Oscars 2025: What time does it start tonight and who is nominated?

Workers prepare the red carpet area before Sunday’s 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/John Locher)

HOLLYWOOD – The 97th Academy Awards ceremony is set to take place today, March 2, with “Emilia Pérez” carrying a leading 13 nominations into the evening (along with a post-nomination scandal related to its star) — while “Anora,” “The Brutalist” and “The Substance” bring best-picture and best-acting buzz to Hollywood’s most glittering night.

Conan O’Brien will make his debut as Oscar host for the 4 p.m. ceremonies, which will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and air live on ABC and Hulu. The “Oscars Red Carpet Show,”  hosted by Julianne Hough and Jesse Palmer, starts at 3:30 p.m., also on ABC and Hulu.

The 13 nods for “Emilia Pérez” — including best picture — are second-most in Oscar history, trailing only the 14 garnered by “All About Eve” in 1950, “Titanic” in 1997 and “La La Land” in 2016.

The next-most nominated films Sunday are “The Brutalist” and “Wicked” with 10 nods each, “Conclave” and “A Complete Unknown” with eight apiece, “Anora” with six and “Dune: Part Two” with five.

Joining “Emilia Pérez”  in the best picture category Sunday are “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Conclave,” “Dune: Part Two,”  “I’m Still Here,” “Nickel Boys,” “The Substance” and “Wicked.”

Best picture is the lone Oscar category with 10 nominees. Each of the 22 other categories of the evening brings five.

“Emilia Pérez” — a gender-bending, Spanish-language, French-produced crime musical — also became the most-nominated non-English-language film in Academy Awards history, topping 2000’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and 2018’s “Roma,” which each got 10 nods.

“Pérez” tells the story of a drug cartel leader played by Karla Sofía Gascón who hires a lawyer to help fake her death so she can transition to a woman. It also garnered Gascón a nomination for best actress — making her the first openly transgender woman nominated for an Academy Award.

However, a victory by Gascón on Sunday would seem unlikely after old social-media posts surfaced in which she denigrated Islam and George Floyd, among other objectionable comments. She has since apologized for the now-deleted posts, but the scandal is widely believed to have torpedoed her chances for award-season recognition.

In addition, Netflix, the film’s distributor, distanced itself from Gascón for the film’s Oscar campaign, and the star was notably absent from other recent awards ceremonies. However, she is expected to attend Sunday’s Oscars, which could make for some awkward moments that the television cameras are unlikely to spotlight.

Meanwhile, “Anora” — a comedy-drama about the beleaguered marriage of a sex worker (best-actress nominee Mikey Madison) and the son of a Russian oligarch — would appear a front-runner for the best picture Oscar, having won last month’s Producers Guild Award, traditionally a strong indicator of which film will win the best picture Oscar.

Since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expanded from five to 10 nominees in 2010, only four films have won the best picture Oscar without first winning the PGA Award.

“Anora” also won the best picture awards at this year’s Critics Choice and Film Independent Spirit awards.

However, the papal thriller “Conclave” could also contend, coming off its surprising win for best cast at last week’s Screen Actors Guild Awards and a best picture victory at the British BAFTA Awards.

Meanwhile, “The Brutalist” — about a Holocaust survivor played by Adrien Brody chasing the American dream in the post-war US — and “Emilia Pérez” each captured a Golden Globe for best picture — in the drama, and the musical or comedy categories, respectively.

Brody would appear to have a leg up in the best actor battle, coming off wins at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice and BAFTA awards. But watch out for the upset-minded Timothée Chalamet for his role in “A Complete Unknown,” the Bob Dylan biopic for which Chalamet captured a surprise best actor trophy at the SAG Awards.

The SAGs — voted on by actors — are a solid indicator of who wins in the acting categories on Oscar night, with actors making up the bulk of Oscar voters.

Also nominated for best actor Sunday are Colman Domingo for  “Sing Sing,”  Ralph Fiennes for “Conclave” and Sebastian Stan for “The Apprentice.”

In the best actress category, Demi Moore is riding an awards-season wave, having won at the Golden Globes (for musical or comedy), SAG Awards and Critics Choice Awards for her role in the body-horror drama/comedy “The Substance” as a fading actress who discovers a black-market drug that restores youth — with all manner of unexpected side-effects.

Moore’s biggest competition for an Oscar would appear to be Madison in “Anora,” coming off wins at the Spirit Awards and at BAFTA. Also nominated for best actress Oscars are Gascón, Cynthia Erivo for “Wicked” and Fernanda Torres (a Golden Globe winner in the drama category) for “I’m Still Here.”

In the supporting actor and actress categories Sunday, Kieran Culkin (for “A Real Pain”) and Zoe Saldaña (for “Emilia Pérez”) would seem the front-runners. Each is coming off wins at the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards, the Critics Choice and BAFTA, while Culkin also picked up a Spirit Award for best supporting performance.

The Oscars’ other glamour category — best director — brings nominations to Jacques Audiard for “Emilia Pérez,” Sean Baker for “Anora,” Brady Corbet for “The Brutalist,” James Mangold for “A Complete Unknown” and Coralie Fargeat for “The Substance.”

Baker won this year’s award from the Directors Guild, traditionally an indicator of who takes home an Oscar.

