The Hollywood Reporter is counting down to the 2025 Oscars with a streaming pre-show that will deliver expert analysis, insider predictions and behind-the-scenes coverage ahead of Hollywood's biggest night. Straight from the iconic El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, right across the street from the home of the Academy Awards, the Dolby Theatre, THR's film and awards experts will weigh in on the ceremony's top categories, including best actor, best actress and best picture, ultimately revealing their final predictions for who will take home the honors on Sunday night. The pre-show will also feature a deep dive into past and present red carpet fashion trends, exclusive details on the hottest Oscar-night parties and private events, a look behind the scenes at what it takes to bring the Academy Awards telecast to life, what to expect from Conan O'Brien as this year's host, a preview of the ceremony's musical performances, category and nominee spotlights and much more.
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00:00:00The glitz and glamour of Hollywood's biggest night is finally upon us.
00:00:03And now, The Hollywood Reporter brings you everything you need to know about the 2025
00:00:08Academy Awards. Are the frontrunners still the frontrunners? What last looks will stand out on
00:00:14the red carpet? And where do the stars party after the show wraps, sometimes even before the show
00:00:19wraps? We're breaking down all things Oscars for you. Hear what performances are in store,
00:00:24get a sneak peek of what it takes to choreograph a secret Oscars performance.
00:00:28And after 60 people have done it before you, find out what it's like to stand on stage and
00:00:33roast an A-list crowd of Hollywood heavyweights as host of the biggest entertainment event in
00:00:38the world. Uh, no pressure, Conan. Plus, a look back at past iconic Oscars fashion,
00:00:44those pesky times the Academy got it wrong, a breakdown of the Oscars by the numbers,
00:00:48and hear the official expert predictions of who will win big. This is your ultimate THR
00:00:54insider's guide to Hollywood's biggest night. So now, let's begin The Hollywood
00:00:58Reporter Awards countdown, Oscars edition.
00:01:06Hi, I'm Tiffany Taylor. I'm here at the iconic El Capitan Theater, and we're actually right
00:01:12across the street from where the Oscars are happening. The past couple of weeks,
00:01:16countless workers have spent hours building the red carpet, hanging drapes, and transforming
00:01:22Hollywood Boulevard into a glitzy, glamorous soiree fit for the world's biggest movie stars.
00:01:28I'm right in the middle of the action, and I'm bringing you here with me.
00:01:31Now, let's dive into all things Oscars.
00:01:40There were so many incredible on-screen performances by women this past year,
00:01:43from a misunderstood witch to a star who loses her sparkle, and pretty much everything in between.
00:01:49Here for the ballot breakdown of the Best Actress and Supporting Actress categories
00:01:53are The Hollywood Reporter's Senior Film Editor, Rebecca Keegan, Film Writer, Mia Galuppo,
00:01:58and our Executive Editor of Awards, Scott Feinberg. Thank you so much for being here.
00:02:04So the nominees for Best Actress are Cynthia Erivo for Wicked,
00:02:08Carlos Sofia Gascon for Emilia Perez, Mikey Madison for Enora, Demi Moore for The Substance,
00:02:14and Fernanda Torres for I'm Still Here. How would you describe this group of nominees?
00:02:19I'd say surprising. There's not an obvious nominee in this bunch. You've got everything
00:02:24from Demi Moore, who was long known as the sort of populist actress, having her prestige movie
00:02:31moment, to Mikey Madison, who's a total newcomer to Oscar voters anyway, to someone like Fernanda
00:02:38Torres, who's a Brazilian actress, hugely popular there, but a new face to a lot of the Academy,
00:02:44and certainly to people who are going to be watching the Oscars.
00:02:46Rebecca, you spoke to both Demi and Mikey on our Actress Roundtable at the beginning
00:02:51of awards season. Were they considered frontrunners at that time?
00:02:54I think Demi has been a frontrunner pretty much since Can. Mikey has been sort of rising
00:02:59as the season has gone along. The movie Enora has been rising in all categories,
00:03:03but particularly her performance. Once people watch that movie, they just kind of fall in love
00:03:07with her. Yeah, with Demi specifically, with The Substance at Can, it was definitely a surprise hit.
00:03:15It was kind of a revelation. Everyone thought Demi did incredible. There was a standing ovation.
00:03:23Demi got very emotional during the performance. I mean, the actual production of the film really
00:03:30put Demi through her paces. It was take after take after take. It was a very, very physical
00:03:36performance. And I think that's something a lot of people are responding to, that narrative.
00:03:42When Demi won at the Golden Globes, she also got really emotional on stage.
00:03:46How much might that speech sway Oscar voters? I think it was a huge moment and it could have
00:03:52easily not happened because she was up against Mikey and a number of other top contenders. So
00:03:59in a way, she blocked the lane of Mikey getting some early momentum and then crushed it with a
00:04:06speech that kind of communicated to people or reminded people how long she's been around,
00:04:10that she's never been recognized really in terms of awards before. This was her first nomination.
00:04:16But then you had this late breaking thing with Fernanda Torres and that movie
00:04:20catching on, started, I think, at Toronto and really built up momentum. But Fernanda Torres
00:04:26has been around too and has very passionate followers. And it's kind of its own cool
00:04:32narrative that 25 years after her mother became, I believe, the first Brazilian Best Actress nominee,
00:04:39she's there in the same category with the same filmmaker.
00:04:42In recent years, the Oscars have awarded these sort of legacy wins to people who have had an
00:04:48amazing career. And sometimes it is more about the career maybe than this specific performance.
00:04:54Is that at all at play here? It's interesting because,
00:04:57again, if it was just Demi versus Mikey, I think that would be a clearer opportunity to,
00:05:06all right, let's give it to the overdue veteran than now having Fernanda in the mix as well.
00:05:11And so at this point, it seems like it's between the three of them. I think people feel like with
00:05:14Cynthia Erivo, they'll have another chance just a few months from now for the second installment
00:05:20of Wicked. And then we all know what's happened with Carlos Sofia Gascon. So I wouldn't hold my
00:05:25breath that there would be an upset coming from there. Yeah, I always think that the Oscars
00:05:32sometimes can award a career as opposed to a singular performance. And so when you look at
00:05:37it from that perspective, you're definitely looking at legacy because the thinking is that
00:05:43Mikey's going to have a lot more chances. She's at the beginning of her career. She has so much
00:05:48momentum after this. While she hasn't announced her next project, I've been hearing that she's
00:05:55highly sought after. She's on the top of a lot of lists at studios now, and a lot of directors want
00:06:00to work with her. So there is the possibility of future nominations, future wins for her. But for
00:06:07someone like Demi, this is a once-in-a-lifetime performance in a career that has been storied
00:06:13and incredible, but not necessarily awarded. Yeah, there's also the thing that we don't talk
00:06:17about that much, which is that a lot of this is people voting for friends, but voting for people
00:06:21they've worked with, they have relationships with. Demi's been in the business a long time,
00:06:25and she has a reputation for having been really nice to people for a long time. And that goes a
00:06:30long way. We saw other actresses like Angelina Jolie, who had this beautiful performance in
00:06:36Maria. It didn't end up getting nominated. Some of it has to do with sort of social ties that people
00:06:40have. Definitely. You mentioned Cynthia Erivo, but if she did win, she'd be an EGOT winner.
00:06:46Does that affect voters at all, and just what are her odds? As Scott said, because there's a second
00:06:51Wicked movie coming, people know they have more opportunity to reward this remarkable performance
00:06:56of Cynthia's. I think the interesting thing about Wicked is it's definitely the most popular movie
00:07:01in this category, and one issue that comes up with Oscar voters is did they even get to see the movie?
00:07:07Wicked, we know, is one that's been widely seen. It's easy to go to a theater and see it, and that
00:07:11does play a factor. Now we have to talk about the major shake-up that happened in this category with
00:07:16Carlos Sofía Gascon. What happened there? Look, this is a person who had not been on anyone's
00:07:24radar outside of Spain, and she rose to the occasion. I mean, the movie ended up with 13
00:07:29Oscar nominations. That's one shy of the all-time record. Not everyone out in the real world that's
00:07:34been polarizing, but in the Academy, they clearly liked the movie, and then the problem was that she
00:07:39wasn't really vetted in any sense prior to becoming a very prominent person very quickly, and so
00:07:47once she was under the microscope, a lot of kind of past commentary on Twitter or X came to light.
