The thriller ‘One Battle After Another’ won the Oscar for Best Picture at the Academy Awards on Sunday night, as Hollywood honoured unconventional and daring film stories. The film ultimately took home six Oscars, making it one of the most successful productions of the evening.
Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s film traded awards with ‘Sinners’ throughout the ceremony, keeping the race for the top honours open until the final moments at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
‘Let’s have a martini! This is truly amazing,’ Anderson said on stage after the announcement of the evening’s top prize.
The Warner Bros. production stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a former revolutionary who becomes a lonely father of a teenage child and an enthusiastic marijuana smoker.
For Anderson, the triumph marks the first Oscars of his career after 11 previous nominations without a win. In addition to Best Picture, he also received the awards for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
‘I wrote this film for my children as an apology for the mess we’ve left behind in this world,’ the director said while accepting the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He added that he believes the younger generation is capable of bringing more reason and decency.
Absent Sean Penn wins supporting actor Oscar
Actor Sean Penn, who portrays an obsessed military officer in the film, won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. It is the third Academy Award of his career.
Penn did not attend the ceremony, however. The award was accepted on his behalf by actor Kieran Culkin, last year’s winner in the same category.
‘Sean Penn couldn’t be here, or didn’t want to be here, so I’ll accept the award on his behalf,’ Culkin said.
Sinners with a record number of nominations
The drama ‘Sinners’ entered the evening with 16 nominations, the highest number in the Oscars’ nearly century-long history. It ultimately won four awards, including the Oscar for Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan. In the film he plays the dual role of the brothers Smoke and Stack.
‘I stand here thanks to the people who came before me,’ Jordan said, mentioning previous Black Oscar winners including Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington and Halle Berry.
The award for cinematography went to Autumn Durald Arkapaw, who became the first woman and the first Black cinematographer to win the prize.
Awards for Jessie Buckley and Amy Madigan
The Oscar for Best Actress went to the Irish actress Jessie Buckley for her role as Agnes Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare, in the film ‘Hamnet’. The film explores how the playwright and his wife cope with the death of their eleven-year-old son.
‘I would like to dedicate this award to the beautiful chaos in a mother’s heart,’ Buckley said as she accepted the prize.
Amy Madigan won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the eccentric Aunt Gladys in the horror film ‘Weapons’. The actress received her first Oscar 40 years after her first nomination.
Norway’s first Oscar for best international feature film
The award for Best Animated Feature went to the Netflix production ‘KPop Demon Hunters’, which became a global phenomenon. Its song ‘Golden’ also won the Oscar for Best Original Song.
The award for Best International Feature Film went to ‘Sentimental Value’, directed by Joachim Trier. It is the first Norwegian film to win in that category, following six previous nominations.
The ceremony was hosted by Conan O’Brien, who joked at the start that he was honoured to be the ‘last human host’ of the Oscars at a time when Hollywood fears the rise of artificial intelligence.
Warner Bros. was the biggest winner of the night, taking home a total of 11 Oscars. The studio is being acquired by Paramount Skydance in a $110 billion deal, a move that could further reshape Hollywood and reduce competition among the major studios.
The winners of the golden statuettes are selected by more than 10,500 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, including actors, producers, directors and other film professionals.
(Reuters, EST)