Jessie Buckley, writes Paula Froelich, who rightfully won best actress for her turn in Hamnet and laughed in disbelief and pure joy upon receiving the award.
Now here is a woman with a great story arc — from reality TV star to Oscar winner — and a wonderful heart as she dedicated her award on British Mother’s Day “to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart. We all come from a lineage of women who continue to create against all odds”.
It’s nice to see some sincerity that actually feels… sincere.
One Battle After Another wins best picture
And One Battle After Another is the decided winner of the night, taking home six Oscars including best picture.
Jessie Buckley wins best actress
Jessie Buckley embraces her co-star Paul Mescal
REUTERS/MIKE BLAKE
Jessie Buckley wins the Oscar for best actress. She starts her speech with a nervous laugh. “Thank you for the incredibly woman I stand beside, I want to work with all of you,” she said.
• Hamnet review — Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley will break your heart
Buckley is the first Irishwoman ever to win an academy award for best actress. Her family was in the audience. “Ireland bought them flights!” she said.
How to blow an Oscar campaign in ten days
KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES
See Timothée Chalamet, Paula Froelich writes.
Despite delivering some “top-level shit” (according to him) as a narcissistic ping-pong player in Marty Supreme, the 30-year-old shot himself in the foot with BalletOperaGate, as I predicted in a recent column.
It was clear the crowd had turned against Mr Kylie Jenner when the best-actor nominees were announced. The tepid clapping Chalamet received compared to the rousing rounds of applause for Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael B Jordan showed just how low he’d sunk in the opinion of his peers.
When Jordan was announced as the best actor for Sinners, Chalamet smiled wanly and tried to clap gamely as the crowd roared and eventually gave him a standing ovation.
Better luck next time, Chalamet! Might I suggest your next role be in a male version of Black Swan?
Stars trickle into Vanity Fair afterparty
By Keiran Southern, live on the Vanity Fair Oscar party red carpet at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Jessica Alba
NEILSON BARNARD/GETTY IMAGES
The red carpet at the Vanity Fair Oscar party is open, with Jessica Alba among the first stars to arrive.
Each year the magazine hosts a post-ceremony reception that is one of the hottest tickets in town. Under the guidance of a new top editor, the guest list has been slashed in an attempt to make the event even more exclusive.
Whatever the changes, expect the usual caravan of A-listers and Oscar winners to walk the carpet in the grounds of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Michael B Jordan wins best actor
KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES
Michael B Jordan wins his first Oscar ever as best actor. An all-standing crowd is cheering and clapping.
“God is good. My dad came from Ghana to be here,” Jordan said, full of “thank yous”. “I stand here because of the people who came before me. Thank you everybody in this room and watching from home for supporting me in my career.”
Paul Thomas Anderson wins best director
Zendaya and Robert Pattinson present best director
PATRICK T FALLON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Paul Thomas Anderson wins for best director
REUTERS/MIKE BLAKE
The Drama stars Zendaya and Robert Pattinson present the award for best directing. One Battle After Another‘s director Paul Thomas Anderson is the winner. It’s the film’s fifth Oscar of the night.
Cringefest limps towards its conclusion
From Paula Froelich
So far, this year’s show has been interminably plodding with long, cringey bits by “hilarious” duos like Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans, and the cast of Bridesmaids.
It’s been full of weird commercial moments for the Academy Museum, a lengthy tribute to people who died (did Barbra Streisand really make the Robert Redford in memoriam song all about her?), a random salute to “the ancestral lands of the Tongva, Tataviam and Chumash peoples, the traditional caretakers of this water and land” (while showing shots of multi-million dollar homes in Beverly Hills), and multiple loving camera shots to a newly slimmed down Leonardo DiCaprio — with almost none of Timothée Chalamet and his date Kylie Jenner (thereby ignoring the only real suspense of the evening).
Oscar for KPop Demon Hunters
And Golden makes history again. It takes the Oscar for best original song, the first ever for a K-Pop song. “Growing up people made fun of me for being [into] K-Pop,” Ejae said. “But now the lyrics are everywhere.”
Sentimental Value wins best international film
Best international film goes to Sentimental Value. Javier Bardem and Priyanka Chopra announced the award. “No to war and free Palestine,” Bardem said.
