The race has been utterly chaotic and unpredictable so far – so what can we expect from the night itself?
Image: Pic: Reuters
When and where?
The 97th Academy Awards will be held today at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
The red carpet will begin at 3.30pm Eastern time, which is 8.30pm UK time, followed by the ceremony at 7pm Eastern time, which is midnight in the UK. It will be a late night for the UK’s movie lovers, but worth staying up to see who takes home a gong on the night.
Traditionally the last awards ceremony of awards season, this year’s Oscar ceremony follows the devastating wildfires which tore through Los Angeles in early January.
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The Academy twice extended their voting period, postponing the announcement of nominations, but remained steadfast on the 2 March ceremony, arguing that the show must go on as a symbol of resilience.
Accordingly, this year’s Oscar theme is “celebration of connection”, and will aim to unite the global film community following scenes of destruction so close to home.
Image: Conan O’Brien. Pic: AP
Who’s hosting?
Comedian and late-night show host Conan O’Brien will present for the first time.
Previous stints writing for The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live stand him in good stead, and while he’s unlikely to roast any of the esteemed A-listers in attendance, his irreverential style offers scope for some potential off-the-cuff fun.
He follows in the footsteps of Jimmy Kimmel, three-for-one trio Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes and several years of hostless Oscar ceremonies.
Image: Cynthia Erivo (L) and Ariana Grande at the Golden Globes. Pic: AP
Who’s performing?
Usually, the best original song nominees perform on the night – but not this year.
The Academy have said they wanted to “move away from live performances”, and instead focus on songwriters.
Others have suggested criticism around the clunkiness of some Emilia Perez lyrics (two of the narco-musical’s numbers have made it into the category) may have led to a performance re-think.
Plus, the songs from Wicked weren’t even eligible for best song because they were inherited from the Broadway musical and so not original to the movie.
Image: Flying the flag for the UK, Raye. Pic: AP
But while there’s a little confusion around the choice, there’s one thing everyone agrees on: It would be criminal to have Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in the house and not having them belt out a number – so they’re scheduled to sing on the night.
Other performances include singer Doja Cat, Blackpink and White Lotus star Lisa, rapper Queen Latifah and British singer Raye.
There will also be a musical tribute to late producer and composer Quincy Jones and a special appearance by the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
Image: (R-L): Cillian Murphy, Emma Stone, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Robert Downey Jr. Pic: Reuters
What awards are given out?
There are 23 categories to award during the three-hour ceremony (this will go up to 24 next year when a casting category is added).
No wonder winners are encouraged to keep to 45 seconds in their acceptance speeches, after which point music is played to subtly encourage them off-stage.
Image: Rachel Zegler will present an award. Pic: Retuters
Who’s presenting?
The latest stars to be announced as presenters include Dave Bautista, Harrison Ford, Gal Gadot, Andrew Garfield, Samuel L Jackson, Margaret Qualley, Alba Rohrwacher, Zoe Saldana and Rachel Zegler.
Last year’s four best actor category winners Robert Downey Jr, Cillian Murphy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Emma Stone will return to hand out awards.
Previously announced presenters include Joe Alwyn, Halle Berry, Sterling K Brown, Penelope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Ana de Armas, Lily-Rose Depp, Elle Fanning, Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, Goldie Hawn, Scarlett Johansson, John Lithgow, Connie Nielsen, Amy Poehler, June Squibb, Ben Stiller, Oprah Winfrey and Bowen Yang.
Image: Pic: Neon
Who do we reckon will win?
It’s one of the most hotly contested competitions in years, and clear front-runners few and far between.
Many feel the best supporting actor categories are the closest to being locked in, with Kieran Culkin the favourite to take best supporting actor and Zoe Saldana the most likely Emilia Perez star to take home a gong following the movie’s self-destructing campaign.
Best actor is largely seen as a fight between Adrien Brody for The Brutalist (it would be his second Oscar win) and Ralph Fiennes for his turn as an affable cardinal in Conclave.
Best actress is expected to be a battle between Demi Moore for The Substance and Mikey Madison for Anora.
Best director could well be handed to Anora’s Sean Baker or The Brutalist’s Brady Corbet, while the most prestigious gong of the night – best picture – is expected to go to Anora or Conclave.
Image: Fernanda Torres stars in I’m Still Here. Pic: Altitude
Any surprises on the cards?
In best actor, Timothee Chalamet, in his ongoing pursuit for greatness, could swoop in and take the prize over Brody and Fiennes. At 29 he’d become the youngest ever winner.
In best actress, Brazilian star Fernanda Torres – despite being previously pretty much unknown in the US – has become the name on everyone’s lips for her lead role in I’m Still Here.
With many voters not watching the film until late in the day, it’s likely to have been fresh in their minds come voting week, and as a word-of-mouth hit might have swayed voters in their final hours.
If Torres were to win, she’d achieve a feat that evaded her mother, actress Fernanda Montenegro, who was up for the prize in 1999. Montenegro was pipped to the post by Gwyneth Paltrow, who famously sobbed her way through her emotional acceptance speech.
