[Trending News] Oscars 2025: Read our live updates from a history-making ceremony

While Washingtonians didn’t win big at the 97th Academy Awards, there was plenty to love during the ceremony (other than Hulu’s livestream of the event).

From the night’s big winner (“Anora”) to nominees who didn’t find their way to the stage (no spoilers; you have to read the story!), find a full recap here from Seattle Times arts critic Moira Macdonald.

(And, with that, we’re calling it a night at Seattle Times Oscars HQ. Thanks for joining us!)

Lest there be any doubt about Sunday night’s big winner, Sean Baker made history by taking home four Academy Awards for the same movie. No person has ever done so before. He won the statuettes for best picture, best directing, best original screenplay and best editing (and Mikey Madison notched a win for best actress, too, for her performance as the titular lead character.)

The 97th Academy Awards have wrapped (at just a hair shy of 4 hours, but who’s counting?) — and we’ll wrap our Seattle Times live updates soon, too. But first, arts critic Moira Macdonald will recap the night’s big wins and snubs. Stick around!

Talk about bad timing … for many viewers on Hulu, the live event ended prematurely just before the Oscar was handed out for best actress.

“Anora” has won best picture at the 97th Academy Awards, completing a massive night at the Oscars.

The Sean Baker-directed film won five Oscars tonight, including additional wins for director, original screenplay, leading actress and film editing. 

Mikey Madison has won the best actress Oscar for “Anora,” continuing an impressive run for Sean Baker’s film.

Adrien Brody, whose previous Oscar was 22 years ago (in this category, for “The Pianist”), won the Oscar for best actor for “The Brutalist,” in which he plays a Hungarian-Jewish architect and Holocaust survivor.

In a lengthy speech at the podium, he spoke of what he has learned since his last Oscar.

“Acting is a very fragile profession,” he said. “It looks very glamorous and in certain moments it is, but … no matter where you are in your career, no matter what you’ve accomplished, it can all go away. I think what makes this night most special is the awareness of that.” (He also quite effectively shut down the Academy’s orchestra, which began to play him off: “This is not my first rodeo.”) Brody ended by noting that he prays “for a healthier and a happier and a more inclusive world. … If the past can teach us anything, it’s a reminder to not let hate go unchecked.”

Presented by Quentin Tarantino, Sean Baker won the Academy Award for directing for “Anora.” He won the awards for best editing and best screenplay earlier Sunday — and the film is up for best picture, too, the night’s grand prize. In his acceptance speech for best director, Baker gave a “battle cry,” imploring filmmakers to keep making movies for the big screen.

The Oscars paid tribute to music giant Quincy Jones, who died Nov. 3 at age 91.

The legendary producer, composer and musician, who spent several years in Bremerton and attended Seattle’s Garfield High School, meant much to the Seattle area in general, and to the local Black community in particular. And, judging by the ovation at the Oscars auditorium Sunday night, he meant a lot to the movie industry as well.

“When one hears the name Quincy Jones, one’s first thought is: musical genius,” said Oprah Winfrey, who paid tribute to Jones along with Whoopi Goldberg. Both were stars of the 1985 film “The Color Purple,” which Jones produced and composed for. 

“But the man, our beloved Q, had an equally powerful impact on the world of film, as a composer and a producer,” Winfrey continued.

When people “talk about Black excellence,” Goldberg added, “we talk about Quincy.”

The tribute also included a performance by Queen Latifah of “Ease on Down the Road” from the 1978 film “The Wiz,” for which Jones served as musical supervisor, arranger and music producer. 

Jones was nominated for seven Oscars over the years, including for “The Color Purple” and “The Wiz,” and received the Oscars’ Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1995.

Jones loomed large at the Grammy Awards in February as well, where the 28-time award winner received a 20-minute tribute.

Read more about Quincy Jones’ life and legacy here.

Daniel Blumberg won his first Oscar (on his first nomination) for his work on the musical score that backs “The Brutalist.”

Anchored by a stirringly beautiful live orchestra and choir, this year’s In Memoriam segment honored Maggie Smith, Donald Sutherland, David Lynch, James Earl Jones and many, many others. Morgan Freeman began the segment by paying homage to his late friend, Gene Hackman, who was recently found dead in New Mexico.