• Sentimental Value review — if you love films about films you’ll like this
KPop Demon Hunters take to the stage
Rei Ami, Ejae and Audrey Nuna
KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES
We watched the real voices behind Kpop Demon Hunters — Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Am — perform Golden, which spent eight weeks at No 1 on Billboard. Golden already made history last month when it became the first KPop song to win a Grammy.
• Read about the science behind the global hit here
Sinners wins best cinematography
Autumn Durald Arkapaw
KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES
Sinners‘s Autumn Durald Arkapaw takes the Oscar for best cinematography. Durald Arkapaw, the first black winner and the first woman to win this Oscar, asked all the women in the room to stand up. “I wouldn’t be here without you,” she said.
Durald Arkapaw asks the women in the room to stand
REUTERS/MIKE BLAKE
Another victory for One Battle After Another
The actor Bill Pullman and his son, fellow actor Lewis Pullman, present the film for best editing. Andy Jurgensen wins for One Battle After Another. Jurgensen dedicates his award to his aunt, who was a film archivist for the Academy.
The second most nominated film, One Battle After Another, is shaping up to be the favourite of the night with four awards so far.
The award for best sound goes to Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A Rizzo and Juan Peralta for F1.
Yates Whittle asks young audiences to go to the theatre and watch independent films (after she is bleeped for swearing).
Bridesmaids cast presents Sinners with best original score award
Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Kristen Wiig, Ellie Kemper and Melissa McCarthy are celebrating the 15th anniversary of Bridesmaids with a comedic skit, before presenting the award for best original score.
The best original score went to Ludwig Göransson for Sinners. There are 22 songs in the movie.
The cast of Bridesmaids
KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES
Anti-Putin documentary wins
Mr Nobody Against Putin wins best documentary feature.
“We all face a moral choice, but luckily even a nobody is more powerful than you think,” director David Borenstein says.
Find out what Pavel Talankin — the Russian primary school teacher who began documenting life inside his classroom to help make the film — told The Times:
Kimmel returns to hosting duties
Jimmy Kimmel, who has hosted the Oscars four times before, was met with laughter as he presented the best documentary short film, welcoming the audience to the “97th Academy Awards”.
Some documentaries are timely and urgent, he said, “some others you just walk around the White House trying on shoes”, taking a dig at Melania.
The short features the Empty Rooms won. The film is about children killed by mass gun violence in America. A mother who lost her nine-year-old daughter in the Uvalde mass shooting is onstage and delivers a short but poignant speech. “Jackie is more than a headline,” she says. “We believe that if the world could see their empty bedrooms, the world could see a different America.”
A win for Avatar franchise
The best visual effects award goes to Avatar: Fire and Ash.
Kevin Maher, our chief film critic, was not all that impressed though, calling it a “lazily rehashed film” of the previous two instalments of James Cameron’s blockbuster franchise.
Another win for Frankenstein
Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver announce the best production design award. It goes to Frankenstein. It’s the film’s third award of the night, a tie with One Battle After Another.
Rob Reiner was right after all
By Paula Froelich
Streisand croons on stage
PATRICK T FALLON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The Oscars paid tribute to the film legends we’ve lost last year including Robert Redford, Diane Keaton, Gene Hackman, David Lynch and, of course, Rob Reiner. And, at the same time, it seems the golden age of cinema is slipping away. As I wrote in my column for The Times, RIP Hollywood: Rob Reiner was right.
Barbra Streisand sings in honour of Robert Redford
KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES
Barbra Streisand gave a singing tribute to Robert Redford, her costar in The Way We Were.
Streisand lauded Redford’s interest in defending civil rights and freedom of the press, recalling their conversations about politics and their deep friendship.
Heartfelt tribute to Rob Reiner
Billy Crystal in a film-by-film tribute to his friend Rob Reiner
ROB LATOUR/SHUTTERSTOCK
The director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were memorialised during the In Memoriam portion of the awards. They couple was killed earlier this year and their son, Nick Reiner, was arrested and charged with their deaths.
“For us who had the privilege of working with him and knowing him and loving him, all I can say is, ‘Boy, we had fun storming the castle,” Billy Crystal, the Reiners’ friend, said in a heartfelt speech crediting the couple for being the driving force behind the equal-marriage decision in the US.
Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Jerry O’Connell, Wil Wheaton, Fred Savage, Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Carol Kane, Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Kiefer Sutherland, Demi Moore, Kevin Pollak, Kathy Bates, Annette Bening, John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga
KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES
Catherine O’Hara, Diane Keaton, Val Kilmer, Robert Duvall, Robert Redford and others were also included in the tribute.
Sinners director saves the drab day
From Paula Froelich
Ryan Coogler
KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES
Thank God for Ryan Coogler. After having to sit through bad shtick from Robert Downey Jr and his Marvel co-star Chris Evans — which involved a sparkly thong and spray-tan jokes as well as an environmentally apologetic speech from the best adapted screenplay winner Paul Thomas Anderson — Coogler brought the realness.
Visibly nervous and excited having won the Oscar for best original screenplay, Coogler spoke in fast-forward, trying to get everything in and managing to thank everyone — the cast, the crew, his parents, his wife, his children — in record time. And the band didn’t even have to start playing.
The long history of the Oscars’ seven ties
From Keiran Southern
The teams behind live-action short-film rivals The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva mock-fight
DAVID FISHER/SHUTTERSTOCK
Ties at the Oscars are exceedingly rare and tonight saw only the seventh in the Academy’s almost 100-year history.
The first occurred at the fifth Academy Awards, when Fredric March and Wallace Beery shared best actor. Interestingly, that was not a true tie. March, star of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, earned one more vote than Beery, nominated for The Champ.
But the rules at the time dictated that if two nominees were within three votes of each other they would both receive an award. The rules were later changed.
The most recent tie before tonight was at the 85th Academy Awards when Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty shared the award for sound editing.
Sinners scoops best screenplay
Ryan Coogler wins best original screenplay for Sinners.
“Thank you for the academy members for believing in me,” Coogler said. “And for my babies at home, sorry for spending time away from you.”
• Sinners review — a moving mash-up of horror, historical epic and musical
Another win for One Battle After Another
Paul Thomas Anderson
REUTERS/MIKE BLAKE
Marvel stars Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr present the award for best screenwriting. The Oscar goes to One Battle After Another.
“I wrote this movie for my kids to say sorry for this housekeeping mess we’re leaving in this world today,” the director Paul Thomas Anderson said.
Sean Penn blesses us with his absence
From Paula Froelich
Kieran Culkin joked that he was accepting Penn’s award in his place
PATRICK T FALLON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Sean Penn, who resembles a Coach bag from the 1970s and smoked his way through the Golden Globes, did everyone a favour by not showing up to accept his Oscar for best supporting actor in One Battle After Another.
After a tie in the best live-action short film category — and some very long speeches — Penn, who has two other Oscars under his belt for his roles in Milk and Mystic River, should be given a bonus by ABC for getting the show back on time.
Absent Sean Penn wins best supporting actor
Best supporting actor goes to Sean Penn for One Battle After Another, who is not there to receive the award.
Penn delivered a strong performance as Lieutenant Steven Lockjaw, a military zealot and white supremacist who hunts down Leo DiCaprio’s character in the comedy thriller. The last time Penn, 65, was nominated for an Oscar was in 2009.
There’s a tie for best live-action short film. The Singers is announced as the first winner.
Two People Exchanging Saliva takes the second award.
There have now only been seven ties in Oscars history.
Stars honour casting directors
Stars honour casting directors. From left, Paul Mescal, Gwyneth Paltrow, Chase Infiniti, Wagner Moura and Delroy Lindo
KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES
The first-ever best-casting award is being presented by one member of each nominated film: Paul Mescal, Gwyneth Paltrow, Delroy Lindo, Wagner Moura and Chase Infiniti.
The award goes to Cassandra Kulukundis for One Battle After Another.
“I dedicate [this award] to the casting directors who didn’t even get a chance to get the name to appear on their movies,” Kulukundis says in her speech, thanking the academy for adding the category.
• One Battle After Another review — a career high for DiCaprio and an Oscar cert
Anna Wintour and Anne Hathaway perform skit
KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES
Anna Wintour and the Devil Wears Prada star Anne Hathaway are presenting best costume. “Anna, just curious, what do you think of my dress tonight?” Hathaway asks.
“And the nominees are…” Wintour responds.
The Oscar for best costume design goes to Frankenstein’s costumer Kate Hawley. “Thanks … to my family who put up with a lot of shit,” Hawley says before she is muted.
Frankenstein also takes the Oscar for best hair and makeup.
