The Oscars moments everyone’s talking about: The good, the bad, and the chewing gum | Ents & Arts Newsnews24

A surprise Bond tribute, a win that means one actor could become a father again (twice), and an urgent chewing gum disposal – the 2025 Oscars had plenty of talking points aside from the wins.

Anora was the night’s big winner, taking home five prizes including the night’s big award, best film, as well as best actress for newcomer Mikey Madison – meaning favourite Demi Moore missed out for her performance in The Substance.

Adrien Brody was named best actor, with his film The Brutalist taking home three awards in total, while Emilia Perez, Wicked and Dune: Part Two each picked up two.

But we don’t tune in to the Oscars just for the wins. We tune in for the fashion! And the mad moments on stage.

So here’s everything else that went on during the ceremony.

Way to make an entrance

As openers go, it was quite the arrival. In a send-up of body horror The Substance, host Conan O’Brien emerged from Demi Moore’s spine to make it to the ceremony.

“Conan, everyone’s waiting,” a nervous runner shouted as he knocked on the comedian’s dressing room door – but O’Brien had to dive back in to Moore’s back as he was missing a shoe.

The “four-time Oscar viewer”, as O’Brien was introduced, then launched into an opening monologue which included the usual roasts of some of the nominees in the audience.

The biggest collective “ooh” came when he referenced the swearing in Anora – comparing it to that of Emilia Perez star Karla Sofia Gascon’s publicist in recent weeks, after old tweets posted by the actress emerged in the wake of her Oscar nomination.

Gascon, who has been absent from red carpets following the controversy, was then shown in the audience. “If you’re going to tweet,” O’Brien asked her, “remember my name is Jimmy Kimmel”.

Adrien Brody needed to get rid of his chewing gum

After being named best actor for his performance in The Brutalist, Adrien Brody gave a poignant speech, acknowledging how acting “looks very glamorous and at certain moments it is”, but can also be a “fragile profession” and that he has learned the importance of perspective.

However, just seconds after his name was announced, as he was walking to the stage, Brody seemed to realise he was chewing gum. Which probably isn’t a good look for an Oscar winner giving a poignant speech.

So what do you do? No doubt in a bit of a panic, Brody chose to turn round, take it out – and throw it at his partner, Georgina Chapman. Which was all caught on camera before he turned round again and walked on stage.

He then gave a long speech, which led to producers attempting to play him out – but Brody told them to turn it off. Now, playing the music is a little rude, but his response? “I’ve been here before… It’s not my first rodeo.” Not great.

He went on to speak about wanting to fight against “systematic oppression, and antisemitism and racism”, adding that people should “not let hate go unchecked”.

Best speech goes to…

Hailing Kieran Culkin‘s award acceptance speeches is almost getting boring now, but you’ve got to give it to him. He’s been a highlight of the awards season.

The actor, who picked up the best supporting actor gong for his performance in A Real Pain, started off by paying tribute to his fellow nominee and former Succession co-star Jeremy Strong, who was up for his performance in The Apprentice, as well as his A Real Pain co-star and director Jesse Eisenberg.

“Thank you for this movie, you are a genius,” he said to Eisenberg. “I will never say this again, so soak it up.”

So far, so fine. But Culkin went on to tell a story about how his wife, Jazz Charton, with whom he has two children, saying she had promised him a third after his previous Emmy win for Succession. And then a fourth if he ever won an Oscar.

“Love of my life, ye of little faith,” he told her, on stage. “I held my hand and you shook it… no pressure, I love you, I am really sorry I did this again, let’s get cracking on those kids.”

Firefighters get their moment

Ahead of O’Brien’s opening monologue, a video showing clips of films about California and Los Angeles, such as La La Land and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, were shown in a tribute following the wildfires that tore through the county of LA in January.

During his opener, the host also managed a deft change of tone from his jokes to reference the tragedy.

“The people of Los Angeles have clearly been through a devastating ordeal,” he said. While awards shows can seem indulgent, he added, “the Oscars also shines the light on people you never see, technicians craftspeople, costume people.”

Later on, members of the fire service who tackled the blazes were introduced on stage and received a standing ovation from the stars in the audience.

O’Brien called them “heroes”, before inviting them to make jokes about comic book musical Joker 2, which was badly reviewed by critics, and Bob Dylan’s singing voice.

Bond tribute – but still no news

First, the Oscars announced they would not be featuring original song performances during the ceremony this year, a break from tradition saying they wanted to focus more on songwriters.

Then, earlier this week, they announced Wicked stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo would be performing, actually, with stars including Doja Cat, British singer-songwriter Raye and Lisa of Blackpink on the bill, too.

Grande and Erivo naturally took things to the Emerald City at the start of the ceremony, but later on we found out what was planned for the others – a tribute to James Bond.

Introduced by former Bond star Halle Berry following a montage of 007 clips, Lisa belted out Live And Let Die by Wings, rapper Doja Cat sang Dame Shirley Bassey’s Diamonds Are Forever, while Raye performed Adele’s Skyfall – with the number also including a dance performance starring The Substance actress Margaret Qualley.

After the major news of the Amazon creative control takeover in February, were producers about to make the announcement Bond fans have been waiting for since Daniel Craig’s farewell in 2021 – the next 007 reveal? With such a long section dedicated to the nation’s favourite spy, especially given he hasn’t appeared on screen for five years, it certainly appeared that way.

But no. This was a tribute for Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, who have ran the franchise since the mid-1990s after taking over from their father Albert “Cubby” Broccoli. The pair were announced as the recipients of the Irving G Thalberg Memorial Award, an honorary Academy Award, at the Governors Awards last year.

So stand down, everyone. Looks like we’ve got longer to wait yet to find out what’s next for Bond.

Records broken

If you wanna be a record breaker… dedication’s what you need. And with Anora’s five wins, including four personally for filmmaker Sean Baker, the director has equalled or broken a record held by none other than Walt Disney, depending on which way you look at it.

He equals Disney’s record for four wins for one person in one night, set in 1952 – but as Disney’s wins were for separate projects, Baker takes the record for most wins for one person for the same film.

Elsewhere, Wicked’s costume designer Paul Tazewell received a standing ovation as he became the first black man to win the award, and Latvia also picked up its first-ever Oscar, best animated feature film, for Flow.

Morgan Freeman pays tribute to Gene Hackman

Following the news of Hollywood legend and Oscar winner Gene Hackman’s death earlier this week, a tribute to the star led the ceremony’s annual In Memoriam segment.

In an emotional speech, Morgan Freeman paid tribute to his friend, whom he worked with on Unforgiven and Under Suspicion.

Hackman was a “generous performer”, he said, who “won the hearts of film lovers around the world”.

He had always wanted to do “good work” in film, Freeman told the audience. “You’ll be remembered for that, and so much more”.

The section then continued with on-screen tributes to stars including Dame Maggie Smith, Kris Kristofferson, Donald Sutherland, Joan Plowright, David Lynch and James Earl Jones, who all died in 2024.

Later on, there was also a separate tribute to legendary music producer Quincy Jones, who also died last year, led by Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg.