Last night’s Oscars were very pleasing for me, even if they did run too long and there were once again too many stupid filler bits (cough James Bond tribute cough). I also get the impression that this year’s Oscar telecast will probably have really low viewership numbers – while Dune 2 and Wicked were huge hits, people also came into the Oscars knowing that those films wouldn’t win much and they weren’t big Best Picture contenders. That’s exactly what happened – there was a big sweep of the major awards for Anora, with Sean Baker picking up a historic four Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing. Mikey Madison won Best Actress over Demi Moore and Cynthia Erivo. To be fair, I was rooting for Anora since I saw it last year. I loved that movie and I loved Mikey’s performance. I even complained several months ago that the Anora people should be campaigning harder and that Mikey should be the Best Actress frontrunner. Mikey’s Dior was kind of terrible? She has a real taffeta/satin problem.
Other notable winners: Kieran Culkin for Best Supporting Actor, who gave yet another charming speech about wanting more children with his wife Jazz. Adrien Brody beat Timothee Chalamet and Ralph Fiennes and Brody’s Best Actor speech bored everyone to tears, but hey, at least we know that he’s acting as stepfather to Harvey Weinstein’s children now??? Zoe Saldana won Supporting Actress.
Here’s Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo opening the Oscars with a medley of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “Home” and “Defying Gravity.”
Here’s Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue – I thought Conan did a good job as Oscar host and he had some genuinely funny jokes, like the Karla Sofia Gascon one (“’Anora’ uses the f-word 479 times — that’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón’s publicist.”). I could have done without the Adam Sandler bit and the song about not wasting time.
What was the purpose of the James Bond tribute and why did Doja Cat sound like that?? I wondered if they even contacted Adele about any of this.
The weirdest moment of the night was the Best Song win for “El Mal,” with Camille Audiard’s creepy singing.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Mikey Madison poses backstage with the Oscar® for Actress in a Leading Role during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.,Image: 971253299, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** EDITORIAL USE ONLY! * NB: Fees charged by Avalon are for Avalon’s services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material. Avalon does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright or License in the attached material. By publishing this material you (the user) expressly agree to indemnify and to hold Avalon and its directors, shareholders and employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), or any causes of action or allegation against Avalon arising out of or connected in any way with publication of the material. * Handling Fee Only ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
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- Mikey Madison poses backstage with the Oscar® for Actress in a Leading Role during the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.,Image: 971253367, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** EDITORIAL USE ONLY! * NB: Fees charged by Avalon are for Avalon’s services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material. Avalon does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright or License in the attached material. By publishing this material you (the user) expressly agree to indemnify and to hold Avalon and its directors, shareholders and employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), or any causes of action or allegation against Avalon arising out of or connected in any way with publication of the material. * Handling Fee Only ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
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- Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Zoe Saldaña and Kieran Cullen pose backstage with their Oscars® at the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.,Image: 971253462, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** EDITORIAL USE ONLY! * NB: Fees charged by Avalon are for Avalon’s services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material. Avalon does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright or License in the attached material. By publishing this material you (the user) expressly agree to indemnify and to hold Avalon and its directors, shareholders and employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), or any causes of action or allegation against Avalon arising out of or connected in any way with publication of the material. * Handling Fee Only ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
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- Alex Coco, Sean Baker and Samantha Quan pose backstage with their Oscars® at the live ABC Telecast of the 97th Oscars® at Dolby® Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on Sunday, March 2, 2025.,Image: 971253670, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** EDITORIAL USE ONLY! * NB: Fees charged by Avalon are for Avalon’s services only, and do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright or License in the material. Avalon does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright or License in the attached material. By publishing this material you (the user) expressly agree to indemnify and to hold Avalon and its directors, shareholders and employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), or any causes of action or allegation against Avalon arising out of or connected in any way with publication of the material. * Handling Fee Only ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red/Avalon
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- Mikey Madison bei der Oscar Verleihung 2025 / 97th Annual Academy Awards im Dolby Theatre. Los Angeles, 02.03.2025 *** Mikey Madison at the 2025 97th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre Los Angeles, 02 03 2025 Foto:xJ.xBlocx/xFuturexImagex oscars_5390,Image: 971263265, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Jennifer Bloc/Avalon
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- 97th Annual Academy Awards OSCARS at the Dolby Theater on March 2, 2025 in Los Angeles, CA,Image: 971297772, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Mikey Madison, Credit line: Nicky Nelson/Wenn/Avalon
Congratulations to all the winners. Very happy that Mikey Madison won!
