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Oscars 2025: Anora sweeps, Adrien Brody wins — and a surprise Bond tribute
By Shivani Dubey | 3 March 2025 | Culture
The 2025 Oscars were hard to predict, but Anora, Mikey Madison and Adrien Brody came out on top. Here are all the big moments from the 97th Academy Awards
The 2025 awards season came to a close with Hollywood’s biggest night on Sunday, 2 March, with the 97th Oscars. The stars gathered in the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles to celebrate films of the past year, with Anora being the most awarded film of the evening — including the coveted Best Picture.
Anora’s director Sean Baker had a record breaking night, as apart from winning as a producer in the Best Picture category, he also took home Oscars for directing, adapted screenplay and editing. He became the first person to ever personally win four Oscars on the same night.
Continuing the Anora sweep was Mikey Madison, who bested frontrunner Demi Moore to take home the Best Actress trophy. In her speech, Mikey, who played an escort in the film, called winning a “dream come true” and honoured the sex worker industry by pledging to ‘continue to support and be an ally’.
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Kieran Culkin’s acceptance speech for his first-ever #Oscar
“[My wife] said we can have 4 children when I win an Oscar… let’s get cracking with these kids!”
See the full winners list: https://t.co/cDPncK6OIM pic.twitter.com/cFyTWg7XW9
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) March 3, 2025
The Best Actor win came in the form of Adrien Brody for his work in The Brutalist. This is the second time he has won this award in his career. Meanwhile, Kieran Culkin took home Best Supporting Actor for his work in A Real Pain. In his speech, he gave a touching tribute to his wife and made a point to acknowledge his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong, who was nominated in the same category for his work in The Apprentice.
Zoe Saldaña completed her awards season sweeps by winning Best Supporting Actress for Emilia Perez, where she gave a heartfelt speech about being the first person of Dominican descent to win an Oscar.
“My grandmother came to this country in 1961 — I am a proud child of immigrant parents, with dreams and dignity and hard-working hands. And I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know — I hope — I will not be the last,” she said through tears.
Other winners of the night included Brazil’s I’m Still Here, which was named Best International Film and No Other Land, a collaboration between Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers, which won the documentary category for showcasing the realities of the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
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Another history maker of the night included Wicked costume designer Paul Tazewell, who became the first black man to ever win the award for costume design. Meanwhile, UK’s very own Peter Straughan took home his very first award for Adapted Screenplay for his work in Conclave.
The night also took a moment to honour the legends we lost this past year. Morgan Freeman gave a heartfelt tribute to his “dear friend” Gene Hackman, whose death was announced last week. Quincy Jones was also honoured for his musical contribution to cinema.
The 2025 Oscars also paid tribute to James Bond with a musical medley of the franchise’s greatest hits performed by Doja Cat, Raye and Blackpink’s Lisa. Elsewhere, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo performed a medley of songs from their Oscar nominated film Wicked.
Other winners of the night included Dune: Part Two for sound and visual effects and The Substance for makeup and hairstyling.