Movies

Oscars 2013: 85th Academy Awards - live blog

Published Sunday, Feb 24 2013, 22:30 GMT | By Emma Dibdin | 1 comment

Good evening, Digital Spy readers, and welcome to the 85th Academy Awards!

We may not quite be coming to you live from the Dolby Theatre in sunny Los Angeles, but we've re-adjusted our body clocks to Pacific Time and will be bringing you up-to-the-minute commentary from this year's Oscars from now until sunrise.

If you're in need of a refresher before the ceremony begins, you can peruse our full list of this year's nominees, check out our predictions video to see who we're tipping for the big wins tonight, and see who Digital Spy readers voted for in the big three categories.

And for that inevitable moment when the Academy makes a decision that leaves you fuming, why not keep our Alternative Oscars handy to soothe your bile?

05:09And that's a wrap, ladies and gents! We're honestly not entirely convinced that we didn't dream most of that ceremony. Was there really a tie? Did Michelle Obama really Skype in? Did Seth MacFarlane really sing a choral number about boobs? All we can do is sleep on it...

05:07The final tallies are in, and it's a distinctly even spread of winners this year, with no obvious sweep or frontrunner. Life of Pi came out on top with its four wins, while Les Misérables and Argo both nabbed three.

05:04To celebrate that well-deserved win for Argo, here's our set of interviews from the film's London premiere, where we chatted to Affleck, Bryan Cranston and John Goodman:

05:01"It doesn't matter how you get knocked down in life – all that matters is that you've gotta get up," a more composed Affleck says, after recalling his last time up on the Oscar stage 15 years ago for Good Will Hunting. A really emotional, completely exposed speech to cap off a night that's been unusually composed.

04:59Poor Affleck is speaking at manic quadruple-speed, plainly terrified of the Jaws music. He seems moments from passing out from the exertion.

Ben Affleck with his 'Best Picture' award for 'Argo'

An emotional Ben Affleck celebrates Argo's 'Best Picture' Oscar

04:58Producer Grant Heslov pointedly thanks Ben Affleck first of all: "We couldn't be prouder of the film, and we couldn't be prouder of Ben."

04:56And so there we have it. A Best Picture winner whose director, Ben Affleck, is not even nominated – this has happened only three times before in Academy history.

04:55The Oscar for Best Picture goes to... Argo!

04:53WHOA. Hold the phone. Michelle Obama is joining in via satellite!

Twitter/Petesouza

04:52Heeeeeee's Johnny... to present the award for Best Picture!

04:51"Since we got married, my wife has lived with some very strange men," Day-Lewis continued, ribbing his own method reputation. However predictable his win was, it is physically impossible to begrudge this man any accolades he receives. So articulate and gracious, and a phenomenal performance.

04:50"Before we agreed to do a straight swap, I had actually been committed to play Margaret Thatcher," Day-Lewis deadpans, "and Meryl was Steven's first choice for Lincoln." We always forget that DDL really is a very funny man.

Daniel Day-Lewis with his 'Best Actor' Oscar, accompanied by Meryl Streep

Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep

04:48The Best Actor award goes to Daniel Day Lewis for Lincoln, and nobody even attempts to feign surprise. Meryl Streep didn't even bother to leave the requisite "..." gap for suspense!

04:47Top on our list of impossible, ridiculous Oscar wishes: Joaquin Phoenix to win Best Actor for The Master. It's never gonna happen, but we can dream.

04:45A very sweet and breathless speech from J.Law there, if slightly by rote.

04:44And the Oscar goes to... Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook. Widely predicted and well deserved – she's a force of nature in that role.

Jennifer Lawrence

04:42We are big fans of Lawrence over at DS, but if we had our way this award would go to Chastain. Unfortunately, the controversy around Zero Dark Thirty has pretty much pushed it out of the running for anything major.

04:41Now, the much-debated Best Actress award is coming up! Will it be oldest-ever-nominee Emmanuelle Riva, or one-of-the-youngest-ever-nominees Jennifer Lawrence?

04:38"John Carter - available from this Friday on Sky Movies". Sky are clearly tailoring their advertising to an awards-conscious audience.

04:37This speech is lovely and touchingly faltering, but we almost wish the Jaws music would play Lee off just for the thematic irony.

04:35Ang Lee takes home the Best Director Oscar for Life of Pi, following up his 2006 win for Brokeback Mountain. This is such a weird category this year, and with that in mind we feel good about Lee's win – he took what should by rights have been a genuinely unfilmable book, and turned it into a vibrant, living, breathing thing on the big screen.