I was also thrilled that Mikey Madison and Anora won big. Sean Baker was able to cover a lot of territory with all of his acceptance speeches. I am glad that he stood up for small independent films and the importance to our culture of viewing movies on the big screen with other audience members. I had never heard of Sean Baker at the start of the awards season, so I tried to read up on both him and Anora. He seems universally liked by his casts and crew members. He offered Mikey Madison an intimacy coordinator, but she did not feel that one was needed because she had spent so much time with him and his wife at that point that she felt that angle was covered. From everything I’ve read, all of the Anora cast really felt like a big happy family and mutually respected one another. That made the success of Anora especially heart-warming to me.
it’s disappointing that so few people spoke out about what’s happening in the US right now. It was a missed chance and gives off the vibes of an elite celebrating themselves in expensive dresses, while the world around them is on fire. Shameful.
I was shocked it wasn’t more political. If the wealthiest and most privileged Americans can’t publicly stand up on their biggest platform to support trans rights/ migrants/ anti-war/ free speech messages, what the f are the rest of us even doing?
Yes, as my friend texted last night, it felt very Hunger Games. Scary.
I was actually fine with that. An evening of escapism is what I signed up for. It’s bad enough waking up everyday. Those who are political are contributing in other ways.
This. We’re living in this nightmare, so escapism is being prioritized. Letting an award show be an award show was very much needed.
It’s like the late 20s- 30s politically and in the need for escapism. Movies, celebrities and ceremonies were a large part of that then. People have a lot of avenues for political messaging now. I was glad it was largely out of the ceremony. And no repeat of Trump live tweeting to the host this year. I need a trump free zone especially after the last few days.
It only accentuated the privilege of the biggest stars, who have the resources to flee this hellscape.
And the cluelessness really annoyed me. As I said last night on another thread, I get the need for escapism, but a few signals of solidarity would have been nice.
Speaking of the Hunger Games, pretty sure the James Bond montage was tribute to Amazon buying the franchise. Maybe Bezos will be the next Bond.
Bond Villain, perhaps. He certainly has the styling down, the ego, that yacht story, not to mention the siliconed moll on his arm.
I thought Mikey was great in Anora and she really has so much to do in that film, more so then any of the other performances in that category so it was a great win! However, the Academy also likes to reward young actresses while liking its best actors older which I always find strange.
I would have liked to see Coleman win the best actor category but that was always a long shot. Sigh.
Anora had a huge night after all the other film controversies. However, I did find that film not engaging an intimacy coordinator strange and now I want to look back at all Sean’s work(which I typically have LOVED) to see if that is often the case on his sets.
Congrats to the winners!
With all the awards given to Anora and last year to Poor Things, I feel like we are at the peak of porn culture. How is this movie in the same category as Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or The Silence of the Lambs, that won the same big categories? It is bizarre. And I bet, we are gonna get another story in one or two decades about Sean Baker. No intimacy coordinator and acting out the sex scenes with his wife for the actors, calling Mikey “sexy teenager”.. I am sure it was totally a safe environment for a young actress. lol.
Agreed.
I can’t stand Baker! He’s not genuinely supporting sex workers. He’s exploiting them under the guise. You can tell hr has some weird fascination with Mikey by alwayd bringing up her role in once upon and referring to her as sexy teenager in scream of all movies. I like Mikey so I happy but wish it was for a different movie. Also I am disappointed for demi! How ironic a 20 something year old would win given substances plot
Red Rocket needs a mention, too. The 2021 followup to The Florida Project (which I liked) eroded my opinion of Baker’s story-telling choices. It felt like 2hours of ick watching Simon Rex’s Lo-Fi predatory weirdness unfold.
There’s also a story in which he admits one of the actresses in Anora (can’t remember her name but she is a around 17 or 18 I think) originally contacted him by repeatedly sliding into his DMs to “compliment his work”, and from there he liked her look, invites her for a meeting, and decided to cast her. Major red flags here. Look it up.
Found her name. Ivy Wolk. Look up Ivy Wolk + Sean Baker and prepare for…something else ..!
I made the same comparison recently (between Anora and Poor Things) but because these celebrated feminist and progressive fairy tales or whatever are told by old white dudes and coincidentally involve a beautiful prostitute. It’s not the prostitution itself that bothers me, but how it’s obviously a crutch; the stories are very shallow. They aren’t saying anything at all. They are Nice Guys. Hollywood doesn’t celebrate women’s stories, last night Coralie F lost everything to this guy and his fetiche for “outcasts” and minorities. “Sing Sing” didn’t win shit despite being a beautiful, uplifting movie based on a true story, written by a black man. Emilia Pérez had a million nominations (made a racist French dude) and I Saw the TV Glow had none, an actual good movie about the transgender experience.
