ComingSoon.net’s Oscar Warrior is live-blogging The 87th Oscars on Sunday night, February 22 starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT!
Alejandro Iñárritu’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel are tied with nine nominations each to lead the pack with The Imitation Game scoring eight, followed by Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper with six each. All five of those movies have received Best Picture nominations along with three other films: Selma, The Theory of Everything and Whiplash. The first four movies also have received nominations for director with the fifth being Bennet Miller for Foxcatcher (which didn’t receive a Best Picture nomination).
Hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, The 87th Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscars, produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
You can follow along below, and if you have any questions during the broadcast, you can post them to the comments below or you can tweet to @EDouglasWW or use the hashtag #CSOscarBlog, and we’ll try to answer them. You can view the full list of nominations for the 87th Academy Awards by clicking here.
Once the live blog starts, you can refresh the page for the latest updates!
12:09 And that’s it for me, folks! This ceremony was way too long and it was only in the last hour where it got remotely interesting or entertaining. I think we need new producers and a new host for next year because this year was verging on disastrous until the end. Night!
12:04 And the Oscar goes to Birdman! (Although shouldn’t it be Birdman (and the Whatever the Rest of the Title is?)
12:03 AM And here comes two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn to announce the Best Picture…. which will be Birdman?
12 AM (3 1/2 hours into the telecast!) and instead of announcing Best Picture, NPH is bringing back that Oscar predictions joke… sigh.
11:57 And Julianne Moore wins her first Oscar for Still Alice and gets another standing ovation. it’s like the people in the audience are just tired of sitting down and will give a standing ovation just to stretch their legs. (Julianne is giving a great speech, talking very eloquently without getting overly emotional.)
11:56 The last hour of the Oscars have been fantastic but that’s because there’s been less NPH and more Oscar moment nods to last year as well as finally answering some of the big questions of the Oscar race.
11:53 And here comes Matthew McConaughey to present the Oscar for Female Lead which everyone is guessing will go to Julianne Moore for Still Alice.
11:51 And the Oscar goes to Eddie Redmayne!! Woohoo … so well deserved! (And such a nice guy… but we’ll forgive him for Jupiter Ascending.) And he’s giving a really heartfelt and emotional speech.
11:48 Next up is Cate Blanchett presenting the Lead Actor category which has also been hugely contested as a horserace between Keaton and Redmayne… who will win? (I picked Redmayne although my gut tells me that Keaton might win this one and continue Birman’s sweep.)
11:44 I’m so happy for Alejandro. Interviewed him for his last couple movies and I’ve been a fan going to 21 Grams. Guy is a great director and so deserving of the Oscar and it’s good for him to win in a year where everyone is complaining about an “all-white Oscars” (Although his cinematographer Chivo is also Mexican and Whiplash editor Tom Cross is half-Asian.)
11:42 And the winner is…. Alejandro Inarritu… which means that Birdman has almost definitely won Best Picture as well.
11:40 We’re 3 hours and ten minutes into the broadcast with four more awards to give out including the big ones. Next presenter is Ben Affleck and NPH (who disappeared for a while) makes a “Gone Girl” joke. Affleck is presenting Best Director… which is odd because he didn’t win last year and he wasn’t even nominated the year before. Is this another Oscar apology? I wonder who’ll win this one.
11:37 And where did NPH go? He’s no longer introducing anyone, not even the “what’s coming up next”…
11:36 An incredibly moving speech from Graham Moore, writer of The Imitation Game, who did indeed win for Adapted Screenplay. And he also gets a standing ovation as well as a number of teary-eyed actors in the audience.
11:33 Eddie Murphy only presented Original Screenplay as Oprah Winfrey is coming out to present Adapted Screenplay, which could also go a number of different ways but The Imitation Game is thought to be the frontrunner.
11:31 Incidentally it’s been a long time since Best Picture would sweep all categories as was the case with Slumdog Millionaire, Hurt Locker, and Return of the King. 12 Years a Slave won three Oscars including Best Picture, as did Argo. The King’s Speech won four total.
11:30 Best Original Screenplay goes to Birdman, which definitely seems to point to it winning Best Picture over The Grand Budapest Hotel, which many thought might take this one. Boyhood may be out of the running at this point unless they give director to Linklater.
