Oscars 2025 highlights: Anora wins Best Picture and 4 more awards at one of the most boring ceremonies in years

Kieran Culkin wins Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain. This is his first nomination and win. He shared words of admiration for his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong who was also nominated in the category.

Kieran Culkin delivers a standout performance as Benji Kaplan in A Real Pain, earning critical acclaim and awards recognition. His portrayal of Benji, a character navigating complex family dynamics during a journey through Poland, showcases his ability to balance humour and depth.

Oscars 2025 live updates: Adam Sandler took everyone's attention as he turned up in a hoodie and basketball shorts. He went out screaming Timothee Chalamet's name.

This year's most controversial figure at Oscars is Emilia Perez lead actor Karla Sofia Gascon and she has already got a few jokes cracked on her. Conan joked that should she feel compelled to tweet about the ceremony, remember his name: Jimmy Kimmel.

He also joked, Anora uses the F-word 479 times. That's 3 more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón's publicist."

‘Please sit down’, host Conan O'Brien said to the already-seated audience as he started the show.

The ceremony has kicked off with a tribute for Hollywood, specially after the devasting LA fires last year. Ariana Grande sang ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ from Wizard of Oz.

The special gift that they all would get is a very expensive gift bag.

Distinctive Assets Legendary, an entertainment firm based in Los Angeles, arranged this year's nominee gift bags, featuring a distinctive moniker “Everyone Wins.”

The Oscar-nominated celebrities who will receive a gift bag include Timothée Chalamet, Demi Moore, Adrian Brody, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and Kieran Culkin.

Some of the items in the bag will help families affected by deadly wildfires in Los Angeles, as per Lash Fary, creator of Distinctive Assets.

Oscars 2025 live: Best Actor nominee for The Brutalist, Adrien Brody talked to us about the parallels between the film and The Pianist. He said that they make for vastly different storytelling. “But both are about the power of the human spirit to endure and the power of artistic pursuits to process, acknowledge, and represent a time in history, and how those hardships and triumphs inform the journey of the artist moving forward,” adds Adrien, for whom the immigrant struggle isn't just Oscar bait, but a lived-in reality of his own ancestry.

Oscars 2025 live: As stars make the final adjustments to their gowns and tuxedos, the race for Hollywood's grandest prize is too close to call, with two wildly different films seen as frontrunners for best picture.

"There will be real tension," said Rotten Tomatoes awards editor Jacqueline Coley. "I would say if 'Conclave' doesn't win, it's definitely going to be 'Anora.'"

"Both sides are feeling more nervous than confident... that should be an indicator that this is really a nail-biter," The Hollywood Reporter's awards expert Scott Feinberg told AFP.

Sean Baker's "Anora" -- about a New York stripper and escort who weds a wealthy Russian playboy, only to learn that her dream marriage is a nightmare illusion -- won the Cannes festival's Palme d'Or last May.

But, Coley says, "it is a little bit polarizing because of the sex worker aspect."

Oscars 2025 live: Comedian and host Conan O'Brien said he planned to mix jokes, celebrations of filmmakers and serious moments including tributes to Los Angeles as it recovers from January's wildfires. He likely will address U.S. politics but not dwell on it, he said.

"Good jokes are really important, but there's also more than that," O'Brien told reporters last week as he prepared for his first Oscars hosting gig. "We're trying to go for different tones, different textures."

Oscars 2025 live: Presenters at the Oscars 2025 include Dave Bautista, Gal Gadot, Andrew Garfield, Samuel L Jackson, Margaret Qualley, Alba Rohrwacher, Zoe Saldana and Rachel Zegler.

Conan O'Brien will host Oscars 2025, which will be live in India on streamer JioHotstar and TV channel Star Movies.

Hollywood veteran Harrison Ford will give the 97th Academy Awards a miss after being diagnosed with shingles.

The 82-year-old actor's representative confirmed Ford's diagnosis and his absence from the ceremony to the entertainment news outlet Variety.

Ford, whose latest film appearance is "Captain America: Brave New World", was supposed to be one of the presenters at Sunday's awards gala but was diagnosed with shingles on Friday.

As per the Mayo Clinic, the disease -- also known as herpes zoster -- is a painful rash caused by the varicella-zoster virus.

Emilia Perez and The Brutalist and Wicked dominated the Oscars 2025 nominations. Anuja, a film backed by Guneet Monga and Priyanka Chopra, has secured a historic nod for India as it got nominated in the Best Live Action Short Film category. Check out the list here.

Oscars live: Mindy Kaling, Jeff Goldblum and his co-stars from Wicked were among the first to arrive. The musical’s co-stars – British star Cynthia Erivo, 38, and US pop star Grande – are nominated for best actress, and best supporting actress, respectively, for the prequel to The Wizard Of Oz. The 97th Academy Awards, will see Erivo – who played the green witch Elphaba in the film – and Grande, 31, among the performers at this year’s ceremony.