LOS ANGELES, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Alejandro G. Inarritu, director of black comedy movie "Birdman," went onto the stage of the 87th annual Academy Awards ceremony three times on Sunday night.

He was the biggest winner on the Oscar night, receiving three golden statuettes for best original screenplay, for best director and, at last, for best film.

The quirky film, starring Michael Keaton, is about a faded Hollywood actor -- who once played iconic superhero Birdman -- struggling to recover his family, his career and himself in the days leading up to the opening of a Broadway play.

Inarritu co-wrote and directed the movie, whose full name is "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)." In his acceptance speech, Inarritu first thanked his good luck.

"Tonight I am wearing the real Michael Keaton tighty whities," he said, referring to a famous scene from the film. "They worked. I'm here. Thank you, Michael."

Inarritu made history in 2006 by becoming the first Mexican director to be nominated for Oscar's best director for his drama "Babel."

Other films nominated for the best motion picture included "Boyhood," "The Grand Budapest Hotel," "The Imitation Game," "The Theory of Everything," "Selma," "American Sniper" and "Whiplash."

Other nominees for best director included Richard Linklater for "Boyhood," Bennett Miller for "Foxcatcher," Wes Anderson for "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and Morten Tyldum for "The Imitation Game."

According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 323 films were eligible for the best picture nomination this year. To be eligible for the 87th Academy Awards, films must open in a commercial movie theatre in Los Angeles County by midnight Dec. 31 and have a minimum run of at least seven consecutive days.

They also must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and be shown on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.

AND THE OSCAR ALSO GOES TO ...

In other categories, Eddie Redmayne and Julianne Moore won the Oscar awards for Best Actor and Actress respectively for their performance in "The Theory of Everything" as Stephen Hawking and in "Still Alice" as a woman dealing with Alzheimer's disease.

The four other nominees for best actor are Steve Carell for "Foxcatcher," Bradley Cooper for "American Sniper," Benedict Cumberbatch for "The Imitation Game" and Michale Keaton for "Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)."

The other candidates for best actress are Rosamund Pike for "Gone Girl," Reese Witherspoon for "Wild," Marion Cotillard for "Two Days, One Night," and Felicity Jones for "The Theory of Everything."

J.K. Simmons and Patricia Arquette won Oscar awards for their supporting actor and actress roles in "Whiplash" and "Boyhood." Simmons and Arquette essentially swept most of the pre-Oscar ceremony awards, including winning Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards.

"Citizenfour," a documentary concerning U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden and the National Security Agency spying scandal, won the Oscar award for best documentary feature.

"Ida," a Polish film directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, captured the Oscar award for best foreign language film.

The award ceremony was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on a rainy day, which is rare in Southern California. Fifty Oscar statuettes were given to winners in the 24 categories of awards.

Several hundred million viewers in more than 200 countries and regions watched the award ceremony on TV.

WHITE DOMINANCE DRAWS CRITICISM

This year's Academy Awards was criticized for the lack of diversity, with the nominees in acting categories dominated by white performers. For the third time since 1995, the 20 Academy Award acting nominations were only for white actors and actresses. The first was in 1998 and the second in 2011.

Furthermore, every nominated best director, screenwriter, screenplay adapter and original score composer is a white man and no female writers or directors were included in the Oscar race.

More than 6,000 academy members voted for the winners of the Academy Awards in 24 categories. About 94 percent of the members are white, 77 percent are men and 86 percent are over the age of 50.

Host of the show, Neil Patrick Harris, even joked on the stage that "Tonight we honor Hollywood's best and whitest, sorry I mean brightest."