"Birdman" emerged as the 87th Academy Awards' big winner Sunday, as the dark comedy-drama beat out other Oscar favorite, and chief rival "Boyhood" for best picture, director, original screenplay, and cinematography.

"I am wearing the real Michael Keaton tighty whities," "Birdman" director Alejandro G. Inarritu quipped referring to the scene where Michael Keaton's character ran through Times Square in his underwear, adding a dash of humor to an otherwise night of seriousness.

Despite bagging the slew of awards, the movie couldn't bring an Oscar home for its lead star Keaton, who lost to "Theory of Everything" star Eddie Redmayne in the Best Actor category.

Redmayne portrayed theoretical physicist and ALS combatant Stephen Hawking.

The English actor dedicated the award to "all the people around the world battling ALS," while also noting that "I'm fully aware that I'm a lucky, lucky man."

Another illness was spoken of during the ceremony, when Julianne Moore, who won his first Oscar, spoke onstage.

Moore won her first Oscar after four previous nominations for playing a woman struggling with the early symptoms of Alzheimer's in the film "Still Alice."

"So many people with this disease feel isolated and marginalized"¦people with Alzheimer's deserve to be seen," she said.

"The Imitation Game" writer Graham Moore continued to night's trend of supporting marginalized groups when he gave a message for teenagers struggling to fit in, while also admitting that he tried to kill himself as an adolescent struggling with depression.

"Stay weird, stay different," was his laconic message to the youths.

Patricia Arquette, who won best supporting actor honors for her portrayal of a single mother challenged with balancing professional growth while raising her children in "Boyhood," rallied women in the workplace.

"We have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It's our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America," Arquette said.

Yahoo! notes that the Academy Awards had been expected to be politically charged this year with the Sony hacking incident, as well as the perceived snub of "Selma" in a number of major categories.