• Frankenstein review: Jacob Elordi lacks menace in a camp, messy reboot
Chalamet shade continues apace
From Paula Froelich
Timothée Chalamet and Kylie Jenner at the awards
JOHN SHEARER/98TH OSCARS/GETTY IMAGES
Tonight’s Oscars is adding to the Chalamet shade. The legendary ballerina Misty Copeland performed live tonight in a Sinners tribute, dancing to the film’s Oscar-nominated song I Lied to You alongside Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq.
Copeland, who was convinced by Chalamet to wear a Marty Supreme jacket last year, was furious after the Oscar nominee blasted ballet and opera, telling Matthew McConaughey in February “no one cares” about the art forms. Three days ago Copeland addressed his comments on a panel, saying: “There’s a reason that the opera and ballet have been around over 400 years. And I think that when you have access, you have the opportunity to be a part of something, it can change your life.”
She also noted the irony that she helped market Chalamet’s latest film, saying: “First, I have to say that it’s very interesting that he invited me to be a part of promoting Marty Supreme with respect to my art form.”
After Copeland’s performance, which also featured Eric Gales, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Alice Smith, and legendary blues artist Buddy Guy rocking the stage, there was thunderous applause and a standing ovation.
Sadly the camera did not pan to Chalamet afterwards — just Leonardo DiCaprio.
O’Brien gives casts and crews the floor
Statuettes awaiting their winners
RICHARD HARBAUGH/THE ACADEMY/SHUTTERSTOCK
Again this year O’Brien has decided to highlight the efforts of the performers, producers and behind the scenes people who ensure the show goes smoothly.
Spectacular rendition of Sinners song
KEVIN WINTER/GETTY IMAGES
Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq performed Sinners‘s I Lied to You on stage, with dancers and performers recreating the scene in which the song is introduced.
Short animation winner announced
Best animated short film goes to The Girl who Cried Pearls.
“Tonight we’re celebrating real artists,” the comedian and actor Will Arnett said before presenting the award. The directors of The Girl who Cried Pearls said it really was “that” hard to spend five years making a film about puppets.
KPop Demon Hunters director: This is for Korea
“For those of you who look like me I’m so sorry it took so long to see us in a movie like this,” KPop Demon Hunters director Maggie Kang said, holding back tears. “This is for Korea and for Koreans everywhere.”
From Paula Froelich
In her speech presenting the best supporting actress award, Zoe Saldaña said the female nominees really put their “balls to the wall” in their commitment to their roles. Okaaaay.
But then she announced Amy Madigan for Weapons.
Congratulations to Madigan, 75, who won her first-ever Academy Award tonight after years in the business. Also to her husband Ed Harris, who has been nominated for the gold statuette four times, but has never won. He didn’t seem to mind tonight as he blew his wife a kiss.
KPop Demon Hunters sweep animation category
Will Arnett and Channing Tatum, the two “most alpha males in my book club” according to O’Brien, are presenting best animated feature. KPop Demon Hunters wins.
The film phenomenon, produced in partnership between Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation, became the most watched Netflix film in history with more than 500 million views since it debuted in June 2025. You’ve probably heard the film’s hit song Golden (which earned its own nomination) on the radio. Tonight, we’ll be watching the voices behind Huntr/X perform live
• A guide to KPop Demon Hunters — by our 8-year-old expert
Madigan’s victory follows nod 40 years before
It’s been 40 years since Madigan was last nominated for an Oscar.
“Everybody’s asked me what’s different this time, well I have this guy!” Madigan says, holding her award.
Madigan thanks her daughter, her dogs and her “beloved Ed” — husband Ed Harris
“who’s been with me for forever, and that’s a long time”, she said.
Amy Madigan wins best supporting actress
PATRICK T.FALLON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The best supporting actress award, the first of the night, goes to Amy Madigan for Weapons.
• Read our review of Weapons here
Sly joke about Andrew’s Epstein links
An Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor joke prompts toned-down laughs. No British stars are nominated for best actor or actress tonight, O’Brien says.
He added: “The British said, ‘Well, at least we arrest our paedophiles.”
O’Brien teases Chalamet
O’Brien starts with a joke about AI taking people’s jobs. “I’m honoured to be the Academy’s last human host,” he said to a laughing audience.