11:29 Next presenter is Eddie Murphy and man, I hope he does better than he did at SNL 40 last weekend…. Murphy is presenting the screenplay awards, starting with original screenplay which could help give a sign of where things are going with Best Picture.
11:27 So far, Grand Budapest is ahead with four Oscar wins, Whiplash is second with three, Boyhood and Birdman both have one each, as do American Sniper and Selma. None for the Imitation Game or Theory of Everything.
11:23 Yes! Alexandre Desplat has won his first Oscar for “The Grand Budapest Hotel” after seven previous nominations! (Sadly, I got that one wrong in my Oscar predictions.) This is the fourth Oscar for Wes Anderson’s latest film.
11:22 Julie Andrews is presenting Best Original Score with all the poise and grace we’ve come to expect from her. (Alexandre Desplat has two nominations in his category… will he win one of them?)
11:20 At least they’re bringing out Julie Andrews who gives Lady Gaga a big hug before being introduced and that gets a standing ovation. This show is so back-loaded. It’s been such a dud until the last 15 minutes starting with “Glory” and now this.
11:15 And just to annoy me further, it’s Lady Gaga singing “The Sound of Music”… I mean, what is the point of this? Don’t we have more awards to give out still? And she goes into “My Favorite Things.” Her voice is as strong as Julie Andrews’ in the original movie (which is a favorite of mine) but I do question when a show is running this late that they pad it with this sort of thing.
11:13 She’s talking about “The Sound of Music” which was at the Oscars 50 years ago… but with the show already running 2 hours and 45 minutes, is this really necessary?
11:12 Next up is Scarlett Johansson introducing something…. who cares what it is? She looks great!
11:11 By the way, if for some crazy reason Whiplash wins Adapted Screenplay, it could pull an upset for Best Picture. I don’t see it happening but it’s out there.
11:08 John Legend and Common gave a great speech and got a standing ovation from the audience in the Kodak Theater. With less than a half hour to go, the Oscars seemed to have finally gotten some life pumped into them! And we still have a couple horse races to go in screenplay categories, director, actor and picture!
11:05 And “Glory” wins!!! Such a great song and performance… but will Common and John Legend accept the award even though they didn’t write the music or lyrics?
11:02 And the best joke of the night makes reference to John Travolta’s pronunciation of Idina Menzel from last year’s Oscars as she introduces him as “Glom Gazingo.” They’re presenting the award for Best Original Song which should go to “Glory.”
11:00 This is an amazing performance and I’ll be truly shocked if this doesn’t win Original Song.
10:57 NPH is still carrying on with this silly Oscar predictions gag although Octavia Spencer had to introduce the performance of “Glory” by John Legend and Common
10:53 They still have two song performances to go? What are they waiting for?
10:50 Yup, CitizenFour won and I’m guessing that Edward Snowden won’t come out to accept it. (And NPH just made the same joke, which makes me feel like a hack.)
10:49 Next up are Jennifer Aniston and David Oyelowo (both snubbed in their respective actor categories) presenting for Best Documentary which should go to CitizenFour although I’d much prefer to see Life Itself getting nominated.
10:48 It’s a shame that the Oscar ceremony isn’t that great considering that the 8 Best Picture contenders are some of the best movies in many years. At least six or seven of them deserve to win Best Picture.
10:46 Next up is Terrence Howard who is presenting Whiplash as Best Picture… great timing considering its three wins. Also getting a little teary-eyed while presenting The Imitation Game (as opposed to Selma, the third film he’s introducing).
10:44 Woohoo!!! Tom Cross won for Whiplash, its third win of the night!! I have a special connection to this one because Tom Cross’ wife is a long-time acquaintance of mine.
10:43 Okay, we’re back with Naomi Watts and Benedict Cumberbatch presenting the award for Film Editing… we have ten more awards to go and (presumably) 45 minutes left. This one could go to Boyhood but I want Whiplash to win.
10:39 The only thing I’m going to say about the In Memoriam section was that they seemed to have left off Joan Rivers , which seems like an odd omission since she’s appeared in many films. Beautiful presentation and song by Jennifer Hudson otherwise.
10:30 Meryl Streep has only won three out of 19 Oscar nominations? That’s not great. I guess she’s presenting the In Memoriam segment … and I’m putting a moratorium on jokes until it’s over.
