Oscars flashback 10 years ago to 2014: ’12 Years a Slave’ wins top prize, but ‘Gravity’ claims most trophies

It’s been a decade since Steve McQueen‘s “12 Years a Slave” and Alfonso Cuaron‘s “Gravity” faced off at the 86th Academy Awards, Brad Pitt won his first Oscar (for producing), host Ellen DeGeneres took one of the most famous selfies ever, and “Adele Dazeem” was introduced to the world. On March 2, 2014, nine films competed for Best Picture, with three coming into the night with nine or more bids, and one of those walking away empty-handed despite numerous acting nominations. Read on for Gold Derby’s Oscars flashback 10 years ago to 2014.

“American Hustle” became the 15th, and to date last, film to earn a nomination in all four acting categories, with Christian Bale and Amy Adams up for lead actor and actress, and Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence competing for supporting. It was the second consecutive year in which a film directed and written by David O. Russell achieved this feat; Cooper and Lawrence had just competed in lead for “Silver Linings Playbook.” Whereas Lawrence had won the previous year, “American Hustle” was the third of the 15 films to lose all four acting bids. In fact, “American Hustle” tied with “Gravity” for most nominations at 10, and left empty-handed, becoming one of the most-nominated films ever without a win.

Instead, the night came down to a battle between “Gravity” and “12 Years a Slave” (nine nominations), with one walking away with the top prize and the other receiving the most awards.

Pitt won his first career Oscar for co-producing “12 Years a Slave.” One of his fellow coproducers, McQueen, also directed, and became the third Black person to receive a Best Director nomination, and the first to direct a Best Picture winner. The film also won for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress. Lupita Nyong’o‘s win in the latter category made her the 16th performer to win for a debut film performance. In addition to Lawrence, she prevailed over Sally Hawkins (“Blue Jasmine”), Julia Roberts (“August: Osage County”) and June Squibb (“Nebraska”). These were the only three awards captured by the Best Picture champ.

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The evening seemed to echo the ceremony from 1973, when “The Godfather” only won three awards, including Best Picture, but “Cabaret” walked away with eight, including Best Director for Bob Fosse. “Cabaret” holds the record for most Oscar wins without a Best Picture victory; however, “Gravity” came close in 2014. Like “Cabaret,” “Gravity” lost Best Picture, but picked up the most awards of the night with seven, including Best Director, making Cuaron the first person of Mexican descent to win this category. Besides Best Original Score, the bulk of its wins came in technical categories, including cinematography, editing and visual effects.

A fourth Best Picture nominee accomplished a feat only one other film has done. Like “Mystic River” 10 years prior, “Dallas Buyers Club” won both male acting awards without winning Best Picture, and was just the fifth film to claim both these categories. Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto had largely swept the Best Actor and Supporting Actor categories, respectively, throughout the awards season, and prevailed for their moving performances in this biopic. McConaughey faced off against Bale, Bruce Dern (“Nebraska”), Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Wolf of Wall Street”) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”), while Leto’s competition in supporting included Cooper, Michael Fassbender (“12 Years a Slave”) and Jonah Hill (“The Wolf of Wall Street”). The final nominee in that category was Somalia-born Barkhad Adbi, who made a memorable film debut as a pirate hijacking a ship in “Captain Phillips.”

Winning for Best Actress for “Blue Jasmine,” Cate Blanchett became the sixth actress to win both acting awards (having won for supporting in 2005 for “The Aviator”), and the 12th performer overall to accomplish this feat. Besides Adams, her co-nominees were Sandra Bullock (“Gravity”), Judi Dench (“Philomena”) and Meryl Streep (“August: Osage County”).

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Two of the most talked-about Oscar incidents occurred during this ceremony. When DeGeneres bounded into the audiences and took a selfie that encompassed several celebrities, including Streep, Roberts, Cooper, Lawrence and Pitt, she almost broke the internet. The tweet actually crashed the site, and eventually became one of the most retweeted photos of all time. “If only Bradley’s arm was longer …” who knows how many celebrities could have crammed in there? Regardless, it remains one of the best and most famous Oscar pictures of all time.

In a more infamous incident, John Travolta introduced Idina Menzel for her performance of “Let It Go,” and mispronounced her name as “Adele Dazeem.” Coverage of the mishap became almost as overplayed as the song itself. But in the end, “Let It Go” won Best Song, Travolta apologized and Menzel made light of it, a lot less perturbed by it than others seemed to be. Both showed class and good nature by presenting together the next year, for Best Original Song, with Menzel introducing her co-presenter as “Glom Gozingo.”

Besides winning for Best Original Song, “Frozen” became the first film produced by Disney Animation (non-Pixar) to win Best Animated Feature.

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