Victoria Warmerdam and her “producer and partner in life,” Trent (yes, just Trent) are taking home the golden statuette for their work on “I’m Not a Robot,” named the year’s best live action short film by the Academy. The couple shared a charming moment before being politely played off the stage.

Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe and Gerd Nefzer picked up the Oscar for best visual effects for their work on “Dune: Part Two.”

Members of the Los Angeles fire department received a long round of applause as they filed onto the stage, sharing a few jokes with Conan O’Brien.

The Oscar for best documentary feature goes to “No Other Land,” a film made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective documenting an alliance between a Palestinian activist and an Israeli journalist. Its winners, at the podium, said of the current situation, “There is another way,” calling out the current U.S. administration for standing in the way of peace. The film does not yet have distribution in the U.S.; this award may change that.

Among the nominees were Bremerton-based filmmaker Julian Brave NoiseCat’s “Sugarcane,” about the legacy of abuse in schools for Native American children. Read our recent feature story on “Sugarcane” here.

… “The Only Girl in the Orchestra,” with Molly O’Brien and Lisa Remington picking up the trophy. The film details O’Brien’s aunt’s journey as she joined the all-male New York Philharmonic in 1966 (and the trailblazing career that followed).

In the best song category, alas, no Oscar for local nominee Brandi Carlile, and a continued streak for Diane Warren, who’s now been nominated 16 times for an Academy Award without winning (though she did receive an honorary award in 2022). The winners, Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard for “El Mal” in “Emilia Perez,” sang as part of their acceptance speech, which was … something.

The team behind “Wicked” picked up an Oscar Sunday night for their work in “bringing the magic of Oz to life.”

I did not have Mick Jagger imitating Bob Dylan on my Oscar bingo card this year, but life is a rich tapestry.

“You are fearless,” presenter Da’Vine Joy Randolph told Zoe Saldana (“Emilia Perez”), before reading her name on the envelope. “My mom is here!” Saldana said tearfully at the podium. She thanked all the expected names, movingly thanks her immigrant parents and her late grandmother, and calls out her husband’s “beautiful hair.” She is, she notes, the first Dominican American actress to win an Oscar, “but I know I won’t be the last.”

The Oscar for best editing goes to Sean Baker, who is one of those rare filmmakers who edits his own movies, and who has already won his second Oscar tonight. “I consider editing to be half of my directing” he said. If he also wins director and best picture … well, that might be a first.

Nice little old-school tribute to James Bond (Pierce Brosnan was the best Bond; argue this amongst yourself), with Margaret Qualley earning enormous props for leading a dance number while wearing a dress with a distractingly trailing train.

Interesting choice, though, to perform three James Bond songs but none of the actual nominated songs this year.

Not sure if we’ll see “The Substance” winning anything else tonight (other than, in all likelihood, best actress), but the makeup/hairstyling award was well deserved, in a very competitive category.

Fun fact: June Squibb will star in Scarlett Johansson’s upcoming directorial debut, “Eleanor the Great.”

Speaking of potential harbingers: “Conclave” wins for adapted screenplay. Screenwriter Peter Straughan, who is disappointingly not wearing cardinal red, calls out Robert Harris’ “beautiful book” and rather sweetly tells his daughter that the award is for her, but she can’t have it.

Amy Poehler introduced the original screenplay category by saying, “I believe it was William Shakespeare who said, ‘Writing is a bitch.’” Sing it, Amy.

The winner: Sean Baker, for “Anora.” A harbinger of things to come later in the evening or a consolation prize? He thanks “the sex worker community” for sharing their stories with him over the years.

Nice to see the costume design category get some extra love! After a very cute intro in which Bowen Yang wore a Shiz school costume and everyone else just wore their regular Oscar outfits (someone please let Bowen host next year), each nominee received a tribute from a presenter who wore their costumes. (Good to know that John Lithgow appreciated the roominess of his “Conclave” cardinal costume during lunch breaks.) The winner: the great Paul Tazewell, who recently delighted Seattle with his designs for Pacific Northwest Ballet’s “The Sleeping Beauty,” for “Wicked.” It’s his first Oscar, and he graciously thanked the Academy for “this very significant honor,” noting that he is the first Black man to win this category in Oscar history. “This is everything,” he said. (Bonus points for some excellent diamonds taking the place of a tie on his natty tuxedo shirt.)

