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Oscars 2014: '12 Years a Slave,' other literary adaptations take home prizes

The Oscars 2014 ceremony saw the movie '12 Years a Slave,' based on the memoir of the same name by Solomon Northup, score big by winning the Best Picture prize. The Oscars 2014 awards were held on March 2.

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Oscars 2014: '12 Years a Slave' director Steve McQueen (r.) celebrates after his film wins Best Picture as his cast and crew look on.
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

Literary adaptations again scored big at the Academy Awards, with the movie “12 Years a Slave” (based on the memoir of the same name by Solomon Northup) taking Best Picture as well as other awards and other adapted films also scoring prizes.

In addition to Best Picture, “Slave” actress Lupita Nyong’o won the Best Supporting Actress award for her work in the film and the movie itself won Best Adapted Screenplay.

Other adapted films that scored Oscars last night included “Frozen,” which is based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Snow Queen” and won Best Animated Feature as well as receiving the Best Original Song prize for “Let It Go.”  

Those behind the 2013 film adaptation F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel “The Great Gatsby” also went home with a couple of statuettes, with the movie winning the Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.

It was an interesting Oscars ceremony this year, with many saying that the Best Picture race between “Slave” and the film “Gravity,” which follows astronauts in a crisis, was too close to predict. While usually the director for the Best Picture winner also takes the Best Director prize as well, this year “Gravity” helmer Alfonso Cuaron won the award but “Slave” was anointed Best Picture. However, the last time this happened was only last year because “Argo” director Ben Affleck, whose movie won Best Picture, wasn’t even nominated for the Best Director prize. (Ang Lee took the award for the film “Life of Pi.”) Before that, the last time there was a split was in 2006, when director Lee took Best Director for “Brokeback Mountain” but the film “Crash” won Best Picture.

As for last night’s other prizes, “Dallas Buyers Club” actor Matthew McConaughey and Cate Blanchett of “Blue Jasmine” won Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively. “Dallas Buyers Club” actor Jared Leto took home the Best Supporting Actor prize.

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