00:07:56It definitely was not great opinions about a wide variety of things, and then it was not handled well
00:08:05once it did come out, and so the bottom line was that I think Netflix sort of severed ties with her
00:08:11during the awards season because she was bringing down the rest of the movie. And award season's long.
00:08:17It's less so a season and more so half of a year. It's more, yeah, at this point. Half of a life.
00:08:26Yeah, it feels like it. Pretty surprising to me that it wasn't caught earlier. It really makes me
00:08:32think, okay, so you're going to go into award season with your stylist, your publicist, you know,
00:08:38your hair and makeup artist, and now your social media veteran will be a new person on the team.
00:08:42That's right. Rebecca and Mia, I want to hear from you. Who are your personal picks to win
00:08:46Best Actress? I can't get over Demi's performance. I think it was incredible and audacious and
00:08:57physical, and I don't think that we've seen anything like it from her, let alone from
00:09:03filmmaking as of late. Yeah, I hate to have the same pick, but I do have the same pick. I think
00:09:08it's a fearless performance from a beloved woman in the industry, and it would be really nice to
00:09:14see her rewarded for it. And I have to agree, I'm rooting for Demi too, but Scott, you're our awards
00:09:20analyst, our expert. Who do you predict will win Best Actress? I do think, and sounds like you guys
00:09:27will be happy to hear this, that Demi Moore is the favorite. There's a great narrative,
00:09:34there's an unbelievable performance, she's got the overdue narrative that we've talked about,
00:09:40and she is very well-liked. She is her movie. Now, you could say that, similarly,
00:09:45Mikey Madison is, and it wouldn't be unimaginable that she pulls this off. I mean, her movie is
00:09:51probably the favorite to win Best Picture. It's not a slam dunk, but I think that given,
00:09:56you know, the precursor awards and all the information that we have right now,
00:10:00I think it's looking like Demi.
00:10:05The way in which it was exploring the issue of aging, and while the circumstances were set in
00:10:12Hollywood, it was an actress, which I think just heightened and kind of grounded it in something
00:10:17that everyone could identify with. The thing that really grabbed me was the exploration of
00:10:23the violence we can have against ourselves. You have to cut through yourself!
00:10:30Moving over to Supporting Actress, the nominees are Monica Barbaro for A Complete Unknown,
00:10:35Ariana Grande for Wicked, Felicity Jones for The Brutalist, Isabella Rossellini for Conclave,
00:10:40and Zoe Saldana for Emilia Perez. Zoe shared on our Actress Roundtable that she really
00:10:45manifested this role coming out of the MCU. Do you think we could see her have her Robert Downey Jr.
00:10:51moment and win an Oscar? I do think this is Zoe's to lose. With the caveat that the Emilia Perez
00:10:59scandal has kind of cast a pall over the movie, she stands sort of apart from that, and so if
00:11:05people see the movie, I think her performance, she's singing, she's dancing, she's working in
00:11:11Spanish, which she told us on the Roundtable was something she'd always wanted to do.
00:11:16So it's a really, really strong performance for her. Is there anybody who could upset her? I mean,
00:11:20Ariana Grande, who you've talked to on your podcast, has really been hitting the campaign trail.
00:11:25Yeah, I think that Ariana Grande is out there. The problem for her is that she's got another
00:11:31shot at this film in just a few months. I think we can't necessarily sleep on Isabella Rossellini,
00:11:36who, it's a very small part, but in a very popular movie, she's a veteran actress who also
00:11:42has worked with everybody, and like her mother, her mother, Ingrid Bergman, won one of her Oscars
00:11:48for a very small part later in her career, Murder in the Orient Express,
00:11:52in the same category. So I think it's not inconceivable there, but you'd have to stick
00:11:57with Zoe probably as the odds-on favorite. So Rebecca and Mia, who are your personal
00:12:02picks for Best Supporting Actress? I would say my personal pick is Zoe.
00:12:08The performance is just absolutely incredible, and what she was able to do with the singing
00:12:14and the dancing and giving a bilingual performance, it's just impressive.
00:12:19And I'm going to go ahead and go with Isabella Rossellini. Even though it's a small part,
00:12:23as Scott says, it's core to the film. She owns it. You've been staring at these men for hours,
00:12:29and then she comes in and becomes the conscience of the film. Moments like that are really powerful.
00:12:33You don't have to be on screen for a whole movie to leave a lasting impression.
00:12:38And Scott, who do you predict will win?
00:12:40I think it's looking like Zoe Saldana. She's won all the
00:12:44important precursors. Still, there's the wild card of the Amelia Perez thing,
00:12:49and if she loses, I do think it would be to Rossellini,
00:12:52but I would not see enough reason to bet against her right now.
00:12:56Well, we'll see who takes home both the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Oscars
00:13:00at the show. Now, you three hang tight because we have more coming up. We're talking all about
00:13:05the men and diving into the Best Actor and Supporting Actor categories in just a little bit.
00:13:11Being able to incorporate so many parts of you and what you do, that makes it a much
00:13:18more thrilling experience to go through, and a much more passionate process for me.
00:13:25So it was a great gift.
00:13:28The final countdown to this year's Academy Awards is on. Let's take a closer look at
00:13:33the 2025 Oscars by the numbers. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has 10,894
00:13:40total members, and 9,579 of those are voting members. The current home of the Oscars,
00:13:46the Dolby Theater, seats 3,400 people. The largest branch of the Academy is that of the actors,
00:13:52which has a total of 1,421 members. 250 people attended the first Academy Awards ceremony in
00:13:591929 in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. This year marks the 97th
00:14:05Academy Awards. If Cynthia Erivo wins Best Actress for Wicked this year,
00:14:09she'll become the youngest person to achieve EGOT status at the age of 38.
00:14:14And if Timothee Chalamet wins Best Actor for A Complete Unknown, he'll become the youngest actor
00:14:18to do so at 29 years and two months old. The months are important because his fellow nominee,
00:14:23Adrian Brody, is the current record holder for his 2002 win for The Pianist at 29 years and 11
00:14:29months old. This year marks the 24th year the ceremony will be held at the Dolby Theater.
00:14:33The show hands out awards in 23 categories. Diane Warren received her 16th nomination
00:14:39for Best Original Song this year. If she wins for The Journey from the 6888, she'll get rid
00:14:44of her record as the most nominated individual in any category without a competitive win.
00:14:49Amelia Perez is the most nominated film this time around with 13 nods,
00:14:53including one for Best Picture, where it's one of 10 nominees.
00:14:57The director of The Substance, Coralie Fargeat, is only the ninth woman to be nominated for Best
00:15:02Director. Seven of this year's nominees in the performance categories have been nominated for
00:15:06an Oscar before, including Cynthia Erivo, Coleman Domingo, Rafe Fiennes, Edward Norton, Felicity
00:15:13Jones, Timothee Chalamet, and Adrian Brody, who is the only nominee who has previously won.
00:15:18In the Best Actress category, four of the nominees are first-time Oscar nominees this year.
00:15:22The Brutalist clocks in as the longest film nominated for Best Picture this year at 3 hours
00:15:27and 35 minutes. Two of this year's Best Picture nominees are musicals, and it all comes down to
00:15:32one night, when the Oscars air live on Sunday, March 2 at 7 p.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. Pacific on ABC.
00:15:40With 10 nominations for Wicked and 13 for Amelia Perez, musicals are having a major moment at this
00:15:46year's Oscars. Here to talk about how music may or may not be involved in this year's show is
00:15:51Billboard's own Tetris Kelly. Hey, guys. I mean, you know I've been obsessed with Wicked this year,
00:15:55so I'm just happy to be here to talk about it. And aren't we happy to be here in the El Capitan
00:15:59Theater? We love Disney. Tiffany knows I'm a Disney adult, but hey, can I get on the stage later?
