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Alison Stewart: This is All Of It. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC studios in Soho. Thanks for spending part of your day with us. Coming up on the show this week, the author of a new biography about trailblazing politician Shirley Chisholm. It's called Shirley Chisholm, Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics. It's our choice for a full bio this month, Women's History Month. We'll speak with associate professor and author, Anastasia Curwood, plus Irish singer and songwriter Hosier celebrates both St. Patrick's Day and his own birthday with a listening party for his new EP that will be happening on Friday. That is in the future, but right now, let's talk Oscars.

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Alison Stewart: It was a historic night at the 95th Annual Academy Awards. Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to win best actress for Everything Everywhere, All at Once, and only the second woman of color ever to win that category. She was handed the trophy by Halle Berry, the first Black woman to win best actress, and the beloved song, Naatu Naatu from the Tollywood film RRR became the first track from an Indian film to win best original song at the Oscars.

Everything Everywhere All at Once had a dominant night, winning best picture, three out of the four [unintelligible 00:01:18] acting categories, best original screenplay, best editing, and best director for two men, the Daniels, the team of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. It was also a huge night for two companies. A24 distributed the best picture winner and the films behind all four acting wins, and Netflix took home six Oscars, including for best international feature winner, All Quiet on the Western Front.

It was also a bit of return to the status quo for the Oscars this year. All the technical categories were added back into the broadcast, and frequent host, Jimmy Kimmel, was back at the helm, providing a steady hand throughout the ceremony, as well as using jokes to acknowledge the giant elephant in the room, the slap seen around the world. Here to break down what happened [laughs] everywhere all at once, I mean, everything that happened at the Oscars is WNYC's Arts and Culture reporter, Ben Yakas. Hi, Ben.

Ben Yakas: Hey, how are you doing?

Alison Stewart: Hey, listeners, we want to hear from you. What was your favorite part of the Oscars broadcast last night? What did you think of Everything Everywhere All at Once winning best picture? What movies do you wish had gotten some more love last night? Or maybe some actor or somebody from behind the scenes? We want to hear your Oscar takes, 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC, or you can hit us up at allofitwnyc on Twitter or Instagram.

As I mentioned, Ben, big winner of the night, Everything Everywhere All at Once took home the big prize, best picture, best original screenplay, best directors. The movie is far from a traditional best picture winner for the Academy. Why do you think it broke through and managed to secure so many wins?

Ben Yakas: The movie has inspired a really spirited debate amongst film fans, between people who thinks it's really pretentious or self-indulgent, and then people who thought that it was an incredible visual treat and a very heartfelt movie. I think there's a couple of things happening simultaneously, that is why it has resonated so much. One aspect of it is that it gave Hollywood a chance to acknowledge and celebrate a lot of these superhero trends, the multiverse, these action movies, but it's packaged as a classy A24 Indie. It is also a very fun movie. It's a little too long, sure, but it's got gags. It's got the Raccoon Gag which is the Ratatouille, but it's Raccacoonie, which I think was absolutely hilarious.

It has surreal visual stuff like Hot Dog Fingers. It has these things that really stick in your mind, and it doesn't let you get bored at any point, but at its core, it is just this very heartfelt movie about the conflicts and the abiding love between immigrant parents and their kids. It's really about family and kindness, and it's a straightforward movie that tells its story in a non-straightforward way. I think that is the aspect that really appeals to a lot of people.

Alison Stewart: Best director went to the duo, the Daniels, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. Let's hear a little bit of the speech when they won for best director.

Daniel Kwan: We are all products of our context. We are all descendants of something and someone, and I want to acknowledge my context, my immigrant parents, my father who fell in love with movies because he needed to escape the world and thus passed that love of movies onto me, my mother, who is a creative soul who wanted to be a dancer, an actor, and singer, but could not afford the luxury of that life path, and then gave it to me, my incredible brothers and sisters who helped me survive the chaos of childhood. My friends from high school who taught me the-- sorry, I'm just going to keep going.

Alison Stewart: [laughs] It was so sweet. There was just a genuine sweetness among that whole team, from the producer down to the actors down to the Daniels without being cloying.

Ben Yakas: I love the part where they shouted out public teachers for the original screenplay. I think that Daniel Kwan, who was speaking there, is 35 years old, which is a remarkable thing to think about, a 35-year-old winning best director and best picture in the same time, but something you-- talking about that these are the guys, they started out as music video directors. They did the video for Turn Down For What. I saw that video when it came out and I was like, this is so cool and weird.

