LOS ANGELES: One Battle After Another dominated the Oscars on Sunday, winning six awards including best picture and capping one of the most competitive awards seasons in recent years.
Director Paul Thomas Anderson won three Oscars — the first of his career — for the political thriller, which tackles issues including immigration raids and white supremacy. The film also won best editing and the inaugural award for casting.
“You make a guy work really hard for one of these,” Anderson said to laughter as he accepted the award for best director.
Accepting best adapted screenplay, he added: “I wrote this movie for my kids to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world we're handing off to them. But also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency.”
The film follows a pot-addled ex-revolutionary played by Leonardo DiCaprio who struggles to remember passphrases in a battle of wits against the terrifying Colonel Lockjaw, portrayed by best supporting actor winner Sean Penn.
Anderson, long considered one of contemporary American cinema’s leading auteurs, had previously received 11 nominations for acclaimed films including There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights without winning an Oscar.
‘Sinners’ wins four
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, a bluesy vampire fable exploring America’s racial history, entered the night with a record-tying 16 nominations and won four awards.
They included best original screenplay for Coogler and best actor for Michael B. Jordan, who plays gangster twin brothers Smoke and Stack seeking their fortune in the segregated South.
Jordan said he created detailed journals to flesh out the backstories of both roles in order to clearly express “those nuances between the two.”
The film also won best score for Ludwig Göransson and best cinematography for Autumn Durald Arkapaw, marking the first time a woman has won in that category.
Both One Battle After Another and Sinners were produced by Warner Bros., which claimed 12 of the 24 awards presented Sunday.
Buckley’s expected win
Jessie Buckley won best actress for her portrayal of William Shakespeare’s grieving wife Agnes in Hamnet, a result widely expected ahead of the ceremony.
Backstage, Buckley said it felt “crazy” to win on Mother’s Day in her native Ireland.
“I feel like what a gift to get to explore motherhood through this incredible mother that Agnes is,” she said.
Her rivals appeared relaxed throughout the night. Emma Stone, nominated for Bugonia, spent much of the ceremony chatting backstage near the bar at the Dolby Theatre.
Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve, nominated for Sentimental Value, said her second trip to the Oscars felt easier than the first.
“It’s so much more chill this time — this time I actually know people!” she said.
Although Reinsve lost best actress, her film won best international feature, bringing its team onstage.
“It’s about a very dysfunctional family, and it’s the opposite of what I felt of this beautiful group behind me,” director Joachim Trier said.
Amy Madigan won best supporting actress for playing a demented witch in the horror film Weapons.
“I was in the shower last night, and I thought, ‘Well, this must be a special day, because I’m shaving my legs,’” she said.
‘KPop Demon Hunters’ takes two awards
KPop Demon Hunters won best animated feature and best original song for “Golden,” the first K-pop song to win the category.
The animated film, co-produced with Sony Pictures Animation and released by Netflix, follows a K-pop girl group whose members secretly battle demons while their music maintains a magical barrier protecting humanity.
“This is for Korea and Koreans everywhere,” co-director Maggie Kang told the audience.
The film premiered on Netflix in June 2025 and quickly built a global following, becoming the platform’s most-watched original film.
Comedy and tributes
Host Conan O'Brien kept the ceremony light with his trademark satire, joking about allies of Donald Trump who objected to Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny headlining the Super Bowl halftime show.
“I should warn you tonight could get political,” O’Brien told the audience. “And if that makes you uncomfortable, there’s an alternate Oscars being hosted by Kid Rock.”
The ceremony also featured emotional tributes to film figures who died this year.
A lengthy “In Memoriam” segment honored director Rob Reiner and actor Robert Redford, including a rare stage performance from Barbra Streisand.
Billy Crystal, whom Reiner cast opposite Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally, said the director’s impact on Hollywood was immeasurable.
“Rob’s movies will last for lifetimes because they were about what makes us laugh and cry and what we aspire to be: far better in his eyes, far kinder, far funnier and far more human,” Crystal said.
Streisand, who starred with Redford in the 1973 film The Way We Were, said she had loved a man who affectionately called her “Babs.”
“He was a brilliant, subtle actor,” she said. “Bob had real backbone, on and off the screen.”
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