Apple TV+ Makes History As First Streaming Service To Win Best Picture Oscar For CODA

CODA is named Best Picture on Sunday's (Mar 27) 94th Annual Academy Awards.

The Apple TV+ drama made history as the first streaming service movie to win the honour when Liza Minelli and Lady Gaga announced it had triumphed in the final category of the evening ahead of Belfast, Don't Look Up, Drive My Car, Dune', King Richard, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley', 'The Power of the Dog and West Side Story.

The movie won in the other two categories it was nominated in, with director Sian Heder taking home Best Adapted Screenplay and Troy Kotsur winning Best Supporting Actor.

Kostsur signed a moving speech, which was read out by a sign language interpreter, in which he said in part: "My dad, he was the best signer in our family but he was in a car accident and he became paralysed from the neck down and was no longer able to sign. Dad, I learned so much from you, I'll always love you, you are my hero.

"Thank you to my biggest fans my wife and daughter Keria, and my hometown of Mesa Arizona. Mark Finlay, my manager and my team.

"This is dedicated to the deaf community, the CODA community and the disabled community. This is our moment.

"To my mum, my dad and my brother Mark, they're not here today but look at me now, I did it. I love you."

Elsewhere, Dune won an impressive six awards, largely in technical categories including Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, and Best Visual Effects, as well as Best Score for Hans Zimmer's music.

Will Smith took home the Best Actor prize for King Richard but his victory was overshadowed by an incident earlier in the evening when he stormed the stage at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre to lash out at Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from alopecia.

He addressed the moment in his speech as he tearfully said: "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 was one of the strongest, most delicate people I've ever met. I got to protect Saniyya [Sidney] and Demi [Singleton], the two actresses who 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 gotta be able to take abuse, you gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you, in this business, you've got to be able to have people disrespecting you. You gotta smile and pretend like that's okay.

"Thank you D — Denzel [Washington] said a couple of minutes ago, be careful, at your highest moment, that's when the devil comes for you."

Best Actress went to Jessica Chastain for The Eyes of Tammy Faye', while Ariana DeBose took home Best Supporting Actress for her role in 'West Side Story'.

The Power of the Dog's Jane Campion won Best Director, and though eight-time nominee Kenneth Branagh missed out on that prize, he did score his first-ever Oscar win, bagging Best Original Screenplay for 'Belfast'.

Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes were the evening's hosts.

Full list of the Oscars 2022:

Best Picture:

CODA

Best Director:

Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

Best Actress:

Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Best Actor:

Will Smith, King Richard

Best Supporting Actress:

Ariana DeBose, West Side Story

Best Supporting Actor:

Troy Kotsur, CODA

Best Costume Design:

Cruella

Best Sound:

Dune

Best Original Score:

Dune

Best Adapted Screenplay:

CODA

Best Original Screenplay:

Belfast

Best Animated Short:

The Windshield Wiper

Best Live Action Short:

The Long Goodbye

Best Film Editing:

Dune

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Best Animated Feature:

Encanto

Best Documentary Feature:

Summer of Soul

Best Documentary Short:

The Queen of Basketball

Best Original Song:

'No Time to Die', No Time to Die

Best Cinematography:

Greig Fraser, Dune

Best International Feature:

Drive My Car, Japan

Best Production Design:

Dune

Best Visual Effects:

Dune

For more details on the Oscar winners click here.

Catch the Oscars encore on Channel 5 tonight (Mar 28) at 6pm (red carpet) and 10.30pm (main ceremony). The shorter international version will be shown on Channel 5 on Saturday (Apr 2), 12pm. it's also available on meWATCH. — BANG SHOWBIZ

Photo: Apple TV+