The best moments from the 2025 Oscars

Entertainment

All of the biggest speeches, the most surprising wins, and best jokes from Conan O’Brien’s monologue at the 2025 Oscars.

By Kevin Slane

March 3, 2025 | 12:15 AM

7 minutes to read

The 2025 Oscars were a night of firsts.

Sean Baker became the first individual to win four awards for a single movie, as the director, co-writer, editor, and co-producer of “Anora.”

Zoe Saldaña became the first Dominican-American to win an Oscar, ensuring that early awards season frontrunner “Emilia Perez” wasn’t completely shut out in the major categories.

And Brookline native Conan O’Brien became the first 6’4 Irish-American with five siblings to host the Oscars — and did an excellent job, to boot.

Despite pushing the start time of the 2025 Oscars up an hour to 7 p.m., the show ended up running even longer than the 218-minute Best Picture nominee “The Brutalist.”

For those of you who went to bed at a reasonable hour, here are the best moments from the 2025 Oscars.

2025 Oscars open with a tribute to ‘Wizard of Oz,’ message of hope after L.A. wildfires

The 2025 Oscars opened with a musical number that doubled as a century-spanning tribute to “The Wizard of Oz” and an uplifting message for the city of Los Angeles following this year’s devastating wildfires.

“Wicked” co-stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo took us through a medley of Oz-ian tunes, starting with Grande singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” as images showed of movies set in Los Angeles.

Then came Erivo singing “Home,” the song from 1974’s Oz-set musical “The Wiz.” Then came “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked,” with Erivo standing in front of the twinkling Los Angeles skyline.

Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue is awkward, hilarious, and quintessentially Conan

Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue at the 2025 Oscars felt like a classic episode of his late-night show, full of self-deprecation, bizarre gags, and a touch of showmanship.

After emerging from the back of Demi Moore’s unconscious body in “The Substance,” O’Brien ran through a series of one-liners that skewered the nominated movies and stars, especially those who were the subjects of this year’s Oscars controversies.

Among the Broookline native’s best zingers:

— “‘A Complete Unknown.’ ‘A Real Pain.’ ‘Nosferatu.’ These are just some of the names I was called on the red carpet.”

— “What a year for the movie industry. Netflix leads all studios with an impressive 18 — count ’em, 18! — price increases.”

— “We’re halfway through the show, which means it’s time for Kendrick Lamar to come out and call Drake a pedophile.”

Read more: The best jokes from O’Brien’s monologue.

Kieran Culkin gets censored for profane message to ‘Succession’ co-star Jeremy Strong

In the first award of the night at the 2025 Oscars, Kieran Culkin puts the censors to work. Taking the stage to accept the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, Culkin turned to fellow nominee (and “Succession” co-star) Jeremy Strong, and immediately committed two errors.

The first was dropping an F-bomb, which led to a five-second chunk of silence on the Oscars telecast. The second was singling out only Strong, nominated for his performance as Roy Cohn in “The Apprentice,” among his fellow nominees.

For the record, here’s what Culkin said during his censored speech, according to journalists in the room at the Dolby Theatre.

“He’s right, by the way. Jeremy, you’re amazing in ‘The Apprentice.’ I love your work. It’s f****** great. I’m not supposed to single anyone out. It’s favoritism. Anyway, but you were great.”

Pop stars perform a musical tribute to James Bond

There weren’t any performances of the Best Original Song nominees at the 97th Academy Awards. But there were still a number of performances, including a medley dedicated to the music of James Bond.

Following a dance number centered around “The Substance” actress Margaret Qualley, Lisa (of the K-Pop group BLACKPINK), Doja Cat, and Raye took turns singing “Live and Let Die,” “Diamonds Are Forever,” and “Skyfall,” respectively.

Interestingly, none of the singers who have actually performed Bond songs, including pop stars like Adele and Billie Eilish, participated in the tribute.

Zoe Saldaña thanks everyone but her ‘Emilia Perez’ co-star Karla Sofia Gascon

Zoe Saldaña avoided the elephant in the room when she took the stage to accept the Best Supporting Actress award for “Emilia Perez.”

After spending weeks on the press circuit tactfully answering questions about co-star Karla Sofia Gascon and her problematic social media posts, Saldaña focused on what the win meant for her family.

“My grandmother came to this country in 1961. I am a proud child of immigrant parents, with dreams and dignity and hardworking hands,” Saldaña said. “And I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last.”

Ben Stiller reveals the importance of production design

In one of the funnier awards presentations of the night, Ben Stiller stressed the importance of recognizing excellence in production design by demonstrating what happens when it’s subpar.

“Production designers bring the visual of the screenplay to life,” Stiller said, partly obscured due to a failing riser. “It is a field where the slightest miscalculation could lose the trust of the audience and humiliate the performers onscreen.”

‘No Other Land’ filmmakers call for end to ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Gaza, criticize U.S. foreign policy

Despite being unable to secure a U.S. distributor, “No Other Land” was seen by enough Oscar voters to win Best Documentary Feature. Produced by a team of Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers, the documentary shows the brutality of life in the West Bank, told from the perspective of its Palestinian inhabitants.

“We call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people,” said Basel Adra, one of the four directors of “No Other Land.” “About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope to my daughter [is] that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now.”

Fellow filmmaker and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham criticized U.S. foreign policy for “helping block” a path to peace, but expressed hope that unity was possible.

“We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together, our voices are stronger,” Abraham said. “We see each other, the destruction of Gaza and its people, which must end, the Israeli hostages, brutally taken in the crime of Oct. 7, which must be freed.”

Morgan Freeman shares heartfelt tribute to Gene Hackman during Oscars in memoriam

Morgan Freeman introduced the 2025 Oscars in memoriam segment with a tribute to Gene Hackman, who was found dead last week at the age of 95.

“Like everybody who has ever shared a scene with him, I learned he was a generous performer whose gifts elevated everyone’s work,” Freeman said. “He received two Oscars, but, more importantly, he won the hearts of film lovers all over the world.”

“Gene always said: ‘I don’t think about legacy. I just hope people remember me as someone who tried to do good work,” Freeman continued. “So I think I speak for us all when I say: Gene, you’ll be remembered for that — and for so much more.”

Queen Latifah performs Quincy Jones tribute with ‘The Wiz’ song

Continuing the theme of “Wizard of Oz” tributes started in the opening number, Queen Latifah performed “Ease on Down the Road” from “The Wiz” in honor of Quincy Jones, who served as music supervisor for the 1974 musical.

The performance was preceded by a speech from Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, who worked with Jones on the film “The Color Purple.”

“When we talk about Black excellence, we’re talking about Quincy,” Goldberg said. “In 1967, Quincy Jones was the first Black composer nominated in the Original Song category for ‘The Eyes of Love’ in the film ‘Banning.’ 1967 was the first time, just keep that in mind.”

Adrien Brody cuts off the orchestra with Best Actor speech

More than two decades after accepting his first Best Actor Oscar for “The Pianist,” Adrien Brody took his sweet time accepting his second statuette.

It had been years since Brody was considered worthy of a leading man role before director Brady Corbet cast him as architect Lazlo Toth in “The Brutalist,” a fact Brody was keenly aware of.

“No matter where you are in your career, no matter what you’ve accomplished, it can all go away,” Brody said. “And I think that makes this night so special is the awareness of that.”

Brody gave the longest speech of the night, and was the only award winner for the entire evening who put his foot down when the orchestra signaled it was time to wrap up his speech.

“I’m wrapping up, please, please, please. I’m wrapping up. I will wrap up. Please. Turn the music off,” Brody said. “I’ve done this before. Thank you. It’s not my first rodeo, but I will — I will be brief. I will not be egregious. I promise.”

‘Anora’ director Sean Baker begs Americans to help save movie theaters

“Anora” director Sean Baker made history at the 2025 Oscars, becoming the first individual to win four awards in a single night thanks to his quadruple role as the film’s director, co-writer, editor, and co-producer.

Baker was done thanking people by his third speech of the night, so he pulled out a piece of paper and read a prepared speech regarding the importance of movie theaters.

“We are all here tonight because we love movies. Where did we fall in love with movies? At the movie theater,” Baker said. “In a time in which our world can feel very divided, this is more important than ever. It’s a communal experience you simply don’t get at home.”

After reading some distressing stats about the number of movie theaters that have permanently closed in recent history, Baker made a plea to everyone watching to keep cinemas alive.

“Filmmakers, keep making films for the big screen, I know I will,” Baker said. “Distributors, please focus first and foremost on the theatrical releases of your films. Parents, introduce your children to feature films in movie theaters and you will be molding the next generation of movie lovers and filmmakers. And for all of us, when we can, please watch movies in a theater, and let’s keep the great tradition of the moviegoing experience alive and well.”