The extended awards season finally wrapped up with the announcement of the 2022 Oscars winners on March 27, 2022. Writer/director Jane Campion’s brilliant Western The Power of the Dog led the list of nominees with 12 but only captured one win – Best Director. Dune cleaned up in the technical awards, emerging as the 94th Academy Awards‘ big winner with six Oscars including cinematography, editing, and score.
Immediately out of the gate the 2022 Oscars broke with tradition by opening with Beyonce singing “Be Alive” from King Richard live on the tennis court in Compton, CA where the Williams sisters practiced their skills. (“Be Alive” is nominated for Best Original Song.) That was followed by Amy Schumer, Regina Hall, and Wanda Sykes making their first appearances as co-hosts, with Amy Schumer scoring one of the best early laughs by joking, “This year the Academy hired three women to host because it’s cheaper than hiring one man.”
The Academy made the controversial choice to give out awards prior to the live broadcast and then play the acceptance speeches during the show. Ultimately, it didn’t help cut the length of the broadcast (which still ran half an hour over) and only served to upset members of the Academy who felt slighted by the decision. The broadcast also included fan-voted categories in an attempt to pull in a bigger audience. Hopefully, that failed experiment will not be included in future shows.
Unfortunately, the historic wins (including Ariana DeBose as the first openly queer woman of color to win Best Supporting Actress) and moving speeches were overshadowed by what’s been dubbed the slap heard round the world. Chris Rock took the stage to present the Best Documentary Oscar and one of his jokes set Will Smith off. Rock joked about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head saying, “Jada, I love ya. G.I. Jane 2, can’t wait to see it.” The joke was in extremely poor taste as Pinkett-Smith lost her hair due to alopecia (an auto-immune disorder), and Will Smith walked onto the stage from the audience and slapped Rock in the face. Rock was obviously stunned by Smith’s reaction and said, “Will Smith just smacked the s*** out of me!”
Smith didn’t leave it at that. Instead, he yelled, “Keep my wife’s name out your f**king mouth!” twice as Rock attempted to figure out how to continue with the presentation of the Best Documentary Oscar.
#WhatJustHappened immediately trended on Twitter as viewers reacted to the slap. The celebratory vibe left the broadcast after Smith slapped Rock, shifting into more of a “let’s just get through this” atmosphere.
Will Smith was allowed to remain in the audience even after the altercation and took to the stage – this time invited – to accept the Best Actor Oscar for King Richard. Smith delivered a long, emotional speech that wasn’t cut off by the producers. Here’s the transcript:
“Oh, man. Richard Williams was a fierce defender of his family. In this time in my life, in this moment, I am overwhelmed by what God is calling on me to do and be in this world. Making this film, I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis, who is one of the strongest, most delicate people I’ve ever met. I got to protect Saniyya [Sidney] and Demi [Singleton], the two actresses that played Venus and Serena. I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people.
I know to do what we do, you got to be able to take abuse. You got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business you got to be able to have people disrespecting you. And you got to smile, you got to pretend like that’s okay. Richard Williams, and what I loved – thank you, Dee — Denzel said a few minutes ago, ‘At your highest moment, be careful, that’s when the devil comes for you.’ It’s like, I want to be a vessel for love.
I want to say thank you to Venus and Serena. I want to say thank you to Venus and Serena and the entire Williams family for entrusting me with your story. That’s what I want to do. I want to be an ambassador of that kind of love and care and concern. I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment and I’m not – I’m not crying for winning an award. It’s not about winning an award. Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father, just like they said, just like they said about Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things.
To my mother, a lot of this moment is really complicated for me. To my mother, she didn’t want to come out, she had her knitting friends, she has a knitting crew, she’s in Philly watching. Being able to love and care for my mother and my family, my wife, I’m taking up too much time, thank you for this honor. Thank you for this moment. And thank you on behalf of Richard and the entire Williams family. Thank you. I hope the Academy invites me back. Thank you.”
94th ACADEMY AWARDS NOMINEES AND WINNERS
Best motion picture of the year
• “Belfast” Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas, Producers
WINNER: “CODA” Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger, Producers
• “Don’t Look Up” Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers
• “Drive My Car” Teruhisa Yamamoto, Producer
• “Dune” Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve and Cale Boyter, Producers
• “King Richard” Tim White, Trevor White and Will Smith, Producers
• “Licorice Pizza” Sara Murphy, Adam Somner and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers
• “Nightmare Alley” Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Bradley Cooper, Producers
• “The Power of the Dog” Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier, Producers
• “West Side Story” Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers
Performance by an actor in a leading role
• Javier Bardem in “Being the Ricardos”
• Benedict Cumberbatch in “The Power of the Dog”
• Andrew Garfield in “tick, tick…BOOM!”
