"The Academy made their decision. Congratulations Adrien"

Oscars recap.

Btw everybody say happy birthday Remy!

Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Zoe Saldaña, and Kieran Culkin pose in the press room during the 97th Annual Oscars. (Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

It’s strange to watch an Oscars where nothing makes me overly happy but nothing makes me feel too bummed. At the 97th Annual Academy Awards last night, Anora won Best Picture, Director, Actress, Original Screenplay, and Editing. The Brutalist won three awards; Wicked, Dune: Part II, and Emilia Pérez each won two trophies apiece.

A friend told me once that between two great performances, people vote for the speech they want to hear most on Oscar night. Zoe Saldaña was a lead performance competing in the supporting category, or she disappeared midway through the movie, or she’s incredibly overdue, or *scrolls past 50 photos of her in skin-darkening makeup to play Nina Simone*. Her performance in Emilia Pérez was at least better than the movie, but I did like her speech. It struck the right balance of emotional, thoughtful, giddy, and candid.

The prize for starring in four of the top six highest grossing movies of all time is … just money. And yet Saldaña did a good job of making this moment meaningful as an actress who has done and tried almost everything — she starred in Center Stage twenty years ago, cycled through franchises and black family comedies (Guess Who, the American Death at a Funeral remake), booms and busts and a relationship with Bradley Cooper — to end up on top. But the paradox of Emilia Pérez is its emptiness: this was a movie about a Mexican trans woman and none of its winners could say anything about the political threats to trans lives around the world. In the press room afterwards, Saldaña gave a condescending reply to a question about Mexican moviegoers’ valid criticisms of the film.

@accesshollywood#ZoeSaldana is disagreeing with #EmiliaPerez critics. #awardseason

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I wanted Timothée Chalamet to win, if only for the Club Chalamet reactions, and because he honestly still deserves for Call Me by Your Name. He was bested by Adrien Brody. Brody tossed his gum to his partner, Georgina Chapman, as he took the stage. Brody rambled a bit before the music swelled to cut him short. “Turn the music off! I’ve done this before,” he said onstage. “Thank you. It’s not my first rodeo, but I will be brief.”