00:16:04I say yes. I say we go up after this. She's got the power today. But before we do all that,
00:16:08we have to talk about music at this year's Oscars because there's a major switch-up that's
00:16:12happening. What can you tell us about it? So, as a lot of people have heard, they are not doing
00:16:16performances of every Best Original Song. So a lot of people are upset about that, but what the
00:16:20Academy is saying is that they're allowing personal reflections from songwriters. We don't know
00:16:24exactly what that means, but they're saying it's because of the wildfires and everything that's
00:16:28happened here in L.A., as we did see at the Grammys with them making that more of a fundraiser,
00:16:32if you will. And it makes sense that they want to honor the firefighters who fought those wildfires,
00:16:36but how do the nominees feel that they're not going to get to perform their nominated songs
00:16:40this year? Well, people have been vocal about it. We know Diane Warren has been nominated for
00:16:44Oscars so many times. I think this is her 16th nomination. Wow, that's crazy. And she has said
00:16:49it's unfair. And then I think about Brandi Carlile, who I really am hurt for because she
00:16:54is nominated with Elton John. So she was saying how sad she feels that this was her chance to
00:16:59perform at the Oscars. We all know not everybody gets to perform at the Oscars, and this was her
00:17:03shot. And she's saying that might have been taken away from her. And there have been just so many
00:17:07iconic musical performances at the Oscars over the years, and we might be missing out on some of
00:17:12those moments. What are some iconic musical performances that come to mind for you? Well,
00:17:16Tiffany, you already called me out for being a Disney adult, so you know anything Disney-related,
00:17:20I love. That classic year that Adele Dazeem, excuse me, Adele Menzel performed Let It Go,
00:17:25and they had that whole moment. That was amazing. When they did Into the Unknown,
00:17:29but Megan Thee Stallion, We Don't Talk About Bruno, I died. I want that performance all the
00:17:34time. Megan Thee Stallion should add that into her set list. That was a crazy moment. Also,
00:17:39your girl Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, they had a moment together back in like 1999.
00:17:43And you believe from Prince of Egypt. And I mean, those two voices on the stage together is one of
00:17:48the most iconic things to ever happen at the Oscars. Of course, Beyonce, the year of Dream
00:17:52Girls was iconic. There's just been so many big music moments. Well, the Academy has said that
00:17:57there will be some powerful musical moments still in the show. What does your dream Wicked
00:18:01performance at the Oscars look like? Because I know you have thoughts. Oh, I have so many
00:18:04thoughts. Well, we need Ariana Grande to start with No More Mourns the Wicked. She rises up from
00:18:08the stage. Let us be great. It'll be so wonderful, right? Spotlight right on Ariana Grande. And after
00:18:14she celebrates the death of Elphaba, Elphaba comes in, swings in on the freaking broom and does the
00:18:19fine gravity. Come on. They sing that together. The Oscars would be on their feet. I love that.
00:18:24Ariana rises. Cynthia flies out. Maybe all of a sudden chorus on stage. We see the whole cast.
00:18:30Another way they might celebrate music that I've been speculating about. Could Timothy
00:18:34Chalamet perform any Bob Dylan songs? Because those also aren't nominated for best original
00:18:39song because they're not original. Right. And of course, Timothy has been a darling of the
00:18:43whole award show season. He's been killing the carpets. People love to see him there.
00:18:47So I think, again, if the Oscars are wanting buzz, if they're wanting big moments, if they're
00:18:50wanting ratings, having Timothy Chalamet perform would be a big hit for them. My dream Timmy
00:18:55performance is him and Bob Dylan together on stage duet because they haven't met yet.
00:19:00Timmy has said that. I like to call him Timmy. She has a personal relationship with me, me and
00:19:06my guy, Timmy, as I like to say. I need that moment. But what I need to know, do you think
00:19:11Kylie's going to show up? I mean, Kylie's been with him all award season. And here's the thing
00:19:17about Timmy and Kylie. She a lot of times doesn't walk the red carpet, OK? She sneaks in the back.
00:19:22We just see her sitting at the table. So maybe she'll just be sitting in the audience. But
00:19:25imagine they make their big red carpet debut at the Oscars. I will say, Tim, you know,
00:19:32she's going to grab a lot of attention. So I think that's the one thing that may be the reason he
00:19:36doesn't put her on display on the carpet is because you put a gender on the carpet. That's
00:19:40going to be the news. Well, we can't wait to see what happens when the Oscars do air.
00:19:44Tetris, thank you so much for being here. And I think it might be time for us to sneak up
00:19:48on the stage. I'm going to find some Mickey ears. Let's go.
00:19:56Rio, there is a lot of artists, musicians. So we were kind of raised in this environment.
00:20:03Life was like that. I mean, you have a dictatorship in a country. Susan Sontag,
00:20:08I think she went to Sarajevo when there was the war. And she said that every week there was a
00:20:15party in the main square. So even when the situation is unbearable, I think people find
00:20:22a way just to leave. Oh, hi. Now, as you may know, the Oscars are not just about who wins the
00:20:30trophies and goes home with all the awards, but about who wins the runway. That is the red carpet.
00:20:36Let's take a look at what we might be able to expect this year.
00:20:39Styling on the red carpet this season is very deliberate. There's obviously a lot of thought
00:20:44that and planning that has gone into it. And you can see a narrative running through it.
00:20:49It's very careful. If you look at the leading ladies this season, all of our nominees,
00:20:54you'll see patterns, you'll see designers that are being repeated,
00:20:58that keep coming up. There's certain favorites that are definitely out there.
00:21:03So Zoe Saldana wore Yves Saint Laurent to the Emilia Perez premiere in LA. And of course,
00:21:10Yves Saint Laurent were also producers of the film. So it's a logical choice for her. And she's
00:21:16been wearing Saint Laurent to, I would say, 90% of her appearances for Emilia Perez. And she's so
00:21:22elegant. Everything she wears is just, she carries it off beautifully. And this was just a great
00:21:27elegant. Everything she wears is just, she carries it off beautifully. And this was just a stunning
00:21:33look for her. Zoe also wore Saint Laurent for the BAFTAs. And she wore a slim column dress with this
00:21:42amazing kind of lace plume around the shoulders, which looked fantastic. At the Critics' Choice,
00:21:53Zoe wore Saint Laurent again. This was a beautiful kind of scarlet red satin look.
00:21:58And she topped it off with a Cartier black satin choker with a little diamond kind of buckle.
00:22:05For the Golden Globes, Zoe wore Saint Laurent again. It was a chocolate brown sequin kind
00:22:10of column dress with this wonderful kind of brown taffeta shawl. This was my favorite look of the
00:22:17Golden Globes of anybody. And she just looked amazing. Again, they all walked in on the red
00:22:22carpet with this rose backdrop. And she just looked spectacular. She won the evening for me.
00:22:27She looked fantastic. For the Oscars, I guess it's an easy prediction to predict Saint Laurent for
00:22:32this because the producers are going to be there. They've produced Emilia Perez. So I'm predicting
00:22:37that she will wear Saint Laurent. I'm hoping that she wears some kind of color. I'd almost be
00:22:43disappointed if she's wearing black. I think she looks so wonderful in kind of jewel colors. So I'm
00:22:47hoping she wears some kind of jewel tone.
00:22:57Demi Moore works with Brad Goreski. And she's had an incredible season. She's
00:23:03had a very eclectic mix of looks. For the Critics' Choice, she wore Schiaparelli Couture.
00:23:08She wore this beautiful navy kind of slashed ribbon gown with this incredible kind of curved
00:23:15bodice with the little kind of bauble at the front. It was just spectacular. She looks wonderful
00:23:21in navy with her jet black hair. Navy and black is one of my favorite color combinations. And
00:23:26she just looked so chic. I think this was my favorite gown of her whole campaign, actually.
00:23:30Ever since 2023 and Barbie, there's this trend of method dressing, as they're calling it, on the
00:23:36red carpet, where people take their character into their red carpet dressing. And I think, yes,
00:23:41this Schiaparelli dress for Demi was the same thing. I think the restrictions as well of being
00:23:47so tightly laced in and the stitches on the back resembling Demi's character in the substance.