The host then went after Chalamet, warning of attacks on “ballet and opera” — the line from the Marty Supreme star that’s sparked so much backlash. Chalamet seemed to take the joke well, laughing alongside his girlfriend Kylie Jenner.
O’Brien jokes that tonight might get political. “You can attend an alternative [show] hosted by Kid Rock,” he said, referencing the American right’s alternative Super Bowl held earlier this year.
Timothee Chalamet and Kylie Jenner
MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS
Conan O’Brien
CHRIS PIZZELLO/AP
Hollywood is getting thinner and thinner
It was a noticeably thin red carpet, Paula Froelich writes.
Hollywood is getting thinner and thinner, and while the show is not sponsored by Ozempic … it is sponsored by Jardiance, a drug approved to lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes — and that has an added side effect of weight loss.
And finally, the so-called “sexy rodent” arrived. Timothée Chalamet, in an all-white ensemble paired with sunglasses from The Matrix, a wispy moustache and Justin Bieber-inspired frontal hairstyle, looks unbothered by #BalletOperaGate— and unchaperoned.
It’s started. The ceremony kicks off with a pre-recorded skit with Conan O’Brien dressed as Aunt Gladys from Weapons. The host journeys through the sets of some of the biggest films nominated tonight.
Just before the show began, Timothée Chalamet walked down the red carpet.
Timothée Chalamet
DANIEL COLE/REUTERS
Tamron Hall, the talk show host, is working ABC’s red carpet in a dress that resembles a spacesuit comforter, Paula Froelich writes.
Her sartorial polar opposite, Chloe Zhao, nominated for Best Director of Hamnet, is sporting a Morticia Addams-inspired gown — complete with a veil.
If she does win, will she lift the shroud? Zhao spoke with our chief film critic Kevin Maher (who wants her to take home the trophy) earlier this year.
Tamron Hall
LEXIE MORELAND/WWD/GETTY IMAGES
Chloé Zhao
MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY IMAGES
Previous winners to present
Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin, Mikey Madison and Zoe Saldaña, the winners at last year’s Oscars, will be presenters tonight.
Javier Bardem, Chase Infiniti, Chris Evans, Demi Moore, Kumail Nanjiani and Maya Rudolph are also among the presenters.
Kieran Culkin, Mikey Madison, Adrien Brody and Zoe Saldana
MATT SAYLES/THE ACADEMY
There seems to be a dress code at the Oscars this year — as if all the stylists got together and decided muted colours and sequins would rule the day, Paula Froelich writes.
Lots of blacks, whites, silvers and golds — some darker greens — but really only Jessie Buckley, so far, has broken free and popped in her red and pink Chanel gown. Kudos to Jessie!
Note to future Oscar nominees: don’t follow the stylists’ advice. You end up just blending in with the crowd.
Teyana Taylor
DANIEL COLE/REUTERS
Nicole Kidman
EMMA MCINTYRE/GETTY IMAGES
The Secret Agent review — Wagner Moura deserves an Oscar
“We are very proud of the movie,” Wagner Moura, who is nominated for best actor for The Secret Agent, said on the red carpet. “It’s been a big journey and Brazilians have been so supportive and I just want to thank them because we felt the energy throughout the whole campaign.”
The film follows Moura’s character as he finds himself caught in the chaos of the Brazilian military dictatorship.
Our critic found that the movie’s four nominations were well-deserved, describing it as “a film that jumps audaciously between timelines and character perspectives”.
Wagner Moura
CAROLINE BREHMAN/REUTERS
The early bird awards go to …
The early bird special awards go to … the people who showed up first to the Oscar red carpet, Paula Froelich writes
They are: the host Conan O’Brien, with his wife, Liza Powel O’Brien; Jessie Buckley (wearing one of the few bright colours on the carpet so far — a pink and red Chanel gown), Renate Reinsve, Rose Byrne and her husband Bobby Cannavale, Ariana Greenblatt and Wunmi Mosaku.
Also there: Shaboozey, Miles Caton and the trio Rei Ami, Ejae and Audrey Nuna (who will perform the K-Pop song “Golden” later tonight); Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams; Demi Moore in a peacock green number complete with feathers, Chase Infiniti, Ji-young Yoo, Kevin O’Leary, Amelia Dimoldenberg, Auli’i Cravalho, Alicia Silverstone, Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee and Bella Thorne.
