Tradition has it that "Best Picture" is the award that closes the Oscars ceremony, but this year, the last award was the one for "Best Actor" and this award ranking seems to have been by no means accidental.
People's expectations were that the "Best Actor" award would be given to the late Chadwick Boseman for "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", who passed away in August 2020 as a result of a 4-year battle with cancer. The award was not given to Boseman, but to 83-year-old actor Anthony Hopkins for his role in "The Father." Having said that, the organizers took it into account that Boseman's non-selection would dim the brilliance of the continuation of the ceremony and chose to leave this award for the end - while the audience would eagerly await his appreciation. But no.
Joaquin Phoenix, who won the Best Actor award for his role in The Joker last year, received the award on behalf of Hopkins. Hopkins, meanwhile, as he was announced the winner of an Oscar for the second time in his career, while making history as the oldest actor to win the prestigious award, apparently, was sleeping.
"I am here in my hometown of Wales. At 83, I did not expect to receive this award, really. I am grateful to the Academy. I want to remember Chadwick Boseman, who left us very early. Again, thank you all very much. I really did not expect it, I feel very privileged and honored. " - said Hopkins in the morning, in a video on Instagram.
In "The Father", the actor plays the role of an old man, who as his dementia worsens, begins to doubt his family and himself and refuses help and loses control of reality.
On the Internet, people and critics are considering the Academy decision as an insult to both Hopkins and the late Boseman.
