Oscar Winners 2016: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brie Larson Win Top Accolades

Oscar winners 2016: And the Academy Award goes to…

On Sunday evening, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar dreams finally became a reality after winning his first Oscar for survival epic THE REVENANT, after six nominations.

At the 88th Academy Awards, which was hosted by Chris Rock, DiCaprio received a standing ovation as he picked up his award, having had five acting nominations and one nomination as producer of best picture nominee WOLF OF WALL STREET. 

During his acceptance speech, which you can watch in the video player above, he said making THE REVENANT was “about man’s relationship to the natural world”. 

“Climate change is real – it is happening right now,” he said. “It is the most urgent threat right now to our entire species and we need to work now. Let us not take this planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted.”

The actor also paid homage to the director of the film, Alejandro González Iñárritu and his friend and co-star Tom Hardy.

The Oscars took place two weeks after DiCaprio won a BAFTA for Best Actor and that proved to be a good indicator of his impending Academy Awards success after dominating most of the awards season with his sublime performance in THE REVENANT. DiCaprio has had to wait a long time for it though as has never won a Best Actor Oscar before, despite three previous nominations and relentless campaigning from fans.

The 41-year-old faced tough competition in the form of Eddie Redmayne, Bryan Cranston, Matt Damon and Michael Fassbender for the statue for their roles in THE DANISH GIRL, TRUMBO, THE MARTIAN and STEVE JOBS respectively.

That wasn’t the only big win on the night for the movie, with THE REVENANT’s director Alejandro G. Iñárritu making history winning his second consecutive best director award. The Mexican-born filmmaker is the first director to win back-to-back Oscars since Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who turned the trick at the 1950 and 1951 ceremonies. Iñárritu, who last year won for BIRDMAN, took home Best Director this year.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” he said during his speech, thanking co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. “It’s amazing to receive this award tonight, but it’s much more beautiful for me to share it with all the talented and crazy cast and colleagues and crew members along the continent that made this film possible.” 

The film, which won 3 of the 12 awards it was nominated for, was unable to also bag the Best Picture award also. The film faced tough competition from THE BIG SHORT and SPOTLIGHT. THE BIG SHORT WAS not initially seen as the favourite to triumph, but its chances were boosted after it won the top prize at the Producers Guild Awards (PGA). However, it was SPOTLIGHT that took home the Best Picture Oscar. 

There were no real surprises in the Best Actress category either, as ROOM’s Brie Larson also won her first Academy Award for her emotional role. Take a look at her acceptance speech below:

“The thing that I love about movie-making is how many people it takes to make it,” she said in her acceptance speech. “Thank you to the moviegoers.”

Larson beat Saoirse Ronan, Charlotte Rampling and previous winners Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Lawrence – the latter has already picked up a Golden Globe for her performance in JOY.

In the Supporting categories, Alicia Vikander was the lady that was victorious, getting her hands on her first Academy Award for her role in THE DANISH GIRL. She beat Kate Winslet who stood a strong chance of taking home Best Supporting Actress after winning in the category both at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAS. Vikander was also up against Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rooney Mara and Rachel McAdams.

Best Supporting Actor went t0 Mark Rylance for his role in BRIDGE OF SPIES and he beat Christian Bale, Mark Ruffalo, Sylvester Stallone and Tom Hardy.

Fellow Briton Sam Smith won best original song for SPECTRE.

By the end of the ceremony, it was however, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD that picked up the most awards of the night, with six accolades.

Here is the full list of Oscar winners:

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