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Aug 11, 2023

Highlights From the 2023 Oscars: Awards, Speeches and More

Michelle Yeoh made history as the first Asian best actress winner, and Brendan

Michelle Yeoh made history as the first Asian best actress winner, and Brendan Fraser won best actor for "The Whale." "All Quiet on the Western Front" won best international feature.

‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ wins best picture.

Michelle Yeoh makes history as the first Asian best actress winner at the Oscars.

The Daniels become the third directing duo to win an Oscar.

Brooks Barnes

In the late 1960s, young cineastes shook up a moribund film industry by delivering idiosyncratic, startlingly original work. The moment became known as New Hollywood.

When film historians look back at the 95th Academy Awards, they may mark it as the start of a new New Hollywood. Voters honored A24's head-twisting, sex toy-brandishing, TikTok-era "Everything Everywhere All at Once" with the Oscar for best picture — along with six other awards — while naming Netflix's German-language war epic "All Quiet on the Western Front" the winner in four categories, including best international film.

The Daniels, the young filmmaking duo behind the racially diverse "Everything Everywhere All at Once," won Oscars for their original screenplay and directing. (The Daniels is an oh-so-cool sobriquet for Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. They are both 35.) The film, which received a field-leading 11 nominations, also won Oscars for film editing, best actress and best supporting actor and actress, with Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis honored for their performances.

"Ladies, don't let anybody ever tell you that you are ever past your prime," Yeoh, 60, said when accepting the best actress Oscar. "Never give up." She was the first Asian woman to receive the award.

Quan's win provided the Academy Awards with a hall-of-fame comeback story: After early success in movies like "The Goonies" and "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," his acting career grew so cold that he turned to stunt work. "Dreams are something you have to believe in," Quan said as tears streamed down his face and A-list attendees gave him a standing ovation. "I almost gave up on mine. To everyone out there, please keep your dreams alive."

Curtis was also in tears by the time she reached the fiery conclusion of her acceptance speech. "To all of the people who have supported the genre movies that I have made for all these years," she said, "the thousands and hundreds of thousands of people, we just won an Oscar together!"

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spread nominations remarkably far and wide this year. Two blockbuster sequels, "Avatar: The Way of Water" and "Top Gun: Maverick," made the best picture cut. So did the little-seen art films "Triangle of Sadness," "Women Talking" and "Tár." Voters also made room for a musical ("Elvis") and a memory piece ("The Fabelmans").

In some ways, spreading nominations widely reflected the jumbled state of Hollywood. No one in the movie capital seems to know which end is up, with streaming services like Netflix hot then not, and studios unsure about how many films to release in theaters and whether anything but superheroes, sequels and horror stories can succeed. Over the weekend, "Scream VI" was the top movie at the North American box office, with an estimated $44.5 million in ticket sales.

First-time nominees filled 16 of the 20 acting slots, with new stars like Austin Butler ("Elvis"), Barry Keoghan ("The Banshees of Inisherin"), Brian Tyree Henry ("Causeway"), Paul Mescal ("Aftersun") and Stephanie Hsu ("Everything Everywhere All at Once") honored for breakthrough roles.

But first-time acting nominations also went to Hollywood stalwarts like Curtis, Yeoh and Brendan Fraser. To some degree, the inclusion of Quan, Curtis, Fraser and Yeoh was seen as redemption for Hollywood: All had somehow been cast to the side at some point over their careers.

An overcome Fraser, who won the Oscar for best actor for his performance as an obese professor in "The Whale," thanked Darren Aronofsky, the film's director, "for throwing me a creative lifeline."

The academy was also trying to balance old and new in the Oscars ceremony itself. The academy's chief executive had promised a return to the polished, glamorous Oscar ceremonies of the past to recover from last year's chaotic telecast, when an angry Will Smith walked onstage and slapped Chris Rock. In a change from last year, when eight categories were scuttled to a nontelevised portion, all 23 Oscars were handed out live on air.

As host, Jimmy Kimmel arrived on the Oscars stage by parachute, moments after a pair of "Top Gun"-style fighter jets flew over the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles at 345 miles per hour. He then breezed through a self-assured monologue that left the A-listers seated before him cheering in support. He teased Steven Spielberg — gently — for his lack of recreational drug use and Fraser and Quan for once appearing together in "Encino Man." It was the kind of affable ribbing that once made Billy Crystal the king of the Oscar M.C.'s.

"And if any of you get offended by a joke and decide you want to come up here and get jiggy with it? It's not going to be easy," Kimmel said, addressing last year's slap without directly mentioning Smith. He then joked that people like Michael B. Jordan, the "Creed" star, and Pedro Pascal, who plays the title role in "The Mandalorian," were prepared to intervene.

"Seriously, the academy has a crisis team in place," Kimmel said. "If anything unpredictable or violent happens during the ceremony, just do what you did last year — nothing. Maybe even give the assailant a hug."

As expected, "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio" received the Oscar for best animated feature, and "Navalny" was honored as best documentary. Less anticipated was Ruth Carter's win for her "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" costume design. (Most awards handicappers had predicted victory for the "Elvis" costume designer Catherine Martin. Carter also won for "Black Panther" in 2019.)

The #OscarsSoWhite outcries from 2015 and 2016, prompted by all-white slates of acting nominees, continue to reverberate at the academy, which has been trying to diversify its membership by race, gender and nationality. Nearly 50 percent of the academy's most recent class of new members came from overseas. About 25 percent of the academy's total membership of 10,000 now comes from outside the United States.

But the academy was criticized this year for not nominating any women in the best director category. For decades, women and people of color were almost entirely excluded from the directing race. In 2021, for the first time, two women were nominated: Chloé Zhao ("Nomadland") and Emerald Fennell ("Promising Young Woman"), with Zhao winning. Last year, Jane Campion ("The Power of the Dog") won the Oscar for directing.

