CLEVELAND, Ohio – "The Revenant" was a big winner at Sunday night's 88th Academy Awards, picking up the trophies for actor, director and cinematography, but the best-picture Oscar went to another acclaimed drama, "Spotlight, " the film about the Boston Globe's investigation of sexual abuse by priests.
Although "The Revenant" was viewed as the favorite for best picture, "Spotlight" was one of the best-reviewed films of 2015.
The sixth time proved the charm for Leonardo DiCaprio, who, as expected, took home the best-actor Oscar for his performance in director Alejandro G. Inarritu's "The Revenant." DiCaprio already had claimed best-actor honors from the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards for his portrayal of a 19th-century fur trapper on a brutal trail of survival and revenge.
DiCaprio, who had gone 0-for-5 in previous Oscar races, called "The Revenant" a "transcendent cinematic experience" before making an appeal for action on climate change.
The night's other big winner was director George Miller's "Mad Max: Fury Road, " which scored victories in six categories: for editing, costume design, makeup and hairstyling, production design, sound editing and sound mixing.
But Oscar spread around the gold at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre, honoring several of the year's acclaimed films. The winner for best actress was Brie Larson, star of "Room, " the drama about a mother held captive for seven years.
Alicia Vikander was named best supporting actress for her portrayal of an artist in "The Danish Girl." Mark Rylance won for his performance as a man accused of being a Soviet spy in director Steven Spielberg's "Bridge of Spies" (a bit of an upset, since Sylvester Stallone was thought to be the sentimental favorite for playing his iconic Rocky Balboa character in "Creed").
The first Oscar of the evening, for best original screenplay, went to Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy for "Spotlight."
The Oscar for best adapted screenplay went to Charles Randolph and Adam McKay for their adaptation of "The Big Short, " Michael Lewis' nonfiction book about the housing and credit crisis.
Before the first awards were handed out, host Chris Rock, as expected, immediately addressed the major issue hanging over this year's Academy Awards – no African-American nominees in the acting and direction categories. The protest was mentioned frequently in jokes, filmed sketches, presentations and remarks made by Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs.
"Well, I'm here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the White People's Choice Awards, " Rock told the audience. "If they nominated hosts, I wouldn't be getting this job. You all would be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now."
Rock asked why there was a protest this year, and not, say, in the 1950s and early '60s. There were no African-American nominees many of those years, he said: "And black people did not protest. Why? Because we had real things to protest at the time. You know, too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer."
Rock returned to the controversy throughout the evening. The comedian's stronger comments about racism sometimes were met with awkward silence from the Tinseltown crowd, but others drew big laughs, like his riff on the pre-"Creed" movies about Rocky.
" 'Rocky' takes place in a world where white athletes are as good as black athletes, " he said. "So 'Rocky' is a science-fiction movie. There are things that happen in 'Star Wars' that are more believable than things that happen in 'Rocky.' "