Ang Lee

04:34Nice to see Michael Douglas looking so very, very healthy following his battle with cancer.

04:33"They remember when this town was nothing but cocaine trees as far as the eye could see," MacFarlane quips of "legendary" presenters Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas. As he acknowledges, it's late, and so we're finding this altogether funnier than it probably should be.

04:30Tarantino finishes, then comes back on stage to proclaim this as "the year of the writer", which is a nice sentiment and didn't involve him shutting anybody's butt down.

04:27And Quentin Tarantino takes home the Best Original Screenplay award for Django Unchained! His last win was almost two decades ago, for Pulp Fiction in 1995.

Quentin Tarantino

04:26Terrio uses his speech to pay tribute to Affleck and to people across the word "who use creativity to solve problems without violence".

04:25The Best Adapted Screenplay award goes to Chris Terrio for Argo! The second win for Ben Affleck's film, and I think we can now safely assume it won't be the last.

04:23Les Mis and Life of Pi are leading the pack of winners at the moment, with three gongs apiece.

04:18PHEW. Adele's 'Skyfall' wins 'Best Original Song', so our previous statement need never be revealed as the empty threat it clearly was. She gives an adorably down-to-earth and emotional speech, before handing over to producer Paul Epworth to do the formal thanking bit.

Adele

04:12Okay, Best Original Song. If 'Skyfall' does not win this, we quit. We're just done.

04:11The award for 'Best Score' goes to Life of Pi, somewhat unexpectedly – a lot of people figured John Williams had this in the bag.

04:09We can't decide whether MacFarlane's Rex Reed/Adele joke was more at his expense or hers.

04:07Here's a nice Streisand segue for you – Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall's tie for Sound Editing is only the sixth tie in Academy history. The last was in 1968, when Katherine Hepburn and none other than Barbra Streisand shared the Best Actress award for A Lion In Winter and Funny Girl.

04:01Far too many taken far too young this year. Harris Savides really stings.

03:57George Clooney is here to metaphorically hold us, during the emotional In Memoriam segment.

03:53The Academy just tweeted this adorable picture of Anne Hathaway watching Adele's performance backstage - apparently she wanted to see the whole thing before going off to do press room interviews.

Anne Hathaway watches Adele at the Oscars 2013

03:49Poor Kristen Stewart is really having trouble staying upright. And the award for Production Design goes to Lincoln, as she hobbles gamely away in the background.

03:48Oh good Lord. Harry Potter and Bella Swan are presenting an award together. It's everything that's good and everything that's bad about fantasy fiction coming together in some kind of insane mishmash.

03:47The last trio of 'Best Picture' nominees are up! Jennifer Lawrence confronts Bradley Cooper with emotion in Silver Linings Playbook, Quentin Tarantino combines historical fiction and revenge fable in Django Unchained, and Michael Haneke makes his most tender film yet (which is still pretty brutal by any other standards) with Amour.

03:38We're just going to put this out there: Adele has a rather incredible voice.

Adele performs 'Skyfall' at the 2013 Oscars

03:35♪♫ Let the sky faaaaaaaaall...!!!!!! ♪♫

03:34And the Oscar for Best Editing goes to Argo! Its first award of the night, and a good sign for its chances going forward. It's a spectacularly well edited film that treads a frankly insane tonal tightrope.

03:32Best Editing! This is a key category – very often indicates the Best Picture winner. So essentially if Argo loses here, the whole direction of the night could change.

03:23And Anne Hathaway it is! Well deserved - we got a lump in our throats right on cue from that tiny snippet of 'I Dreamed A Dream'.

Anne Hathaway is congratulated on her Oscar win by co-star Hugh Jackman and her husband Adam Shulman

Anne Hathaway wins her first Oscar

03:20"I look forward to the honour of working with any of these ladies in my next thirty films." When we're older, we want to be Christopher Plummer.

03:20Christopher Plummer arrives to present the 'Best Supporting Actress' award to Anne Hathaway. Or, y'know, to whoever's name is read out in two minutes' time.

03:16Best Sound Editing goes jointly to Zero Dark Thirty (heart-wrenching speech) and Skyfall! We are very very, very pleased with this turn of events.

03:16Les Mis takes Sound Mixing, and there's A TIE for Best Sound Editing! This is crazy!

03:12We'd like to congratulate Mark Wahlberg on having apparently managed to remain sober for this public televised appearance. What happens in London stays in London, right Mark?

03:11"You guys have made some beautiful and inspiring movies...I made Ted," MacFarlane self-deprecates, before introducing Mark Wahlberg and the bear himself to present the next award.

