“Anora” was the big winner at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday, taking home five Oscars including Best Picture.
Sean Baker, who directed the movie about a sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, won Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Screenplay while it’s star Mikey Madison won Best Actress. Baker made history as the first person to four Oscars for the same film.
“The Brutalist” took home three Oscars, including Best Actor for Adrien Brody.
Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña finished their award season sweep in the Supporting Actor and Actress categories. Culkin won for “A Real Pain” while Saldana won for “Emilia Pérez.”
Despite getting 13 nominations, “Emilia Pérez” only grabbed two awards, including the Supporting Actress award for Saldana. The other win was Best Original Song.
“Wicked” also had two wins, including one for Best Costume Design where Paul Tazewell became the first Black man to win that award.
Conan O’Brien makes his Oscar debut
Conan O’Brien kicked off his debut as Oscars host with a bit from “The Substance” in which he climbed out of Demi Moore’s decomposing body. He went on to poke fun at the nominees including “A Complete Unknown’s” Timothée Chalamet and “Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofía Gascón, who received backlash for her controversial tweets.
“‘Anora’ uses the f-word 479 times. That’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón’s publicist,” he quipped. He told Gascón that if she was going to tweet about the Oscars that O’Brien was “Jimmy Kimmel.”
There was also surprise cameo by Adam Sandler, who was playfully ridiculed by O’Brien for his infamous Sandler fashion sense.
Shortly after, O’Brien then launched into a musical performance in which he assured the audience he “won’t waste time.”
O’Brien also used his time as host to poke fun at streaming services, including Amazon. During his monologue, O’Brien joked that CEO Jeff Bezos arrived in an Amazon package which was then stolen. In a later segment, he poked fun at movies theaters being the new way to stream movies.
Musical Performances
While the nominees for Best Original song did not get to perform, there were still plenty of performances throughout the night.
The show opened with Supporting Actress nominee Ariana Grande singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from “The Wizard of Oz,” followed by Best Actress nominee Cynthia Erivo, who performed “Home” by “The Wiz.” The two then performed “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked.”
The Oscars paid tribute to the Bond cinematic universes with performances from Lisa, Raye, and Doja Cat. Lisa did a rendition of Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die” while Doja Cat took on Shirley Bassey’s “Diamonds Are Forever,” and Raye sang Adele’s “Skyfall.”
There a was also a tribute to music legend Quincy Jones, who passed away in November 2024. Oprah and Whoopi Goldberg, who starred in “The Color Purple” (which Jones produced), introduced the tribute. Queen Latifah performed “Ease on Down the Road” from “The Wiz,” which Jones served as musical supervisor and music producer.
Wildfires
During the show, L.A. first responders who helped in the fight against the historic Southern California wildfires where they were greeted with a standing ovation.
“On behalf of everyone in greater Los Angeles, thank you for all that you do,” Conan O’Brien said.
First responders were even given a chance to make jokes on stage.
LAFD Erik Scott told audience members that “our hearts go out to those who lost their homes. And I’m talking about the producers of ‘Joker 2.’”
“To play Bob Dylan, Timothée Chalamet learned how to sing. In fact his singing was so good, he almost lost the part,” LAFD Pilot Jonas Johnson joked.
Pasadena Fire Department Captain Jodi Slicker joked that it was great to be at the show with Conan “because usually he’s stuck in a tree.”
Throughout the night, a QR code was presented with a link to wildfire relief efforts.
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Some nominees in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories have won awards at different award shows. In the lead actor category, Adrien Brody took home the Golden Globe and the BAFTA for his role in “The Brutalist” while Timothée Chalamet won the SAG Award for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.”
And your winners are…
Best Picture
“Anora” - Winner
“The Brutalist”
“A Complete Unknown”
“Conclave”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Emilia Pérez”
“I'm Still Here”
“Nickel Boys”
“The Substance”
“Wicked”
Best Actor
Adrien Brody - “The Brutalist” - Winner
Timothée Chalamet - “A Complete Unknown”
Colman Domingo - “Sing Sing”
Ralph Fiennes - “Conclave:
Sebastian Stan - “The Apprentice”
Best Actress
Cynthia Erivo - “Wicked”
Karla Sofía Gascón - “Emilia Pérez”
Mikey Madison - “Anora” - Winner
Demi Moore - “The Substance”
Fernanda Torres - “I'm Still Here”
Best Supporting Actress
Monica Barbaro - “A Complete Unknown”
Ariana Grande - “Wicked”
Felicity Jones - “The Brutalist”
Isabella Rossellini - “Conclave”
Zoe Saldaña - “Emilia Pérez” - Winner
Best Supporting Actor
Yura Borisov - “Anora”
Kieran Culkin - “A Real Pain” - Winner
Edward Norton - “A Complete Unknown”
Guy Pearce - “The Brutalist”
Jeremy Strong - “The Apprentice”
Best Director
Jacques Audiard - “Emilia Pérez”
Sean Baker - “Anora” - Winner
Brady Corbet - “The Brutalist”
Coralie Fargeat - “The Substance”
James Mangold - “A Complete Unknown”
Best Adapted Screenplay
“A Complete Unknown”
“Conclave” - Winner
“Emilia Pérez”
“Nickel Boys”
“Sing Sing”
Best Original Screenplay
“Anora” - Winner
“The Brutalist”
“A Real Pain”
“September 5”
“The Substance”
Best Original Song
Never Too Late - “Elton John: Never Too Late”
El Mal - “Emilia Pérez” - Winner
Mi Camino - “Emilia Pérez”
Like A Bird - “Sing Sing”
The Journey - “The Six Triple Eight”
Best Original Score
“The Brutalist” - Winner
“Conclave”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Wicked”
“The Wild Robot”
Best International Feature
“I'm Still Here” - Brazil - Winner
“The Girl with the Needle” - Denmark
“Emilia Pérez” - France
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig” - Germany
“Flow” - Latvia
Best Animated Feature
“Flow” - Winner
“Inside Out 2”
“Memoir of a Snail”
“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”
“The Wild Robot”
Best Documentary Feature
“Black Box Diaries”
“No Other Land” - Winner
“Porcelain War”
“Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat”
“Sugarcane”
Best Costume Design
“Wicked” - Winner
“Nosferatu”
“A Complete Unknown”
“Conclave”
“Gladiator II”
Best Make-up and Hairstyling
“A Different Man”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Nosferatu”
“The Substance” - Winner
“Wicked”
Best Production Design
“Wicked” - Winner
“The Brutalist”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Nosferatu”
“Conclave”
Best Sound
“A Complete Unknown”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Wicked”
“The Wild Robot”
Best Film Editing
“Anora” - Winner
“The Brutalist”
“Conclave”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Wicked”
Best Cinematography
“The Brutalist” - Winner
“Dune: Part Two”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Maria”
“Nosferatu”
Best Visual Effects
“Alien: Romulus”
“Better Man”
“Dune: Part Two” - Winner
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”
“Wicked”
Best Live Action Short
“Anuja”
“I'm Not a Robot” - Winner
“The Last Ranger”
“A Lien”
“The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent”
Best Animated Short
“Beautiful Men”
“In the Shadow of the Cypress” - Winner
“Magic Candies”
“Wander to Wonder”
“Yuck!”
Best Documentary Short
“Death by Numbers”
“I Am Ready, Warden”
“Incident”
“Instruments of a Beating Heart”
“The Only Girl in the Orchestra” - Winner
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