This year, Sarah Polley ("Women Talking") was left out even though her film was nominated for best picture. (Polley won for her adapted screenplay.) "I give up," Patty Jenkins, whose directing credits include "Wonder Woman" and "Monster," told Variety on Saturday about women being shut out of the category. "It's still going to take a long ways to go. It's going to take a lot more to really see truly more diverse awards."

The internationalization of the academy was on display among this year's directing nominees. The Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund ("Triangle of Sadness") and the British-born Martin McDonagh ("The Banshees of Inisherin") were honored. Joining them were Todd Field (Tár) and the Daniels. Filling out the best director category was Spielberg — a director who was once part of that New Hollywood crew and is now a Hollywood elder statesman with nine total nominations for directing, this one for "The Fabelmans."

The academy emphasized that the ceremony would feel modern — part of an urgent effort to make the telecast more relevant to young people. The 2022 show drew 16.6 million viewers, the second-worst turnout on record after the pandemic-affected 2021 telecast. If the Nielsen ratings do not improve, the academy faces a financial precipice: Most of its revenue comes from the sale of broadcasting rights to the show. Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake. (The most-viewed Oscars telecast was in 1998, when 57.2 million people watched "Titanic" win the trophy for best picture.)

Big musical stars, including Rihanna and Lady Gaga, sang their nominated songs; Lenny Kravitz performed during the "In Memoriam" segment. The best song Oscar went to "Naatu Naatu" from the Indian film "RRR." The nominee pool for best picture had never before included more than one billion-dollar ticket seller, according to box office databases, and this year there were two. "Top Gun: Maverick" collected $1.5 billion, and "Avatar: The Way of Water" took in $2.3 billion. (Viewership tends to increase when popular films are nominated.)

In another change, the red carpet was not red: Stars walked a champagne-colored rug, breaking with a 62-year tradition. The choice was made as part of an overhaul of the preshow spectacle, which, for the first time, was managed by members of the Met Gala's creative team. In the days leading up to the Oscars, another in a series of rainstorms soaked Los Angeles, so much so that the academy sent an alert to the news media on Wednesday warning that it may "need to clear the carpet at a moment's notice." In the end, the weather cooperated, and it was a sunny 63 degrees.

Kalia Richardson

The Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro and the nominated actress Cate Blanchett were among several participants at the Academy Awards on Sunday who donned blue ribbons in support of refugees who fled their homes to escape war, conflict and persecution.

As part of the #WithRefugees initiative, the United Nations Refugee Agency invited del Toro, Blanchett, best actor nominee Bill Nighy, "All Quiet on the Western Front" director Edward Berger and "Triangle of Sadness" star Dolly de Leon to wear the ribbons.

Blanchett, one of the agency's Goodwill ambassador, said that when she met with refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Bangladesh and Britain, she was struck by the similarities she shared with them rather than their differences.

"What I love about film is the way it draws us into compelling human themes to uncover the connective tissue that binds us all," Blanchett said in a statement.

The pins were also present at the BAFTAs, where Colin Farrell, Daryl McCormack and Paul Mescal, among others, sported the ribbons.

Share your comments about the Oscars here.

Kalia Richardson

In a category filled with first-time nominees, Brendan Fraser took home the Oscar for best actor for his turn as a 600-pound college instructor mostly confined to his apartment in "The Whale." After wins at the Screen Actors Guild and Critics Choice Awards, the Academy Award capped a remarkable comeback story.

Based on a play by Samuel D. Hunter, the film centers on Fraser's Charlie in the last days of his life as his ex-wife, estranged daughter, nurse friend and others visit. "Encased in prosthetic flesh," Fraser gives a performance "that is sometimes disarmingly graceful," the Times critic A.O. Scott wrote in his review, adding that the actor "uses his voice and his big, sad eyes to convey a delicacy at odds with the character's corporeal grossness."

In an emotional speech overflowing with underwater metaphors, Fraser thanked A24, the studio behind the film, along with his fellow nominees.

"Gentlemen, you laid your whale-sized hearts bare so that we could see into your souls like no one else could do," Fraser said.

Fraser was nominated alongside Austin Butler for "Elvis," Colin Farrell for "The Banshees of Inisherin," Paul Mescal for "Aftersun" and Bill Nighy for "Living."

The portrayal set off a debate about fat-shaming and the movies. The Times columnist Roxane Gay wrote in December that Fraser's "performance makes him a strong contender for all the major awards, and that's a shame — not because he doesn't deserve them but because what's also being rewarded is such a demeaning portrayal of a fat man."

Fraser took pains to explain that his work was based on consultations with members of the Obesity Action Coalition. He spoke to The Times of "the constant harangue that people who live in oversized bodies have to endure in their daily life," adding, "They become overlooked by doctors, they don't get the same attention. That really does play at your confidence."

And the actor could relate to confidence being undermined. He found stardom quickly with mainstream hits like the 1992 films "Encino Man" and "School Ties." But he seemed to disappear from the screen in the 2000s. As the Projectionist columnist Kyle Buchanan chronicled in a recent profile, Fraser was dealing with "a costly divorce, injuries incurred from years of grueling stunt work, and a sexual assault that he said was committed by the former Golden Globes boss Philip Berk and that caused him to withdraw from the spotlight." (Berk has denied the accusation.)

In 2020, the director Darren Aronofsky came across an old movie trailer featuring Fraser, a serendipitous moment that led to his casting in "The Whale" and, ultimately, to the Oscar. (His co-star Hong Chau was also nominated but lost to Jamie Lee Curtis of "Everything Everywhere All at Once." Fraser thanked Chau in his speech, saying that "only whales can swim at the depths of the talent of Hong Chau.")

Throughout awards season Fraser was considered the favorite, in part because of his humble reaction to the turn his life has taken. He told Buchanan, "I’ll take nothing for granted, knowing how far-reaching this journey has been."