I’m Still Here could cause an upset in best picture too. Up for best international feature, best actress and best picture, if it took the latter prize – traditionally the biggest win of the night – it would be a Parasite-like surprise coup for the foreign language film, and only the second time a non-English language film has ever taken the gong following Bong Joon-ho’s shock win.
Sky News will be liveblogging the whole night – from red carpet arrivals through to the ceremony – and will follow up with a hosted livestream from the Vanity Fair and Sir Elton John after-party red carpets, catching the Oscar-winners as they party the night away.
Actor Michael Madsen, who starred in Reservoir Dogs and Thelma & Louise, died from heart failure, his cardiologist has said.
The 67-year-old was found unresponsive in his home in Malibu, California, last Thursday and pronounced dead.
His doctor said heart disease and alcoholism will be listed as factors which contributed to the star’s death, reported NBC Los Angeles.
With no suspicious circumstances and the death listed as being from natural causes, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department considers the case closed.
In a career spanning more than 40 years, Madsen’s film credits include Free Willy, Donnie Brasco and Sin City.
He was also known for his collaborations with director Quentin Tarantino, including in Kill Bill: Vol. 2, The Hateful Eight and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
The Chicago-born actor also linked up with Tarantino when he played Mr Blonde in 1992’s Reservoir Dogs.
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Image: Madsen played numerous roles, including Mr Blonde in Reservoir Dogs. Pic: THA/Shutterstock
His sister, Oscar-nominated actress Virginia Madsen, paid tribute to her brother in a statement to Variety.
She wrote: “My brother Michael has left the stage.
“He was thunder and velvet. Mischief wrapped in tenderness. A poet disguised as an outlaw. A father, a son, a brother – etched in contradiction, tempered by love that left its mark.”
Madsen was preparing to release a new book called Tears For My Father: Outlaw Thoughts And Poems.
A statement by managers Susan Ferris and Smith, and publicist Liz Rodriguez, said the book by “one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors” was currently being edited.
Horse-drawn carriages, picturesque gardens and endless cups of tea are just some of the stereotypical tropes that have shaped America’s romanticised image of England before even stepping foot on the island.
Thanks to classical literature and a steady stream of period dramas, Lena Dunham was no exception.
“I had so many fantasies,” she tells Sky News about growing up slightly obsessed with British culture.
“I loved Jane Austen, I loved Charlotte Bronte, I love British film, I was one of those little Anglophile kids.”
The writer and director believed it would be that area of classically depicted England that would fill her time when she first moved to “jolly old London” as a teenager with her mother for a brief time.
Instead, her attention was taken by another, and possibly equally influential group of artists.
“There was a pop show about S Club 7 and all I did was just sit in the hotel and obsessively watch things relating to [the group],” she said.
“So, I didn’t go home with all this cultural British knowledge. I went home with a deep abiding love of S Club 7 and came back to school when everyone was obsessed with the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.
“For me, I was literally like, ‘Guys, you got to hear this hot track right off the presses, it’s called Reach For The Stars’.”
Image: Pic: Netflix
It wasn’t until her 30s, when the actress moved again to the city, that reality took hold and she quickly learned the difference between the imagined London and the real city.
Some stereotypes hold true, like the universal love for Paddington. Still, TV tropes like renting a flat on a single income in the city does not necessarily mean you’ll be treated to lavish rooms and a picturesque garden.
She says it was social cues she found most challenging to adjust to, as well as the different dictionaries used when speaking, technically, the same language.
“You come to a new country and even though you speak the same language, you’re totally absent from those tools,” she says.
“And I found that really striking as an adult in my 30s, trying to make friends, trying to date. I found it confusing enough to be a person in my own city of origin, so this was extra confounding.”
Too Much, her new Netflixseries, is loosely inspired by her own London chapter and follows a workaholic New Yorker in her 30s who is sent across the Atlantic to work on a new project.
The 10-episode show is produced by Working Title – the company behind Bridget Jones, Notting Hill, About A Boy and Love Actually – and stars Hacks breakout actress Megan Stalter and The White Lotus actor Will Sharpe.
Image: Pic: Netflix
Dunham says she always wanted to write about her time in the UK, but it was a conversation with Irish actor Andrew Scott that got the ball rolling.
“Actually, he’s the reason that I came to know Meg as an actor because he loved her on Hacks and he loved her videos, and he said: ‘Have you watched this woman’s work? I feel like there’s a real connection between you two’, and I started watching because of him and built a show around her.”
In a full circle moment, Scott appears in the series briefly as an arrogantly odd man who crosses paths with Megan Stalter’s character Jessica.
Image: Pic: Netflix
The Ridley actor isn’t the only famous face joining the cast in a cameo role. Dunham put a call out to most of Hollywood, and luckily lots were on board.
To name just a few, guest stars include Jessica Alba, Stephen Fry, Adwoa Aboah, Kit Harington, Rita Wilson, Rita Ora, Richard E Grant, Emily Ratajkowski, Andrew Scott, Prasanna Puwanarajah and Jennifer Saunders.
