“Everything Everywhere All At Once” continued its winning streak, scoring the award for Best Picture at the 2023 Oscars.
Harrison Ford presented the award onstage at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, where Hollywood’s biggest stars gathered to celebrate the big night, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.
Directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who had won earlier in the evening, were joined on stage by the entire cast to accept the historic award.
“One of the best things we can do for each other is shelter each other from the chaos of this crazy world we live in,” Kwan said. “Thank you to the storytellers here who did that for me. The world is changing rapidly and I fear that our stories are not keeping at pace. Sometimes it’s a little scary knowing that movies move at the rate of years in the world when the internet is moving at the rate of milliseconds. But I have great faith in our stories, these stories have changed my life and they have done that for generations and I know that we will get through this.”
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” received more Oscar nominations than any film this year with a whopping 11: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, two for Best Supporting Actress, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Score and Best Song.
The movie ended up winning seven of the 11 noms, including Best Picture, Best Actress for star Michelle Yeoh and Best Director for filmmakers Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan.
The film was the movie to beat this year, having won the top prizes at both the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Producers Guild Awards.
The comedy-drama beat “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Elvis,” “The Fabelmans,” “Tár,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Triangle of Sadness” and “Women Talking” for Oscar victory.
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” made history as the first sci-fi film to ever win Best Picture.
The movie stars Michelle Yeoh — who won Best Actress — as a Chinese immigrant who is swept into parallel universes in order to save all of existence and connects with the other lives she could have led.
“Everything Everywhere All At Once” is also the first film to win Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, as well as three acting awards.
Only two other films have ever racked up three acting Oscars: “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951) and “Network” (1976).
The last Best Picture winner that won more than four awards at the Oscars was “The Artist” in 2011, and the only other in this era was “The Hurt Locker” (2009).
While “Everything Everywhere All At Once” was widely predicted to take home the Best Picture prize, “Top Gun: Maverick” was also considered to be a top contender as it gained momentum throughout awards season, but ultimately didn’t make the cut.
The Oscars expanded the Best Picture category in 2009, doubling it from five nominees to 10, after Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight,” the sequel to 2005’s “Batman Begins,” was snubbed. The expansion helped to make room for blockbuster films — such as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” — that historically haven’t received many Best Picture nominations or wins.
“All Quiet on the Western Front” got a big boost after its best picture win at the BAFTAs, but was largely ignored by the major guilds.
Last year, “CODA” scored the win at the 2022 Oscars for Best Picture, and star Troy Kotsur won Best Supporting Actor, making history as the second deaf actor to win the Academy Award.