Wesley Morris

I think we’re done, but I suspect this night isn't done with us, mostly in a good way for a change. It's always a pleasure weeping and wilding and wilting our way through this together. Thanks, everybody who followed along. It's been an honor.

Reggie Ugwu

This has been fun, y’all! See you on the other side of the great everything bagel in the sky.

Reggie Ugwu

It did look close there for a minute with significant wins for "All Quiet," but in the end we are where we thought we would be. A huge deal for the entire "EEAAO" creative team, and hopefully major validation for studios to take longshot bets on original and adventurous ideas.

Wesley Morris

Reggie, from your mouth to the studios’ ears.

Matt Stevens

When Ke Huy Quan won the Oscar for best supporting actor midway through Sunday's Academy Awards, he made his own bit of history, becoming the first Oscar winner of Vietnamese ancestry.

And Quan's victory for his performance in "Everything Everywhere All at Once" opened a path toward another milestone: Never in the history of the Academy Awards had two Asian actors won in a single year.

So, later Sunday night, when Michelle Yeoh, one of Quan's co-stars, captured the best actress Oscar, her win powered more than one significant breakthrough. Yeoh became the first Asian best actress winner in Oscars history, and the first Malaysian to win an Oscar; and the pair of triumphs by Yeoh and Quan marked the first time that more than one performer of Asian descent won an Oscar in a single year.

"For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities," Yeoh said when accepting her best actress award. "This is proof that dreams — dream big, and dreams do come true."

"This is history in the making," she added. "Thank you."

A total of four actors of Asian ancestry were recognized with Oscar nominations this year, a record number for Asian performers. In addition to Yeoh and Quan, Stephanie Hsu, who also stars in "Everything Everywhere All at Once," was up for supporting actress nomination, as was Hong Chau of "The Whale."

In the run-up to the Oscars, an analysis by The New York Times found that Asian stars have rarely been part of the Academy Awards. Of the 1,808 acting award nominees, only 23 could be identified as Asian; coming into Sunday, only four had ever won.

Kyle Buchanan

With three acting wins, plus director, picture and original screenplay, "Everything Everywhere" has won more above-the-line Oscars than any movie ever in the 95 years they’ve thrown this show.

Julia Jacobs

The Academy Awards paid tribute to mainstays of the film industry who died over the past year: from onscreen stars like Olivia Newton-John ("Grease") and Angela Lansbury ("Gaslight," "Murder, She Wrote"), to behind-the-scenes luminaries, including the French director Jean-Luc Godard and Burt Bacharach, a three-time Oscar winner for his soundtracks.

There were also tributes to Irene Cara, a triple-threat performer known for "Flashdance" and "Fame"; Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid in the "Harry Potter" films; Gina Lollobrigida, an Italian actress who rose to fame in the United States in the 1950s"; Mary Alice, who was known for "Sparkle" and "Beat Street" in addition to her stage and television work; Kirstie Alley, who starred in the "Look Who's Talking" movies; and Louise Fletcher, who won an Oscar for playing Nurse Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Paired with a performance by Lenny Kravitz, the carousel of memorials included prolific actors (Irene Papas and Raquel Welch among them); onscreen mobsters (Ray Liotta, James Caan); and industry veterans known for their off-camera work (including Tom Whitlock, who co-wrote two songs that helped elevate the 1986 "Top Gun" into a pop-culture phenomenon).

In a rare joke about the In Memoriam segment, the host of the ceremony, Jimmy Kimmel, asked viewers to get out their phones and "vote if you think Robert Blake should be part of the In Memoriam montage," referring to the actor who was put on trial for the murder of his wife and was acquitted. (The Academy did not include him in the montage.)

Melena Ryzik

Googly eyes forever.

Matt Stevens

"Everything Everywhere All at Once," a tender, world-jumping sci-fi and action drama that features hot-dog fingers, sex toys and a deeply affecting scene between two rocks on a cliff, capped a stunningly successful award-season run on Sunday, winning the Oscar for best picture.

The film, directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, came into the evening as the favorite for the top award. It earned a total of 11 Oscar nominations and had taken top prizes from the actors, writers, producers and directors guilds earlier in the year. Only four other films ("American Beauty," "Argo," "No Country for Old Men" and "Slumdog Millionaire") have completed that sweep and all went on to best picture.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" had been thought to be a potential dark horse as a favorite among older voters in the academy who found "Everything Everywhere" too head-spinning for their taste. But in the end, the eccentric movie, which was a hit among both critics and audiences, continued its hot streak and won big.

Earlier in the evening, Ke Huy Quan won for supporting actor; Jamie Lee Curtis won for supporting actress; Michelle Yeoh won for best actress; Paul Rogers won for editing; and the Daniels won for best director and original screenplay. With the addition of best picture, "Everything Everywhere All at Once" became the film with the most marquee wins in Oscar history. It won seven Oscars in total.

"This is for my dad, who like so many immigrant parents, died young," Jonathan Wang, a producer of the movie, said in accepting the award. "And he is so proud of me, not because of this. But because we made this movie with what he taught me to do, which is, no person is more important than profits, and no one is more important than anyone else. And these weirdos right here supported me in doing that."

Kyle Buchanan

A24 just swept all six of the top Oscar categories. Unprecedented!

Reggie Ugwu

It's a testament to the Daniels’ achievement that "moms are the real superheroes" is a credible logline for their film and yet somehow it wasn't pure treacle.

Nicole Sperling

Michelle Yeoh won the best actress Oscar at Sunday night's ceremony for her role as a beleaguered wife, mother and laundromat owner whose life is turned upside down when she is thrown into multiple parallel universes in A24's genre-bending hit "Everything, Everywhere All at Once." The victory makes her the first Asian star to win best actress in the 95-year history of the Academy Awards.