WINNER: Will Smith in “King Richard”
• Denzel Washington in “The Tragedy of Macbeth”
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
• Ciarán Hinds in “Belfast”
WINNER: Troy Kotsur in “CODA”
• Jesse Plemons in “The Power of the Dog”
• J.K. Simmons in “Being the Ricardos”
• Kodi Smit-McPhee in “The Power of the Dog”
Performance by an actress in a leading role
WINNER: Jessica Chastain in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
• Olivia Colman in “The Lost Daughter”
• Penélope Cruz in “Parallel Mothers”
• Nicole Kidman in “Being the Ricardos”
• Kristen Stewart in “Spencer”
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
• Jessie Buckley in “The Lost Daughter”
WINNER: Ariana DeBose in “West Side Story”
• Judi Dench in “Belfast”
• Kirsten Dunst in “The Power of the Dog”
• Aunjanue Ellis in “King Richard”
Best animated feature film of the year
WINNER: “Encanto” Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer
• “Flee” Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie
• “Luca” Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren
• “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Kurt Albrecht
• “Raya and the Last Dragon” Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho
Achievement in cinematography
WINNER: “Dune” Greig Fraser
• “Nightmare Alley” Dan Laustsen
• “The Power of the Dog” Ari Wegner
• “The Tragedy of Macbeth” Bruno Delbonnel
• “West Side Story” Janusz Kaminski
Achievement in costume design
WINNER: “Cruella” Jenny Beavan
• “Cyrano” Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran
• “Dune” Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan
• “Nightmare Alley” Luis Sequeira
• “West Side Story” Paul Tazewell
Achievement in directing
• “Belfast” Kenneth Branagh
• “Drive My Car” Ryusuke Hamaguchi
• “Licorice Pizza” Paul Thomas Anderson
WINNER: “The Power of the Dog” Jane Campion
• “West Side Story” Steven Spielberg
Best documentary feature
• “Ascension” Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell
• “Attica” Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry
• “Flee” Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie
WINNER: “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein
• “Writing with Fire” Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh
Best documentary short subject
• “Audible” Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean
• “Lead Me Home” Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk
WINNER: “The Queen of Basketball” Ben Proudfoot
• “Three Songs for Benazir” Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei
• “When We Were Bullies” Jay Rosenblatt
Achievement in film editing
• “Don’t Look Up” Hank Corwin
WINNER: “Dune” Joe Walker
• “King Richard” Pamela Martin
• “The Power of the Dog” Peter Sciberras
• “tick, tick…BOOM!” Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum
Best international feature film of the year
WINNER: “Drive My Car” Japan
• “Flee” Denmark
• “The Hand of God” Italy
• “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” Bhutan
• “The Worst Person in the World” Norway
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
• “Coming 2 America” Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer
• “Cruella” Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon
• “Dune” Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
WINNER: “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh
• “House of Gucci” Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
• “Don’t Look Up” Nicholas Britell
WINNER: “Dune” Hans Zimmer
• “Encanto” Germaine Franco
• “Parallel Mothers” Alberto Iglesias
• “The Power of the Dog” Jonny Greenwood
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
• “Be Alive” from “King Richard”
Music and Lyric by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
• “Dos Oruguitas” from “Encanto”
Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda
• “Down To Joy” from “Belfast”
Music and Lyric by Van Morrison
WINNER: “No Time To Die” from “No Time to Die”
Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
• “Somehow You Do” from “Four Good Days”
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
Achievement in production design
WINNER: “Dune” Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos
• “Nightmare Alley” Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau
• “The Power of the Dog” Production Design: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Amber Richards
• “The Tragedy of Macbeth” Production Design: Stefan Dechant; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
• “West Side Story” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo
Best animated short film
• “Affairs of the Art” Joanna Quinn and Les Mills
• “Bestia” Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz
• “Boxballet” Anton Dyakov
• “Robin Robin” Dan Ojari and Mikey Please
WINNER: “The Windshield Wiper” Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez
Best live action short film
• “Ala Kachuu – Take and Run” Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger
• “The Dress” Tadeusz Łysiak and Maciej Ślesicki
WINNER: “The Long Goodbye” Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed
• “On My Mind” Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson
• “Please Hold” K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse
Achievement in sound
• “Belfast” Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri
WINNER: “Dune” Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett
• “No Time to Die” Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor
• “The Power of the Dog” Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb
• “West Side Story” Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy
Achievement in visual effects
WINNER: “Dune” Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer
• “Free Guy” Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick
• “No Time to Die” Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould
• “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver
• “Spider-Man: No Way Home” Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick
Adapted screenplay
WINNER: “CODA” Screenplay by Siân Heder
• “Drive My Car” Screenplay by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
• “Dune” Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth
• “The Lost Daughter” Written by Maggie Gyllenhaal
• “The Power of the Dog” Written by Jane Campion
Original screenplay
WINNER: “Belfast” Written by Kenneth Branagh
• “Don’t Look Up” Screenplay by Adam McKay; Story by Adam McKay & David Sirota
• “King Richard” Written by Zach Baylin
• “Licorice Pizza” Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
• “The Worst Person in the World” Written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