03:10In case Shatner wasn't enough Trek for you, now Kirk and Uhura are presenting the montage of undeniably-important-but-essentially-dull-technical-awards-which-you-feel-bad-for-not-caring-more-about!

03:06Sky just showed an ad for Skyfall with Adele's theme song playing prominently in the background, and now we are literally bouncing up and down in anticipation of her performance. It can't be much longer, right?

Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway perform at the Oscars

Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway at the Oscars

Amanda Seyfried, Samantha Barks and Eddie Redmayne at the 2013 Oscars

Oscars 2013: 'Les Misérables' performance

03:03This is more like it! Russell Crowe fog-horning his way onto the stage is right up there with our fave moments from this Oscars so far.

03:02On the plus side, Hugh Jackman is doing that soulful Jean Valjean singing bit. On the minus side, he's singing rubbish newly-penned song 'Suddenly', which exists solely as a shameless punt at the 'Best Original Song' category.

03:01Given that this year's Oscar producers Craig Zadan & Neil Meron also produced Chicago, that bit didn't feel self-congratulatory at all. Huge props to Jennifer Hudson's pipes on the Dreamgirls front, though.

02:56The 3am slump was just setting in, but here comes the musicals tribute just in time to perk us up! First up is Catherine Zeta-Jones on fabulously vampy Chicago form, belting out 'All That Jazz'.

02:54We'd like to see the Academy TRY to play Haneke off with the Jaws music. The guy who made The Seventh Continent would eat that shark for breakfast, tbh.

02:52"You are the centre of my life," Haneke says to his wife. Adorable. No comment yet from his Twitter alter-ego...

02:51Time for the Best Foreign Film award, and it goes to Michael Haneke's Amour! Inevitable, and entirely deserved. A part of us is still broken after watching it.

Michael Haneke wins the Oscar for 'Best Foreign Language Film'

Michael Haneke wins an Oscar

02:44Non-Best Director nominee Ben Affleck arrives to present the award for Best Documentary, which goes to Searching For Sugar Man.

02:38Liam Neeson and his very particular set of skills are here to present the next trio of Best Picture nominees – Argo, Lincoln, and Zero Dark Thirty.

02:37Inocente wins Best Documentary Short, and the winners make a touchingly emotional and heartfelt speech about the importance of the arts.

02:34Django Unchained duo Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington present the award for Best Short to Curfew. This is one of those unfortunate categories where almost nobody watching has had the opportunity to see the contenders, but we can at least appreciate the jaunty music that's playing them up to the podium.

02:27That montage was about as workmanlike as it gets, honestly, but Shirley Bassey is making everything okay again. (Everything except Skyfall's lack of a Best Picture nomination. Boo, hiss, etc.)

Dame Shirley Bassey performs 'Goldfinger' at the 2013 Oscars

Shirley Bassey sings 'Goldfinger' at the Oscars

02:25Let the Bondage begin!

02:22How did Halle Berry not fall prey to MacFarlane's "An Oscar guarantees a long and successful career" gag from earlier? She's a way more deserving target than Jean Dujardin on that front (sorry, Halle).

02:20Best Costume Design to Anna Karenina, Make-up & Hairstyling to Les Misérables.

02:17Channing Tatum just admitted that he is no stranger to the hot wax strip. Nobody who has seen Magic Mike will be even slightly surprised by this news.

02:15Oh, the Jaws thing got less funny given the content of the speech it was drowning out. But in general, that is inspired – play-off music is inherently brutal and rude, so why soften the blow?

02:13WOW. People are being played off by the Jaws music. THIS IS AMAZING.

02:10The Visual Effects gong goes to Life of Pi too – looks like Ang Lee's epic might just sweep the technical categories, although we can't see Les Mis losing Sound Mixing to anything.

02:08The Oscar for Cinematography goes to Life of Pi. Honestly, that was a visually stunning and inventive film and we can't begrudge Claudio Miranda any bit of this award. All that being said, Roger Deakins deserved it for Skyfall.

02:06The Avengers have assembled on the Oscars stage! Well, five of them. The male five, to be specific.

02:04Oh, God. It's the tearjerking trio. Les Mis's 'Do You Hear The People Sing?" + tiger-based emotion from Life of Pi + the score from Beasts of the Southern Wild. We're fine. Juuuust blinking through the tears.

02:00And Best Animated Feature goes to Pixar's Brave. Not a huge surprise given their historical monopoly of the category, although in this case we think Frankenweenie was more deserving.

01:58Melissa McCarthy and Paul Rudd present the award for Best Animated Short to the lovely Paperman, which played before screenings of Wreck-It Ralph.

