Photo courtesy: Lionsgate

In what seems to be generating descriptive words such as shock, surprise and upset across the Internets, Sir Anthony Hopkins took home the Academy Award for Best Actor Sunday evening for his titular role in The Father, winning the Oscar over Chadwick Boseman. Boseman was widely expected to win the award for his final movie role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. At 83, Hopkins now holds the distinction of being the oldest actor to ever win an Oscar.

While Hopkins took home the BAFTA for his role, Boseman won the Golden Globe for best actor earlier this season for his performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Boseman never got to see the film having died of colon cancer at age 43, just three months before the film was released.

It was Hopkins’ second Best Actor Oscar win with the first coming in 1992 for his portrayal of the brilliant psychiatrist/cannibalistic serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. The Father tells the story of an aging man who must deal with his progressing memory loss and co-stars Olivia Colman, Imogen Poohs, Olivia Williams, Mark Gatiss and Rufus Sewell.

This years Academy Awards were held in LA’s Union Station and easily featured the strangest ending in their 93 years. The Best Picture Award, given to Nomadland, took place prior to the Best Actor award which ended the evening. With Hopkins not in attendance, the evening ended flat at best with no acceptance speeches to close the night out.

Full disclosure, I have not seen either film as of yet having only seen Nomadland and Mank. Knowing the caliber of Sir Anthony Hopkins’ talents, The Father is now definitely on the screening list and for Boseman to have been considered the frontrunner for the award, his efforts must have been nothing short of brilliant which makes Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom next on the watch list.