“Anora” was named the Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards. In one of the most unpredictable awards seasons to date, Sean Baker’s film about destigmatizing the sex worker industry ended up taking home top honors as well as Best Actress for Mikey Madison, Best Director for Baker, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, for a total of five awards.
“The Brutalist” took home three awards with Adrien Brody winning his second Best Actor Award. The Brady Corbet’s film about a Hungarian-Jewish architect who escapes to the United States after World War II.won Best Score and Best Cinematography.
That was followed by a three-way tie between “Dune Part Two,” “Emilia Peréz,” and “Wicked” winning two Oscars.
Originally set for January 17, this year’s nomination announcements were delayed by the tragic wildfires in Los Angeles, which left 28 people dead, and more than 14,000 structures destroyed across 40,000 burned acres. As such, the Academy has donated $1 million dollars and used the event to raise funds towards wildfire relief efforts. In fact, the film’s opened with a montage paying tribute to Los Angeles, and included clips from Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, La La Land, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and more.
Ariana Grande then took the stage to sing a powerful rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” which was then followed by Cynthia Erivo singing a cover Diana Ross’ Home. The two songs were meant to pay tribute to Los Angeles’ perseverance in the face of the wildfires. And the opening performance was capped off with a “Defy Gravity” duet that earned a well-deserved standing ovation.
First time host Conan O’Brien brought his apolitical humor to the cold opening which had riffs on Karla Sofía Gascón’s controversy, the ages of the Academy Award nominees, and how cameras will cut away to John Lithgow looking slightly disappointed. O’Brien then paid tribute to all the below-the-line craftspeople who work in the business, many of whom have lost their businesses and homes during the wildfire.
Flow won the third animated feature, making it the third animated film to also be nominated for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards.
“Wicked’s” Paul Tazewell won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, making him the first black man to do so. He gave a thanks to his Ozian muses for helping him in the award. The win also garnered a standing ovation.
Zoe Saldana won her first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Rita Mora Castro in “Emila Perez.” The actor who is also a child of immigrant parents is the first actor of Dominican descent to win an Academy Award delivered an emotional acceptance speech gave thanked the Academy for recongizing quiet heroism and the power in a woman like Rita. She also gave thanks to her fellow nominees and called out to her mother as well as her husband, Marco Perego-Saldaña.
The in memoriam portion included Morgan Freeman taking to the stage to honor the late Gene Hackman. While “The Color Purple” co-stars Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg honored the late Quincy Jones, and everything he did to advance Black excellance. This was followed up by Queen Latifah, who played the Wiz in a live-TV production of “The Wiz” a decade ago, performing “Ease on Down the Road.”
Here the full list of winners in the 23 categories. Winners are marked in asterisk.
Actress in a Leading Role
Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked”
Karla Sofía Gascón, “Emilia Pérez”
Mikey Madison, “Anora” *
Demi Moore, “The Substance”
Fernanda Torres, “I’m Still Here”
Best Director
Sean Baker, “Anora” *
Brady Corbet “The Brutalist”
James Mangold, “A Complete Unknown”
Jacques Audiard, “Emilia Pérez”
Coralie Fargeat, “The Substance”
Actor in a Leading Role
Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist” *
Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown”
Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing”
Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave”
Sebastian Stan, “The Apprentice”
Original Score
“The Brutalist” *
“Conclave”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Wicked”
“The Wild Robot”
International Feature Film
“I’m Still Here” *
“The Girl with the Needle”
“Emilia Pérez”
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
“Flow”
Cinematography
“The Brutalist” *
“Dune: Part Two”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Maria”
“Nosferatu”
Live Action Short Film
“A Lien”
“Anuja”
“I’m Not a Robot” *
“The Last Ranger”
“The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent”
Visual Effects
“Alien: Romulus”
“Better Man”
“Dune: Part Two” *
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”
“Wicked”
Sound
“A Complete Unknown”
“Dune: Part Two” *
“Emilia Perez”
“Wicked”
“The Wild Robot”
Documentary Feature Film
“Black Box Diaries”
“No Other Land” *
“Porcelain War”
“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”
“Sugarcane”
Documentary Short Film
“Death by Numbers”
“I Am Ready, Warden”
“Incident”
“Instruments of a Beating Heart”
“The Only Girl in the Orchestra” *
Original Song
“El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez”
“The Journey” from “The Six Triple Eight”
“Like a Bird” from “Sing Sing”
“Mi Camino” from “Emilia Pérez” *
“Never Too Late” from “Elton John: Never Too Late”
Production Design
“The Brutalist”
“Conclave”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Nosferatu”
“Wicked” *
Actress in a Supporting Role
Monica Barbaro, “A Complete Unknown”
Ariana Grande, “Wicked”
Felicity Jones, “The Brutalist”
Isabella Rossellini, “Conclave”
Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez” *
Film Editing
“Anora” *
“The Brutalist”
“Conclave”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Wicked”
Makeup and Hairstyling
“A Different Man”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Nosferatu”
“The Substance” *
“Wicked”
Adapted Screenplay
“A Complete Unknown”
“Conclave” *
“Emilia Pérez”
“Nickel Boys”
“Sing Sing”
Original Screenplay
“Anora” *
“The Brutalist”
“A Real Pain”
“September 5”
“The Substance”
Costume Design
“A Complete Unknown”
“Conclave”
“Gladiator II”
“Nosferatu”
“Wicked” *
Animated Short Film
“Beautiful Men”
“In the Shadow of Cypress” *
“Magic Candies”
“Wander to Wonder”
“Yuck!”
Animated Feature Film
“Flow” *
“Inside Out 2”
“Memoir of a Snail”
“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”
“The Wild Robot”
Actor in a Supporting Role
Yura Borisov, “Anora”
Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain” *
Edward Norton, “A Complete Unknown”
Guy Pearce, “The Brutalist”
Jeremy Strong, “The Apprentice”
Best Picture
“Anora” *
“The Brutalist”
“A Complete Unknown”
“Conclave”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Emilia Pérez”
“I’m Still Here”
“Nickel Boys”
“The Substance”
“Wicked”
