“12 years a Slave,” the gripping, true account of a man’s struggle for freedom, beat out the highly decorated space thriller “Gravity” to win Best Picture at the Oscars Sunday night.
And it marked the first time the film industry’s top award went to a movie made by a black director, Steve McQueen.
The bloody portrayal of American slavery — based on the memoir of Solomon Northup, a free man sold into slavery — also won Best Supporting Actress for newcomer Lupita Nyong’o, as well as Best Adapted Screenplay.
“Everyone deserves not just to survive but to live. This is the most important legacy of Solomon Northup,” McQueen said in his acceptance speech.
Despite the Best Picture loss, “Gravity” scored seven Oscars — the most by any film this year — including for Alfonso Cuarón as Best Director, the first such win by a Latin American.
Matthew McConaughey won Best Actor for his role as a homophobic Texan who contracts AIDS in the 1980s and fights the US government to provide desperate patients with the medicine they need.
The Best Actress award went to Cate Blanchett, as a Manhattan socialite unhinged by her husband’s financial crimes in “Blue Jasmine.”
Blanchett even thanked “Jasmine” director Woody Allen, who last month was again hit with disturbing allegations of sexual abuse by his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow.
“Thank you so much, Woody, for casting me,” Blanchett said.
“American Hustle,” which had 10 nominations — and which took home the top Golden Globe award — was completely shut out at the Oscars.
The award show’s host, Ellen DeGeneres created a memorable moment when she enlisted Meryl Streep to take a selfie with her, and was soon joined by Channing Tatum, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts and Nyong’o, with Bradley Cooper actually snapping the shot.
“If only Bradley’s arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars,” DeGeneres tweeted along with the photo — which quickly became the most retweeted Twitter message ever.
DeGeneres also circulated among the audience, delivering pizza and appealing to Harvey Weinstein to leave the tip.
Nyong’o was joined as top feattured star by another first-time winner, Jared Leto, who took Best Supporting Actor for “Dallas Buyers Club.”
Nyong’o, 31, won for her breakout performance as the tortured slave Patsy in “12 Years.”
“It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else’s, and so I want to salute the spirit of Patsy for her guidance,” said Nyong’o, who has dual Kenyan and Mexican citizenship.
She also thanked her director, McQueen, saying, “I’m certain that the dead are standing about you and they are watching and they are grateful, and so am I.”
Leto won for his portrayal of a AIDS-inflicted Texas transgender woman. In his acceptance speech, he thanked his mom and also dedicated his award to “the 36 million people who have lost the battle to AIDS.”
Although the show broke with tradition by not opening with a big musical number, there were great such performances later in the night.
Pharrell Williams, singing his nominated tune, “Happy” from “Despicable Me 2,” had Meryl Streep and Amy Adams dancing in the aisle. Leonardo DiCaprio was reluctant to join in.
Pink got big cheers for her rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” part of a 75th anniversary tribute to “The Wizard of Oz.”
Disney’s global hit “Frozen” won Best Animated Feature, marking — somewhat incredibly — the pioneering studio’s first win in that category since it was added to the Oscars 14 years ago.
With a box office that recently passed $1 billion worldwide, the film was sure to be the biggest hit to take home an Oscar on Sunday night.
“Frozen’s” theme song, “Let it Go,” penned by Park Slope husband-and-wife team Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson, took home Best Original Song.
The memorial portion of the Oscars honored stars who died in the past year, and images of Paul Walker and Philip Seymour Hoffman silenced the theater.