10:29 Gotta say that so far this is one of the most boring Oscar ceremonies in recent memory, at least since the current producers got involved. Time to get new producers next year I think.
10:25 Yup. Emmanuel Lubecski wins his second Oscar in a row while Roger Deakins still has never won an Oscar for his work.
10:23 It’s Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba… an odd pairing but they’ll probably present another technical award… and yes indeed, they’re presenting Cinematography which most people think will go to Birdman unless Grand Budapest pulls an upset and gets its fourth Oscar!
10:22 Lots of fans of the Grand Budapest Hotel in the audience which makes me think it might win Original Screenplay as well.
10:20 Next is Chris Pratt and Felicity Jones.. what do these two have in common besides being actors? Not much. They’re presenting the Oscar for Production Design… how exciting. This should also go to Grand Budapest.
10:17 At least the commercials are going by fast… I guess that’s something, right? Now NPH is presenting the President of the Academy, Cheryl Boone Isaacs. I have no idea what she’s talking about. I’m starting to zone out. Oh, she’s talking about freedom of expression and the courage of filmmakers… got it. Not sure why she has decided to mention this at this point in the show when they’re nearing the two-hour mark though.
10:15 Not sure if Big Hero 6’s win was that big a surprise… except to Jeffrey Katzenberg who probably spent more money on awards campaigns than it actually grossed domestically. I liked Big Hero 6 too much to be bitter that I got it wrong in my Oscar predictions.
10:10 And it’s a pretty big upset cause Big Hero 6 has won for Animated Feature, which means that Disney swept the animation category this year!
10:08 Next up is the presentation for Animated Feature presented by Zoe Saldana and Dwayne Johnson… who actually look really good together. This would be a huge upset if How to Train Your Dragon 2 doesn’t win.
10:07 It goes to Disney’s “Feast”!!! My favorite animated short I’ve seen in a long time… and with that, I’m 3/3 in the shorts categories.
10:05 Next up is Kevin Hart and Anna Kendrick, possibly the weirdest and most random pairing of a weird and random night? They’re presenting the animation categories. Or at least animated short. Will this go to “Feast” or “The Dam Builder”?
10:03 Next up is Ansel Elgort and Chloe Moretz who are presenting the screenplay categories? No, visual FX. That was a weird intro… This should go to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes…. NOPE!!! Interstellar! It’s first (and probably only) win of the night unless Hans Zimmer wins for his score.
9:59 And we’re back with NPH referring back to his Oscar predictions gag from earlier… and next up is Josh Hutcherson of The Hunger Games introducing the song from “Beyond the Lights”… “Grateful” performed by Rita Ora. (Number was okay but seemed shorter than other numbers.)
9:54 Poor, Ellar Coltrane. Went to give his “Mom” a hug and she walked away… And Patricia Arquette uses her win to make a political statement about equal wages for women. You mean she didn’t get paid the same amount as Ethan Hawke? is that what she’s trying to say?
9:53 And the winner is Patricia Arquette, of course. Did anyone think this was going to go otherwise? I hate to sound like Jeff Wells but this makes for a boring telecast when everything goes exactly as expected/predicted.
9:51 Next up is Jared Leto in a grey tux to present Supporting Actress (which most think will go to Patricia Arquette).
9:48 Sound editing goes to…. American Sniper! (At least I got that one right) This one proves my point that war movies almost always win in this category, the winners in this category having previously won for Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima.
9:47 Honest to gosh, the first time I saw Whiplash (in an IMAX theater) I was not impressed with the sound mixing… and remember that I actually had a career as a sound mixer long before I wrote about movies.
9:46 Sound Mixing goes to… Whiplash! (Darn, I think I picked Birdman but I’m glad to see Whiplash has won two Oscars tonight!)
9:45 Next is Chris Evans and Sienna Miller presenting for sound mixing and sound editing… just to get things exciting again.
9:43 Next up is Margot Robbie and Miles Teller (who played drums for NPH’s entrance). Oh, great. They’re talking about the technical awards.. that were also presented weeks ago. Do we really need this as part of the broadcast?
9:42 NPH seems to be missing. Maybe they can find a better host. This Oscar telecast has been pretty lame so far. And now they’re doing an obvious Birdman bit with NPH walking naked through the hallways behind the theater. Sigh. (This is literally some of the same jokes done last night at the Independent Spirits.)