The bigger stars — or ones embroiled in controversy — usually show up later and scurry down the red carpet to their seats just in time for the show.
Conan O’Brien with his wife Liza Powel O’Brien
MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY IMAGES
In pictures: stars arrive for the Oscars
Emma Stone
DAVID FISHER/SHUTTERSTOCK
Jessie Buckley
GILBERT FLORES/PENSKE MEDIA/GETTY IMAGES
Chase Infiniti
MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY IMAGES
Demi Moore
MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY IMAGES
Security tightened after Iran threats
Security at the Oscars is always formidable. As anyone who has attended the ceremony knows, a ring of steel surrounds the Dolby Theatre.
Roads are closed. Barricades erected. Snipers stand sentinel on Hollywood roofs.
This year, security has been tightened even further due to the war in Iran. It emerged last week that the FBI had warned California law enforcement agencies that Tehran could target the state with drones.
While the intelligence did not suggest an imminent threat, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Academy leadership are not taking any chances.
The security perimeter around the theatre stretches for roughly a mile. Cars entering to drop off A-list guests do so while hemmed in by fences and barricades. A small army of law enforcement has been deployed.
“In Los Angeles, we use rings of security to harden the target,” LAPD chief Jim McDonnell said this week.
Security dogs on the Oscars’ red carpet
REUTERS/CARLOS BARRIA
Sinners review — a moving mash-up
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is the most-nominated movie in the history of the Oscars, with 16 nods.
Reviewing the film for The Times, Kevin Maher writes that while the action in the movie is “so-so”, the genre-mashing audacity “is so assured, the characters so rich and the flights of fancy so ambitious that it’s impossible not to be moved”.
Some early gossip: don’t expect politics
I’ve covered the Oscars for over 20 years — and attended them (or at least the afterparties) for ten — and I could not be more excited for one of the most dramatic awards ceremonies of recent years, Paula Froelich writes.
Some early gossip: don’t expect political speeches this year, either on the red carpet or during acceptance speeches. The backlash from the Golden Globes — after Mark Ruffalo and Jean Smart both sounded off on ICE — was very severe. I’ve heard people have been told to keep it apolitical. We’ll see if there are any rule breakers.
Bridesmaids cast expected to reunite
The Bridesmaid‘s director Paul Feig said he was celebrating the film’s 15-year anniversary tonight. The cast of the modern cult classic is said to be reuniting onstage.
“You got to get great people and have a great script,” Feig said when asked what makes a good movie. “And then you have to trust those people to let them do their thing. And you just kind of guide them and make sure they’re good.”
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Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceThe thrills and spills we’re looking out for…
Kicking off our celebrity commentary tonight is Times contributor Paula Froelich, who is also a Story Editor at News Nation. Paula writes…
One of the biggest talking points of the night:
• Will best actor nominee Timothée Chalamet bring his mum — or Kylie Jenner — as his date?
• Will he even walk the red carpet after #BOG? (BalletOperaGate)
It almost doesn’t matter if Chalamet wins or loses — the drama surrounding his thirsty bid for the Oscar this year is enough. If he wins for his role in Marty Supreme, expect a truly tepid applause.
If he loses, we will all be glued to his reaction.
According to Polymarket, Chalamet was pegged to win until BOG. He’s now 30 points behind the Sinners star Michael B Jordan who many now expect to take the gold statuette home. Polymarket puts Jordan’s chances at 61 per cent.
Also pegged to win (according to Polymarket):
• Best picture: One Battle After Another (78 per cent)
• Best actress: Jessie Buckley (97 per cent)
• Best director: Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another (93 per cent)
• Best original screenplay: Sinners (95 per cent)
• Best supporting actor: Sean Penn for One Battle After Another (78 per cent)
• Best supporting actress: Amy Madigan for Weapons (55 per cent)
Host Conan O’Brien arrives
Conan O’Brien with his wife Liza
MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY IMAGES
Conan O’Brien has arrived. The comedian will host the awards for the second year in a row. Last year O’Brien delivered a well-received opening monologue that ended with a musical number. He has said he has a “lot of fun ideas” for tonight
Sinners star to perform during ceremony
Li Jun Li
JEFF KRAVITZ/FILMMAGIC
Tonight we’ll be watching a number of performances including from Li Jun Li, who portrayed the shopkeeper Grace Chow in Sinners. Li arrived a stunning red dress, her hair tucked into a slicked-back bun.
