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It’s Hollywood’s biggest night! The 2017 Academy Awards are airing tonight, February 26, and Decider has got all of your Oscars needs covered. You can live stream the 2017 Oscars here, and click here to check out the rest of Decider’s coverage.
La La Land may be a sweet movie about two scrappy LA dreamers pursuing their passions, but there was no underdog quality to the musical’s Oscar chances tonight. Back in January, the original musical was nominated for an impressive 14 nominations, and tonight it’s taken home five awards for far, including the Academy Award for Best Directing.
This is La La Land director Damien Chazelle‘s second time at the Oscars in a very short time. Chazelle was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for Whiplash. Whiplash ended up receiving five Oscar nominations in 2015 and won three statutes. This year, the Best Directing category is an assortment of some of the year’s strongest films. Nominees included Arrival (Denis Villeneuve), Hacksaw Ridge (Mel Gibson), Manchester by the Sea (Kenneth Lonergan), and Moonlight (Barry Jenkins).
At 32, Chazelle is the youngest director to take home the award for Best Directing. During his acceptance speech, the director gave a shoutout to the other talented 2017 nominees. “I just want to first thank my fellow nominees. I’m absolutely honored and look forward to be in your company this year,” he said. “Just thank you for what incredible filmmakers you are and for inspiring me with your work every day.”
After thanking his parents and sister, Chazelle also had one special thank you left that fell very much in line with the tone of La La Land. “Finally, I want to thank Olivia, my love sitting there,” he said. “This was a movie about love, and I was lucky enough to fall in love while making it, and it means the world to me that you’re here sharing this with me.”
Congrats Chazelle and congrats La La Land. This will likely not be your last awards win of the night.