00:23:58For the Golden Globes, Demi wore Armani Privé. And it was completely fitting because this was
00:24:04the first award I think she won of the season. And this was her comeback award. This was the
00:24:10beginning of like, oh, wow, is Demi going to kill this season? And she killed in the dress. And she
00:24:15looked fabulous. She was wearing gold. She won the Golden Globe. This was a little bit of a pivotal
00:24:20moment for her. For Demi, she's a little bit of a wild card. I'm not sure if I can predict what
00:24:25she's going to wear. My only instinct would be maybe she would go back to Armani because
00:24:30it brought her luck on the Golden Globe stage. So it might be a little bit of a talisman for her.
00:24:35But let's see. For the Wicked premiere in LA, Cynthia Erivo wore a custom Louis Vuitton in
00:24:45patterned green leather. This was the beginning of the crazy green moment for Cynthia. It was
00:24:53fantastic. I love what her and her stylist Jason Bolden have done throughout this whole Wicked
00:24:59tour. And the nails, the jewelry, everything has just been incredible. She's such a character. She's
00:25:07such a fashion lover. And I think that's what, for people like me in the fashion industry,
00:25:12I think that's what comes across that, you know, she appreciates every single tiny detail.
00:25:17And then in Mexico, she wore this incredible Tom Brown custom look, which had these almost like
00:25:26sort of claws on the shoulder, which were, they evoked memories of Margaret Hamilton,
00:25:32the original actress who played the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film.
00:25:36There were those shadows of the posters of these claws of the witch.
00:25:47And for the Golden Globe, she wore a custom Louis Vuitton dress, which was like a sort of black and
00:25:57silver overlay lace look with a peplum. This was quite divisive. Some people didn't like it. I
00:26:02personally loved it. I thought this was beautiful. And again, she can carry it off. Some people,
00:26:07it tends to wear them, but Cynthia knows she can carry anything off. And I thought this was stunning.
00:26:12I thought it was fantastic. For the Oscars, I would imagine, because Cynthia is a Louis Vuitton
00:26:19ambassador, I would imagine she's going to do something spectacular in Louis Vuitton.
00:26:24And of course, they have to also do the Vanity Fair party. They have to do, you know,
00:26:29the after party. So I would expect we're going to see two or three amazing Louis Vuitton looks.
00:26:35So Ariana Grande with her stylist Mimi Coutrelle has just done, she's totally been channeling
00:26:49her Dorothy character, her, you know, her Glinda character. It's all of the good people in The
00:26:54Wizard of Oz all kind of rolled into one. And her outfit at the Wicked premiere in LA
00:27:00by Tom Brown was, it was Dorothy's little gingham dress. It was Glinda in The Wizard
00:27:05of Oz in her pink float. It was everything kind of pulled together and it was just goodness itself.
00:27:16And in Europe, it was really nice to see a little change from the pink and see her wear
00:27:21lemon. This was a Ralph Lauren design and she had the very cute little glasses as well. And
00:27:28another ode to Glinda, but she's very, Ariana is very ethereal and she has that kind of
00:27:38mystical way about her, which just works with all these light fabrics, with all these kind of
00:27:45tools and all the chiffons and she's very light and airy in herself.
00:27:51And in Palm Springs, a little bit of a departure, Ariana went for something a little bit more
00:27:56structured in Louis Vuitton, like a silver kind of bubble. But again, it's Glinda's bubble. It's
00:28:03the thing that she kind of floats away in. For the Oscars, I feel like, I feel like she's going a
00:28:08little bit sculptural. I feel like she's working, she's looking towards all these kind of shapes
00:28:13and corsets. So I wouldn't be surprised if she's going for a little bit more of a
00:28:18corset. So I wouldn't be surprised if she returns to Schiaparelli. We shot her in the
00:28:23most extraordinary Schiaparelli dress for our cover of Hollywood Reporter. So I'd be excited
00:28:29if she wore something by Schiaparelli for the Oscars. So I'm crossing fingers. It's been a
00:28:33great season on the red carpet. The acting nominees this season are some of the most stylish
00:28:39ladies in the acting business. So it's been a wonderful red carpet season. I expect nothing
00:28:45less at the Oscars. On a night where you bring together the world's biggest movie stars all in
00:29:00one room, you need a great host to steer the ship. And this time it's Conan O'Brien stepping up for
00:29:05the task. I've hosted many award shows in my life, but the Oscars, it's the pinnacle. It's the one
00:29:14that you most look up to. It's the one you dream about hosting when you're a child. So it has great
00:29:21meaning for me to host the Oscars, as long as the pay is good. Looking into that. Biggest thing I've
00:29:29learned after all these years of hosting is that mistakes aren't mistakes. If something goes wrong,
00:29:36if something, if there's a mishap of some kind or something strange happens, that's actually a gift.
00:29:43Go with it. Acknowledge it. Maybe have fun with it. I think that's a big misconception is that
00:29:50you're hoping everything goes perfectly. I'm someone who hopes that things sometimes go a
00:29:56little off the rails because that's where the real memorable moments happen in late night television
00:30:01and on the Oscars. I just want to enjoy it. And I think it would be a shame to get the chance to
00:30:08host the Oscars and not have a good time. So I'll be medicated. I'm going to put my own unique stamp
00:30:15on this year's Oscars by showing America my body. People don't think of me particularly as a guy who
00:30:24works out, but I've been training relentlessly. So there'll be several moments in the Oscars where
00:30:31I'll be shirtless and oiled. And I think that's going to hurt the program incredibly. It's a
00:30:38terrible decision. An architect, a music icon, a cardinal, an incarcerated thespian, and an
00:30:52infamous rich guy who just so happens to be in the White House right now. This year's best actor
00:30:57performances could not be more different. Mia, Scott, and Rebecca are back to break down the
00:31:02best actor and supporting actor categories. But we're starting with best actor. And the nominees
00:31:08are Adrian Brody for The Brutalist, Timothee Chalamet for A Complete Unknown, Coleman Domingo
00:31:13for Sing Sing, Ralph Fiennes for Conclave, and Sebastian Stan for The Apprentice. Adrian Brody
00:31:19has been a leading contender all awards season. Mia, what was the reception of this movie like
00:31:24back at the Venice Film Festival when it first premiered? Yeah, it was a classic Venice premiere
00:31:29in that it was a massive standing ovation. And Adrian Brody got teary-eyed during the middle
00:31:36of that standing ovation. The audience had to get ushered out of the theater because the clapping
00:31:41went on for so long. And it was reminiscent to me of The Whale with Brendan Fraser. You have this
00:31:49actor who has been doing it for so long. And granted, Adrian Brody already has an Oscar.
00:31:55So that is the big difference there. But he hasn't had an awards contending movie for a while. This
00:32:02is a person who won an Oscar early in his career. And then Hollywood didn't exactly know what to do
00:32:07with him. He was in a Predator movie. He's, of course, a part of the Wes Anderson ensemble.
00:32:12But outside of that, he hasn't had a big, juicy role like this, honestly, since The Pianist.
00:32:19So that moment felt cathartic in a way that Brendan Fraser's did, where you have this actor
00:32:25who has been figuring out his place in Hollywood for a long while and is finally getting his due.
00:32:33Scott, you talked to Adrian, Coleman, and Sebastian on our Actors' Roundtable. What
00:32:38was that conversation like? There's a lot of mutual admiration there. I think
00:32:42Coleman is somebody who has been working under the radar for years and years,
00:32:46and now is a Best Actor nominee in back-to-back years. Sebastian, interestingly, was sort of the
00:32:53one that the others fawned over the most because that took guts to play Donald Trump at this time
00:32:59in particular and do it so well. Adrian, again, was just happy to be back at the party. It's been
00:33:0722 years since The Pianist, and I think there was a moment that he's talked about where he very
00:33:11nearly quit acting. Now, the other two guys who weren't there, Chalamet and Ray Fiennes,
00:33:18have done less campaigning and have won less than Adrian Brody, but cannot be counted out either.
00:33:24Timothy Chalamet has been hitting the campaign trail. He hosted and performed on SNL.
00:33:30Do you think he has a chance of causing an upset and winning over Adrian Brody?
00:33:34The interesting thing that you can never discount with the Academy is the boomer vote.