“It’s going to be amazing,” Li told ABC. “It’s so packed with amazing people that you might be over-stimulated. I’m over-stimulated, so I’m so excited. I saw some of my idols, and I short-circuited when I saw them.”
The Americans betting big on the Oscars
When the best-actor nominee Timothée Chalamet caused online outrage by criticising ballet and opera in a recent interview, Gigi Alcaraz swiftly went to the prediction market Kalshi.
On March 7, she wagered $50 on him not coming home with the Oscar on Sunday night for Marty Supreme.
“As more and more people were criticising him on TikTok the price of his position continued to go down,” she told The Times. On March 9, Alcaraz sold her position and pocketed $10 in two days.
How to watch the ceremony live
The big night is finally here and if you’re wondering where to stream the Oscars, we’re breaking down your options. The awards show officially begins at 7pm ET/11pm GMT.
The ceremony is expected to last about three hours, and if you’re in the US, you can stream your local ABC station for free. If you’re in the UK you can watch for free on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player.
No cable? You’ll want to consider Hulu, LiveTV, YouTube TV, AT&T TV and FuboTV. The easiest option if you don’t want to commit to a streaming service is to take advantage of Hulu and DirecTV’s free trials.
We’re about two hours from the beginning of the ceremony, so you have time to decide!
Timothée Chalamet riding out opera controversy
Chalamet made the comments in a recent interview
PATRICK T FALLON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
An acclaimed artist in his craft, it came as a shock for many when Timothée Chalamet said he couldn’t bring himself to appreciate other art forms, claiming that “no one cares” about opera and ballet.
“I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though, like, no one cares about this anymore,’” Chalamet, who this year is nominated for best actor award for Marty Supreme, said at a Variety/CNN town hall.
But the backlash to his remarks last month is just the latest in an Oscar campaign marked by Chalament’s arrogance and cocky attitude, our contributor Paula Froelich explains in this piece about BalletOperaGate.
Amelia Dimoldenberg to run the red carpet
Amelia Dimoldenberg on the red carpet
MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY IMAGES
The British comedian and presenter Amelia Dimoldenberg, who hosts the popular web series Chicken Shop Date, is the Oscars’ official social-media ambassador and red-carpet correspondent for the third year in a row. Dimoldenberg is best known for her “awkward”, deadpan interviews with celebrities that often go viral online.
‘This is a tragic year for cinema’
Neytiri and Jake Sully in Avatar: Fire and Ash
20TH CENTURY STUDIOS
“There are no others like this,” James Cameron says, holding his hand up in the air, interrupting my clearly ridiculous claim that there are films in the same orbit as his Avatar franchise. “Sorry,” he continues, not sounding sorry at all, “but I am 20 years into these movies and whether people like them or f***ing hate them, one thing I can say for sure is that there is nothing out there like this.”
The director discusses his film Avatar: Fire and Ash, which has been nominated for best visual effects and best costume design.
• Read in full: James Cameron: ‘I mourn box-office revenues’
The Iranian director who was up for a Bafta (but couldn’t get a UK visa)
It Was Just an Accident, nominated for two awards, is inspired by the Iranian writer-director’s time in prison for criticising his country’s regime.
It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last year, but will it win tonight? Jafar Panahi talks about why he still wants to return to Iran despite a prison sentence.
How Joachim Trier became Gen Z’s favourite director
Joachim Trier holds the grand prix award for Sentimental Value at the Cannes festival last year with, from left, Elle Fanning, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgard
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Sentimental Value is the most nominated Nordic film with nine nods. The film tells the story of two sisters in Oslo supporting each other and dealing with their distant, traumatised movie-director father.
“Someone told me that they had taken their father who couldn’t speak about emotions to see it and he had cried and they had hugged,” Joachim Trier says. Forget Hamnet, go to a Trier film for a sobfest. As he said at Cannes this year, “tenderness is the new punk”.
• Read in full: his secret to ‘tender’ cinema
Radiohead guitarist on his Oscar nomination
Jonny Greenwood: “I feel I got more experience of orchestral musicians in my early days with Radiohead than I would if I’d stayed at college”
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Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood’s music for One Battle After Another is in the running for best original score, the third time he has been nominated.
He said: “Last time at the Oscars they took me aside and they gave me a chocolate shaped like an Oscar.”