Alison Stewart: It's that DJ Snake and Little John, for people who don't remember.

Ben Yakas: It's barely a song at times. It's just a groove, but the video is so cool, and if you like this movie, please go and watch this on YouTube after this, but their aesthetic was so fully formed then. To see them now grow to this point where the story is now part of it as well, married to their incredibly unique visual sense, I think it is a really wonderful story and really incredible that they've done it at relatively young age.

Alison Stewart: Let's take a call. Tanya, calling in from Hazlet, New Jersey. Hi, Tanya. You are on the air.

Tanya: Hi. I saw the Oscars last night. I was very glad Michelle Yeoh won. However, I believe that Viola Davis should have been up there and then it would've been interesting to see who won, because I think that both of them were definitely contenders. Another thing that I had an issue about was the movie Till. They talked last night about the cinematography. I remember when you talked about Till on this show, they discussed the cinematography of how they put that together with the mother dealing with the body of her dead son and how they did this with the movie. I said I don't think the Oscars were quite ready to deal with that reality of something that actually happened in America and not something that we're proud of.

Watching war stuff and talking about cinematography is one thing, but dealing with the actual reality of actions that have happened in this country, I was like, "Yes, they didn't quite want to touch that."

Alison Stewart: Got you, Tanya, thank you so much for calling in. It was interesting that Jimmy Kimmel took time to shout out Violas Davis for Woman King and Danielle Deadwyler, who was so magnificent in Till, both were not in this category, partially in part because of Andrea Riseborough landing the nomination for To Leslie, a very lauded performance, terrific performance that few people saw. What did you think about the drama around this particular category? We didn't see many shots of Andrea Riseborough during the night. If you have to look back on it, what do you think the lessons learned are?

Ben Yakas: I think a lot of people were outraged by the campaigning that happened. I think that there's a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that happens in closed doors at these parties and different functions that is not necessarily too dissimilar from what she did. Obviously, what she did was perhaps a little more coordinated in that she got a lot of her famous friends to really push for her. Like most Americans, I haven't seen To Leslie yet. I can't say for sure whether her performance is or is not deserving, but I do think it speaks a lot that there are so many women we could talk about, like Viola Davis, who is most definitely deserving of that acknowledgement. I'd put Margot Robbie up there as well.

I think she was amazing in Babylon, which is a very underrated movie that was the butt of some jokes last night. I think that the academy may tighten the reins a little bit, especially next year. I don't think they want to see a repeat of this kind of thing happen where someone comes out of nowhere without the kind of buzz or public support from fans as opposed to from insiders.

Alison Stewart: Yes, or if it's this idea of we're going to do this, then everybody gets to do this, and she was terrific in that movie, by the way, but Danielle Deadwyler is the one that broke my heart to not see her.

Ben Yakas: That broke your heart.

Alison Stewart: Yes, not see her get a nomination. Very excited though, to see Michelle Yeoh win. Only the second woman of color ever to win the category. First Asian woman to win. Let's listen to a little bit of her speech

Michelle Yeoh: For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that dream big and dreams do come true. Ladies, don't let anybody tell you you're ever past your prime. You never give up.

Alison Stewart: She went on to say, this is for all the moms out there. She and Ke Huy Quan were expected to win, but at the same time, I thought it felt very fresh still, somehow, I don't know how.

Ben Yakas: Yes, I loved the speech. I loved the line about don't let anyone tell you that you're past your prime or anything. She's had such a great career, and I think there are a lot of actors and actresses who are rewarded for having great careers with late-period Oscars for a movie that may or may not be their best work. This is one of the rare cases where she's getting a late-period Oscar, but this actually is some of her best work. It's also a reward for so many movies she made in the '90s and [unintelligible 00:10:31] that are just so fantastic, she was so great in. It feels very well deserved.

Alison Stewart: Let's talk to Terry calling in from Minneapolis. Hi, Terry. Thanks for calling All Of It.

Terry: Hi. We really enjoyed the production numbers. The Indian dance was amazing, the energy level, it just got us up dancing and I just want to learn that dance now, and my husband especially loved Lady Gaga. Her performance.

Alison Stewart: The very stripped down.

Terry: That Indian dance was just amazing.

Alison Stewart: [laughs] Terry, thank you for calling in. She's talking about Naatu Naatu, the performance of it. What did you think about the production of the Oscars?

