Hollywood Week: Academy Awards Recap

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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Saturday, 08 March 2025 11:28

Written by Janet Walker

This edition of Hollywood Week is all about the Oscars, a recap of Hollywood's biggest night and all the glamour, surprises, and upsets of a tumultuous 2025 awards season complete with fire, rain, mudslides, and earthquakes.

Unlike the recent past, this year, Haute-Lifestyle.com was not granted Day of Show Winner's Room Press credentials, so I, like the 19.7 million people worldwide, watched the annual awards show from the comfort of my home. With a bowl of popcorn, and armed with my Gold Derby ballot, I watched as the parade of stars walked the red carpet outside the Dolby Theater on Hollywood Boulevard.

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Having walked this section of the carpet, many times, without the lights, media, glamour and glitter, often with the village of workers needed to put together a production of this size, milling about putting the last-minute touches on each detail, I reminisced the fun of imagining my big day and walking down the red carpet, while watching the beautiful people in all their finery.

Today, however, the big day, the culmination of a jagged, and emotionally mixed awards season finally came to an end. Hosting the Academy Awards first-timer Conan O'Brien, who was surprisingly good. Not that he isn't funny, or a good comedian, it's that hosting the Academy Awards is a tough gig, think David Letterman, if it doesn't go off well, it's comedy hell. For O'Brien, his opening monologue had some laugh out loud moments, yes, at the expense of the talent, but that's the night.

Another big beginning moment was the Wicked opening numbers "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," from the 1939 classic, "Wizard of Oz," performed by Ariana Grande, followed by Cynthia Erivo singing "Home," from The Wiz, and then "Defying Gravity" a duet featuring the "Wicked" anthem. It was a showstopping moment. Besides the song being inspirational, the medley brought the audience to their feet. It was beautiful.

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For some, it was an "awards season roll," as Robert Downey, Jr., the 2024 Best Supporting Actor winner for his role in "Oppenheimer," said when he introduced the winner for Best Supporting Actor, which went to Kieran Culkin, who won each of the awards, including the Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, Screen Actors Guild, Independent Spirit Award, BAFTA, and finally the Academy Award, for his role in "A Real Pain."

Best Supporting Actress went to Zoe Saldaña, also one who had been on an award's season roll, for her portrayal of Rita Mora Castro, in the controversial "Emilia Perez."

When Saldaña arrived in the Winner's Press Room a reporter questioned her saying, "A lot of things [have] been said about the movie, about trans people, about empowering women, but less has been said about Mexico, which is the heart of it. What would you say about the heart of this movie, but also the topic [that] is really hurtful for us Mexicans?," reported People Magazine. "First of all, I'm very, very sorry that you and so many Mexicans felt offended [by Emilia Pérez]," Saldaña began her answer. "That was never our intention. We spoke and came from a place of love, and I will stand by that."

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For those watching at home, the moments between moments including the backstage Winner's Room press releases, and Colman Domingo, Lead actor nominee for his role in "Sing Sing," taking to the stage, and leading the most storied talent, and executives in Hollywood dancing the night away.

The annual In Memoriam featured an introduction by Morgan Freeman on two-time Academy Award winner Gene Hackman and also included Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith, Dabney Coleman, James Earl Jones, Bob Newhart, Gena Rowlands, "The Godfather" Producer Albert S. Ruddy, and "Titanic" and "Avatar" Producer Jon Landau. The complete list can be found here. 

Other history making winners, include Adrian Brody, winning his second Oscar for his role in Brady Corbet's "The Brutalist," with the longest acceptance speech in the history of the Academy Awards, which clocked in at 5:36. Last year's Best Actor winner, Cillian Murphy, the presenter for the category, seemed, at least for the home-viewing audience as the camera continued to pan him, to be somewhat surprised at his more than five minute gig.

Other history making moments, Iranian winners, Shirin Sohani and Hossein Malayemi, won the Academy award for their Animated Short, "In the Shadow of the Cypress." The pair who had only hours before the ceremony arrived at LAX explained that one day before the ceremony, they still had not received their visas and were not even sure they would be able to attend.

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Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis wins his first Academy Award, for Flow, an animated film with no dialogue, tells the story of a lone cat's survival against catastrophic rising waters. The win is the first for Latvia.

"No Other Land," by filmmakers Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham, secured the Oscar for Documentary Feature Film.

"Wicked," Costume Designer Paul Tazewell becomes the first African American to win the Academy Award for Costume Design.

Other winners included:

Documentary Short Film "The Only Girl in Orchestra," by Molly O'Brien and Lisa Remington.

International Feature Film went to Brazil for "I'm Still Here."

Make-up and Hairstyling went to Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon and Marilyne Scarselli for "The Substance."

Cinematography went to Lol Crawley for "The Brutalist."

Music (Score) went to Daniel Blumberg for "The Brutalist."

Original Song went to El Mal from Emilia Pérez; Music by Clément Ducol and Camille; Lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard.

Best Production Design went to Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales for "Wicked."

Sound went to Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill for "Dune: Part Two."

Visual Effects went to Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer for 'Dune: Part Two."

Adapted Screenplay went to Peter Straughan for "Conclave."

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At the end of the night, Sean Baker's "Anora," the comedic drama of modern love, took home five Oscars, for Best Picture, Best Director, Editing, Original Screenplay, and Best Actress for the film's star, Mikey Madison.

After Madison's Independent Spirit win, as all nominees' male and female in lead roles are categorized together, and even as the Gold Derby Odds and Las Vegas Oddsmakers gave her fellow nominee, Demi Moore, (Elizabeth Sparkle, in "The Substance") a 2-to-1 chance of winning, her win seemed secure. The two had each been enjoying the accolades for their performances across this awards season.

As night came to an end, and the award winners were celebrating their victories, and enjoying the final events of the 2025 Awards season, as if to punctuate the uncertainties of life, a 3.9 tremblor struck close by, in North Hollywood, just a few short miles from the center of all festivities. This small jolt was followed by six more, for a total of seven earthquakes.  

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.