9:37 Honestly, I hadn’t heard this song before and I think it’s better than at least the previous two performed and probably “Glory” as well. Shame it won’t win.
9:35 Gwyneth Paltrow is introducing the song from the Glenn Campbell doc, “I’m Not Going to Miss You,” performed by Tim McGraw.
9:33 Oh, no… it’s NPH walking through the audience again, pointing out the British actors and humiliating the likes of David Oyelowo, who should have been nominated for an Oscar. They’re doing a bit where he’s trying to prove that jokes are funnier and less insulting with a British accent. Oy vey.
9:31 And just like on Thursday night, Viola Davis follows Kerry Washington. She’s talking about the Governor’s Award for the Lifetime Achievement Awards which were presented earlier to Harry Belafonte, Maureen O’Hara, Hayao Miyazaki and screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere, and they have clips from the earlier presentation.
9:30 Winners to the orchestra: “Yeah, try to play us off when we have something serious to say… we’re ignoring you!”
9:28 Next is Documentary short… will this also go to the movie about a crisis hotline?!? Spoiler: Yup. It goes to Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1. (And they cut to Bradley Cooper… cause you know, he played a veteran.)
9:27 At least the winners of Live Action Short are British so we can be amused by their accents… and they’re also being played off as they suddenly remember who they should thank.
9:25 They’re presenting the Live Action Shorts or… the make or break for most office Oscar pools. (As expected, the weepy The Phone Call won, which makes me think that all the other shorts frontrunners will win with few surprises.)
9:24 Uh oh… NPH is back. But at least some of the actors in the audience have LEGO Oscars in their possession. Next up is Kerry Washington and Jason Bateman to present… something they have nothing to do with? #randomOscars
9:18 This could be this year’s “Blame Canada” with Tegan & Sarah joined by Lonely Island, but it’s just a crazy performance with too much going on. But it has Batman playing death metal… what the?!? I hope Batman will play more death metal in the LEGO Batman Movie.
9:17 The show is pretty bad so far… including NPH’s introduction of Marion Cotillard who is introducing… the performance of “Everything is Awesome!” of course because… she has absolutely nothing to do with The LEGO Movie. I hope this is good.
9:15 Oh, no. NPH is walking through the crowd and talking with the seat fillers in the audience.
9:13 And the oddest choice to present Best Picture nominee Boyhood… Shirley MacLaine!?!?! Oh, she’s also presenting The Theory for Everything and Birdman Etc. Still, what an odd choice and I don’t get these BP presentations.
9:12 And Pawel Pawlikowsky gets played off but he keeps going because he forgot to thank the important people… like his late wife.
9:10 And the Oscar goes to… Ida from Poland. Already the frontrunner and favorite despite Leviathan’s Golden Globe win. This is the first win in ten nominations for Poland.
9:09 After a weak joke about them switching places through make-up, Nicole Kidman and Chiwetel Ejiofor are presenting… Foreign Language film. (No idea what they were presenting at first)
9:07 Not to boast but I’m 3 for 3 on my Oscar picks… although we won’t be seeing/hearing the tough races for another two hours at least.
9:03 Next up is Channing Tatum who is presenting… the Team Oscar search? What the?
9:02 Very classy shout-out to the late Dick Smith by the winners.
9:01 Yup, goes to Grand Budapest Hotel for its second win of the night. But yeah, as mentioned in the comments, we’re half an hour into the show with only three awards given away.
8:59 Next presenter is Reese Witherspoon after a terrible introduction by NPH. He’s really not doing well. She’s presenting Hair and Make-Up which should also go to Grand Budapest Hotel.
8:57 Jennifer Lopez is presenting Costume Design and the Oscar goes to… (drum roll) The Grand Budapest Hotel! This is the fourth Oscar for the costume designer whose name I’m not even going to try to spell. She previously won for Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette and Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon.
8:56 You can tell there are Oscar-worthy actors in the audience. They’re laughing at NPH’s weak jokes.
8:55 I don’t want to pass judgment on the show after just 25 minutes but so far… not great.
8:52 Now’s a good time for questions if you have any. Comments below or on Twitter with the hashtag #CSOscarBlog.
8:51 In all honesty, I’m not a huge fan of Maroon 5 either. I like Keira Knightley’s version of the song in the movie better.