"For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities," she said in accepting her award. "This is proof that dreams — dream big, and dreams do come true. And ladies, don't let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime. Never give up."

This was her first Oscar nomination and win after a venerated career that toggled between action-heavy roles ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") and performances of regal self-containment ("Crazy Rich Asians"). Tonight, she beat out Andrea Riseborough ("To Leslie"), Cate Blanchett ("Tar"), Michelle Williams ("The Fabelmans") and Ana de Armas ("Blonde").

Yeoh's biggest competition came from Blanchett, who won the best actress trophy at the BAFTAs but saw her path to the winner's circle narrow after Yeoh's historic win at the SAG Awards, where she became the first Asian star to win the guild's best actress prize for a film.

All season long, Yeoh has spoken of the obstacles she and other Asian performers have faced in Hollywood. After the Oscar nominations were unveiled in January, she told The Times, "Of course, I’m over the moon, but I feel a little sad because I know we know there have been amazing actresses from Asia that come before me, and I stand on their shoulders." She added, "I hope this will shatter that frigging glass ceiling to no end, that this will continue, and we will see more of our faces up there."

Here's the full text of her acceptance speech on Sunday:

Thank you. Thank you. For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that dreams — dream big, and dreams do come true. And ladies, don't let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime. Never give up.

I wouldn't be standing here tonight without the Daniels [directors of "Everything Everywhere"], without A24, without my amazing cast and crew, without everyone who was involved with "Everything Everywhere All at Once." I have to dedicate this to my mom, all the moms in the world. Because they are really the superheroes. And without them, none of us will be here tonight. She's 84. And I’m taking this home to her. She's watching right now in Malaysia, K.L., with family and friends. I love you guys. I’m bringing this home to you. And also my extended family in Hong Kong, where I started my career. Thank you for letting me stand on your shoulders, giving me a leg up so that I can be here today. And to my godchildren, to my sisters, all of them, to my brothers. Oh God. To my family, thank you. Thank you.

Thank you to the Academy. This is history in the making. Thank you.

Reggie Ugwu

Laughing at the hot-dog-finger backdrop to this elegant woman's poignant speech.

Wesley Morris

I know. Not the hot-dog fingers.

Wesley Morris

I just want to state the obvious here, through tears: MICHELLE YEOH HAS AN OSCAR.

Reggie Ugwu

I'm beaming!

Kyle Buchanan

They brought Halle Berry up there and didn't let her say Michelle Yeoh's name?

Wesley Morris

Or something. She was teary as she greeted her, though. But why not just have let Halle Berry do this category on her own?

Melena Ryzik

Though Brendan Fraser employed possibly every marine metaphor in his speech, it's notable that — though the Oscars typically love anointing an ingénue — this year's versions are veteran but long-forgotten actors. Sail on!

Wesley Morris

Brendan really can't believe this, either.

Wesley Morris

Encino Man has an Oscar. This is the night your 8- and 15-year-old faves win stuff.

Reggie Ugwu

Paul Mescal wins the award for making me, a non-movie-crier, sob like a lost child on vacation.

Wesley Morris

Classy Angela Bassett is holding Austin Butler's hands through this best actor stress. And Brendan Fraser looks looks like he might pass out.

Reggie Ugwu

It's unusual for a film with two directors to be nominated for best directing, but not unprecedented. Warren Beatty and Buck Henry were nominated in 1978 for "Heaven Can Wait," and Joel and Ethan Coen won in 2007 for "No Country for Old Men."

Nicole Sperling

The amount of celebrating happening with the "EEAAO" crew already is remarkable. Ke Huy Quan and the winning editor were posing for photos with their Oscars during the commercial break while Jamie Lee Curtis was in a long embrace with Daniel Kwan.

Kyle Buchanan

Halle Berry will be co-presenting the lead races with Jessica Chastain. That's a big gamble on Michelle Yeoh winning best actress, and a bad photo op if she doesn't.

Kyle Buchanan

No more commercial breaks, according to the theater announcer. We’re about to get actor, actress and picture in one fell swoop.

Kyle Buchanan

Daniel Kwan wearing the "PUNK" jacket from "Everything Everywhere" is such a great reveal.

Matt Stevens

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won the best director Oscar for their poignant, warmhearted multiverse mash-up, "Everything Everywhere All at Once," on Sunday night, making them the rare set of paired directors to win the big prize.

Academy officials said they were just the fifth set of director duos to be nominated. Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins won for "West Side Story" (1961) and the Coen brothers won for "No Country for Old Men" (2007), though they later lost for "True Grit" (2010). Warren Beatty and Buck Henry also received a nod but not a statuette, for the 1978 comedy "Heaven Can Wait."

"Everything Everywhere All at Once," which premiered last April, was a hit with audiences and critics alike. Although the Daniels gleefully incorporate hot-dog fingers and everything bagels into their head-spinning, world-jumping movie, which they also wrote, the film is, at its core, about family and its many complications. It stars Michelle Yeoh as a laundromat owner at odds with everyone from the I.R.S. to her loving husband and rebellious daughter.

The Daniels, as they are collectively known, came into the night as heavy favorites. Sunday's win adds another honor to an impressive awards-season run for the Daniels, who also took top prizes at the Directors Guild Awards and the Critics Choice Awards.

Both of the Daniels used their stage time to thank their parents.

"Thank you for not squashing my creativity when I was making really disturbing horror films or really perverted comedy films or dressing in drag as a kid, which is a threat to nobody," Scheinert said.

"We are all products of our context. We are all descendants of something and someone. And I want to acknowledge my context," Kwan added. "My immigrant parents, my father who fell in love with movies because he needed to escape the world and thus passed that love of movies onto me. My mother, who was a creative soul, who wanted to be a dancer, an actor and singer, but could not afford the luxury of that life path, and then gave it to me. My incredible brothers and sisters, who helped me survive the chaos of childhood."

