Follow Whatsapp Channel
Onmanorama Staff
Published: March 03 , 2025 04:48 AM IST Updated: March 03, 2025 06:09 AM IST
5 minute Read
Link Copied
The Academy Awards, the highest honors in the film business, began at Los Angeles at 5.30am on Monday, IST. Though there is a subdued air surrounding the 97th Academy Awards — owing to the January wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles — there is still a buzz and the audience is looking forward to finding out who will take home the most prized awards in various categories. The show has begun streaming live on Jio Hotstar in India.
‘Emilia Perez’ is leading this year’s nominations with 13 nods, while ‘The Brutalist’ and ‘Wicked’ are close behind. Other strong contenders include ‘Anora’, ‘Conclave’ and ‘A Complete Unknown’. Since no movie has dominated the precursor film awards, this will keep the drama going until the end of the show. Any of the three films could score Best Picture, according to Oscars pundits. One is ‘Anora,’ the story of a sex worker with a shot at a Cinderella story.
The other two are ‘The Brutalist," about a Jewish immigrant and architect chasing the American dream, and "Conclave," which imagines the secret proceedings for choosing a pope. Others in the best picture field include the blockbuster musical ‘Wicked,’ a prequel to ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ and ‘A Complete Unknown,’ the Bob Dylan biopic starring Chalamet.
Timothee Chalamet and Demi Moore are vying for their first Oscars at the red-carpet ceremony in Hollywood. Comedian and host Conan O’Brien said he planned to mix jokes, celebrations of filmmakers and serious moments including tributes to Los Angeles as it recovers from January’s wildfires. He is expected to address U.S. politics but not dwell on it, he said.
"Good jokes are really important, but there’s also more than that," O’Brien told reporters last week as he prepared for his first Oscars hosting gig. "We’re trying to go for different tones, different textures."
Though Netflix musical ‘Emilia Perez’ heads into the ceremony with the most nominations. But its chances of victory dwindled when offensive social media posts surfaced from star Karla Sofia Gascon. The actress, the first openly transgender person nominated for an acting Oscar, disappeared from the awards circuit but is expected to attend Sunday’s ceremony.
Her co-star, Zoe Saldana, is the favorite to win the supporting actress trophy for playing a fixer who helps a Mexican drug lord (Gascon) transition to a woman and start a new life.
Winners of the gold Oscar statuettes are chosen by the roughly 11,000 actors, producers, directors and film craftspeople who make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Behind the glitz, Hollywood is fighting a battle to keep its place at the center of the global film business. None of the 10 best picture contenders were filmed in Los Angeles, home to most major film companies for more than a century.
Music and Suprises
Supporting actor nominee Kieran Culkin is the favorite for his role as a man who travels with his cousin to Poland to study family history in "A Real Pain."
Best actor could go to either Chalamet or ‘The Brutalist" star Adrien Brody, according to awards experts. Brody became the youngest best actor winner when he landed the prize at age 29 for "The Pianist" in 2002. Chalamet is nine months younger than Brody was at the time.
Best actress is widely expected to go to Moore for ‘The Substance,’ though one pundit said the category could produce an upset win for Brazil’s Fernanda Torres of ‘I’m Still Here.’ The academy has increased its international membership, which could favor Torres, said Ian Sandwell, movies editor at Digital Spy.
"She could well be a surprise and the only one to take it away from Demi on the night," Sandwell said.
Producers scrapped the annual tradition of having musicians perform each of the nominated original songs, saying they wanted to focus instead on the songwriters.
Actor in a Leading Role:
Adrien Brody for The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet for A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo for Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes for Conclave
Sebastian Stan for The Apprentice
Actress in a Leading Role:
Cynthia Erivo for Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón for Emilia Perez
Mikey Madison for Anora
Demi Moore for The Substance
Fernanda Torres for I’m Still Here
Best Picture:
Anora
The Brutalist
The Complete Unknown
Concave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Perez
I’m Still Here
Nickel Boys
The Substance
Wicked
Directing:
Sean Baker for Anora
Brady Corbet for The Brutalist
James Mangold for The Complete Unknown
Jacques Audiard for Emilia Perez
Coralie Fargeat for The Substance
Animated Feature Film:
Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
International Feature Film:
I’m Still Here
The Girl With The Needle
Emilia Perez
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Flow
Documentary Short Film:
Death by Numbers
I Am Ready, Warden
Incident
Instruments of a Beating Heart
The Only Girl in the Orchestra
Documentary Feature:
Black Box Diaries
No Other Land
Porcelain War
Soundtrack to a Coup d’État
Sugarcane
Original Song:
EL MAL
The Journey
Like A Bird
MI Camino
Never Too Late
Actress in a Supporting Role:
Monica Barbaro for A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande for Wicke
Felicity Jones for The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini for Conclave
Zoe Saldana for Emilia Pérez
Original Screenplay:
Anora
The Brutalist
A Real Pain
September 5
The Substance
Adapted Screenplay:
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Emilia Perez
Nickel Boys
Sing Sing
Animated Short Film:
Beautiful Men
In the Shadow of the Cypress
Magic Candies
Wander to Wonder
Yuck!
Live Action Short Film:
A Lien
Anuja
I’m Not A Robot
The Last Ranger
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent
© Copyright 2025 Onmanorama. All rights reserved.
