'Spotlight' wins best picture at Oscars

LOS ANGELES -- In an underdog win for a movie about an underdog profession, the newspaper drama "Spotlight" took best picture Sunday at the 88th Academy Awards, where remarks on lack of diversity in Hollywood dominated proceedings.

Tom McCarthy's film about the Boston Globe's investigative reporting on sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests won over the favored frontier epic "The Revenant." The procedural, led by a strong ensemble cast, had lagged in the lead-up to the Oscars, losing ground to the flashier filmmaking of Alejandro Inarritu's film.

But "Spotlight" -- an ode to the hard-nosed, methodical work of a journalism increasingly seldom practiced -- took the night's top honor despite winning only one other Oscar for McCarthy and Josh Singer's screenplay. Such a sparsely awarded best-picture winner hasn't happened since 1952's "The Greatest Show On Earth."

Tom McCarthy, center left, and Michael Keaton, center right, accept the award for best picture for "Spotlight" at the Oscars on Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

After four previous misses, Leonardo DiCaprio won his first Oscar for his grunting, gruff performance in "The Revenant." Best actress went to Brie Larson, the 26-year-old breakout of the mother-son captive drama "Room."

"Climate change is real," DiCaprio said. "It is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species. ... Let us not take our planet for granted. I do not take tonight for granted."

Alejandro Inarritu took best director for a second straight year, a feat matched by only two other filmmakers: John Ford and Joseph L. Mankiewicz. His frontier epic "The Revenant," which came in with a leading 12 nods and the favorite for best picture, also won best cinematography for Emmanuel Lubezki. Renowned for his use of natural light in lengthy, balletic shots, Lubezki became the first cinematographer to win three times in a row (after wins for "Gravity" and "Birdman") and only the seventh to three-peat in Oscar history.

Inarritu, the Mexican director of last year's best-picture winner "Birdman," was one of the few winners to remark on diversity in his speech.

"What a great opportunity for our generation to really liberate ourselves from all prejudice and this tribal thinking and to make sure for once and forever that the color of our skin becomes as irrelevant as the length of our hair," Inarritu said.

But the night belonged to host Chris Rock, whose much-anticipated opening monologue left few disappointed. He confronted head-on the uproar over the lack of diversity in this year's nominees, and returned to the topic throughout the show. ("We're black," he said after a commercial break.)

"Is Hollywood racist? You're damn right it's racist," said Rock, who also sought to put the issue in perspective. "Hollywood is sorority racist. It's like: 'We like you, Rhonda, but you're not a Kappa.'"

Rock had stayed quiet before the ceremony as the controversy raged over the second straight year of all-white acting nominees, leaving Hollywood and viewers eagerly awaiting his one-liners. He confessed he deliberated over joining the Oscars boycott and bowing out as host but concluded: "The last thing I need is to lose another job to Kevin Hart."

With the Rev. Al Sharpton leading a protest outside the Dolby Theatre and some viewers tuning out the broadcast, Hollywood's opportunity imbalance often overshadowed the actual awards -- though "Mad Max: Fury Road" did its best to command the spotlight.

George Miller's post-apocalyptic chase film won with awards in technical categories for editing, makeup, production design, sound editing, sound mixing and costume design. Roundly acclaimed for its old-school craft, Miller's "Mad Max" was assured of becoming the evening's most awarded film.

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Oscar winners

Best Picture: “Spotlight.”

Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Revenant.”

Actress: Brie Larson, “Room.”

Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance, “Bridge of Spies.”

Supporting Actress: Alicia Vikander, “The Danish Girl.”

Directing: Alejandro G. Inarritu, “The Revenant.”

Foreign Language Film: “Son of Saul.”

Adapted Screenplay: “The Big Short.”

Original Screenplay: “Spotlight.”

Animated Feature Film: “Inside Out.”

Production Design: “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

Cinematography: “The Revenant.”

Sound Mixing: “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

Sound Editing: “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

Original Score: “The Hateful Eight.”

Original Song: “Writing’s on the Wall” from “Spectre.”

Costume Design: “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

Documentary Feature: “Amy.”

Documentary (short subject): “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness.”

Film Editing: “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

Makeup and Hairstyling: “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

Animated Short Film: “Bear Story.”

Live Action Short Film: “Stutterer.”

Visual Effects: “Ex Machina.”