As movie lovers tuned in for the biggest night of the year, some faced production delays: Some Hulu users reported issues such as unrecognized accounts and crashed apps.

Beyond Hulu, you can watch Sunday’s ceremony live on ABC, at abc.com and on the ABC app, as well as other subscription streaming services like YouTubeTV, AT&T TV and FuboTV. See oscars.org/how-to-watch for more info.

“Flow,” nominated for both animated feature and international feature, wins best animated feature — and just like that, all of us are 1 for 2 on our Oscar ballots.

And the Oscar for taking up the most room on the red carpet goes to … the “Wicked” duo of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, whose voluminous fashion at the 97^th annual Academy Awards definitely deserved some sort of award. For all our critic’s fashion takes from the red carpet, head to this page.

Nice, though not remotely surprising, to see Kieran Culkin win best supporting actor. (Though, come on, he’s a co-lead in “A Real Pain.”) He kind of seems to still be playing his character in the movie, but that works.

A solid B+ for host Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue, which had the expected joke about the length of “The Brutalist” (“I didn’t want it to end, and it didn’t”), and some funny digs at Timothee Chalamet’s banana-yellow suit, Karla Sofia Gascon and her publicist, the use of AI (“We would never use AI. We use child labor”), Amazon’s takeover of the James Bond franchise, and the idea of heading off too-long speeches by cutting to John Lithgow looking “not angry, but slightly disappointed.” 

O’Brien seemed to be having a pretty good time, which is pretty much how the gig should work. (The Adam Sandler bit seemed excessive, though.) He managed a tricky tonal shift, acknowledging the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles and the current political climate, while explaining how “the magic, the madness, the grandeur and the joy of film worldwide” will be with us forever. And then … well, the Billy Crystal-ish musical number was sort of charming, in a ridiculous way. Off we go!

We’re live! The 97th Academy Awards ceremony kicked off with a full orchestra and a montage of films set in Los Angeles following fires there earlier this year. “Wicked” stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo then took the stage for a stirring medley of “Over the Rainbow,” “Home” and “Defying Gravity.”

The 97th Academy Awards are Sunday, March 2 … aka the 18-year anniversary of tennis star Tashi Duncan’s (played by Zendaya) career-ending injury in the steamy sports drama “Challengers.” The film failed to grab any Oscar nominations in 2025, making Sunday “a day of tragedy” for fans of the movie.

The 97th Academy Awards are Sunday at 4 p.m. There are several ways to watch the ceremony. You’ll find the broadcast live on ABC, on Hulu, at abc.com and on the ABC app, where you’ll need to authenticate your TV provider. Several subscription streaming services will also have the show, including YouTubeTV, AT&T TV and FuboTV. See oscars.org/how-to-watch for more info.

Did the Academy Awards sneak up on you? That’s OK; we have you covered with a crash course. For a list of Oscar-nominated movies and where to find them (in theaters and/or on streaming services), head to this link.

Brandi Carlile is up for an Oscar with Elton John, so we ranked the Washington music giant’s top 10 collaborations. Read the full story here.

What makes the work of each Oscar-nominated costume designer so special? Our movie critic takes a look. Read the full story here.

Who will win at Sunday’s Academy Awards? Better yet, who should win? Seattle Times arts critic Moira Macdonald peered into her crystal ball to deliver this year’s set of Academy Awards predictions. Find the full list here.

“Sugarcane,” nominated for a best documentary feature Oscar, follows an investigation into abuses at an Indigenous residential school. The film has had personal and wide-reaching impact. Read the full story here.

Imagine you spent all of 2024 (and the first two months of 2025) in hibernation … and now you have to pass a test on Sunday’s 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. (Sounds outlandish, but that’s showbiz, baby.)

Fret not: This webpage has everything you need to know about the Oscars, from nominees and our critic’s predictions to stories about films with Washington ties.