“It was one of those situations where you just reach for the stars, literally, and then you can’t believe when they appear,” says Dunham.
“It was just a non-stop parade of people that I was fascinated by, wanted to be around, completely enamoured of.”
Image: A whole host of high-profile cameos feature in Lena Dunham’s Too Much
She adds: “I remember asking Naomi Watson, thinking, there’s absolutely no way that you’re going to want to come play this slightly demented woman. And she’s so playful and she’s so joyful and she just wanted to come and engage.
“Also, Jennifer Saunders has meant so much to me for so long, I had the AbFab box set as a kid, and I just think Patsy and Edina are the ultimate kind of messy women.
“She really showed me what comedy could be and… the space that women could occupy in comedy, and so having her come and join the show was really incredible.
“That was an episode that someone else was directing, Alicia McDonald, an amazing director, so I just got to sit and watch at the monitor like I was watching a movie, and it was very surreal for me.”
Former MasterChef host Gregg Wallace has vowed he will “not go quietly”, amid reports that he has been sacked by the BBC.
It comes after the TV hostfaced an investigation, commissioned by MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK, into alleged inappropriate behaviour while working for the BBC.
In November, the 60-year-old stepped back from presenting the cooking show after accusations that he made sexual comments towards staff and celebrity guests on a range of programmes over 17 years.
Image: Gregg Wallace received an MBE for services to food and charity in 2023. Pic: PA
Broadcaster Kirsty Wark, author and actor Emma Kennedy, and presenter Kirstie Allsopp, were among the high-profile figures who made claims of inappropriate behaviour against Wallace.
In a statement, released ahead of the publication of the summary of a report into the claims, the 60-year-old said he had been “cleared of the most serious and sensational accusations” made against him.
However, he said the report, carried out by independent law firm Lewis Silkin, had found him “primarily guilty of inappropriate language between 2005 and 2018”.
Wallace’s statement, published on Instagram, came hours before the BBC News reported that 50 more people had made claims to the corporation against the presenter, including allegations he groped one MasterChef worker and pulled his trousers down in front of another.
In his statement, Wallace labelled BBC News’s claims as “uncorroborated tittle-tattle”.
Wallace wrote: “I have taken the decision to speak out ahead of the publication of the Silkin’s report – a decision I do not take lightly.
“But after 21 years of loyal service to the BBC, I cannot sit in silence while my reputation is further damaged to protect others.
“I have now been cleared by the Silkin’s report of the most serious and sensational accusations made against me.
“The most damaging claims (including from public figures which have not been upheld) were found to be baseless after a full and forensic six-month investigation.
“To be clear, the Silkin’s report exonerates me of all the serious allegations which made headlines last year and finds me primarily guilty of inappropriate language between 2005 and 2018.”
Image: Gregg Wallace on MasterChef. Pic: BBC/ Shine TV 2024
‘I was hired as the cheeky greengrocer – now that’s a problem’
Wallace said he recognised that “some of my humour and language” was at times “inappropriate” and, for that, he apologised “without reservation”.
“But I was never the caricature now being sold for clicks,” Wallace, who also referred to his recent diagnosis of autism, added.
“I was hired by the BBC and MasterChef as the cheeky greengrocer. A real person with warmth, character, rough edges, and all.
“For over two decades, that authenticity was part of the brand. Now, in a sanitised world, that same personality is seen as a problem.”
Image: Wallace and his partner Anna Wallace, pictured in 2014
Wallace: Complaints from ‘middle-class women of a certain age’
Shortly after the allegations first emerged, Wallace recorded a video where he dismissed his accusers as “middle-class women of a certain age”.
His remarks were met with huge criticism – including from Downing Street, where a spokesperson for the prime minister described them as “completely inappropriate and misogynistic”.
Wallace responded by posting a follow-up clip where he apologised and said he “wasn’t in a good space” when he posted the comments.
In April, Wallace spoke to the Daily Mail, denying all accusations against him and saying he had contemplated suicide following the allegations.
Wallace’s lawyers have previously called allegations that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature “entirely false”.
A spokesperson for the BBC said: “Banijay UK instructed the law firm Lewis Silkin to run an investigation into allegations against Gregg Wallace. We are not going to comment until the investigation is complete and the findings are published.”
A Banijay spokesperson told Sky News: “We won’t be commenting until our report is published.” They have signalled the report will be published later this week or next.
Banijay previously said Wallace is “committed to fully co-operating” with the external review.
Alongside MasterChef, Wallace presented Inside The Factory for BBC Two from 2015 to 2023.
He also featured on various BBC shows over the years, including Saturday Kitchen, Eat Well For Less, Supermarket Secrets, Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals, as well as being a Strictly Come Dancing contestant in 2014.
More recently, Wallace has been promoting his health and lifestyle website, offering one-to-one coaching from both himself and a team of experts, which includes nutritionists and doctors, and his wife Anna in the role of recipe curator.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.