Kyle Buchanan

Jamie Lee Curtis jumped out of her seat for that directing win and started hopping up and down. She's having a great night!

Wesley Morris

She sure is. This movie started, what, 14 months ago? Did this not seem inevitable since it became a hit last spring?

Melena Ryzik

The reverse shot on Curtis while the Daniels are talking showed that she's kicked off her shoes and is sitting barefoot.

Julia Jacobs

"Naatu Naatu," the rollicking dance hit from the Indian blockbuster "RRR," won the Oscar for best original song, beating out two songs featuring American pop megastars.

It's not the first Indian number to win the award — that would be A.R. Rahman's tune for the British-made "Slumdog Millionaire" — but it is the first from an Indian production.

In the Telugu-language film, set in 1920s colonial India, the song figures in a marathon dance-off that was filmed in front of the Mariinsky Palace in Ukraine before the Russian invasion. M. M. Keeravani, the song's composer, used duffs, an Indian skin drum, for the main beats, adding in mandolins for the melody. The lyricist Chandrabose, who is known for his work in Tollywood, that is, Telugu cinema, has said he wrote most of the words in about an hour.

"I grew up listening to the Carpenters, and now here I am with the Oscars," Keeravani said in his acceptance speech, singing a rendition of the group's song "Top of the World" but with lyrics about his joy at winning the award.

What does "Naatu Naatu" mean? As Keeravani explained to The Times, "Naatu means ethnic: something we own ourselves, something completely unique, something that belongs to one's own identity. That is Naatu. Naatu means country. It's a song from the countryside. It's about everything that happened in our own country, in our own village; something you cherish for life."

The Oscars ceremony included a performance of the song, with its rapid-kick choreography and roguish suspender snapping.

The song beat others from "Top Gun: Maverick," "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," "Everything Everywhere All at Once" and "Tell It Like a Woman."

Rihanna's "Black Panther" hit, "Lift Me Up," was also a front-runner for the award. The hymnlike ballad with a prominent string section was the pop star's first solo song in years, drawing significant attention. On Sunday, the pop star's performance ended with a standing ovation.

For "Top Gun," Lady Gaga performed "Hold My Hand," an emotional power ballad. Written by Gaga and BloodPop, the song's music video featured the pop star in classic "Top Gun" apparel: a white tank top, a dog tag necklace and aviator sunglasses.

The nominated song from "Everything Everywhere" was "This Is a Life," by the indie-rock band Son Lux, featuring Mitski and David Byrne. The song is played in the end credits, and the lyrics — "I choose you, and you choose me" — speak to core messages in the film.

The original song nomination was the only nod for "Tell It Like a Woman," which features seven short stories with female protagonists, some of them fictional and some inspired by true events. Written by Diane Warren, the song, "Applause," would have been a major victory for the songwriter after 13 previous nominations in the same category and no wins. She did take home a Governors Award earlier in the season, the Oscar equivalent of a lifetime achievement honor. At that ceremony, held in November, she said, "I’ve waited 34 years to say this: I’d like to thank the academy!"

Wesley Morris

Jimmy Kimmel just made a good Jan. 6 editing joke. There's still gas in his tank. Me? I wonder.

Melena Ryzik

The editing award is considered a bellwether — if there's no editing nomination, the chances of best picture are historically slim. The win in this category for "Everything Everywhere" is great news for everyone who has it as best pic on their ballots.

Wesley Morris

OK, this award for "EEAAO" is also the most editing award, obviously. Paul Rogers is giving over-friendly brunch server right now.

Kyle Buchanan

That has to be one of the calmest Oscar wins ever.

Wesley Morris

There are actors on stage performing film editing while Sigourney Weaver and Zoë Saldana present the award. It's a spandex percentage of sweet.

Wesley Morris

Lenny Kravitz is doing a good Lenny Kravitz song ("Calling All Angels") for the "those we lost" tribute.

Reggie Ugwu

Kravitz's plaintive voice is an unexpectedly good pairing for this montage.

Wesley Morris

And I love that John Travolta, who was totally shaken up having to introduce this tribute that featured his "Grease" costar Olivia Newton-John, called Kravitz incomparable. A total first.

Melena Ryzik

Some of the most charming moments have been off-key (nonprofessional) crooning — a happy birthday to a winner and a sung speech.

Wesley Morris

"RRR," Oscar winner!

Wesley Morris

And deservedly so. "RRR" is almost pornographically fun and politically zesty. And the song is a crucial part of the fun and the zest. Filmmakers: more original songs as characters and plot devices and motifs, please!

Reggie Ugwu

"Maverick," Oscar winner.

Wesley Morris

I found "Women Talking" surprisingly moving. Nothing about the novel obviously said, "movie." But it never feels unduly claustrophobic or "talky." Not much of a compliment, I know. But there's an elegance and intelligence and moral and emotional urgency that good thrillers also have. I watched it never thinking about how adapted or "made" it was. I just experienced maximal empathy.

Kalia Richardson

Rihanna, the musician, beauty mogul and now mother, hit the Oscar stage Sunday night just a month after headlining the Super Bowl halftime show.

At the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, Rihanna performed the heartfelt "Lift Me Up," from the Marvel sequel "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever." The ballad is nominated for best original song.

Rihanna received a standing ovation for her emotional performance of the piece alongside a chorus of singers and musicians. The soulful tune, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, can be heard at the end of the final scene and pays tribute to Chadwick Boseman, who played the Black Panther in the breakthrough 2018 original and died two years later. "Lift Me Up" was created in collaboration with the Nigerian singer-songwriter Tems, director Ryan Coogler and composer Ludwig Goransson.

Before the superstar's highly anticipated Super Bowl performance and Oscar-night number, Rihanna hadn't performed live in four years and hadn't released an album since 2016. She redirected her attention to building a beauty and cosmetics empire, and was named the youngest self-made female billionaire on Forbes 2022 annual list. (And on March 1, the footwear line Puma announced a collaboration with the star's Fenty brand.)