01:57YES.

Said it before, but it bears repeating, Tarantino is becoming Jaws from Moonraker. #oscars
— The Sklar Brothers (@SklarBrothers) February 25, 2013

01:53"You slay the dragon because you're not afraid of it, you cross the fire because it's worth it," Waltz says to Tarantino in his speech, quoting his character Dr King Schultz's poetic turn of phrase. Characteristically classy speech.

Christoph Waltz accepts his Oscar for 'Django Unchained'

Oscars 2013: Christoph Waltz wins

01:51And the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor goes to...Christph Waltz for Django Unchained! Waltz won three years ago for Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, so this is pretty clearly a very happy partnership.

01:50Aw, we were so sure they were going to use Philip Seymour Hoffman's "PIG-F**K" clip from The Master there. Close, but no cigar.

01:47So, a rocky start for MacFarlane, but you've got to give this whole bit credit for self-awareness. How meta is too meta?

01:42Flight, as re-enacted by sock puppets. That's it – we're sold.

01:38Naomi Watts's horrified face in response to MacFarlane's 'We Saw Your Boobs' song may just turn out to be the iconic image of the 85th Academy Awards.

01:36Oh good Lord, Shatner is in the house.

Seth MacFarlane and William Shatner on stage at the 2013 Oscars

William Shatner as James T Kirk at the 2013 Oscars

01:36Well, we'll say this – anybody who was worried MacFarlene would have to blunt his trademark irreverence for this gig can rest easy.

01:35"If you bumped into Don Cheadle on the studio lot, did you try and free him?" MacFarlane, enquiring how far Day-Lewis went with his method acting for Lincoln.

01:32"The story was so top-secret that the film's director is unknown to the Academy." MacFarlane, zinging away re Argo and Ben Affleck.

01:31"The quest to make Tommy Lee Jones laugh begins now." Seth MacFarlane, off to a strong start.

01:30It's tiiiiiiime!

01:25Ah, now Kelly Osborne is telling the rest of the fashion panel what dress she's going to be wearing to the parties. Thank GOD, because we were starting to worry that we'd miss out on that intel.

01:22Well, it's the... thought that counts? Or something?

"You looked so good!" -- Chenoweth to Anne Hathaway, referring to the scenes where she was dying of consumption.
— Matt Singer (@mattsinger) February 25, 2013

01:18KStew has managed to ditch her crutches for long enough to strike a pose on the carpet:

Kristen Stewart at the Oscars 2013

01:17It's now (in theory) just fifteen minutes until the ceremony itself begins! Now is your moment to cook up another pot of coffee, refill your bowls of junk food and hunker down for the good stuff.

01:10The E! fashion panel are obsessed with side boob. Genuinely. They're now discussing how it's "an incredibly risky trend".

01:07Kristen Stewart has showed up at the ceremony on crutches because of "an unexplained injury".

Kristen Stewart on crutches at the Oscars

01:06Chris Pine is making us excited about Star Trek Into Darkness all over again, purely by existing. In that suit.

01:01Ben Affleck's beard and Anne Hathaway's nipples both have their own Twitter accounts. These truly are the golden days of the internet.

00:54The Les Misérables cast are set to perform at tonight's ceremony. We are excited about this on several levels, but largely because last time Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway did a song and dance number together at the Oscars, it was awesome.

00:46Adele is on the carpet! While the E! fashion people yammer on about her dress, we're belting out a quick celebratory rendition of 'Skyfall'.

Adele at the Oscars 2013

00:34Our night has been made.

im here bitches lol #Oscars2013
— Michael Haneke (@Michael_Haneke) February 25, 2013

00:29"The side-boob is there – obviously a big trend this season." E! fashion panel on Anne Hathaway's dress.

Anne Hathaway at the Oscars 2013

00:20Speaking of Hathaway - last year, we pretty much knew that The Artist was going to clean up. This year, the only dead cert is Best Supporting Actress, which Hathaway has had in the bag ever since she filmed that one-take 'I Dreamed A Dream' rendition.

00:19Anne Hathaway says she's got some board game-based evenings lined up to de-stress after the awards madness. Monopoly will feature heavily, apparently.

00:17Helen Hunt is wearing H&M. We love this woman. Here's our interview about her nominated turn in The Sessions:

00:03True facts, right here.

Jennifer Lawrence just growled "your ass is mine, Stone" into the Mani Cam, but it was unplugged. PAs will be fired this ad break. (KW)
— ThePlaylist (@ThePlaylist) February 24, 2013

00:01We're still trying to recover from the sheer volume of awesome that occurred when Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Lawrence were interviewed in quick succession.

