LOS ANGELES – Emma Stone won her first Oscar on Sunday for her lead role as a struggling actress who falls in love with a jazz musician in musical romance “La La Land.”

Stone, 28, plays Mia, a determined actress who tries to carve her own path in Hollywood, in a film that captures the fantasy and reality of falling in love against the backdrop of a dreamy Los Angeles.

The actress beat previous Oscar-winners Natalie Portman and Meryl Streep as well as France’s Isabelle Huppert and Irish-Ethiophian Ruth Negga for the accolade.

Stone had been seen as the frontrunner for the Oscar after winning Golden Globe, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild awards.

“I still have a lot of growing and learning and work to do and this guy is a really beautiful symbol to continue on that journey and I am so grateful for that, so thank you so much,”Stone said as she held her Oscar.

Stone, known for her red hair and wide eyes, has showcased her comedic prowess in a slew of films over the past decade from her breakout in 2007’s raunchy “Superbad” to leading roles in high school comedy “Easy A,” “The Help” and “The Amazing Spider-Man.”

Stone also won attention while dating her “Spider-Man”co-star Andrew Garfield for about four years. The media-shy couple split in 2015.

She was previously Oscar-nominated in the supporting actress category in 2015 for dark comedy “Birdman.”

“La La Land” saw Stone pair up for an on-screen romance with Ryan Gosling for the third time, following “Crazy Stupid Love”and “Gangster Squad.”

Director Damien Chazelle said he hoped the pairing would bring to mind Golden Age movie couples such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers or Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

LOS ANGELES – Casey Affleck won the best actor Oscar on Sunday for his role as a grief-stricken father in family drama “Manchester by the Sea.” It was the first Oscar for Affleck, 41, the younger brother of “Argo” director and actor Ben Affleck.

Affleck’s understated performance as a taciturn working man who unexpectedly has to look after his teenage nephew beat challenges from Denzel Washington and Ryan Gosling to win the Academy Award.

Affleck swept awards in the run-up to the Oscars, taking home a Golden Globe and numerous trophies from film critics groups.

The wins came despite 2010 sexual harassment allegations that resurfaced as Affleck’s Oscar prospects gathered steam. Two civil lawsuits alleging unwanted advances were filed by female crew members on another movie, and were settled out of court for undisclosed sums. Affleck’s lawyer at the time denied the allegations.

Ironically, the “Manchester by the Sea” role was first intended for Matt Damon, a Boston childhood friend of Casey and Ben Affleck. Damon had to step down because of other commitments.

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Photo Gallery

2017 Oscars’ red carpet

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AFP

HBO Asia

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An emotional Affleck thanked fellow nominee Washington, whom he credited with being one of the first people to teach him to act, as well as Damon and the film’s screenwriter and director, Kenneth Lonergan.

“I’m really proud to be part of this community,” Affleck said. “I’m just dumbfounded that I’m included.”

Affleck adopts a much lower public profile than his brother Ben and appears uncomfortable in the spotlight. He was first nominated for an Oscar in 2008 for his lead role in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.”

While Ben Affleck has opted for big movies like “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” Casey Affleck has focused his career on smaller, independent ventures with strong character-driven plots such as “Gone Baby Gone.”

In 2010, he wrote and directed Joaquin Phoenix in “I’m Still Here,” a mockumentary about Phoenix’s supposed transition from acting to becoming a rap musician.

Affleck was raised in the Boston area, started work as a child in TV shows, moved to Los Angeles after high school, and then dropped out of acting for a while to attend Columbia University in New York.

Two years ago he quietly separated from his wife, actress Summer Phoenix, after a nine-year marriage that produced two sons.

REVIEW / CONCERT

• GUNS N’ ROSES – NOT IN THIS LIFETIME TOUR – LIVE IN SINGAPORE 2017
• Changi Exhibition Centre
• Last Saturday

Guns N’ Roses’ (GNR) first concert in Singapore might have drawn complaints on social media about the long wait for food, drinks and transportation, but performance- wise, the iconic American band put on a top-notch rock show.

Frontman Axl Rose and his reunited band mates, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan, tore through a scorching set at the Changi Exhibition Centre last Saturday night.

All the GNR trademarks were on full display during the two-hour, 45-minute set: Rose’s screeching wail and hip-swaying moves, Slash’s top hat and slithering solos and McKagan’s low slung bass and frequent runs across the massive stage.

The setlist was classic GNR, with the bulk of the songs from their iconic 1987 debut album Appetite For Destruction and 1991 double release Use Your Illusion I and II, as well as a smattering of covers including Bob Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door and Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here.

According to organisers LAMC, the audience of rock-lovers – comprising men and women mostly in their 30s and 40s – numbered 50,000, which made the gig one of the biggest rock shows held here.

And for them, the three-decade wait for a GNR show in Singapore was worth it.

There were plenty of singalong opportunities for originals such as epic ballads November Rain, which featured Rose on grand piano, and Estranged as well as red-blooded rock numbers such as Paradise City and Welcome To The Jungle.

Rose’s vocals and the guitars seemed buried and could do with more punch, but the band’s solid showmanship and choice setlist made up for the less-than-stellar sound.

The GNR distinctive brand of rock, a brash mix that dips into multiple genres such as punk, blues and baroque piano pop, has held well over the years.

Slash’s guitar intro on Sweet Child O’ Mine, for example, is a timeless riff that still sounds fresh.

While they were tight musically, there was little interaction on stage among core members Rose, Slash and McKagan.

Each would take up different corners of the stage and the podium in the middle seemed reserved exclusively for Rose.

