Several Historic Firsts as "Anora" Dominates the Star-Filled Oscars
/The 2024-2025 awards season wrapped up last weekend with the 97th Academy Awards held in Los Angeles. Conan O'Brien hosted for the first time and brought his unique humor and showmanship to the stage.
The biggest story to emerge from the night was filmmaker Sean Baker winning a record four Oscars for the same film, a feat no one else has ever accomplished. Baker's film "Anora" won Best Picture, and he individually won Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Director. Lead actress Mikey Madison took home the trophy for Best Actress, bringing the film's total wins to five.
The critical darling about a Brooklyn sex worker who marries the immature and hard-partying son of a Russian oligarch after a whirlwind romance first caught filmgoers' attention when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last May, winning the Palme d'Or. The positive buzz in the ensuing months culminated in the film winning the top prize of the awards season, as well as the most Oscars of the night.
"Anora" entered the night with six nominations, and its only loss was in the Best Supporting Actor race. Kieran Culkin triumphed for his role in the dramedy "A Real Pain." He played Benji Kaplan, an emotionally unstable man traveling around Poland with his cousin to honor their late grandmother.
Zoe Saldaña took home yet another Best Supporting Actress award for her performance in "Emilia Pérez." The musical crime drama led all films with 13 nominations, but it took home just two, with its second win coming for Best Original Song. Known for appearing in blockbuster franchises like "Avatar" and "Guardians of the Galaxy," Saldaña won for portraying Rita Mora Castro, a lawyer who helps a Mexican cartel leader undergo gender-affirming surgery and start a new life.
Entering the night, prognosticators were less certain about who would prevail in the lead acting races. Some saw Madison's win for "Anora" as a bit of an upset, as many had predicted that Demi Moore would win for her comeback role in the satirical horror film "The Substance." Moore's film did win one award — Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
Adrien Brody topped recent SAG winner Timothée Chalamet to win the second Oscar of his career for portraying an immigrant Holocaust survivor in "The Brutalist." He won his first Oscar for playing a Holocaust survivor in "The Pianist" at the 75th Academy Awards. "The Brutalist" was up for 10 Oscars, and it won three, with additional wins in the categories Best Original Score and Best Cinematography.
While Brody was seen by many as the frontrunner going into the night, some predicted that Chalamet would pull an upset for his performance as Bob Dylan in "A Complete Unknown."
Another historical feat included "Wicked" costume designer Paul Tazewell becoming the first Black man to win the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. He is also the first to be nominated for that award. The musical about the witches of Oz (played by Oscar nominees Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande) also won Best Production Design.
Latvia won its first-ever award, as "Flow" won the race for Best Animated Feature. The film, which contains no dialogue, follows a cat and other animals as they try to survive rising water levels in a post-apocalyptic world. With a budget under $4 million, "Flow" was a surprise winner over the higher budget DreamWorks feature "The Wild Robot."
Other notable wins included "Conclave" for Best Adapted Screenplay, Brazil's "I'm Still Here" for Best International Feature Film, and "Dune: Part II" winning Best Sound and Best Visual Effects. "No Other Land," a film made by a team of four Palestinian and Israeli activists, won Best Documentary Feature Film.
Several honorary awards were presented at the Academy's 15th annual Governors Awards ceremony held in November. Legendary record producer Quincy Jones was posthumously honored two weeks after his death, and casting director Juliet Taylor was honored as well.
Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson won the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. The siblings have been involved with nearly every film in the James Bond franchise since 1977.
British writer and director Richard Curtis won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Curtis wrote 1994's "Four Weddings and a Funeral," 1999's "Notting Hill," and 2001's "Bridget Jones's Diary." In 2003 he made his directorial debut with "Love Actually," which he also wrote.
Congratulations to all the winners! We know how much hard work goes into creating art that touches so many lives, and it has been so much fun following the awards circuit this year and learning all about these talented artists and their extraordinary work.
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