Gary Oldman has told his 99-year-old mother: “Put the kettle on – I’m bringing Oscar home,” as he was crowned best actor at the Academy Awards, where The Shape Of Water was named best picture.
Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway returned to the Oscars stage to present the final award of the night a year after the best picture fiasco when they mistakenly announced La La Land as the winner rather than Moonlight.
Host Jimmy Kimmel introduced the pair saying: “This is the home stretch, nothing could possibly go wrong.”
Oldman appeared emotional as he accepted his award for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour and in a lengthy speech, he thanked “the Academy and its members for this glorious prize” as well as his colleagues, his wife and family.
He thanked America “for the many wonderful gifts it has given me – my home, my livelihood, my family and now Oscar.”
The actor also sent out a special thank you to his mother.
He said: “I would like to thank my mother, who is older than the Oscars, she is 99 years young next birthday and she’s watching the ceremony from the comfort of her sofa.
“I say to my mother, thank you for your love and support, put the kettle on – I’m bringing Oscar home.”
The Shape Of Water won four of the 13 Oscars it was nominated for, including best director for Guillermo del Toro.
Frances McDormand won the best actress prize for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and gave an energetic speech in which she encouraged all the female nominees from the night to stand up with her.
She said: “Meryl (Streep), if you do it, everyone else will.”
McDormand continued: “Look around ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell and projects we need financed.
“Don’t talk to us about it at the parties tonight, invite us into your office, we’ll tell you all about them.
“I have two words to leave you with tonight – inclusion rider.”
McDormand’s co-star Sam Rockwell was named best supporting actor at the ceremony, while Allison Janney won best supporting actress for I, Tonya.
British cinematographer Roger Deakins finally clinched a gold statue for his work on Blade Runner 2049 on his 14th nomination, while Jordan Peele won the best original screenplay gong for Get Out.
Kimmel addressed the Harvey Weinstein scandal as he opened the 90th Academy Awards.
He said: “The Academy, as you are no doubt aware, took action last year to expel Harvey Weinstein from their ranks.
“There were a lot of great nominees but Harvey deserved it the most.
“The Academy kicked him out and after they did I was curious so I looked it up, the only other person to be expelled was a character actor called Carmine Caridi, in 2004, who was kicked out for sharing screeners.
“Carmine Caridi got the same punishment as Harvey Weinstein for giving his neighbour a copy of Seabiscuit on VHS.
“What happened with Harvey and what is happening all over was long overdue.
“We can’t let bad behaviour slide anymore, the world is watching us and we need to set an example and the truth is if we are successful and if we can work together to stop sexual harassment in the workplace, if we can do that, women will only have to deal with harassment all the time at every other place they go.”
The scandal was also given the spotlight during a moving segment about the Time’s Up and Me Too movements, while Salma Hayek, Ashley Judd and Annabella Sciorra, who are all Weinstein accusers, appeared on stage together.
Weinstein has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by scores of actresses. He denies all allegations of non-consensual sex.