I deeply dislike Sean Baker now, but I don’t find the possibility that he’s abused his power on set funny at all. He’s worked with transgender sex workers, a little girl who was not a professional actor, and MM, who’s very young and was very vulnerable in her role. Like I really hope (for their sake) that he didn’t.
@Persephone, I am amused by people’s naivety, claiming that it must have been the young actress’s decision to shoot all those sex scenes without an intimacy coordinator, instead to watch his boss and his wife acting those scenes. Then, they are shocked when these actresses start talking about how exploited they have felt when they shot this kind of scenes when they were young in the industry. Like, how many times we heard the same story now? This man is not professional. He was acting out some fantasy through this movie. Everything I heard about him is creepy. This movie isn’t for sex workers or women who felt exploited. It is a movie made by a man, for male gaze.
Thank you! Anora is nothing more than a grittier, bleaker, dirtier version of Pretty Woman; albeit wkth a more realistic ending. Main difference is a Russian woman as the primary antagonist villain instead of a creepy male corporate raider. And more sex, nudity and swearing. It was a perfectly fine movie but Best Picture?
The lack of intimacy coordinator also affects the cast on set who need to film the actress doing these scenes. It is not just for her.
Besides the power imbalance between director and unknown actress is huge. It should simply be mandatory like you need a safety coordinator for stunts. Mikey would not want to rock the boat and ask for a coordinator if the director was giving the vibe he didn’t really want one. It’s costs money to pay for one and as a smaller film it would be a factor.
People can like the film, but let’s not white wash that issue.
I agree with all of these comments. Good grief! It’s 2025. Women who tell their own stories should be celebrated, not middle aged dudes who want to mansplain women coming of age.
Thank you. I am so icked by this trend.
Agreed as well
I thought it was one of the more boring Oscars I’ve seen in recent years. I fell asleep during it lol. The whole thing where they weren’t showing clips of the movies or the costumes but were just praising the nominees was weird.
The James Bond tribute was weird – I expected it to end with announcing the new Bond, but nope.
Conan was okay but the whole thing was very very meh IMO.
Guess who bought the James Bond franchise? Amazon and horrid Bezos. What are the chances he paid for that piece?
Someone in the Hung Up chat last night said their friend who works at Amazon confirmed it was paid for. Impossible to verify but I had the same thought!
I also didn’t see why we got Bond tribute? Margaret Qualley is a good dancer, but the number was felt misplaced as well and performed poorly. Bezos must have paid for it.🤷♂️
Agreed. I see a lot of people on social media acting like it was the best show in ages, but I feel they are conflating their love for Conan (solid host) with how the actual show went. Disjointed timing, bizarre mix of having last year’s acting winners ramble on for each nominee only to bring back clips later in the show, clearly rushing winners off the stage during their speeches, an unnecessary and poorly executed Bond tribute, and a head-scratching choice for the In Memoriam music. If Conan wasn’t host, this would be hands down be the worst ceremony in a long time.
Also wanted to add that if you were watching on Hulu, they cut the program before the Best Actress and Best Picture announcements. I get that it was because the ceremony went over, but that really tainted the experience for a lot of viewers.
I was a conclave fan. Ralph shoulda won! And a flow fan so yay fur that. haven’t seen Anora yet. I didn’t watch the ceremony but saw the dresses. And the dresses overall were okay? Nothing really stood out to me.
I found james bond tribute annoying. The musical number about c o n a n singing about saving time was too.
Shouldn’t have won at all.
I thought Mikey’s dress was very high school prom.
My favorite part was the gorgeous Wicked/Oz medley at the beginning. It was all downhill from there for me, lol.
I like Mikey’s dress, it’s so Audrey Hepburn style
Over on BlueSky, a WGA and SAG member posted that Anora was the only film that sent out physical DVDs to all the union members. Everyone else had pain in the ass digital screeners.
May be something to that observation.
I’m really happy for Mikey and loved her in Anora. Have been watching her even before Anora. She’s talented and someone I told myself to watch out for(even during a time when not many knew her). I was right – I’ve been 3/3 on female artists who really broke through the mainstream since last year.
It’s so crazy that we have our first Ghostface Oscar winner!