00:33:39They love Bob Dylan. They love this charming young actor who is sort of perfectly encapsulated
00:33:45Dylan. It's not an impersonation. It's an actual performance. They love the songs. So to the extent
00:33:52that there's a desire to sort of reward that era, you could see Timothy squeak through, I think.
00:33:57The other thing that I just think is so remarkable is Sebastian Stan being nominated.
00:34:02That movie has a teeniest, tiniest little distributor. It had everything going against
00:34:07it in terms of people being afraid of the subject matter. And now Trump, of course,
00:34:12ended up being elected. We are now into the Trump era. And I think one of the interesting things
00:34:17about the Oscars is it's secret how you vote. And it might be an opportunity for people to say
00:34:23something they're afraid to say publicly. It's a long shot, but I think it's important to remember
00:34:28all the different things that are going through people's minds when they're filling out ballots.
00:34:31It's performance. It's career. It's that person was nice to be on a set 20 years ago.
00:34:36And it's also the mood of the world. And I think it's it's kind of relevant.
00:34:40Adrian, looking back at Adrian Brody's first awards rodeo 22 years ago where
00:34:45going into that Oscar night, he was not at all. He was the new young guy, the younger guy of the
00:34:50group. People were talking, oh, Daniel Day Lewis or Jack Nicholson or Nicolas Cage.
00:34:54And then Adrian Brody broke through and became the youngest ever winner of that award.
00:35:00I think that sometimes when you have five really impressive nominees like this,
00:35:06it's you could see a split. And Chalamet, interestingly enough,
00:35:09would be the one who breaks Brody's own record for being the youngest.
00:35:14Timmy is now the new young guy. And I have to say, I love how he's been kind of unbuttoned
00:35:19this award season. He's been funny in interviews. He's also cuddling up to his girlfriend,
00:35:24Kylie Jenner. Now, social media and the Internet has loved that. But do Oscar voters love that?
00:35:29It's important to remember that social media is not the Academy and the Academy is a very
00:35:34specific group of people from around the world who've worked in the film industry,
00:35:38often for decades. They tend to be older and not necessarily look to social media for guidance.
00:35:44That said, Timothy's charm is kind of undeniable in any medium.
00:35:50So, Rebecca and Mia, who are your personal picks to win Best Actor?
00:35:54My pick is Sebastian Stan, both for the performance and for the chutzpah.
00:35:58Yeah, I love it.
00:36:00I am going to say personal pick is Coleman Domingo. I thought Sing Sing was absolutely
00:36:06incredible. And how that production came together was amazing. And I think it's
00:36:09impressive what they were able to accomplish.
00:36:12And Scott, who do you predict will win Best Actor?
00:36:15You got to go with the stats. And we're talking Golden Globe,
00:36:20Critics Choice, BAFTA. It's hard to bet against that.
00:36:24For a shift to occur, there has to be enlightenment. Enlightenment comes through,
00:36:30oftentimes through suffering or through hardships, a clarity of vision that's come through.
00:36:38You know, it is a normal path. And I, you know, I'm incredibly grateful. I've had a
00:36:43very blessed life and career, but it's never easy.
00:36:54Moving on to Supporting Actor, the nominees are Yura Borisov for Enora, Kieran Colkin
00:37:00for A Real Pain, Edward Norton for A Complete Unknown, Guy Pearce for The Brutalist, and
00:37:05Jeremy Strong for The Apprentice. It seems like this is Kieran Colkin's award to lose
00:37:10at this point. But Mia, what was the reception of this movie and its performance like when
00:37:14it first premiered at Sundance last year?
00:37:16Last year, yeah. It was incredible because they had a standing ovation. And unlike Cannes
00:37:23and Venice where standing ovations dime a dozen, the American audience at Sundance,
00:37:28they stay seated. They do not stand up, but they were on their feet for this one.
00:37:33And it was immediately apparent that this was an impressive movie. It was then picked
00:37:39up by Searchlight out of the festival, and they've been running with it ever since.
00:37:43Is there a chance Jeremy Strong could have his succession eldest boy moment and beat
00:37:49Kieran Colkin at the Oscars?
00:37:51No. And we love that for our ongoing Kendall narrative of Jeremy Strong's award chances.
00:37:58By the way, he's amazing in The Apprentice, but no, I don't think that he's going to
00:38:01come through for that role. Sorry, that was a rather dramatic no. Sorry, Jeremy Strong.
00:38:06I still love you.
00:38:07Art imitates life.
00:38:08It does.
00:38:09Sometimes.
00:38:09It does. It does.
00:38:10So I think I know, but Rebecca and Mia, who are your personal picks for a supporting actor?
00:38:16I love Yura. I love Yura. I think he's absolutely incredible. He's been described as Russia's
00:38:24Tom Cruise. He is a massive star over there. And the fact that he came out of the gate with
00:38:31this performance in an American movie is incredible.
00:38:36I am so surprised that we agree on this one.
00:38:38The scene that has been brought up to me more times during awards season than any other is
00:38:42the final scene of Onora, which is a remarkable performance, both by Mikey Madison and by Yura.
00:38:48Yeah.
00:38:49I didn't know. I thought I knew who you'd pick. I did not know.
00:38:53But now, Scott, who do you predict will win Best Supporting Actor?
00:38:56I am predicting Kieran Colkin because, again, he has swept the entire season. But I think that
00:39:02these ladies may be on to something. And there have been crazier things that have happened in
00:39:07the supporting categories where, you know, somebody gets carried along by the coattails
00:39:13of their movie. And so I don't think it's out of the question that Yura Barysov could pull off a
00:39:17really stunning thing. I think the other thing just to keep in mind is that Kieran Colkin is
00:39:22amazing, but it's not that different in terms of a lot of the character traits from the guy
00:39:28he played in Succession, the guy who he seems to be in his hilarious acceptance speeches along the
00:39:33way. Sometimes that can backfire. People want to see that you are stretching to play the character
00:39:40that you're playing, but you still got to bet on him because he's won everything so far.
00:39:44Just ahead, we are talking all about Best Picture. We're going to
00:39:47unpack all the nominees to predict who will win. Don't go anywhere.
00:39:56You can't expect it because you just don't know. And so you can feel like something feels special
00:40:02and you can feel like maybe and there's a small chance and you hope and you hope. And then when it
00:40:07happens, it's it's really, really special. And this time felt different, but in the best possible way.
00:40:12Yeah, I cried my eyes out. Spotlight on. That's just one of the many production calls that
00:40:21a producer would have to make when putting on a major show like the Oscars.
00:40:26But what does it take to put on a televised ceremony watched around the world that honors
00:40:30Hollywood every year? A lot more than you might think. Famed choreographer Mandy Moore,
00:40:36known for her work on projects like the film La La Land and Taylor Swift's The Heiress Tour,
00:40:40is just one member of the production team bringing this year's Oscars to life.
00:40:45OK, so Taylor Heiress, lots of people. Awesome. She's the best ever. Lots of pressure. Oscars,
00:40:51same pressure. It never changes. You know, it's just a different kind of a stage.
00:40:55I've looked at the Oscars since I was a kid. So the fact that I'm even here and I get to be like
00:40:59making on the biggest stage ever, I'm just super honored to be here.
00:41:03While Moore has worked on the Oscars before, choreographing numbers like last year's I'm
00:41:07Just Ken performance, this is her first year as supervising choreographer and overseeing
00:41:12every performance in the show. She shared how she works alongside the Oscars' entire
00:41:16creative team to bring the ceremony to life. I work really closely with the showrunners,
00:41:20with Raj and Katie, and basically just get their download, you know, understand what the
00:41:25performances need to be. And then I go away and make something and then I shoot the wide,
00:41:30you know, talk to Hamish, the director. Obviously, something like this is super collaborative. So
00:41:35it's all hands on deck when we make these performances.
00:41:38She revealed what her week is like leading up to the big show.
00:41:41Yeah, the Oscars week is insane. It's like we have no time. So basically,
00:41:46you know, I've probably been in conversations with Raj and Katie for about a month.