Sunday’s telecast will feature the usual array of A-List presenters, including Halle Berry, Samuel L. Jackson, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Robert Downey Jr., Elle Fanning, Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, Goldie Hawn, Scarlett Johansson, John Lithgow and Cillian Murphy.

Also scheduled to present are Saldaña, Gal Gadot, Dave Bautista, Andrew Garfield,  Margaret Qualley, Alba Rohrwacher, Rachel Zegler, Joe Alwyn, Sterling K. Brown, Ana de Armas, Lily-Rose Depp, Connie Nielsen, Amy Poehler, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, June Squibb, Ben Stiller, Emma Stone, Oprah Winfrey and Bowen Yang.

Harrison Ford had been scheduled to be a presenter, but he withdrew on Saturday, reportedly after a diagnosis of shingles.

“Wicked” stars Erivo and Ariana Grande will perform during Sunday’s ceremony, as will Doja Cat, LISA of Blackpink, Queen Latifah, RAYE and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Here is a complete list of the nominations.

Best Picture
— “Anora”
— “The Brutalist”
— “A Complete Unknown”
— “Conclave”
— “Dune: Part Two”
— “Emilia Pérez”
— “I’m Still Here”
— “Nickel Boys”
— “The Substance”
— “Wicked”

Best Actor
— Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
— Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown”
— Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing”
— Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave”
— Sebastian Stan, “The Apprentice”

Best Supporting Actor
— Yura Borisov, “Anora”
— Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”
— Edward Norton, “A Complete Unknown”
— Guy Pearce, “The Brutalist”
— Jeremy Strong, “The Apprentice”

Best Actress
— Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked”
— Karla Sofía Gascón, “Emilia Pérez”
— Mikey Madison, “Anora”
— Demi Moore, “The Substance”
— Fernanda Torres, “I’m Still Here”

Best Supporting Actress
— Monica Barbaro, “A Complete Unknown”
— Ariana Grande, “Wicked”
— Felicity Jones, “The Brutalist”
— Isabella Rossellini, “Conclave”
— Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez”

Best Director
— Sean Baker, “Anora”
— Brady Corbet, “The Brutalist”
— James Mangold, “A Complete Unknown”
— Jacques Audiard, “Emilia Pérez”
— Coralie Fargeat, “The Substance”

Best Animated Feature Film
— “Flow”
— “Inside Out 2″
— “Memoir of a Snail”
— “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”
— “The Wild Robot”

Best Animated Short Film
— “Beautiful Men”
— “In the Shadow of the Cypress”
— “Magic Candies”
— “Wander to Wonder”
— “Yuck!”

Cinematography
— Lol Crawley, “The Brutalist”
— Greig Fraser, “Dune: Part Two”
— Greig Fraser, “Emilia Pérez”
— Ed Lachman, “Maria”
— Jarin Blaschke, “Nosferatu”

Costume Design
— Arianne Phillips, “A Complete Unknown”
— Lisy Christl, “Conclave”
— Janty Yates and Dave Crossman, “Gladiator II”
— Linda Muir, “Nosferatu”
— Paul Tazewell, “Wicked”

Documentary Feature Film
— “Black Box Diaries”
— “No Other Land”
— “Porcelain War”
— “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”
— “Sugarcane”

Documentary Short Film
— “Death by Numbers”
— “I Am Ready, Warden”
—  “Incident”
— “Instruments of a Beating Heart”
— “The Only Girl in the Orchestra”

Film Editing
— Sean Baker, “Anora”
— David Jancso, “The Brutalist”
— Nick Emerson, “Conclave”
— Juliette Welfling, “Emilia Pérez”
— Myron Kerstein, “Wicked”

International Feature Film
— “I’m Still Here” (Brazil)
— “The Girl with the Needle” (Denmark)
— “Emilia Pérez” (France)
— “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (Germany)
— “Flow” (Latvia)

Makeup and Hairstyling
— “A Different Man”
— “Emilia Pérez”
— “Nosferatu”
— “The Substance”
— “Wicked”

Original Score
— “The Brutalist,” Daniel Blumberg
— “Conclave,” Volker Bertelmann
— “Emilia Pérez,” Clément Ducol and Camille
— “Wicked,” John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
—  “The Wild Robot,” Kris Bowers

Original Song
— “El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez”
— “The Journey” from “The Six Triple Eight”
— “Like A Bird” from “Sing Sing”
— “Mi Camino” from “Emilia Pérez”
— “Never Too Late” from “Elton John: Never Too Late”

Production Design
— “The Brutalist”
— “Conclave”
— “Dune: Part Two”
— “Nosferatu”
— “Wicked”

Live Action Short Film
— “A Lien”
— “Anuja”
— “I’m Not a Robot”
— “The Last Ranger”
— “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent”

Sound
— “A Complete Unknown”
— “Dune: Part Two”
— “Emilia Pérez”
— “Wicked”
— “The Wild Robot”

Visual Effects
— “Alien: Romulus”
— “Better Man”
— “Dune: Part Two”
— “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”
— “Wicked”

Adapted Screenplay
— “A Complete Unknown”
— “Conclave”
— “Emilia Pérez”
— “Nickel Boys”
— “Sing Sing”

Original Screenplay
— “Anora”
— “The Brutalist”
— “A Real Pain”
— “September 5″
— “The Substance”

(CNS)