Last night's Oscars ceremony was...interesting, to say the least. While there was certainly an expectation that the "Pandemic Oscars" were going to be a show unique in many ways, a lot of the strangeness of the whole thing felt separated from the particular circumstances of the pandemic. The decision to make Best Actor the last award of the night rather than Best Picture certainly wasn't a necessity of the current situation, and yet, that's what happened. Many thought it might make for a big finale if the award went to the late Chadwick Boseman, but it didn't work out that way. Although in his acceptance speech Hopkins has mentioned the actor.
Last night's awards show ended somewhat anticlimactically when the winner of the final award, Anthony Hopkins, for his role in The Father, was not present to give a speech. But Hopkins has now had a chance to say a few words, which have been released on social media. The actor thanks the Academy for the award, that he says he never expected to win, but he also pays brief tribute to one of his fellow nominees in Chadwick Boseman. Check it out below.
Few if any are arguing that Anthony Hopkins performance was not Oscar-worthy. He had collected several other awards in the lead up to the Oscars for the performance, but there was certainly a feeling that Chadwick Boseman could very well win for his role in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom as a sentimental favorite. Hopkins himself likely expected Boseman to win, and thus he pays brief tribute to the actor in his own acceptance speech.
Most of the buzz surrounding last night's Oscars was about the Best Actor Award, but not in the way people, including the producers of the show, were likely hoping. Tradition was changed up when the Best Picture award was given out before the two main acting awards. The feeling among many was that this may have been done to give the spotlight to Chadwick Boseman, who was a frontrunner for the award, Of course, that only works if he wins the award, which was not a guarantee.
So if there were any critics who were worried about whether or not the results of the Oscars are indeed a surprise, that concern evaporated when Anthony Hopkins won Best Actor for The Father. And while many of the nominees who were not on location were still able to give speeches from wherever in the world they were, Hopkins was simply unavailable, meaning there was nobody to give a final speech. And the night just...ended.
Whether the 2021 Oscars are a ceremony that will be remembered for its historic wins, or largely overlooked in the future because of its strangeness, only time will tell. However, at least in this moment Chadwick Boseman was remembered, even if that didn't happen in the way so many had hoped.