00:41:50And then this week actually starts on we did one skeleton crew on Saturday where I had kind of a
00:41:55minimum amount of dancers to put up some ideas. And then we rehearse Monday, we rehearse Tuesday,
00:42:00we're off on Wednesday, we rehearse Thursday, we're on camera Friday. So it is the fastest
00:42:04turnaround. And my brain feels like it's like spinning at a million miles an hour until I
00:42:09actually get it all out. And then we get on camera and I'm like, good luck, everybody,
00:42:12you're gonna be amazing. Moore also spoke about how performances at the Oscars have evolved over
00:42:17the years. I remember being a little kid, right, and watching the Oscars and seeing like Debbie
00:42:22Allen choreograph for the Oscars, and they would be these big production numbers. And
00:42:26it's definitely evolved over the years, I think for a while kind of dance and performance went away
00:42:30on the Oscars, which I was very sad about. And then they started bringing them back with the
00:42:34nominated songs. And then this year, obviously, they're doing a whole new take on things that
00:42:38they've got these performances that are going to celebrate different parts of film. If you
00:42:42like something like Ken last year, they're going to be I think, similar in the vein of joy and
00:42:48happiness and celebration. Because I think that's what people really loved about that last year. I
00:42:52mean, Ryan was great. But you know, I think it's like people really got, I think they felt the
00:42:57happiness and they like felt the vibe. And so I think that's what we want to try and evoke this
00:43:01year again. So once it's all over, how does she spend the day after the Oscars? Okay, post Oscars
00:43:07for sure Monday morning, I will be laying down with my feet up. eye patches probably on. And
00:43:14hopefully, I mean, I think patting myself on the back patting the dancers on the back and just
00:43:18enjoying what I think is going to be a really amazing show.
00:43:27Hello, I'm Brady Victorian. And we are here diving into all the details of the best makeup and hair
00:43:31styling category this year at the Oscars. Let's jump in. prosthetics are huge across all of the
00:43:36films that are nominated. If you're starting with Nosferatu, we have 62 different prosthetics
00:43:42that were used to transform Bill Skarsgård into Count Olark, six hour process four and a half
00:43:48hours if we're just talking from the head and neck down, nail extensions, finger extensions,
00:43:54all of those cool things. But then you come to a film like The Substance where we have Monstro
00:43:58Eliasu at the end and this is a suit and this was sculpted and hair attached strand by strand
00:44:06to create this monster at the end and also with Demi Moore's character Elizabeth who over the
00:44:11course of the film transforms into this old, you know, kind of wrinkly woman. Hours of prosthetics
00:44:18also used there for her in here and makeup chair. And with Amelia Perez prosthetics were also the
00:44:23star if you're looking at the beginning of the film where we have Manitas. This is Carlos Sofia
00:44:27Gascon with nose prosthetics, cheek prosthetics, really turning into this unrecognizable drug lord
00:44:34as someone who went into the film completely blind and didn't know who was starring in it.
00:44:38I thought that that was an entirely new actor who was portraying Manitas. So that really speaks to
00:44:44the craftwork there that was done. And then with a different man, Mike Marino, the makeup artist
00:44:49there talked to me about just the work that went into live casting Adam Pearson who is also
00:44:56the actor alongside Sebastian Stan of making a cast of his face but then crafting it individually
00:45:02to fit Sebastian Stan and also incorporating different silicone pieces so that they could
00:45:08really be able to use practical effects there, not rely on VFX. And then of course we have Wicked.
00:45:14Also some prosthetics, not as many as our other films, but on Cynthia Erivo's ears to cover her
00:45:19piercings. But of course the beautiful story there is the bright green shade that characterizes Elphaba
00:45:26and they actually called it Cynthia Green because it was so uniquely crafted for Cynthia Erivo's
00:45:32skin tone using shades of yellow underneath the green and a primer that matched just to make sure
00:45:37that she was beautiful in every light. This is such an exciting year because there's so much
00:45:42conversation about CGI and how much reliance there is on that and each of these artists
00:45:47really made a concerted effort to tap into practical effects. Even if you're talking about
00:45:52you know the monstro at the end of The Substance, the only VFX is Demi Moore's face on the body but
00:45:57the rest again practical. This is a suit that's sculpted and so that just speaks so much to the
00:46:04artistry and the effort that's put in. So when it comes down to who might ultimately win the Oscar
00:46:08I feel like it's a toss-up between The Substance and That's Fair Too. Again the sheer amount of
00:46:12work that went into creating these monstrous characters that appear at the end and really
00:46:17shock audiences is just commendable and so I think we're going to be looking at a duel there.
00:46:28What is beneath this character that actually keeps evolving every every decade? I mean the guy has
00:46:35been reinvented a character that he's been selling us you know every decade and so and
00:46:41when you peel back the layers you get to the core of a real powerless child who who
00:46:49has been enacting a sort of vendetta revenge on you know that we've all been subjected to.
00:46:56The Oscars are a celebration of what the Academy gets right each year in honoring the best in film
00:47:01achievement but sometimes even the winners seem to divide folks. A group of our editors and THR
00:47:07staffers recently got together to talk about where the Academy actually got it wrong. Take a
00:47:12look at this and let us know if you agree. The time I think the Oscars got it wrong is in 2011
00:47:26when The King's Speech beat Inception at Best Picture. The time I think the Oscars got it wrong
00:47:33I mean definitely how Tony Collette did not get nominated for Hereditary is a huge mystery to me.
00:47:40Inception was my favorite. It was the first year I had watched the Oscars. I actually threw my
00:47:46pillow at the TV screen. The time I think Oscars got it wrong was in 2018 when The Shape of Water
00:47:52won Best Picture over Get Out. I think in general like let's let's honor some horror films Oscars.
00:47:58Horror films don't often get love at the Oscars so it would have been great for Get Out to win
00:48:02Best Picture. The time I think the Oscars got it wrong is when Amy Adams was not nominated for
00:48:08Arrival. I mean she has been nominated six times so the Academy clearly recognizes her plenty. The
00:48:13fact that she hasn't won is a whole other thing but that makes it all the crazier that that's the
00:48:18one time that she did not get nominated. The time I think the Oscars got it wrong was the 1999 Best
00:48:24Actor race. You had Tom Hanks for Saving Private Ryan, Nick Nolte for Affliction, you had Ian
00:48:30McKellen for Gods and Monsters, you had Ed Norton for American History X, and Roberto freaking
00:48:37Benigni won for Life is Beautiful. The time I think the Oscars got it wrong was in 2015
00:48:43when Eddie Redmayne won for The Theory of Everything for Best Actor over Michael Keaton
00:48:48in Birdman. Michael Keaton should be an Oscar winner. That movie was so clever and meta and
00:48:54different and like left an impact. I don't remember The Theory of Everything. I think it was
00:48:59fine but I think Michael Keaton was robbed. I think every time that Denzel was nominated and
00:49:04didn't win the Oscars got it wrong. There was a wonderful film called The Swan Song starring
00:49:10Mahershala Ali and Naomi Harris, 2021, and it got no love whatsoever. The Oscars just ignored it
00:49:17altogether. Such a miss. The time that the Oscars got it wrong was not nominating Paris is Burning
00:49:24for Best Documentary Feature. This seminal documentary on ballroom culture and voguing and
00:49:31gay culture and ballroom and life in New York in the 90s. I have one other major beef that I can't
00:49:38believe that a Best Picture nomination can happen without the director getting nominated. How does
00:49:45that make sense? Just the semantic shift of the word inception, like it's part of our lexicon now.
00:49:53Oh like that's inception or it's blank-ception. Also give Glenn Close an Oscar already. People are
00:49:58still talking about that last scene so I think the Oscars got it wrong there. Come on Oscars!
00:50:08On Oscar night, the party doesn't stop just because the ceremony is over. Senior staff
00:50:13writer for The Hollywood Reporter, Chris Gardner, is here to tell us everything that happens and I
00:50:17mean everything after the final envelope is opened. Thank you so much for being here, Chris.
00:50:21Thank you so much for having me, Tiffany. Senior staff writer and Oscar party hound.
