(Bloomberg) -- J.K. Simmons, the veteran film and TV starseen in everything from Spider-Man to insurance commercials,and Patricia Arquette won Academy Awards for supporting roles.
Simmons, 60, took the prize for his part in Whiplash,while Arquette, 46, won for her role in Boyhood, Sunday atthe 87th Academy Awards, telecast live from the Dolby Theatre inHollywood. Neil Patrick Harris, a veteran emcee of the Emmys andTonys, is hosting Hollywoods most prestigious awards show forthe first time.
Harris, 41, opened the show with a sharp elbow forHollywood, joking the ceremony would honor the best and thewhitest in a poke at academy voters who bestowed only twonominations on the Martin Luther King Jr. drama Selma. Thesnub led to the creation of the Twitter hashtag #OscarSoWhite.
Simmons garnered the statuette in a tough contest againstEdward Norton, who plays a hard-to-work-with Broadway actor inBirdman, and Ethan Hawke, co-star of Boyhood, a comingof age tale. All three films are nominated for best picture inan awards season marked by small, artistically ambitious movies.
Simmons described the awards race as more tiring than thelean times. For him the award means more opportunity, hesaid backstage.
Arquette, who won for her supporting role in the movieBoyhood, the coming-of-age tale shot over 12 years with thesame cast, said the time has come for equal rights for women.
Womens EqualityTo every woman who has given birth to every taxpayer andcitizen of this nation: We have fought for everybody elsesequal rights, Arquette said from the stage. Its our time tohave wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for womenin the United States of America.
Boyhood is a favorite for best picture among bettinghouses, along with Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue ofIgnorance). This years nominees highlight small-budget filmswith big artistic aims.
In Boyhood, Arquette plays the mother to Mason andSamantha, who audiences watch grow through their childhood andteen years. While the film focuses on Mason, moviegoers also seeArquettes character and the father, played by Ethan Hawke, growover time.
In Whiplash, Simmons plays Terence Fletcher, aninstructor known for his terrifying methods as well as histeaching talents. He discovers an aspiring drummer and bringshim into his top jazz ensemble at the school, forever changingthe young mans life. The film has a total of five nominations.
Best FavoritesSimmons won the Screen Actors Guild award for the role aswell as a Golden Globe, and was the favorite to win the Oscar,according to GoldDerby.com, which tracks the awards races.
Of the films competing for best picture. Boyhood andBirdman are the favorites to win, based on the odds frombetting houses. Richard Linklaters unique 12-year project hasbrought in $44 million at the box office worldwide, according toresearcher Box Office Mojo. Birdman has grossed $73 million.
American Sniper, from Warner Bros., has the biggest boxoffice sales so far among the best-picture nominees, with $406million worldwide, as of Feb. 22. It is nominated in sixcategories, including best actor for Bradley Cooper.
The other nominees include The Grand Budapest Hotel, acomic post-World War I caper tale, The Imitation Game, thestory of World War II British codebreaker Alan Turing, theStephen Hawking story The Theory of Everything, and theMartin Luther King Jr. story Selma.
To contact the reporter on this story:Anousha Sakoui in Los Angeles at asakoui@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.netRob Golum, Dave McCombs
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-23/j-k-simmons-wins-oscar-for-role-as-tough-teacher-in-whiplash-
