‘The Brutalist’s Adrien Brody took home Best Actor while ‘Anora’s Mikey Madison was named Best Actress.
Conan O’Brien was the ceremony’s host.
So that, then, was the 97th Academy Awards. Hosted by comedian and talk show host Conan O’Brien, the 2025 Oscars ended with ‘Anora’ taking home Best Picture.
The indie film from A24 had been picking up other awards, but began to dominate the ceremony with Sean Baker taking Director, Editing and Original Screenplay and star Mikey Madison winning Best Actress in what was a surprise, since the “Demi Moore rebirth” narrative had seemed to be dominating.
And Baker’s four personal awards made Oscar history –– no-one has nabbed so many trophies in one night before. Also making the record books? ‘Wicked’ costume designed Paul Tazewell, who becomes the first black man to win his category and getting to celebrate that very fact in his speech.
In fact, outside of ‘Anora’s big shocker, it was a largely democratic Oscars, spreading the love around a few titles, including ‘The Brutalist’ (Cinematography, Score and Adrien Brody as Best Actor) ‘Wicked’ (which took the aforementioned Costume Design prize alongside Production Design), ‘Dune: Part Two’ (Sound and Visual Effects) and ‘Emilia Pérez,’ which saw Zoe Saldaña score yet another trophy on her triumphant awards season march.
‘Flow’ made waves as Best Animated Feature, seeing off the bigger studio likes of ‘The Wild Robot’ and ‘Inside Out 2,’ while in the Entirely Unsurprising section, Kieran Culkin took the stage for his latest Best Supporting Actor win for ‘A Real Pain.’
Conan O’Brien made for a snarky, witty host, and proved he’s got the goods for this particular gig. There were the political statements, emotional moments and, of course, a sprinkling of cross-promotional opportunities (such as having Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot of the forthcoming live-action ‘Snow White’ team up to hand out an award.
But the show also ran to three hours and 45 minutes, and even a funny musical bit by O’Brien at the start (featuring a ‘Dune’ sandworm on piano and a dancing Deadpool) about not wasting time couldn’t quite make up for that.
There was also criticism of an overlong and weird Bond music tribute, while the choice of tune (“Ease on Down the Road” from ‘The Wiz’) to salute music legend Quincy Jones was also questionable.
Kieran Culkin accepts the Oscar® for Actor in a Supporting Role during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
Zoe Saldaña accepts the Oscar® for Actress in a Supporting Role during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
Peter Straughan accepts the Oscar® for Adapted Screenplay during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
‘A Complete Unknown,’ Screenplay by James Mangold and Jay Cocks
‘Conclave,’ Screenplay by Peter Straughan - WINNER
‘Emilia Pérez,’ Screenplay by Jacques Audiard; In collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi
‘Nickel Boys,’ Screenplay by RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes
Sean Baker accepts the Oscar® for Original Screenplay during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
Clément Ducol, Jacques Audiard and Camille Dalmais accept the Oscar® for Original Song during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
Lily-Rose Depp and Elle Fanning present the Oscar® for Costume Design to Paul Tazewell during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
Richard King, Gareth John, and Ron Bartlett accept the Oscar® for Sound during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
‘A Complete Unknown,’ Tod A. Maitland, Donald Sylvester, Ted Caplan, Paul Massey and David Giammarco
Rachel Szor, Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham and Hamdan Ballal accepts the Oscar® for Documentary Feature Film during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
Molly O'Brien and Lisa Remington accept the Oscar® for Documentary Short Film during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
Walter Salles accepts the Oscar® for International Feature Film during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
Gregory Zalcman accepts the Oscar® for Animated Feature Film during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales accept the Oscar® for Production Design during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
‘The Brutalist,’ Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Patricia Cuccia
‘Conclave,’ Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Cynthia Sleiter
‘Nosferatu,’ Production Design: Craig Lathrop; Set Decoration: Beatrice Brentnerová
‘Wicked,’ Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales - WINNER
FILM EDITING
Sean Baker accepts the Oscar® for Film Editing during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at the Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.