00:50:26You are at these parties. You are truly the party expert. Fun fact, do you know that not
00:50:30everybody that's in the Oscar telecast gets to go to the Governor's Ball, which is always the
00:50:35requisite first stop of the Oscar party circuit. Only about 1,500 people of the 3,500 people who
00:50:42are in the theater get to go to the Governor's Ball. But if you have an Oscar, of course you get
00:50:46to go to the Governor's Ball and that's where everybody stops first because that's where you
00:50:50get your trophy engraved and you pick up some snacks and a little light bites from Wolfgang Puck
00:50:54and then it's off to the races. So talk to me about this Vanity Fair after party. I can tell
00:50:58you everything you want to know, but it still remains the most stars that you'll ever see under
00:51:03one roof. Many people might think that that's the Oscars, but the Oscars still only seat 3,500
00:51:09people and most of those are studio executives, filmmakers, other nominees, but Vanity Fair is a
00:51:14much more intimate tent in Beverly Hills at the Wallace Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
00:51:19and it's really just stars across the entire room and everywhere you look is somebody famous
00:51:24and what's interesting about the Vanity Fair party is that it's not just actors. You might
00:51:29see LeBron James, you might see Jeff Bezos, you might see Mick Jagger, you might see Sergey Brin,
00:51:34I mean it's really a cross-section of notable names. Elton John also holds a party right,
00:51:40an Oscar viewing party, but this year he's a nominee. So how's he doing things a little
00:51:43different? Oh good question. He will go to the show this year with Brandi Carlile and Bernie
00:51:47Taupin who he's nominated with for Original Song and also the music producer Andrew Watt and then
00:51:54he'll go to his party immediately after the telecast. Then he'll go to the after party
00:51:58where Chapel Roan is the headlining performer, so they're turning West Hollywood Park into Pink
00:52:03Pony Club for the night. That's amazing. In recent years there's been some really high
00:52:09profile exclusive celebrity secret parties that have popped up. Who hosts these and how do you
00:52:15get in? Yeah well they are very exclusive parties and you get in if you're an A-list movie star
00:52:21basically. The first party that has really risen over the past 16-17 years is the Madonna and
00:52:26Gaio-Siri party which is held in Beverly Hills at the home of Gaio-Siri who's Madonna's longtime
00:52:30manager. For many years it's been in partnership with Gucci so it's a fashionable affair but
00:52:35they allow no cameras inside so it's very rare that you see anything come out from inside the
00:52:42party. And Tiffany did you know last year's party was Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, Mila Kunis and
00:52:48Ashton Kutcher and Kim Kardashian and a lot of the winners Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone have
00:52:54made the rounds in years past so it is probably people say the most star-studded exclusive after
00:53:01party outside of Vanity Fair. I remember hearing that Taylor and Travis were there but no photos
00:53:05we want those photos like where are the pics? Yeah we want the photos we just need to see what they
00:53:10look like and what they were wearing. But have we ever seen any photos from the other exclusive
00:53:15celebrity after party that Beyonce and Jay-Z have? Yeah well starting in 2018 Beyonce and Jay-Z started
00:53:20hosting their party at Chateau Marmont and also at the next door Bar Marmont. They usually have a
00:53:26theme and some photos do make it out from the night but usually those are posted to Beyonce's
00:53:32Instagram too and it's just a couple photos of her and her close friends but that has also emerged
00:53:38as one of the hottest tickets of Oscar night and I wish we could go don't you think? I wish we could
00:53:43too but I have a feeling like you said these lists are tight we're not getting in but say we want to
00:53:48maybe see a celebrity on Oscar night have a little sighting where could we go to dine like an Oscar
00:53:54winner? Tiffany great question and I think this year around one o'clock are you free? 1 a.m are
00:54:00you free? Yeah I'll be free for you. Should I stand by and pick you up? Yes. And we can go to a party that we're
00:54:04sure to get in there might be a long line but I can definitely get you in. How do you feel about
00:54:10stopping by In-N-Out? I love it I can't wait the Sunset Boulevard In-N-Out all the stars go
00:54:17because it's right around the corner from the Dolby Theater where the Oscars happen actually
00:54:21right around the corner from here the El Capitan. Yeah so let's go we'll have a couple double doubles
00:54:25and we'll recap our Oscar night. Amazing I can't wait Chris thank you so much for being here and
00:54:30all this info on all the hottest Oscar parties and we're going to be partying at In-N-Out. Cheers
00:54:34to you Tiffany. Cheers. It wasn't inmates it was just individuals with individual stories
00:54:45and how they were using theater to uh to transform the lives and I thought this was fantastic and
00:54:51they said well we would love for you to come on board and bring he really did say bring everything
00:54:55you have. The stars pull out all the stops when it comes to red carpet style on Hollywood's biggest
00:55:02night. Let's take a look at Oscar fashion throughout the years. From Cher and Bob Mackie
00:55:08to Julia Roberts and Zendaya and Valentino the Oscars have been known for their show-stopping
00:55:14fashion just as much as the awards themselves. Many over the Academy Awards nearly 100 year
00:55:19history have wowed us with their daring glamorous and even politically driven looks. So right
00:55:25now let's feast our eyes on some of the most talked about Oscars red carpet fashion over the years.
00:56:25The time has come to talk about the biggest award of the night best picture. Back for one last time
00:56:40are Rebecca, Mia and Scott and the nominees are Anora, The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown,
00:56:51Conclave,
00:56:56Doom Part II, Amelia Perez, I'm Still Here, Nickel Boys,
00:57:07The Substance and Wicked. What are the standout films in this category? I would say
00:57:16it's Anora. That is the one that has been impressive from the very beginning. It premiered
00:57:23at Cannes. It is Sean Baker's biggest budgeted production which isn't saying a lot to be fair
00:57:30but it is definitely his most commercial and his biggest swing and he is a beloved filmmaker in
00:57:36this industry. Yeah I think The Brutalist is also one that has a lot of quiet support. Again an
00:57:43independent movie made for less than 10 million dollars but it has this giant scope. It's very
00:57:47long. It has an intermission. It's sort of tour de force performance from Adrienne Brody. A lot of
00:57:52the technical things that the different branches of the academy like to see in terms of really
00:57:58trying for something big and bold. Who were you surprised to see made this list? It was pretty
00:58:03notable that you had not just the one expected non-english language nominee with Amelia Perez
00:58:09but also another with I'm Still Here from Brazil. It's not that it isn't worthy it's just that it
00:58:15hadn't really been showing up in many places like that outside of a non-english language category
00:58:21prior to the nominations but that's been an interesting thing. You have Nickel Boys and
00:58:27The Substance. Two other movies that are somewhat polarizing but had enough support to get into the
00:58:3410. The ones that seem to be fighting it out for that top tier are
00:58:41Onora, The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown and Conclave. Those to me are the four that seem
00:58:47most plausibly a winner of this group. Mia you talked to the producers of several of these films
00:58:54in this category on our producers roundtable. How did the production of something like Onora
00:58:59compare to a big tentpole like Dune Part 2? It's really interesting because I would make the
00:59:05argument that while their scales are very different the actual production with those filmmakers is
00:59:12similar. They like filming in practical locations. For Onora it was in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn and
00:59:19for Dune Part 2 it was in the deserts of Jordan and Abu Dhabi. So very different there but and the
00:59:28the budgets were very different. You had an 190 million reported budget for Dune Part 2 and then
00:59:34you had a six million dollar budget for Onora. But these are filmmakers who are very very dedicated
00:59:41to craft and that really comes through in their productions. Both Dune Part 2 and Wicked huge
00:59:49blockbusters and two of the highest grossing movies of the year in the top 10. Will that matter?
00:59:54You know it's interesting we talk a lot about whether box office matters in the Academy Awards.
00:59:58In some years you can feel this real sense among voters of wanting to protect the theater going
01:00:04experience and wanting to keep movies feeling relevant. And they would say look these are
01:00:08beautiful movies but nobody's seen these. Take a look at Wicked. Take a look at Dune 2. They're
01:00:14extraordinary filmmaking and by the way the public is actually watching them. Let's reward that.