Ben Yakas: In terms of the music, Naatu Naatu was just heck yes. I love that. The dancing was amazing. That to me was the knockout performance of the night. I want to give a lot of credit to Lady Gaga. She showed up in a ton of makeup, a gorgeous dress and everything. Somehow in a pretty short amount of time, she got all of that off. She stripped down to her inside-out T-shirt, and she gave-- she introduced herself for the performance, and she, I assume, asked the camera people to get as close as possible to her because it was almost dizzying how close you were.

You didn't have the context of the band for half of the performance, but it was a very emotional performance. She said it was a deeply personal song. I think it was dedicated to Tony Scott who died recently, committed suicide. Those were to me the two very standout. Rihanna is a legend. The song I think is just okay, but she always brings it. She's incredible. Diane Warren, look, also a legend. Do you know what she did between 1996 and 1998? Can I just tell you? Because you love me by Celine Dion, Unbreak My Heart by Toni Braxton, For you I will by Monica, How do I live by LeAnn Rimes, and then topping it all off with, I don't want to miss a thing by Aerosmith. The woman gets a pass for life for that, but the new song wasn't very good.

Alison Stewart: My favorite thing she tweeted is, "I lost an hour and an Oscar in the same day." Diane Warren has a sense of humor. We are talking about the Oscars with Ben Yakas, WNYC Arts and Culture Editor. We're talking about it with you as well. 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC. You can tell us your favorite part of the broadcast last night. What did you think of the award? Somebody that you wanted to shout out. An award you were happy to see given out. Our phone lines are open to you. Let's go out on Naatu Naatu and we'll be back after a quick break. This is All Of It.

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Alison Stewart: This is All Of It. I'm Alison Stewart. My guest is Ben Yakas, WNYC Arts and Culture Editor. We are recapping the Oscars along with you, listeners. Our phone number is 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC, or hit us up on social media at allofitwnyc. Let's talk to Lucy from Williamsburg. Hi, Lucy.

Lucy: Hey, Alison. Apologies, I'm outside, but I just wanted to say that I'm extremely excited that Sarah Polley won for the adapted screenplay for Women Talking. Sorry, I did not read the book, but I'm going to, so I can't compare. I watched it at home over the weekend, and it was so intense I had to take a pause. I finished it yesterday, and I was blown away. Just how they processed-- it was just incredible. The women's thought process just blew my mind and it was just exquisite. I absolutely loved it.

Alison Stewart: Lucy, thank you for calling in, and you're very lucky because you're going to get to read an excellent book as well. I loved Sarah Polley's speech, Ben, about, "Thank you for recognizing that you can have women talking in the same sentence." [laughs] She thanked the academy. That was pretty great.

Ben Yakas: It was, I think, disappointing that she didn't get a best director nod. I think it was very well deserved, but her speech really resonated. She said that the film was like a radical act of democracy. It was showing how people with very different viewpoints and opinions can sit down and still negotiate a decision together. I think that is a very meaningful idea and concept that we don't see executed necessarily in a lot of major motion pictures, because you've got to stop for the action or whatever it would be. This is a movie that is purely about the dialogue in the script. It is great that it was recognized for adapted screenplay.

Alison Stewart: A lot of films that were critical hits and even some of them were fans of the Box Office did not get recognized. Banshees of Inisherin, Tár, The Fabelmans, completely shut out, Top Gun Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water [unintelligible 00:16:07] in technical categories. Why do you think so many of these really touted films did not snag a win?

Ben Yakas: Technically, Colin Farrell actually did win an Oscar, in my head, he won an honorary Oscar for most eyebrows in a movie, because his eyebrows in The Banshees were two furry caterpillars trying to kiss. It just made me very happy to look at them. I think this is one of those years where Everything Everywhere just really-- obviously it swept so much, and it dominated the field. In recent years, I was looking back at last year, the love was really spread around between a lot of different movies. You had a different best director last year and best picture. This year it was like this consensus just slowly built.

This movie, if we remember, was released last spring, I believe, or early summer. It has been out for almost a year at this point. It built momentum over all this time. I think when it first came out, it wasn't a consensus pick like, "Oh, this is going to be the best picture." Over time, more people saw it, as they said in some of the speeches, A24 kept it in theaters for a long time. A lot of people got to see it on word of mouth, and it really built that buzz. I think it just really eclipsed a lot of things. Having said that, there were, from those movies that you mentioned, some great performances that did not get recognized, sadly.