At the Super Bowl, the multihyphenate artist performed a 13-minute set of 12 of her hits including "All of the Lights" and "Umbrella," omitting her newest single, "Lift Me Up." She didn't bring any special guests or squeeze in intricate outfit changes (instead sporting an unzipped cherry jumpsuit, drawing attention to her baby bump). But she did make a sly reference to her Fenty Beauty brand with a midshow touch-up. As The Times music critic Jon Caramanica put it, "Rihanna — one of the crucial pop hitmakers of the 21st century — needs the Super Bowl less than the Super Bowl needs her, and her performance was a master class in doing exactly enough."

The superstar previously turned down the Super Bowl in 2019 following activism efforts led by Colin Kaepernick, the football star who took a knee during the playing of the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice. But in 2020, Jay-Z's Roc Nation label, whose artists include Rihanna, established a partnership with the football league, granting the company influence over the halftime show.

Other performances throughout the night included Stephanie Hsu and a hot-dog-fingered David Byrne singing "This Is a Life" for "Everything, Everywhere;" a high energy choreography, alongside singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava, to "Naatu Naatu" for "RRR;" and a bare-faced Lady Gada singing "Hold My Hand," for "Top Gun: Maverick."

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" received five Academy Award nominations, and a win in the costume design category. In 2019, Marvel's "Black Panther" scored three Oscar wins, for costume design, production design and original score.

Sarah Bahr

After originally not even being set to perform, Lady Gaga made a big impression on Sunday night when she took the stage to sing the Oscar-nominated "Hold My Hand," which she wrote with BloodPop for "Top Gun: Maverick."

Her red carpet look? Heavy black makeup, bold red lipstick and a see-through black corset gown fresh from the runway.

But on the Dolby Theater stage? The bright red lipstick and heavy eye makeup had been wiped off, the gown exchanged for a black T-shirt and ripped jeans. All in all, it was a decidedly more natural look. She might have been unrecognizable if not for her hair, which was still in a French braid.

"It's deeply personal for me," she said before performing her song. "We need a lot of love to walk through this life, and we all need a hero sometimes. There's heroes all around us in unassuming places, but you might find that you can be your own hero, even if you feel broken inside."

This isn't the first time Gaga has opted for a minimal makeup look. She took a stripped-down approach for a shoot for T: The New York Times Style Magazine in 2016, around the time she was recording her fifth studio album, "Joanne."

Carlos Aguilar

The World War I epic "All Quiet on the Western Front," directed by Edward Berger, capped off an unexpectedly successful season by winning the Oscar for best international feature film for Germany.

This is the country's first win in this category since Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's surveillance drama, "The Lives of Others," received the award in 2007.

Adapted from the 1929 novel of the same title by Erich Maria Remarque, "All Quiet" received a total of nine nominations and is the first German-language production to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards.

The Netflix-backed antiwar saga was a front-runner for the international-feature prize heading into tonight's ceremony. Last month, it swept the BAFTAs, taking home seven trophies including those for best director and best film, becoming the first German film to win the top award there.

Barbara Chai

For most people, the phrase "chasing your dreams" is a figurative one. But the Scottish screenwriter Lesley Paterson has literally been swimming, biking and running toward her goals — becoming a five-time champion triathlete and an Oscar-nominated screenwriter for "All Quiet on the Western Front" in the process.

The antiwar drama, which won the BAFTA for best film last month, is based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque. Paterson acquired the option to the rights in 2006. To renew the costly option contract each year, she turned to triathlons, using her prize money to cover the bill. In 2020, Netflix finally commissioned the film.

Crossing all those finish lines in first place not only paid for the contract, it has also brought Paterson to the Dolby Theater, where she, Ian Stokell and the film's director, Edward Berger, are up for best adapted screenplay. "All Quiet on the Western Front" won the cinematography Oscar on Sunday night and is nominated for seven other Oscars, including best picture and best international feature.

Esther Zuckerman

"Navalny," a portrait of the Russian dissident Aleksei Navalny, won the Oscar for best documentary feature.

Playing like a thriller — a genre Navalny himself suggests when the tone of the movie is discussed in the opening moments — the film by the Canadian director Daniel Roher follows the anti-Putin campaigner as he investigates his own poisoning, eventually eliciting a confession by phone from one of the men responsible.

Roher also captures less intense moments in Navalny's life. The camera watches as he feeds animals with his wife, for instance. In his Critic's Pick review for The Times, Ben Kenigsberg wrote that the documentary has the feel of "a crowd-pleaser, a profile of a politician with the unflagging courage to swim against a rising totalitarian tide."

Navalny himself is currently imprisoned, and his daughter told the Times columnist Nicholas Kristof that she viewed the documentary as a "‘get out of death’ card," adding: "The more awareness that we create, the less Putin and his posse would be tempted to kill my dad."

After accepting the award, Roher turned over the microphone to Navalny's wife, Yulia Navalnaya, who addressed her husband from the stage, saying she was dreaming of "the day when you will be free and our country will be free."

"Stay strong, my love," she said.

"Navalny" premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and went on to win a BAFTA and Producers Guild Award last month. But it faced stiff competition at the Oscars, where it was up against "All That Breathes," the well-reviewed look at a bird hospital in India; "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed," a much-praised examination of the life and opioid-crisis activism of the photographer Nan Goldin; "Fire of Love," the surprising tale of married volcanologists; and "A House Made of Splinters," which follows a group of children at a shelter in Ukraine.

Kyle Buchanan

The Projectionist

After a tight three-way race, "Everything Everywhere All at Once" co-star Jamie Lee Curtis won the supporting actress Oscar at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday night, pulling ahead of Angela Bassett ("Black Panther: Wakanda Forever") and Kerry Condon ("The Banshees of Inisherin").

