Here are the highlights from the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, which proved to be the most fun and surprising one for a while. No slaps, but still...
1. Anora wins Best Picture!
While there wasn’t a clear front-runner this year, this was still a shock. Little Anora, a film made for $6 million about the romance between a sex worker and the son of a Russian oligarch, scooped the big prize on the night for director Sean Baker and team.
Baker was previously known for his ultra-indie films, including the excellent trans sex worker tale Tangerine (2015), which was shot entirely on an iPhone. And while Anora had critical acclaim from the start, helped by a star turn by Mikey Madison - who also won Best Actress on the night - it is only in the last few months that is seems to have gained momentum as a true Best Picture contender as Emilia Perez became embroiled in controversy.
“Long live independent film!” Baker declared.
2. The Substance x James Bond
Margaret Qualley opened a 007 tribute with a dance routine that nodded to her role as Sue in The Substance. Alright she was elegant in a red dress rather than pumping it in lycra but this was a winning mash-up. Was it an audition to be the next Bond girl? Well, with the franchise now in Amazon’s hands, a reality TV dance show for the casting on Bond: The Musical is not entirely out of the question.
3. Halle Berry kisses Adrien Brody on the red carpet
Reprising the famous kiss Brody landed on Berry when he won Best Actor for The Pianist at the Oscars 22 years ago - back when that kind of thing was ok and wasn’t liable to end in a jail sentence - Halle Berry turned the table and grabbed Brody for a smooch as she arrived at the ceremony last night. “I had to pay him back,” she said.
Brody later picked up the Best Actor gong for The Brutalist. He refrained from snogging the award’s presenter Cillian Murphy.
4. Kieran Culkin gets censored
A popular winner for A Real Pain, the Succession star outdid himself with his latest tribute to his wife Jess. He landed himself in some hot water at the Golden Globes last year by saying his wife promised him a third child if he won, and was accused of manipulating her into it. Of course Culkin being Culkin, he doubled down on it as he picked up his Best Supporting Actor award, saying that she had also promised him a fourth child if he won an Oscar, basically because she thought he wouldn’t: “Love of my life... ye of little faith...let’s get cracking.”
Except that last bit was silenced on TV, which was an oddly puritanical thing to do at a year when the Best Picture winner is a celebration of sex workers.
5. Demi is snubbed!
Yes, Mikey Madison won Best Actress for Anora, beating Moore to a gong which she seemed certain to win. The 25 year old beat Hollywood royalty with her turn as sex worker Anora. Though to be fair, she has been a star since she was a teen in the FX sitcom Better Things. “I want to honour and recognise the sex worker community,” she said.
Didn’t Moore already do that for Striptease in 1996?
6. Conan’s Anora joke is joke of the night
“I guess Americans are excited to see someone finally stand up to a powerful Russian,” the host quipped.
7. Mick Jagger turned up!
The Rolling Stones frontman presented Best Original Song. He joked that the producers originally wanted Bob Dylan to present the award, but he turned it down, “because he said the best songs this year were obviously in the movie A Complete Unknown."
The added: "Bob said, 'You should find somebody younger.' I said, 'OK, I'm younger! I'm younger than Bob, I'll do it.' So, here I am."
8. Zoe Saldana brings the tears
Picking up Best Supporting Actress for Emilia Perez - which also won for Best International Film, although it was nominated in a record 11 categories - the Avatar star thanked her parents and grandparents in an emotional speech in which she said she felt proud to be, “the first American of Dominican origin to win an Academy Award.”
9. Conan’s Kendrick Lamar joke was also very good
10. Adam Sandler steals the show
Looking like he’d just emerged from a week-long bong session, O’Brien took the chance to take the mickey, prompting Sandler to ‘walk out’.
“I never even thought about what I was wearing until you brought it up!”
11. A nice nod to David Lynch
Isabella Rossellini and Laura Dern came to the event together, with Rossellini wearing a dress made of blue velvet, paying tribute to David Lynch and his most celebrated film, which they both starred in.
Laura Dern and Isabella Rossellini attend the 97th Annual Oscar Awards
— Celebrity Updates🧢 (@Shanznew) March 3, 2025
#Oscars2025 pic.twitter.com/14HBXlmMNI
12. Karla Sofía Gascón was present!
Despite being reviled for her unearthed racist tweets, Gascón was there on Oscars night since she was up for Best Actress, which meant there were audible gasps when O’Brien joked, “Little fact for you: ‘Anora’ uses the F-word 479 times. That’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón’s publicist.”
Later, Zoe Saldaña notably didn’t mention her co-star during her speech.