Alison Stewart: The one performance that consistently got recognized across award season was Ke Huy Quan as Waymond from Everything Everywhere All at Once. Maybe better than his performances, were his acceptance speeches, because they could make you cry. Let's take a listen.

Ke Huy Quan: My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp and somehow I ended up here on Hollywood's biggest stage. They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it's happening to me. This is the American dream

Alison Stewart: Consistently makes you-- I think it's because it's so earnest.

Ben Yakas: I think everything that works about that film is encapsulated in the way in which he discussed his story and he talked and he gave these speeches at these various award ceremonies. It's the most Oscary thing saying this is the American dream to win an Oscar. Of course, the Oscars want everyone to say something like that, yet it is so sincere. It is so heartfelt.

Knowing his background, knowing that he went from this immigrant to an acclaimed child actor to disappearing for almost 20 years and not being able to find work in Hollywood. Then just a couple of years ago, picking the plunge again and giving it one more try. It is hard not to be moved by that. You know what I was wondering also, do you think that they had Harrison Ford give out the best picture in the hopes that it was this reunion on stage?

Alison Stewart: Oh, yes. [laughs] Oh, do you think [unintelligible 00:19:17] if you don't know that, I got some beachfront property in Utah for you, Ben. Let's talk to Hazel in Manhattan. Hi, Hazel.

Hazel: Hi. This is what I want to admit. I didn't like the winner. I didn't like everything. I'm sorry, forgive me. I did love their choice for best actor. I was so hoping they would acknowledge him. The film was wonderful, he was wonderful and humble and deserving. Those are my thoughts. I did not think Jamie Lee Curtis was the best in her category. She simply was not

Alison Stewart: Hazel.

Hazel: Forgive me for not liking it.

Alison Stewart: You know what? Difference of opinion. It's what makes America great. Hazel, back at you. I didn't like The Whale, but I liked the two performances of Hong Chau and Brendan Fraser. It's interesting when someone doesn't like a film, but you can acknowledge that a performance was good, which I think universally might have been the case with Brendan Fraser. Can I say that, Ben, pretty safely?

Ben Yakas: Yes. I think he, again, also has a great story and a comeback that has happened in recent years, and this was the coronation of that, the high point, that he was given this big movie on his back. I don't mean any puns with that, just that he obviously is the center of this really big Aronofsky film. The movie has caused a lot of controversy in the way that it approached these issues of obesity and representation.

It was not for me necessarily, but I do think, yes, he was someone that I think people found that they could root for him. It goes to show how much of the Oscars is about the story behind the story. It's not just the movie, it's not just the performance, it is also what this narrative is about this person, this actor, actresses, whomever, at this time.

Alison Stewart: Let's hear from Brendan Fraser's acceptance speech.

Brendan Fraser: I started in this business 30 years ago and things didn't come easily to me, but there was a facility that I didn't appreciate at the time, until it stopped. I just want to say thank you for this acknowledgement because it couldn't be done without my cast. It's been like I have been on a diving expedition on the bottom of the ocean and the air on the line to the surface is on a launch being watched over by some people in my life.

Alison Stewart: That's Brendan Fraser for The Whale. We've got about a minute left. Martin Woodstock, "I wonder what happened to The Fabelmans." People mad about Woman King getting snubbed. In our last minute, what was something that you wanted to say about the show, Ben, or about the awards that we didn't get to yet?

Ben Yakas: I thought Kimmel did a surprisingly solid job. I think the slap last year, obviously, overshadowed a lot of the rest of the ceremony, and I think it's probably the one thing everyone remembers from last year. Kimmel's opening monologue was-- he had some good jokes. He didn't say anything too controversial. He handled the slap without making it the point of the night, but he acknowledged it because we had to.

Then there were a lot less audience bits, which I really was happy about, because the ones that they had were still weird and uncomfortable. I never thought I'd have to say, "Maybe we didn't need to ask [unintelligible 00:22:50] about Harry Styles and Chris Pine or Cocaine Bear," but if that's all we got and we moved through the ceremony otherwise pretty swiftly, I think that was a pretty good job.

Alison Stewart: Big ups to Ruth Carter for winning for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever-

Ben Yakas: Second time.

Alison Stewart: -and shouting out Black women as the superheroes. Love her. Ben Yakas, thank you so much for being with us.

Ben Yakas: Thank you for having me.

 

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