Oscars 2025 recap: ‘Anora’ and other fairy tale endings on Hollywood’s biggest stage

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It was a fairy tale ending only the Oscars can deliver.

This year, the Academy celebrated its 97th year, and it’s just as star-studded, as fun and as exciting as ever. The Philippine STAR was there to cover the show again.

It was a suspenseful Oscar season without a clear frontrunner until the final week of the show. In November, it was a wide-open race with “Anora,” “Wicked,” “Conclave” and “The Brutalist” getting early buzz. By January, the French musical “Emilia Pérez” became the surprise frontrunner when it received a leading 13 Oscar nominations.

“Anora,” the early favorite, only received six nominations and was completely ignored by the Golden Globes. Then the controversial old tweets by Spanish trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón, the lead star of “Emilia Pérez,” surfaced. The tweets were offensive and racially insensitive. Karla’s initial reaction was combative, and when she finally issued her apology, she had already offended many in the film community.

By February, when the influential Directors Guild, Producers Guild and Writers Guild of America announced their winners, “Anora” made a clean sweep. The race has changed, and the original frontrunner is back in the lead again.

And on Sunday night, “Anora,” the small independent movie and this year’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner, became the most awarded film with five major Oscars, four of which were won by director Sean Baker, a new record. Walt Disney also won four Oscars in 1954, but it was for four different films.

Sean won Best Director, Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay and Best Picture (shared with co-producers Alex Coco and Samantha Quan.) He is a lifelong champion of American independent filmmaking. His films include “Starlet,” “The Florida Project,” “Red Rocket” and “Tangerine,” the acclaimed 2015 movie he shot using iPhone 5S.

His films champion people who work in the sex industry.

When he accepted the award for Best Original Screenplay, he dedicated his win to the people that inspired the characters in his films.

“I want to thank the sex worker community. They have shared their stories; they have shared their life experience with me over the years. My deepest respect. Thank you, I share this with you,” he said.

Backstage, this writer had a chance to speak to Sean and I told him that his four Oscar wins represented the four films he made prior to “Anora.”

“That’s sweet,” he said. “It does feel like a culmination in many ways. I’ve been covering the topic of sex work in my last four films, and I think that it was actually the research I had done on those films — and just those films teaching me — that eventually led to ‘Anora.’ ‘Anora’ is sort of where I was going with these movies.”

“Anora” is a modern-day Cinderella story. It’s about a sex worker who falls in love with the son of a Russian oligarch only to discover that there’s no such thing as a happy ending in life. The film was no “Pretty Woman.”

But trust Hollywood to give Anora her fairy tale ending.

The “Anora” sweep catapulted fresh-faced Mikey Madison to an upset Best Actress win against frontrunner Demi Moore, who won many accolades for her sensational turn in “The Substance.”

Mikey’s surprise win caused a loud gasp in the press room, and it disrupted our interview with Lol Crawley, the cinematography winner for “The Brutalist.”

She was still in shock when she met us backstage.

“I never thought anything like this would happen in my life,” she told us. “I just love making movies and I’ve dreamed of being an actress that would be able to be in a film like ‘Anora.’”

“Anora” is only her ninth film. Like Sean, she also dedicated her win to the sex workers who inspired the film.

“There will always be a small part of me that carries around the experience of making the film and the character because it has changed my life in so many ways. You know, not just because of all of this that’s happening right now, but just the experience of being able to work with Sean Baker, the experience of learning and meeting incredible people from the sex work community that’s been such a wonderful part of this. And I’ve met and made so many incredible friends, so, I would just say thank you.”

It wasn’t just “Anora” who had a fairy tale ending Sunday night.

Brazil and Latvia had a big night as well! Both countries erupted in celebration after winning their first Oscars!

“I’m Still Here,” the poignant film about a woman dealing with the abduction of her husband during the tumultuous military dictatorship in Brazil during the ‘70s, was a surprise winner in the Best International Film category. It beat frontrunner “Emilia Pérez.”

“This took seven years for us to get here,” Walter Salles, the director, told us backstage. “This whole journey was about memory: retracing the memory of a family at the same time as you were retracing the memory of a country during 21 years of military dictatorship. And this real-life story is the one where an extraordinary woman is a protagonist, Eunice Paiva. So, I think she’s still guiding us.”

In the Best Animated Film category, “Flow,” the wordless independent film from Latvia beat the films from powerhouses Disney/Pixar and Dreamworks. The reaction in Latvia has been tremendous. Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics declared the win on X “a great and historic day for Latvia!”

“Flow” filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis, who thanked his cats and dogs onstage, shared with us backstage that “it will take some time to process” his win. “I feel very lucky, and I feel inspired to make more films.”

Oscar night opened with a dreamlike tribute to Los Angeles. “Wicked” co-stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo brought the audience to tears (Michelle Yeoh could be seen wiping her tears) with their moving tribute to the city after the calamitous fires last January. Together, they sang the signature song from “Wicked,” Defying Gravity, with the shimmering L.A. skyline in the background.

Midway through the show, during an extended commercial break, Best Actor nominee Colman Domingo took the mic and invited the audience inside the Dolby Theater to a toast to the city. When the show went back on air, several members of the L.A. Fire Department appeared on stage to a rapturous welcome from the audience.

The show featured a new host this year. And based on the morning-after reviews, Conan O’Brien may have found himself a permanent gig. His opening monologue was well-received. He brought safe laughter to the audience and there was no overt political commentary, unless you consider Adam Sandler’s surprise appearance as an underdressed guest not an allusion to an embarrassing incident earlier in the week. Wink, wink!

Conan’s wonderful opening included a spoof of “The Substance” and a musical number making fun of the biggest hits of the year. It was a nod to the golden years of the Oscars when legendary comic Billy Crystal hosted the event. Billy would later appear, together with superstar Meg Ryan, to present the Best Picture award.

The first award of the evening was presented to Kieran Culkin for his supporting performance in “A Real Pain.”

He uttered an expletive on stage, but it was caught on tape delay. “I’m not fully inside my body right now. I’m trying my best to be present,” he explained backstage.

When Zoe Saldaña was announced as the winner for Best Supporting Actress, she received a huge standing ovation.

“Mami! My mom is here, my whole family is here,” she cried. She thanked the Academy and honored her fellow nominees. She also thanked the cast and her “Emilia Pérez” director Jacques Audiard, but she did not mention the names of her co-stars. She dedicated her win to her grandmother.

“My grandmother came to this country in 1961. I am a proud child of immigrant parents. With dreams and dignity and hardworking hands, and I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last… This is for my grandmother Argentina Cisse. Thank you so much! Mucha gracias, thank you!”

After Cillian Murphy presented the Best Actor trophy to Adrien Brody, the now two-time Oscar winner was undeterred as he took his time to deliver his impassioned speech. He previously won for “The Pianist.”

“It’s not my first rodeo,” he declared towards the end of his record five minutes and 40 seconds speech. “I’m here once again to represent the lingering traumas and the repercussions of war… I pray for a healthier and a happier and a more inclusive world, and I believe if the past can teach us anything, it’s a reminder to not let hate go unchecked… Let’s fight for what’s right… Thank you.”

Adrien won for his towering performance in the epic “The Brutalist.” The movie also won Best Cinematography and Best Musical Score.

“Conclave,” one of the early frontrunners, ended up winning one award for Peter Straughan’s adapted screenplay. “Wicked” received two nods for its costumes and production design. And the embattled “Emilia Pérez” won only two of its leading 13 nominations.