As expected, Leonado DiCaprio, Brie Larson and Alicia Vikander took home acting awards, while DGA winner Alejandro G. Innaritu repeated his best director win.
There were big surprises and some snubs too.
When the SAG Award went to Idris Elba, who wasn’t nominated for an Oscar, many took it as a good sign for Globe winner Sylvester Stallone, who definitely had the nostalgia factor on his side. But in the end it was Rylance who triumphed, making him only the second actor (after Daniel Day-Lewis) to win an acting award for a Steven Spielberg film. Many thought it might finally be Stallone’s time, after he lost in 1976 for “Rocky.”
SNUB: “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Editing, Score, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Visual Effects
It’s the highest-grossing film of 2015 and the third highest-grossing film in history, but “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” was shut out in each of the five categories in which it was nominated. But the Academy has a long history of failing to honor the most successful films.
SNUB: Roger Deakins, Best Cinematography, “Sicario”
It was an impressive year in the cinematography field; all five nominees are icons. And while Emmanuel Lubezki certainly deserved his third consecutive Oscar for his stunning work on “The Revenant,” it meant that Deakins went home empty-handed for the thirteenth time.
SNUB: Diane Warren, “Til It Happens to You”
The widely reviled song from James Bond film “Spectre” (one person backstage commented that “it wasn’t even the best song released that week”) pulled an upset. Among others, it beat out “Til It Happens to You” by Lady Gaga and eight-time nominee Diane Warren.
SNUB: “Carol,” “The Martian” and “Brooklyn”
They were three of the most heralded films of the year, with 17 nominations between them, yet all ended up going home empty-handed at the end of the night.
