menzel and John Travolta.
The Sound of Music
In perhaps one of the most pleasant surprises of the evening, Lady Gaga delivered a beautiful rendition of selections from The Sound of Music, which soared into everyone’s hearts and won Best Picture fifty years ago. And Julie Andrews appearing onstage at the end makes it all the more special.
Best Original Score
…fittingly, to present the award for Best Original Score. Alexandre Desplat’s whimsical score for The Grand Budapest Hotel ended up taking the top prize. Desplat was also nominated in this category for the The Imitation Game.
Best Original Screenplay
Birdman, which had four writers including director Alejandro Inarritu, takes home the award for Best Original Screenplay. Its characters and screenplay are deep, complex, and thought-provoking, making this win well-deserved.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Graham Moore won for The Imitation Game, an adaption of Alan Turing: An Enigma, and gave a powerful speech. “Stay weird, stay different,” he said.
Best Director
While neck in neck with Richard Linklater for his twelve year efforts in Boyhood all throughout awards season, Birdman director Alejandro Inarritu reigned triumphant. With a sweet thanks to his cast and crew, Birdman has quickly soared in the top categories.
Best Actor
Beating out favorite Michael Keaton for the top acting prize, Eddie Redmayne’s incredible transformation into Stephen Hawking – of which the man himself said “He looked like me, acted like me, and had my sense of humor” was flustered and humbled in his sweet speech.
Best Actress 
Surprising no one, Julianne Moore’s turn in Still Alice earned her a long deserved oscar, poignantly speaking about the importance of finding a cure for Alzheimer’s.
Which leaves…
Best Picture

2014 was an incredible year, chock full of many great movies. Only eight were nominated, and in the end there was Birdman.  Reigning triumphant over its awards season battle with Birdman, this wonderful commentary about the state of the film industry today, Birdman is incredibly deserving of the top prize.
And that’s the end of the 87th Academy Awards. Neil Patrick Harris, you are wonderful. I can’t wait to see all that 2015 in film will have to offer.