After an interminably long awards season that had us arguing over cats and ballet by the end of it, the 98th annual Academy Awards are finally, mercifully over. And, after one of the more unpredictable closing stretches of the race in recent years, we more or less ended up where most of us thought we would three months go, with Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another ruling the night.
The political action thriller won six awards, including Best Picture, with Anderson winning his first Best Director statuette and the conspicuously absent Sean Penn collecting his third overall, this time for Best Supporting Actor. Casting director Cassandra Kulukundis also won the inaugural award for Best Casting.
As for One Battle’s arch rival, Sinners, the Ryan Coogler-directed period vampire gangster blues musical blockbuster made history in a few different ways. After being nominated for a record-breaking 16 nominations, it ended up setting a record for most losses, winning four and losing 12. In perhaps the most surprising win of the night, at least given the longstanding predictions, star Michael B Jordan took home Best Actor, a victory that seemed like a longshot up until he prevailed at the Actor Awards two weeks. He is only the sixth Black actor to win the category. Coogler lost out on director but won Best Original Screenplay, becoming the third to win in either screenwriting category. (Anderson won Best Adapted Screenplay.) Ludwig Göransson won his third Oscar for Best Original Score, while Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first female cinematographer to win Best Cinematography.
Elsewhere, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein cleaned up the craft categories, winning Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Production Design. Best Actress went to Jessie Buckley for Hamnet, a win ordained almost from the moment the movie first premiered. Amy Madigan, who went 40 years between nominations, won for her memorable portrayal of the malevolent Aunt Gladys in Weapons, while Best International Feature went to Norway for Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value.
It was night short on true shocks, unless you count the first tie for an award in 13 years (and seventh in history) in the Best Live-Action Short category. Unsurprisingly, Conan O’Brien made for an excellent host a second year in the row, parodying the endings of both Weapons and One Battle After Another, and lightly zinging those in the audience and certain unnamed presidents likely stewing at home. (‘We’re coming to you live from the Has a Small Penis Theatre. Let’s see him put his name in front of that!’) That was pretty much it for political content, with the exception of presenter Javier Bardem declarations of ‘No War’ and ‘Free Palestine.’ As one might say: the battle goes on.
Check out the full list of nominees, with winners in bold.
Best Picture
Bugonia
Formula 1
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams
Best Actor
Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme)
Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another)
Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon)
Michael B Jordan (Sinners)
Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent)
Best Actress
Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)
Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You)
Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue)
Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value)
Emma Stone (Bugonia)
Best Director
Chloé Zhao (Hamnet)
Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme)
Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)
Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value)
Ryan Coogler (Sinners)
Best Supporting Actress
Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value)
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value)
Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners)
Teyanna Taylor (One Battle After Another)
Amy Madigan (Weapons)
Best Supporting Actor
Benicio del Toro (One Battle After Another)
Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)
Delroy Lindo (Sinners)
Sean Penn (One Battle After Another)
Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value)
Best Animated Feature
Arco
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
Little Amélie, or the Character of Rain
Zootopia 2
Best International Feature Film
The Secret Agent (Brazil)
Sentimental Value (Norway)
Sirat (Spain)
The Voice of Hind Rajab (Tunisia)
Best Production Design
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Best Adapted Screenplay
Bugonia, screenplay by Will Tracy
Frankenstein, written for the screen by Guillermo del Toro
Hamnet, screenplay by Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell
One Battle After Another, written by Paul Thomas Anderson
Train Dreams, screenplay by Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar
Best Original Screenplay
Blue Moon, written by Robert Kaplow
It Was Just an Accident, written by Jafar Panahi; script collaborators: Nader Saïvar, Shadmehr Rastin, and Mehdi Mahmoudian
Marty Supreme, written by Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
Sentimental Value, written by Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier
Sinners, written by Ryan Coogler
Best Casting
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
The Secret Agent
Best Original Score
Bugonia, Jerskin Fendrix
Frankenstein, Alexandre Desplat
Hamnet, Max Richter
One Battle After Another, Jonny Greenwood
Sinners, Ludwig Göransson
Best Original Song
“Dear Me,” Diane Warren: Relentless
“Golden,” KPop Demon Hunters
“I Lied to You,” Sinners
“Sweet Dreams of Joy,” Viva Verdi!
“Train Dreams,” Train Dreams
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Frankenstein
Kokuho
Sinners
The Smashing Machine
The Ugly Stepsister
Best Costume Design
Avatar: Fire and Ash, Deborah L. Scott
Frankenstein, Kate Hawley
Hamnet, Malgosia Turzanska
Marty Supreme, Miyako Bellizzi
Sinners, Ruth E. Carter
Best Cinematography
Frankenstein, Dan Laustsen
Marty Supreme, Darius Khondji
One Battle After Another, Michael Bauman
Sinners, Autumn Durald Arkapaw
Train Dreams, Adolpho Veloso
Best Documentary Feature
The Alabama Solution
Come See Me in the Good Light
Cutting Through Rocks
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
The Perfect Neighbor
Best Editing
F1, Stephen Mirrione
Marty Supreme, Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
One Battle After Another, Andy Jurgensen
Sentimental Value, Olivier Bugge Coutté
Sinners, Michael P. Shawver
Best Visual Effects
Avatar: Fire and Ash
F1
Jurassic World Rebirth
The Lost Bus
Sinners
Best Sound
F1
Frankenstein
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Sirāt
Best Live-Action Short
Butcher’s Stain
A Friend of Dorothy
Jane Austen’s Period Drama
The Singers
Two People Exchanging Saliva
Best Animated Short
Butterfly
Forevergreen
The Girl Who Cried Pearls
Retirement Plan
The Three Sisters
Best Documentary Short
All the Empty Rooms
Armed Only With a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
Children No More: “Were and Are Gone”
The Devil Is Busy
Perfectly a Strangeness