01:00:19We're getting another Dune soon. We know we're getting another Wicked soon and so I don't think
01:00:23there's necessarily a sense of urgency to reward these installments. Usually there's the default or
01:00:29often I think the default is to do what they did with the Lord of the Rings and reward the last
01:00:34installment as a way of recognizing the whole thing. Amelia Perez received so many nominations
01:00:39and had a lot of momentum at the beginning of awards season. It won best comedy or musical at
01:00:43the Golden Globes but given the Carlos situation do you think it's ruined its Oscar best picture
01:00:49chances? Once a movie gets this kind of cloud around it I was talking to some Academy voters
01:00:54this weekend and they just sort of had this vague sense of they're not supposed to like it
01:00:59and without really clearly articulating why and I think that's a hard thing to overcome. These people
01:01:04have a lot of movies to watch in a short period of time. If you can sort of easily put one on the
01:01:08shelf and say I'm going to spend my energy on The Brutalist or Nora it's it's hard to overcome that.
01:01:15It just got so big and so ugly that I agree that I think people there's enough other good
01:01:21options that I think people are are definitely tiptoeing away from Amelia Perez. Does the winner
01:01:27of best director have any poll or indication on who could win? In the era of the preferential
01:01:34ballot for best picture where they it's not just like pick a movie and that's your vote.
01:01:38They have you rank your movies in order of preference. The way it's tallied is what's the
01:01:44movie that in some ways everybody disliked the least. That's kind of the way it works. It does.
01:01:50I'm also just thinking about what Scott said about the preferential ballot which can get wonky but
01:01:54the important takeaway is if people hate something it's toast which again I think goes back to being
01:02:00tough times for Amelia Perez and it can kind of reward the like journey song equivalent of a movie
01:02:06in that it doesn't tick off too many people. Nora is that. Lots of people really like it. It may be
01:02:12their favorite movie. It's nobody's least favorite movie. That has led to more splits than there used
01:02:17to be between picture and director. You know for instance Green Book won best picture but its
01:02:22director wasn't even nominated for best director and we've we've had that a couple times. Coda as
01:02:27well recently. So I don't think that it's as likely as it used to be that the two will go to the same
01:02:33but this year it's looking probably like let's say a Nora for best picture or if not a Nora a
01:02:40complete unknown and yet I think in either case I don't imagine James Mangold winning best director
01:02:46I think the nomination was the win so with a Nora I think it's very possible you have Sean Baker win
01:02:52but it's also possible that Brady Corbett like the way people look at best director increasingly
01:02:57these days seems to be what who had the hardest the heaviest lift for directing and if Denis Villeneuve
01:03:06had been nominated that could have been and probably should have been him. The reality is
01:03:09we have five nominees who five people who are nominated and of those five I think people as we
01:03:15saw at the BAFTAs and the Golden Globes a lot of people look at it and they're like this guy who's
01:03:2036 years old now was you know a couple years ago working on this movie three and a half hour epic
01:03:27made for just 10 million dollars in just like a few weeks in VistaVision which hasn't even been
01:03:32used since the 60s like I think that even if you're not able to get there necessarily on a
01:03:37preferential ballot where Brutalist is not gonna it's not necessarily set up to win picture on a
01:03:42preferential ballot I think he could very well win there but in all likelihood if you and I know
01:03:48you're maybe I'm jumping the gun here but like based on the indicators that happened before the
01:03:53Oscars up to this point you have to probably bet that it's a Nora and Sean Baker. Yeah the thing
01:04:01with Brady and Sean is that those films are holistically their vision they are famously
01:04:07directors who don't make a lot of movies because they wait until they can make the movies that
01:04:13they want to make in the way they want to make them. Sean Baker has directed movies on iPhones
01:04:19this film was his biggest swing to date but it was only six million dollars. You said how Nickel Boys
01:04:27and The Substance were both surprising best picture nominees what are their odds of winning
01:04:31at all? Yeah Substance is surprising because it's a genre film it's an incredibly incredibly gory
01:04:37genre film what's interesting is the director Corley is also nominated and talking about
01:04:46commitment to vision that film was actually previously set up at Universal and then Universal
01:04:52let the film go and it went to Cannes and out of Cannes it was picked up by Mubi and it continued
01:04:59forward. Cora Lee was very determined to get that film on the screen as it was she told me in an
01:05:06interview that the way she wrote it is how it appears on screen so everyone who came along
01:05:12with her for the ride was fully aware of what it would end up like on screen and that's ultimately
01:05:18very impressive given the R rating and the fact that the academy was willing to nominate
01:05:25something that is science fiction genre horror and very very very bloody. Yeah Nickel Boys
01:05:33Scott and I saw Nickel Boys out of Telluride and you saw two really different reactions to it
01:05:37film critics went nuts for it they loved it and then like normal people not so much it's a very
01:05:45unusual vision made by a documentary filmmaker Rommel Ross who we had on our director roundtable
01:05:51for some people who saw Nickel Boys it was the most original film they saw all year and for
01:05:57other people it was just too out there it was just too visionary too weird. When I went to see A
01:06:01Complete Unknown in the movie theater I noticed people stayed through the credits and were singing
01:06:05along with the Bob Dylan songs so yeah you never know what people are going to vote for
01:06:11how the international vote will affect it. It's a good time maybe it's not Citizen Kane
01:06:16artistically but sometimes people just want to have a nice time at the movies it's certainly
01:06:21that and that's their their feelings about it are reflected you know in the directing nomination
01:06:28first time for Mangle writing you know just up and down the line costume design three acting
01:06:32nomination so I feel like that is the sleeper threat to Anora as maybe more so than even
01:06:40the Brutalists or Conclave although Conclave could also play well on a preferential ballot
01:06:45it's really it's the preferential ballot has made Best Picture at the Oscars way harder to predict
01:06:52because in part the only other group that precedes the Oscars that even uses one is the Producers
01:06:58Guild which Anora won at and then you have the other wild card of how international the academy
01:07:03has become in recent years 25 percent or so of the members eight of like nine thousand or so members
01:07:10are outside the U.S. what are they going to go for do they care about Bob Dylan as much as
01:07:16Americans do are they more inclined to forgive some of the stuff that's happened with Amelia
01:07:21Perez these are the kinds of silly questions that make this you know harder to harder to
01:07:27predict this year the time has come it is time to give our personal picks Rebecca and Mia what
01:07:32are your picks to win Best Picture this is my personal pick I love the Brutalist I think it is
01:07:39an incredibly ambitious movie by a promising young filmmaker who I hope to see a lot more from
01:07:44extraordinary performances beautiful craft and most of all just the boldness of it the audacity
01:07:50to make a movie this big this long so Brutalist uh I personal pick uh Conclave I you loved those
01:08:01guys from the beginning I love those guys from a bit the beginning give me a room full of men
01:08:06in funny hats and I'll give you my heart like I just love that movie I think it is such a solid
01:08:13film from beginning to end and I think it was my favorite of the year I think my favorite was
01:08:19A Complete Unknown I loved Timmy I loved the movie and I just loved the the musical moment it created
01:08:24in the theater but Scott it is time for the last Feinberg forecast who is your pick for Best Picture
01:08:31I think you gotta go with Anora it is not a pick that I am gonna sleep easily on because uh again
01:08:39it's it's primarily because of the preferential ballot who knows but the fact that it has shown
01:08:46such momentum with people in the industry producers guild directors guild it kind of there
01:08:51was a moment where there was a turn and all of a sudden went after a season without a front runner
01:08:56Anora emerged that being said with the preferential ballot keep an eye out for
01:09:02A Complete Unknown and Conclave but I can't I can't quite get there with picking either of them
01:09:07well we'll see who takes home the Best Picture trophy during the Oscars thank you all for being
01:09:11here for this ballot breakdown cute thank you
01:09:19watching it back the things that we did end up getting was just right in the moment
01:09:23yeah because the film is so there it's so hectic and frenetic and you're feeling that as an actress
01:09:30trying to make sure that you got it and it's not possible really there's no such thing
01:09:36we hope you've enjoyed this special preview of the 2025 Oscars and a look at everything that
01:09:42goes into making Hollywood's Biggest Night stick with THR.com for all your Oscar coverage from
01:09:47red carpet interviews to post-show analysis and everything in between thank you so much to the
01:09:52El Capitan Theater for having us I can't believe I finally made it on the stage until next time
01:09:57for The Hollywood Reporter I'm Tiffany Taylor and now cue the music
01:10:36you