The Singapore show is part of the band’s global Not In This Lifetime tour.

When it started last year, it marked the first time the three had performed together since 1993.

The rest of the band members on stage lacked the trio’s star power, but were no less potent on stage.

Long-time keyboardist Dizzy Reed, drummer Frank Ferrer, keyboardist Melissa Reese and guitarist Richard Fortus held their own despite getting less of the spotlight.

The band came on 35 minutes after the scheduled 8pm start time, a marked improvement from the old days when they used to keep the crowd waiting for hours.

Earlier in the day, opening bands Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown from the United States and Wolfmother from Australia warmed up the crowd, which started streaming into the venue in the afternoon.

Because the venue is not near any MRT station or even bus stops, many in the crowd relied on shuttle buses which, after the show, sent them to various locations, including Singapore Expo and City Hall.

There were long queues to board the buses and the mass of vehicles trying to exit Changi Exhibition Centre resulted in heavy traffic around the area.

Most of the complaints took aim at the long waiting time to buy drinks and food though, with fans lamenting that the organisers should have set up more stalls to cater to the large crowd.

And because they could make purchases only with pre-paid tags, many were left with unused credits after the show.

Organisers LAMC posted on social media that the company will refund unspent credits.

dinohadi@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on February 27, 2017.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Hollywood, United States – Two black film stars took the early acting honors at the 89th Oscars on Sunday, which began with a salvo of jokes by host Jimmy Kimmel targeting US President Donald Trump.

Mahershala Ali won the best supporting actor prize for his turn as a drug dealer with a heart in coming of age drama “Moonlight” while Viola Davis took the supporting actress statuette for her work in family drama “Fences.”

Justin Timberlake opened the gala night – expected to be dominated by musical “La La Land” – with some upbeat music, and Kimmel then wasted no time putting the A-list audience in a political state of mind.

“This broadcast is being watched live by millions of Americans and around the world in more than 225 countries that now hate us,” joked the 49-year-old Kimmel.

The late-night comedian quipped that Trump, who pulled off a political upset win with his campaign that targeted immigration, had taken the heat off Hollywood and its annual gala.

“I want to say thank you to President Trump. Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist? That’s gone, thanks to him,” Kimmel said.

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Photo Gallery

2017 Oscars’ red carpet

Source:

Reuters

AFP

HBO Asia

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This year’s nominees have reflected a push by the Academy to reward diversity after the #OscarsSoWhite controversy of the past two years that prompted calls for a boycott of the annual bash.

Ali was a first-time nominee along with “Moonlight” co-star Naomie Harris, while Davis and her co-star Denzel Washington are both old hands, with 11 nominations between them and – including Davis’s triumph – three wins.

“La La Land,” Damien Chazelle’s glossy tribute to the all-singing, all-dancing Golden Age of Tinseltown’s studio system is vying for more than a dozen statuettes, and many of its nominees are sure-fire winners – if the oddsmakers are right.

The film, which stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as an aspiring actress and a struggling jazz musician who fall in love in Los Angeles, has charmed critics the world over and returned more than 10 times its $30 million budget.

Gold Derby, a site that collates experts’ awards predictions, had the musical as a clear favorite in many categories, including best film, director, actress, score and song.

“La La Land” vies for best picture honors with eight films including “Moonlight,” alien thriller “Arrival” and family drama “Manchester by the Sea.” Most of the awards for which “La La Land” is favorite were due to be announced later in the ceremony. It picked up a statuette for production design, but had lost out in the film editing, costume and sound editing and mixing categories by the halfway point.

Ahead of the ceremony, Tinseltown’s A-list paraded down the red carpet at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, with white, cream and champagne gowns emerging as a fashion favorite.

Best actress nominee Isabelle Huppert, already a Golden Globe winner for edgy rape-revenge thriller “Elle,” oozed glamour in a glittering long-sleeved, floor-length Armani gown with a demure neckline.

Many of the nominees had family members as their dates, with Dev Patel, Lucas Hedges and Lin-Manuel Miranda bringing their moms and Stone stepping out with her brother Spencer, who often accompanies her to awards shows.

The most intriguing race is for best actor, which for weeks looked like a lock for “Manchester by the Sea” star Casey Affleck until a late surge by Washington (“Fences”), who now has the momentum.

“It’s pretty exciting. I’ve only been once before. I was a lot younger and I didn’t fully appreciate the significance of it,” said Affleck, 41, who was a losing best supporting actor nominee in 2008.

Stone is expected to bag her first statuette in the best actress category despite a late push from Huppert, but Gosling is not expected to do the same.

The Oscars is the highlight of the Tinseltown calendar, and wraps up two months of glittering prize galas.

This awards season, the popping of champagne corks has been muted by the tense political situation in the United States.

Trump’s controversial (and now halted) travel ban led Iranian director Asghar Farhadi to opt out of attending – but a statement from Farhadi was read when his “The Salesman” was named best foreign language film.

“Dividing the world into the US and ‘our enemies’ categories creates fear – a deceitful justification for aggression and war,” he said in the statement read by the Iranian-born US engineer and astronaut Anousheh Ansari.

On Sunday, several stars including nominees Miranda and best actress nominee Ruth Negga wore blue ribbons in support of the American Civil Liberties Union, a high-profile civil rights organization.

The awards season has a long tradition of political activism, from Marlon Brando’s Oscars snub in 1973 to Meryl Streep’s rousing anti-Trump speech at this year’s Golden Globes.

On Sunday, Kimmel made mention of Trump’s retort that Streep was “highly overrated” – by recalling her record 20 nominations, and urging everyone to offer her a standing ovation. The audience willingly complied.