23:58Kerry Washington, star of Best Picture nominee Django Unchained, has arrived on the carpet! We had a chat with her recently about her Quentin Tarantino experience:

23:54Jennifer Lawrence is starving, and worried that she won't get to eat until after the very, very long ceremony. A girl after our own hearts.

23:46Radcliffe is pointing out that aside from his irreverent sense of humour, host Seth MacFarlane has a "really deep love of film" that should serve him well tonight.

23:45And now Daniel Radcliffe is here! It's his first time at the Oscars, apparently. They grow up so fast...

23:43Jennifer Lawrence klaxon! Jennifer Lawrence klaxon!

Jennifer Lawrence arrives at the Oscars 2013

23:43We've already mentioned the Argo weirdness, but the Best Director category in general is a very odd one this year. Both Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) and Tom Hooper (Les Misérables) were snubbed, even though both are recent Oscar winners – Bigelow won for The Hurt Locker in 2010, and Hooper took home the prize a year later for The King's Speech. There's an assumption that the Academy tend to favour the same people year upon year, but this just goes to show that precedent doesn't always mean much.

23:34Quvenzhane Wallis is being simultaneously adorable and wise beyond her years in her interview with Seacrest right now. She has a handbag shaped like a puppy.

23:27Amy Adams is on the carpet now, nominated for her turn in Paul Thomas Anderson's astonishing The Master. We know we were just complaining about Skyfall two minutes ago, but this is the Best Picture snub that bugs us the most.

Amy Adams arrives at the Oscars

23:25All these Skyfall ads on E! are just making us a) that bit sadder for its Best Picture snub, and b) that bit more excited for the much-anticipated Bond tribute.

23:21Jessica Chastain has brought her grandmother with her to the ceremony. Just when we thought our crush could not get any more intense.

Jessica Chastain arrives at the Oscars

23:19

Quvenzhane Wallis meets Jessica Chastain on the #Oscars red carpet instagram.com/p/WIbHXdSUAf/
— BBC Ents News Team (@BBCEntsTeam) February 24, 2013

23:17DS favourite and Best Actress nominee Jessica Chastain is on the carpet! We interviewed her about Zero Dark Thirty a few weeks back:

23:15Security is apparently even tighter than normal for tonight's ceremony, in response to the spate of shootings that have taken place across the US recently.

23:10Amanda Seyfried is looking absolutely stunning in a navy blue number. We spoke to her about her role in Les Misérables last year - check out that interview right here.

23:08If that interview wasn't quite enough Redmayne for you, check out our recent chat with the man himself below:

23:06Eddie Redmayne is on the carpet! The poor boy had to bow out of the BAFTAs midway through because of food poisoning - fingers crossed he'll have better luck with the LA lobster.

23:03Is it just us, or is the E! red carpet coverage sapping anybody else of the will to live?

23:01Big news about pint-sized Best Actress nominee Quvenzhané Wallis today - she'll take the lead role in the upcoming remake of Annie, which Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith are producing.

22:53This.

E! stylists were so preoccupied w/whether or not they COULD to that to Seacrest's hair, they didn't stop to think if they should.
— Daniel Fienberg (@HitFixDaniel) February 24, 2013

22:50This is already a very unusual Oscars ceremony, because the Best Picture frontrunner (Argo) has been left out of the Best Director category. If Ben Affleck's thriller does win, it'll be the first film to do so without a directing nomination since Driving Miss Daisy in 1990 – it's only happened three times in Academy history.

22:46There's some discussion of the Best Actress award happening at the moment, with some predicting that Amour actress Emmanuelle Riva could beat out frontrunner Jennifer Lawrence. It happened at the BAFTAs two weeks ago, but DS readers are decidedly on the Lawrence bandwagon.

22:44Anne Hathaway is going to sing 'I Dreamed A Dream' during tonight's ceremony. Excuse us while we nip out for more Kleenex.

22:41Seth MacFarlane says he's prepared for his hosting gig in much the same way people prepare for the SATs. So... last-minute cramming and a lot of Red Bull?

22:36"A lot of these guests have not eaten in a week," Ryan Seacrest points out, discussing the guests' dinner menu. It involves lobster, smoked salmon, sushi, black truffles, and Kobe beef. Meanwhile back in London, we are eating Smarties straight out of the tube.

22:35And so it begins! We're watching the red carpet on E!, where Kelly Osborne is about to dispense some hardcore fashion commentary.

Photo gallery - Oscars 2013 red carpet in pictures: