Oscars Recap: Highlights from the 90th Academy Awards

Missed the Oscars? Want to relive its memorable moments? Check out some of the highlights of Oscars 2018 – and if we missed your favorite, let us know!

Host Jimmy Kimmel opened by acknowledging the 90th birthday of the Academy Awards and then the impact of women speaking out against sexual assault and harassment. He also promised that the person with the shortest acceptance speech would win a jet-ski; he later sweetened the deal with what seemed to be a low-budget getaway at Arizona’s Lake Havasu.

Jimmy’s real highlight came midway through the show, when he decided to thank movie-goers at a screening of A Wrinkle in Time by surprising them with snacks, distributed by some of the Oscars A-listers: Kimmel enlisted Armie Hammer and Ansel Elgort to carry hot dog cannons, Guillermo del Toro and Guillermo from Kimmel’s show to carry a giant sub sandwich, and Lupita Nyong’o, Margot Robbie and Gal Gadot with baskets of candy. Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda joined the group and Mark Hamill was also along for the ride, which enabled this adorable moment (“Hi Gal, I’m Mark Hamill…”) between him and Gadot (around 2:16, screenshot at left). Watch the whole thing below.

While Kimmel cracked wise about Christopher Plummer’s age (he’s the oldest nominee), Eva Marie Saint, age 93, who won an Oscar for her work on On the Waterfront with Marlon Brando in 1954, took the stage to present Best Costume Design. She had many memorable roles including opposite Cary Grant in North by Northwest and Paul Newman in Exodus. She spoke about her late husband, with whom she used to attend the Oscars and said that the applause was “so loud that I know he heard it.”

Jordan Peele made history: Peele was the first African-American to be nominated for best screenplay, best director and best film in the same year, he also became the very first African-American to win best original screenplay for the film depicted in the GIF below.

via GIPHY

Sorry, we meant the film depicted in THIS GIF:

via GIPHY

Robert Lopez is now a DOUBLE EGOT: That means the writer (Book of Mormon, Avenue Q, Frozen et al) has won 2 Emmys, Grammys, Oscars and Tonys. Some people are such overachievers.

Tiffany Haddish and Maya Rudolph slayed with their banter:

Watch Tiffany Haddish and Maya Rudolph’s very funny #Oscars intro. pic.twitter.com/8VlvxK5l7N

— The A.V. Club (@TheAVClub) March 5, 2018

Common and Andra Day featured activists in spotlights during the performance of “Stand Up for Something” from Marshall. Alice Brown Otter (Standing Rock Youth Council); Bana Alabed (author and Syrian refugee); Bryan Stevenson (Equal Justice Initiative); Cecile Richards (Planned Parenthood Action Fund); Dolores Huerta (Dolores Huerta Foundation, United Farm Workers of America); Janet Mock (#GirlsLikeUs), José Andrés (ThinkFoodGroup); Nicole Hockley (Sandy Hook Promise); Patrisse Cullors (Black Lives Matter); and Tarana Burke (Me Too). (via Variety)

The Best Short Film (Live Action) winners for The Silent Child, a story about a hearing impaired girl,  signed the acceptance speech and raised awareness for inclusion.

Frances McDormand and the “Inclusion Rider”: In addition to generally being awesome, thanking her family and asking all the female nominees to stand with her to show strength and numbers, McDormand finished her speech with two words: “Inclusion Rider”  – the suggestion that when people sign on to projects, that a stipulation of their involvement is inclusion of racial and gender equality.

And Guillermo del Toro dedicated the award for The Shape of Water‘s Best Picture to “the youth who are showing us how things are done.”

What were your favorite Oscar moments? Tell us in the comments.

Want more information?

• Complete List of Oscar Winners (ABC)
• Oscars: How Common, Andra Day Enlisted 10 Activists for Performance (Variety)
• What Frances McDormand meant by “inclusion rider” (Time)
• Robert Lopez is a double EGOT (EW)

[Main photo credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin]