A payback kiss, a surprise win, and defying gravity at the Oscars
Noor Nanji
Culture reporter at the Academy Awards, Los Angeles•@NoorNanji
Watch: Standout moments from the Oscars 2025
This year’s Oscars had it all – glamour, tears and the Wicked stars defying gravity.
Here are some of the top moments from the biggest night in Hollywood.
Mikey Madison steals the show
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There was an audible gasp from journalists in the winners’ room when Mikey Madison was announced as the best actress winner.
Demi Moore was the favourite for much of this campaign. Things did shift after Madison’s Bafta win, but the race remained incredibly tight.
In the end, it was Madison’s night and marked an incredible moment for a 25-year-old actress who was relatively unknown before her role in Anora.
The full list of Oscar winners and nomineesThis is exactly the type of rags-to-riches story that awards ceremonies love – and the film itself celebrates.
The film tells the story of Madison, who plays a sex worker, who has a whirlwind ill-fated romance with the spoilt son of a Russian oligarch,
Edie Turquet, one of the young female dancers and strippers in the film, texted me to say it was “insane” that a film about sex workers could win best picture at the Oscars.
She added that she hoped it would “shift or at least challenge” perspectives of people towards her community.
Cynthia and Ariana defy gravity
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We all knew it was coming but Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande belting out Wicked’s anthem Defying Gravity was even better than we could have hoped for.
As Erivo, in a white gown, hit that final iconic note, the audience stood in applause.
The co-stars performed a medley of songs, including Somewhere Over the Rainbow, which Grande sang to open the show wearing a gorgeous red sequined dress.
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Earlier in the night, Grande stunned on the red carpet with a champagne Schiaparelli gown, which leaned into her role as Glinda the Good Witch in the film.
“It’s giving chandelier,” one reporter said to me backstage. On social media the big question was: “How is she going to sit down in that dress?”
A payback kiss… 22 years later
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On the red carpet, there was quite a moment when Halle Berry ran up to Adrien Brody and gave him a big kiss.
It recreated a moment at the 2003 Academy Awards, when Brody – having just won best actor for his performance in The Pianist – turned and kissed Berry, who had presented the award to him.
She told Variety: “I had to pay him back”.
Speaking to Extra, she added that the only reason she did it was because Brody’s girlfriend, Georgina Chapman, “was fine” with it.
The Oscars wrote on X with a clip of the kiss: “A reunion 22 years in the making”.
A Timothée and Kylie kiss
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Berry and Brody weren’t the only two seen locking lips.
Inside the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre, lovebirds Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet were photographed sharing a kiss and laughing together.
Reality star and makeup mogul Jenner was there to support her boyfriend who was up for best actor – but ended up losing out to… Brody.
Adam Sandler storms out?
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There’s a lot going on in this photo…
Actor Adam Sandler was in on the ongoing jokes about his typically casual attire.
Early on in the night, host Conan O’Brien called him out, saying he was “dressed like a guy playing video poker at 2am”.
(For reference, Sandler was in the audience wearing a blue hoodie and shorts, an ensemble that looked more at home on the basketball court).
Following a playful back and forth between the two, the actor walked into the aisle of the theatre and said he was “leaving” before going over to Timothée Chalamet and shouting his surname, in the way he previously did on Saturday Night Live.
Chalamet, ever good natured, laughed along.
Los Angeles wildfires
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This year’s Oscars race has played out against the grim backdrop of devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, which killed 29 people.
The Grammys and Golden Globes both made the fires a central theme of the show.
The Academy Awards mentioned it only a handful of times, signalling Hollywood is moving on.
There was, however, one powerful moment, when O’Brien welcomed some of the firefighters who fought the blazes on stage. He called them “heroes”, with the audience clapping and giving the emergency workers a standing ovation.
O’Brien then said there are some jokes that even he isn’t brave enough to tell – and asked some of the firefighters to read them out instead.
LA Fire Captain Erik Scott read one joke off a teleprompter that said their hearts go out to everyone who lost their homes – including the makers of Joker 2.
It got a big laugh and O’Brien called it the best joke delivery of the night.
Zoe Saldaña thanks her mommy
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It was Zoe Saldaña’s first Oscar, winning best supporting actress for Emilia Pérez – a musical about a transgender Mexican drug lord – and it marked one of the most powerful and emotional speeches of the night.
She broke down in tears immediately, crying out “Mommy”, to her mother in the audience.
“I am floored by this honour,” she wept, paying tribute to her fellow nominees for their “loving and community”, saying “I will pay it forward”.
Praising the film’s cast and crew, she got emotional as she talked about her family.
“Everything brave, outrageous and good I’ve ever done in my life is because of you,” she said, praising her husband, his “beautiful hair” and their three sons.
“My grandmother came to this country in 1961 – I am a proud child of immigrant parents with dreams and dignity and hardworking hands.
“I’m the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award and I know I won’t be the last.
“Getting an award where I got to sing and speak in Spanish – this is for my grandmother.”
‘We couldn’t get a visa’
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The month-long saga to obtain a US visa by two Iranian filmmakers ended in the pair winning the best animated short film Academy Award – with them rushing to even make the ceremony in Hollywood.
Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani arrived at Los Angeles airport just hours before the Oscars award ceremony was due to begin.
After their plane landed, they quickly changed outfits in a public restroom and made it with only moments to go before winning the award for their film, In the Shadow of the Cypress.
“It’s not our fault we are so late,” Sohani said to BBC News before the show. “We couldn’t get a visa. It’s a difficult relationship” between the US and Iran, she explained.
“We are going to dedicate our award just to the fact we managed to make this film under the extraordinary circumstances of our country; until yesterday we hadn’t obtained our visa and now we are standing here with this statuette in our hands,” said Molayemi in his acceptance speech.
“Speaking in front of this expectant audience is very hard for us,” he added. “Yes, if we preserve and remain faithful, miracles will happen.”
‘Standing up to a powerful Russian’
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As ever, politics reared its head during Sunday night’s ceremony.
Host O’Brien made a quip about how Anora was “having a good night”, before saying: “I guess Americans are excited to see somebody finally stand up to a powerful Russian.”
O’Brien must have been writing his monologue up to the very last minute, because the joke appeared to be a nod to the White House spat between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, the No Other Land documentary team descended on the red carpet wearing Palestinian scarves and Kufiya. Their film is set in the occupied West Bank. After they won for the film, the team took the stage and called out US policy in the region.
Kill Bill star Daryl Hannah also veered into politics while on stage. She referenced the war in Ukraine, saying “Slava Ukraini”, the country’s salute, as she presented an award.
But one person wasn’t mentioned.
Here in liberal Hollywood, you may have expected jokes and barbs toward Donald Trump – but his name didn’t come up even once.
