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Gwilym Mumford
As Stu has already mentioned, Conan O’Brien is hosting this year’s ceremony, taking over from Jimmy Kimmel, who hosted the last two. Did the Academy opt for someone less likely to take aim at Trump? Did Kimmel not fancy it? Regardless, O’Brien should be a fun host – likeable, irreverent and not afraid to tackle a song and dance number:
Meanwhile, this year’s presenters have been announced and as per Oscar traditions, last year’s winning actors – Cillian Murphy, Emma Stone, Robert Downey Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph – will be presenting this year’s acting categories. Other stars lined up to present categories include Dave Bautista, Gal Gadot, Andrew Garfield, Samuel L. Jackson, Margaret Qualley, Alba Rohrwacher, Zoe Saldaña and Rachel Zegler. But Harrison Ford, who was scheduled to present an award, will miss the ceremony, reportedly due to a shingles diagnosis. Ouch.
Chloe Mac Donnell
We’re kicking things off with Amelia Dimoldenberg. The creator of the YouTube Series Chicken Shop Date is back on the red carpet for the second year in a row interviewing the stars as they arrive. Speaking to The Guardian earlier this month about dressing for events Dimoldenberg said: “Red carpets are an amazing opportunity to showcase fashion, to express yourself.” We know from past red carpets and her Chicken Shop Dates that Dimoldenberg likes a flirty look. Her choice tonight of a blue sparkly cut-out dress by Versace fits the brief perfectly.
Morwenna Ferrier
Hello! Morwenna and Chloe from the Guardian’s fashion desk here. We’ll be watching the red carpet so you don’t have to, guiding you through the probable hits and unlikely misses from Timothée, Mikey, Demi et al. Wherever you stand on red carpet fashion, the question of who will wear what is almost as common as the question of who will take home a statuette. It just is! The traffic doesn’t lie. We all know that the red carpet is now an economy unto itself, a strangely cultivated branding exercise for celebrities and a marketing tool for the fashion industry, built on an illusion that the gowns and dandy suits are an expression of a celebrity’s personal style, when in fact they’ve been picked by a stylist. But that doesn’t stop it being fun, too.
Catherine Shoard
Maybe you’re coming to this year fresh, having seen none of the films and not having heard of Karla Sofía Gascón. If so, we’re here to help!
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 Academy Awards but were too afraid to ask.
The timetable
The red carpet heats up about 10pm GMT; the ceremony starts at midnight GMT and ends at 3am Monday; and we’ll wrap up live coverage about 7am. For more, including how to watch, try here and here.
The competition
Ten films are up for best picture this year. You can read Guardian writers put the case for each one of them here, and there’s an overview of the race here – and of the best director, actor and actress contests.
Predictions
Peter Bradshaw has done his here and Andrew Pulver here. For what it’s worth, here are my last-minute tips in some key categories:
Best picture: Anora (spoiler, Conclave)
Best director: Brady Corbet (spoiler, Sean Baker)
Best actor: Adrien Brody
Best actress: Demi Moore
Best supporting actor: Kieran Culkin
Best supporting actress: Zoe Saldaña
Best original screenplay: A Real Pain
Best adapted screenplay: Conclave
Best international film: I’m Still Here
Best documentary: No Other Land
Further reading
What’s in those goodie bags?
Is this the most open Oscars race in recent memory?
Timothée Chalamet deserves an Oscar – for his Oscar campaign
A Wicked shame! In 2025, blockbuster success spells Oscars failure
‘The camera is more impactful than a rifle’: the married Ukrainian artists who filmed the war – and are now up for an Oscar for Porcelain War
An interview with the makers of fellow documentary contender, No Other Land
From Blitz to Gladiator II: the Oscar-aiming films that missed this season
‘Stick-it-to-the-man sentiment’: Oscar-nominated films compete to bait Donald Trump
God’s role in this year’s race
Plus interviews with key players: Cynthia Erivo, Demi Moore, Mikey Madison, Karla Sofía Gascón, Sean Baker, Brady Corbet, Coralie Fargeat, Jesse Eisenberg & Kieran Culkin, Adrien Brody, and Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow & Stanley Tucci.
It begins!
Stuart Heritage
Good evening, and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the 2025 Oscars. We’ve all been here before, of course – this will be a long night of famous people and nice dresses and overlong speeches – but this year all bets are off.
The California wildfires have sent the Academy into a panicked spiral of trying to locate the correct tone (there were even calls for the whole ceremony to be cancelled as a mark of respect), so there’s a good chance that proceedings might be more sombre than usual. Then again, in Conan O’Brien the Oscars have a host worth actually getting excited about. And then there are the awards themselves.
If you’re a hardened film fan, you’ll be well aware that there are no dead certs this year. Aside from a couple of categories (mainly the ones for supporting artists), this is the most open an Oscars has been for years, which means that every winner will come as a total surprise.
Of the 10 movies nominated for best film, only two – Wicked and Dune: Part Two – can genuinely be called blockbusters, and they’re the only ones that definitely won’t win. The others, combined, have a box-office gross roughly equivalent to a Marvel opening weekend. And I’m talking about 2025 Marvel, too, which is really saying something. Yes, traditionally this lack of popular fare means that few people will bother watching the Oscars, but at least for those who do, this has the potential to be a learning experience.
As for tonight’s playbook, the good and great of the Guardian will be on hand throughout the night to offer reactions and analysis of everything you can possibly think of. Red carpet looks? Check. Political implications? Check. The Oscars forgetting to include anyone significant in the In Memoriam section? Check. And I’ll be here responding to the ceremony itself, moment by moment. If everything goes right, we’ll all get out of here with our will to live intact. What more could you want?
