At This Year's Oscars, Diversity Comes Up As A Big Winner

While Alfonso Cuarón Roma bagged prizes for Best Director, Cinematography and Foreign Language Film, Black Panther won key awards.

- Brooks Barnes

Green Book, about a white chaueur and his black client in segregation­era America, won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, over­ coming mixed critical notic­ es and a series of awards­sea­ son setbacks. By backing Green Book, voters slowed the ascendancy of Netix, which had been pushing a competing nominee, Roma.

The first hostless Acade­ my Awards in 30 years took its lead from the Grammys, opening Sunday with a row­dy rendition of We Will Rock You by Queen, the super ­ group chronicled in the blockbuster best­picture no­minee Bohemian Rhapsody.

“Welcome to the Oscars!” shouted Adam Lambert, who has taken over for Freddie Mercury as Queen’s front­ man in recent years.

Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph then took the stage and — while explaining they were not the hosts — gave a mini­ perfor­mance that drew relaxed laughter from the audience and seemed to make the case that the three women should be hired to co­host next year, pronto.

Regina King won the Best Supporting Actresss trophy for the lyrical art lm If Beale Street Could Talk. “I’m an ex­ ample of what it looks like when support and love is poured into someone,” Ms. King said, composing herself after breaking into tears.

Alfonso Cuarón won Best Director for his semi­auto­ biographical Roma, as expected, his second victory in the category in five years, having received an Oscar for Gravity in 2014. It was the fth time in six years that a Mexican lmmaker has ta­ ken the prize.