VIDEO. Oscars: the slap of Will Smith, crowned best actor, after a joke on his wife

The film “CODA” and its deaf actors triumphed at the Oscars on Sunday, applauded in sign language by the guests of the evening who, however, remained flabbergasted when Will Smith punched comedian Chris Rock, after a joke about his wife.

The actor won the Oscar for best actor for “The Williams Method”, where he plays the father of tennis champions Serena and Venus Williams.

“Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth!” »

“I want to apologize to the Academy” for the Oscars, the actor said in tears, coming to receive his award. Earlier, he had caused a moment of amazement in the room after going on stage, apparently furious, to slap comedian Chris Rock who had just made a joke about his wife’s shaved head. He compared her close-cropped hair to Demi Moore’s shaved head in Ridley Scott’s On Equal Arms (1997). Jada Pinkett Smith has alopecia, a severe hair loss.

“Keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth!” “screamed the 53-year-old actor after his stroke.

The audience didn’t know at the time whether it was a real incident or a scripted sequence, but Will Smith, fighting back tears, blasted onstage “people who disrespect you “. “Love makes you do crazy things,” the actor pleaded after discussing his character’s “family protector” role in “The Williams Method.”

CODA, inspired by the Aries Family, best film

On the glitter side, the optimistic comedy-drama CODA adapted from the French success “La Famille Bélier” won the statuette for best film.

Since its presentation at the Sundance festival in January 2021, the film, which follows a high school student torn between the passion she discovers for song and her deaf family, which depends on her to communicate with the hearing world, has been swept up. one after the other all the prizes of the season.

His victory is also that of Apple TV +, which becomes the first streaming platform to win the Oscars in the flagship category of best feature film.

This week, “CODA” had for the first time passed the big favorite “The Power of the Dog” in the predictions of Hollywood experts, a prediction which was confirmed on Sunday.

Victory to the “community of the deaf and disabled”

“But I don’t think it’s a miracle. The film deserves to be where it is in this period in which we live. It’s an important film, a film that does good, that touches people and brings them together with its human values”, the producer of “CODA”, the Frenchman Philippe Rousselet, told AFP, not yet daring to consider a victory.

“CODA” was also awarded in the category of best male supporting role with Troy Kotsur, actor deaf from birth, who dedicated his victory to the “community of the deaf and handicapped”, and by the Oscar for best screenplay adapted for director Sian Heder.

For its part, “The Power of the Dog”, a Netflix film, almost left with its tail between its legs despite a dozen nominations. Dark and psychological Western on men not assuming their sexuality nor their feelings, it had however a long time figure of favorite.

Its director Jane Campion, however, was honored by the Academy of Oscars, becoming the third woman to be awarded in this category, only one year after Chloé Zhao.

Jessica Chastain, Best Actress

“Belfast”, a black and white evocation of Kenneth Branagh’s childhood (Oscar for best original screenplay on Sunday) in the midst of the Northern Irish violence of the late 1960s, had to settle for the Oscar for best original screenplay .

The grandiose space opera “Dune” by Denis Villeneuve distinguished itself in multiple technical categories (sound, special effects, photography, etc.).

On the actress side, Jessica Chastain won for “In the eyes of Tammy Faye” and her role as a televangelist with a big heart and outrageous makeup, after two unsuccessful nominations for “The Color of Feelings” and “Zero Dark Thirty”.

Often criticized for their lack of diversity, the Oscars this year also rewarded Ariana DeBose, an actress who defines herself as “Afro-Latina” and queer, for her role as Anita in the remake of “West Side Story” by Steven Spielberg .

The 31-year-old actress succeeds the legendary Rita Moreno, a native like her from Puerto Rico, who had already received an Oscar in 1962 for the role of Anita in the original version of the film. “I am so grateful to you, your Anita paved the way for thousands of Anitas like me,” she told the 90-year-old star who applauded her in the room.

moment of silence

The organizers of the Oscars ceremony took advantage of a commercial break during the ceremony to display a message calling for “a minute of silence to show our support for the Ukrainian people, currently facing an invasion”.

Among the stars returning to the Hollywood red carpet after two years of pandemic, some like Jamie Lee Curtis or Samuel L. Jackson had added a blue ribbon to their tuxedos or formal evening dresses expressing their solidarity with the civilians driven out by the Conflicts. Jason Momoa wore on stage a blue and yellow cover in the colors of Ukraine.

The gala evening was opened by the Williams sisters and a spectacular performance by Beyoncé, live from a tennis court in Los Angeles where the champions had made their sporting debut. But it was the young Billie Eilish who won the Oscar for best song for “No Time To Die”, the title of the latest James Bond.

Disney, the world’s number one in entertainment, added another Oscar to its collection with the victory of “Encanto, the fantastic Madrigal family”, a celebration of Colombia, its culture and its traditions which won the prize of best animated film.

AFP

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