The three women have traded wins all season. Bassett initially seemed to be the favored pick after victories at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, but Condon then picked up a win from the British voting body BAFTA, while Curtis triumphed at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

In her acceptance speech on Sunday, she noted all the many people who helped in her career, and shouted, "We. Just. Won. An. Oscar. Together!"

Curtis got her start in Hollywood as a scream queen in the "Halloween" franchise before segueing to bombshell roles in "Trading Places" and "True Lies." But she played well against type in "Everything Everywhere" as a grumpy, frumpy tax auditor.

The 64-year-old is the daughter of the actors Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, who were both nominated for Oscars but never won. "To be connected through this legacy of their work and my work," she told The Times last month, "it's very powerful."

On Sunday, she asked the very enthusiastic audience to settle down, so she could deliver her speech without being played off. "Stop!" she told the crowd, and added, referring to the academy president: "I have 45 seconds, and I promised Janet Yang I wouldn't do it well, because I’m a good girl."

Here's the full text of her acceptance speech:

I know it looks like I’m standing up here by myself, but I am not. I am hundreds of people. I’m hundreds of people. I am the — where are the Daniels? — Daniels [the "Everything Everywhere" directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert], Jonathan [Wang], Ley Line Entertainment, the entire crew, my bae Michelle [Yeoh], Ke [Huy Quan], Steph [Hsu], the entire group of artists who made this movie. We just won an Oscar!

To my dream team: my agent Rick Kurtzman, Alan Wertheimer, Heidi Schaeffer, Sean James, Grace Ahn, Jane Ross. We just won an Oscar!

To my family, my beautiful husband, Christopher Guest; our daughters, Annie and Ruby; my sister Kelly. We just won an Oscar! To all of the people who have supported the genre movies that I have made for all these years, the thousands and hundreds of thousands of people, we just won an Oscar together.

And my mother and my father were both nominated for Oscars in different categories. I just won an Oscar.

Nancy Coleman and Matt Stevens

In naming Jimmy Kimmel the host for a third Oscars, this year's producers, Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, cited the veteran's readiness to handle anything that live television might throw at him.

On Sunday, the late-night TV host wasted little time acknowledging recent snafus at the Oscars in an opening monologue that hyped the return of moviegoing and also included joking jabs at some of Hollywood's most famous figures.

"All the top 10 highest grossing films this year were sequels or franchises. They say Hollywood is running out of new ideas," Kimmel said. "I mean, poor Steven Spielberg had to make a movie about Steven Spielberg."

Kimmel's opening remarks, which lasted roughly 15 minutes, also alluded to Will Smith's slap of Chris Rock at last year's ceremony.

"We know this is a special night for you. We want you to have fun; we want you to feel safe. And most importantly, we want me to feel safe," he said. "So we have strict policies in place. If anyone in this theater commits an act of violence at any point during the show, you will be awarded the Oscar for best actor and permitted to give a 19-minute long speech."

"If anything unpredictable or violent happens during this ceremony, just do what you did last year," he added. "Nothing. Sit there and do absolutely nothing."

Here is a transcript of the full monologue:

Give me a second to adjust my danger zone here. My banshees are caught in my Inisherin right now.

Welcome, and congratulations. Welcome to the 95th Oscars. You made it. Congratulations. I know that being here tonight is a dream come true for most of the people in this room. Thank you for inviting me to be a part of it, especially this year, when the world finally got out of the house to see the films you worked so hard to make, the way you intended them to be seen: in a theater. I also want to say that I am happy to see that Nicole Kidman has finally been released from that abandoned AMC, where she has been held captive for almost two full years now. It's good to have you back, Nicole. And thank you for encouraging people who were already at the movie theater to go to the movie theater. You look great. Everybody looks so great. When I look around this room, I can't help but wonder: Is Ozempic right for me?

We have so many first-time nominees here. In the acting categories alone, there are 16 first-time nominees, including Jamie Lee Curtis, including Ana de Armas, Colin Farrell, Michelle Yeoh, Brendan Fraser, Ke Huy Quan. This is, I think, a great piece of Oscars trivia. Thirty-one years ago, in 1992, Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan were in a movie together. Do you remember which movie it was? "Encino Man." Two actors from "Encino Man" are nominated for Oscars. What an incredible night this must be for the two of you, and what a very difficult night for Pauly Shore. Maybe it's time to reboot "Bio-Dome." Why not? All the top 10 highest grossing films this year were sequels or franchises. They say Hollywood is running out of new ideas. I mean, poor Steven Spielberg had to make a movie about Steven Spielberg. Congratulations, Steven.

Look at this, by the way. I want to say, right here, this is my favorite duo of the year. Steven Spielberg and Seth Rogen. What a pair. The Joe and Hunter Biden of Hollywood. Seth, what are you on right now? Be honest. Nothing? Mushrooms, right? Did you give one to Steven? Give him one. Let's see what happens. Maybe he’ll make something crazy. Steven claims he's never even smoked weed, which I find hard to believe. You mean to tell me you were sober when you made a movie about an alien who eats Reese's Pieces all day and can't remember how to phone home? You were high as a bike when you made that movie.

Steven is the first director to be nominated in six different decades for an Oscar. Remarkable. This time, as you know, he is nominated for "The Fabelmans," which is by far his most personal film. They say, "Write what you know." And they say, also, "Write what you know your mom did with your dad's best friend." And Steven did that, and the result was yet another Oscar nomination for the great Michelle Williams, who is right there. And "The Fabelmans" wasn't an easy shoot for Michelle. After almost every take, Spielberg would rush up to her with tears in his eyes, and he’d scream, "That's not how Mommy said it!"