The band’s guitarist talks about composing a violin concerto for the Hallé, his hopes for an Oscar — and whether his band will produce another album.
Sinners’ Wunmi Mosaku: I missed the call
Wunmi Mosaku: “At drama school I was the only black girl in my year and I didn’t get any parts”
GIANNA DORSEY
Wunmi Mosaku said it was a “beautiful surprise” that Sinners landed a record-breaking 16 nominations.
In an interview last month, she talked about her Nigerian roots and why she left Manchester for Hollywood.
• Read in full: ‘I missed the news that I was up for an Oscar’
‘Christopher Nolan put down his Oscars for my beef wellington’
JOSHUA BRATT FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES
The British chef Elliott Grover has been catering the Oscars since 2023. He’s been up since 7am preparing for the parties.
Here’s a day in his life for when he’s cooking for the A-list.
• Read in full: meet the chef catering for the Oscars
As the great and the good of Hollywood gather in LA for the 98th annual Academy Awards, we take a look at some of the most controversial moments in the ceremony’s history.
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• Read in full: The ten most shocking Oscars moments
And the best picture Oscar must go to…
Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another
ALAMY
Janice Turner is rooting for The Secret Agent, Jonathan Dean wants One Battle After Another to win. Before tonight’s ceremony, Times critics argue over which film should take the top prize.
• Read in full: Our experts deliver their verdict
What last year’s winners did next
Mikey Madison and Adrien Brody
For actors such as Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison and Zoe Saldaña, you would expect their careers to skyrocket after a big win — but Hollywood life is unpredictable.
Matt Damon thinks the best way to judge a film is ten years after it is released and says the Academy Awards should be decided a decade later. So what happened to the winners of 2025?
• Read in full: What last year’s winners did next
Read all our reviews of the best picture nominees
Sinners starring Michael B Jordan
AP/WARNER BROS PICTURES
From Marty Supreme to Sinners, read all of our reviews of the best-picture nominees — and find out where to watch the films.
In pictures: the best fashion moments
While we wait for the Oscars red carpet to start, here’s a look at some of the most exciting fashion looks from previous ceremonies.
Anna Murphy, Fashion Director, chooses her favourite outfits — from Carmen Miranda to Zendaya.
Ceremony to remember film giants lost this year
The “In Memoriam” segment is always a closely watched portion of the telecast. Often there is controversy when someone is missed out.
This year will be an especially packed tribute due to the number of Hollywood giants who died over the past 12 months.
Val Kilmer, Robert Duvall, Catherine O’Hara and Diane Keaton could all warrant their own segments, such was their impact on the industry. Barbra Streisand is reported to be performing a tribute to her The Way We Were co-star Robert Redford.
And Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal are believed to be appearing to honour Rob Reiner, the When Harry Met Sally director who died in appalling circumstances in December.
Best actor contest likely to be heated
Adding to the intrigue, other races are expected to be close.
Timothée Chalamet has been the best actor frontrunner and seemed sure to pick up his first Oscar for playing an obsessive table tennis player in Marty Supreme. Then he was snubbed at the Baftas and lost to Sinners’s lead Michael B Jordan at the Actor Awards. Now Jordan enters Oscars night as the slight favourite.
Lurking in the background, certainly not out of contention, are Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle After Another and Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent.
I’ve spoken to many Academy voters in recent weeks and there does not seem to be a consensus candidate. The best actress category has more certainty. If Jessie Buckley’s name is not called for her heartrending performance in Hamnet, expect gasps of shock to rip through the auditorium.
Two films in close contest for best picture
Keiran Southern in Los Angeles
Hollywood’s biggest night is upon us with the 98th Academy Awards taking place in Los Angeles.
These are trying times for the American film industry with box-office takings down, cinema attendances falling and artificial intelligence threatening to inflict another blow.
Yet at the Dolby Theater on Sunday night those problems can, for a few hours, take a back seat and Hollywood can celebrate an incredible year for movies. That is reflected in the nominations for best picture, which, for once, is a genuinely close race.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s comedy-thriller One Battle After Another has seemed unassailable for much of awards season, hoovering up one major prize after another.
But close observers of the race have sensed a momentum change in recent weeks. Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s fresh take on the vampire genre, has surged into contention. When the envelope is opened at the end of the night, the winner will be a surprise.