8:49 Dakota Johnson is introducing Maroon 5 and Adam Levine performing “Lost Stars” from Begin Again. (I won’t say any more about the song because I have a definite bias against the songwriter.)
8:48 I don’t understand why these award shows do these Best Picture presentations throughout the show like this. I figure most people know who the BP nominees are.
8:46 Next up is Liam Neeson presenting the Best Picture nominations? I never understand why they do this but I guess he’s talking about Grand Budapest Hotel and American Sniper? I guess he has a connection to Ralph Fiennes through Schindler’s List but what is the connection to American Sniper?
8:45 NPH is doing a bit where he says he’s predicted the Oscar winners and put the envelope in a locked glass case so that no one will think he tampered with it. Kind of an odd decision but we’ll see how it goes.
8:44 J.K. mostly thanked his wife and his kids and didn’t waste too much time.
8:41 And the winner is…. (drum roll) J.K. Simmons!!!! Yay!!!!! (Note: Lupita screwed up and said “The Actor Goes to…” which is what they give away at the SAG.)
8:40 Birdman (and the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is becoming this year’s Borat… and whatever its annoyingly long full title was.
8:39 JK Simmons is thought to be the frontrunner in this category… will he win?
8:38 So far, NPH is being very earnest and not making many jokes. (Although he just made one about Smurfs 2). First up is Supporting Actor cause here comes last year’s Supporting Actress winner, Lupita Nyong’o.
8:37 I’m not sure but I think American Sniper may be the highest grossing Best Picture nominee after Titanic and Avatar.
8:34 It is funny how many times the camera cuts to NPH’s “Gone Girl” co-star Rosamund Pike… twice so far.
8:33 Now NPH is joined by Anna Kendrick who is almost as big a Broadway fan as NPH… and they’re interrupted by a cranky Jack Black. This isn’t a very good opening, I gotta say.
8:32 And less than two minutes before he was doing a magic trick…
8:30 It’s starting and here comes NPH! (And he goes almost directly into a musical number after a joke about the Oscars honoring the “biggest and whitest”)
8:25 Five minutes until the show starts! Robin Roberts is getting a lot of last minute interviews inside the Dolby Theater. Get ready folks!
8:23 Literally nothing has been going on for the last 23 minutes. It’s like the sold advertising for a show that just isn’t happening.
8:15 This is going to be the longest 15 minutes ever.
8:14 Bradley Cooper seems to be very excited to be at the Oscars with Clint Eastwood… didn’t he work with him for months?
8:09 About twenty minutes until the ceremony begins. The red carpet has been as uneventful as it always is. Hopefully the ceremony will make up for it.
8:05 I bet Ethan Hawke can’t wait to stop talking about Boyhood. We can start asking him about the fourth movie in the Before Sunset series soon.
8:03 I notice that Emma Stone isn’t with Andrew Garfield. Man, that would blow if he loses the Spider-Man gig and his girlfriend at the same time.
8:01 I’m glad Robin Roberts is doing the red carpet at least, cause she classes it up. Although right now it’s pretty slow. Lots of commercials.
7:57 So far, the majority seems to think that Best Picture will either go to Birdman or Boyhood. I’m going with Birdman but I do hope Richard Linklater wins for director cause it’s amazing that he spent 12 years making Boyhood…. and making a dozen other movies in the same time.
7:53 I just made the mistake of trying to find out why Margot Robbie is trending on Twitter… I need a few minutes here. (I’ve met her in person recently and she’s very nice.)
7:48 42 minutes until the actual show starts. Right now it’s just fashion stuff. (See my previous comment. I’m not into fashion.)
7:45 For those wondering, I’m wearing a Scott Pilgrim T-shirt and Levi’s jeans tonight.
7:44 Benedict Cumberbatch says the nominations do when the interviewer suggests that good things happen in threes (since he just got married and has a baby on the way)
7:41 It’s Chris Pratt and Anna Faris looking cute as ever. I guess Chris Pratt may be presenting tonight? He has cleaned up nice although he still has a slight beard.
7:38 It’s crazy how early ABC started their coverage of the red carpet. There were hosts on the carpet at 5pm Eastern and they didn’t have anyone to talk to.
7:35 PM Hey, everyone! Just signing on. Not much going on right now except ABC is showing a red carpet interview with Dakota Johnson and her mother Melanie Griffith.