I also want to extend congratulations to Steven's longtime collaborator, the maestro John Williams, who is now the oldest nominee in Oscar history. And he looks great. John turned 91 years old last month and he's still scoring, if you know what I mean. And by the way, if you’ve never made love to the score from "Raiders of the Lost Ark," do yourself a favor. Only Walt Disney — this is great — only Walt Disney has been nominated for more Oscars than John Williams. He's been nominated 53 times; he's won five. Which, honestly, is not that great. But good luck tonight.

It was a very good year for movies. Business is booming. I know people like to debate now which is better, movies or TV, but here's the thing. No matter how good a show is, there are some things movies can do that TV just can't. For example, a TV show can't lose $100 million. Is the gang from "Babylon" here? They know. I was just asking if they were here. I was welcoming them. At least "Babylon" got released. In August, Batgirl became the first superhero to be defeated by an accounting department. And then we have the big one: the long, long, long awaited "Avatar: The Way of Water," which gave the director and producer Jim Cameron another opportunity to do what he loves to do more than anything else: drowning Kate Winslet. The sequel to "Avatar" is the most expensive movie ever made. Disney spent $2 billion on this movie. Just to break even, all of Nick Cannon's kids had to see "Avatar" four times. And they did, I guess. James Cameron is not here, by the way, tonight. You know a show is too long when even James Cameron can't sit through it. Some of the cynics are saying Jim Cameron isn't here because he didn't get a best director nomination. And while I find that very hard to believe about a man of such deep humility, he does have a point. I mean, how does the Academy not nominate the guy who directed "Avatar"? What do they think he is, a woman? Thank you, ladies.

It was some year for diversity and inclusion. We have nominees from every corner of Dublin. Five Irish actors are nominated tonight, which means the odds of another fight onstage just went way up.

And while we’re on the subject of diversity, I want to say, especially those of you watching at home, there are a number of excellent films and performances that were not nominated tonight, including "Till" and "The Woman King," which are both based on true stories, with great performances from Danielle Deadwyler and Viola Davis, that are very worthy of your time if you haven't seen them, as is a small independent film called "Top Gun: Maverick." The movie that saved the movies. Everyone loved "Top Gun." Everybody. I mean, Tom Cruise with his shirt off in that beach football scene? L. Ron Hubba Hubba, you know what I’m saying? You know, Tom and James Cameron didn't show up tonight. The two guys who insisted we go to the theater didn't come to the theater. So if you’re hoping to get a look at Tom Cruise, he is not here. Or maybe he is here. Maybe that's Tom Cruise right there, wearing a Judd Hirsch "Mission Impossible" mask. There's only one way to find out for sure. Judd, we’re going to need you to drive a motorcycle off the roof of the theater.

You know who else is here, the right excellent Rihanna is with us tonight. Rihanna got her first Oscar nomination for the song "Lift Me Up" from "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever." Last month, she performed at the Super Bowl, and tonight, Rihanna will be performing at our halftime in just about four and a half hours from now. Rihanna has a 9-month-old backstage, and he's very cute. He pooped during rehearsal. You know who the last person who pooped backstage at the Oscars was? That accountant who mixed up the envelopes.

Rihanna is here, Lady Gaga is here, wonderful. My God, even Elvis is in the building tonight. There he is, Austin Butler. Austin, as you know, is a first-time nominee. He was so convincing as Elvis, still is. This is a good Hollywood story: Before they started shooting "Elvis," Tom Hanks gave Austin a vintage typewriter as a gift and in it, Tom wrote, he left a note written from Col. Tom Parker to Elvis. So then Austin used the typewriter to write Tom back as Elvis Presley. And they got to know each other by sending letters back and forth as Elvis and Tom. Which just goes to show you how incredibly silly this all is. We have silly jobs. But Austin, you are so talented. I know Elvis would’ve loved your performance; in fact, according to my QAnon Reddit page, he did.

We know this is a special night for you. We want you to have fun; we want you to feel safe. And most importantly, we want me to feel safe. So we have strict policies in place. If anyone in this theater commits an act of violence at any point during the show, you will be awarded the Oscar for best actor and permitted to give a 19-minute-long speech. No, but seriously. The Academy has a crisis team in place. If anything unpredictable or violent happens during the ceremony, just do what you did last year: nothing. Sit there and do absolutely nothing. Maybe even give the assailant a hug. And if any of you get mad at a joke and decide you want to come up here and get jiggy with it, it's not going to be easy. There are a few of my friends you’re going to have to get through first. You’re going to have to get through the heavyweight champ Adonis Creed before you get to me. You’re going to have to do battle with Michelle Yeoh before you get to me. You’re going to have to beat the Mandalorian before you get to me. You’re going to have to tangle with Spider-Man. You are going to have to tangle with Fabelman. And then you’re going to have to go through my right-hand man, Guillermo, if you want to get up to this stage. Oh, wait a minute. The other Guillermo. Not del Toro. Yes, that one. OK, there you go. I know he's cute, but make no mistake. You even so much as wave at me, that sweet little man will beat the Lydia Tár out of you.

There will be no nonsense tonight. We have no time for shenanigans. This is a celebration of everyone here. You told us you wanted all the categories back in, and we listened. They’re all back in. We will be showing all 23 categories live tonight, except for one. Earlier tonight, best picture went to "All Quiet on the Western Front." Congratulations to Germany. We put all the categories back in, because the movie community wanted it. Almost as much as the television community didn't want it. So no complaining about how long the show is. I saw all your movies. Now it's my turn to make you sit in a theater for three and a half hours. That doesn't mean we don't want to hear you speak; we do. We want your speeches to be moving. We also want to keep it moving. So if your speech goes on too long, this year, we’re not going to play you offstage. Instead, we have a group of performers from the movie "RRR" who are going to dance you offstage. If you go too long, we’re going to Bollywood "Gong Show" your ass. So let's get this going. Please welcome our first presenters of the night, Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.