Action thriller One Battle After Another dominated the 98th Academy Awards, winning six awards including best picture. The film, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is loosely based on Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland. It beat out contenders like Sinners, Bugonia, and F1 for the top honor.
Anderson also won best directing and best adapted screenplay. Sean Penn took best actor in a supporting role for his portrayal of a corrupt military officer. Andy Jurgensen won best film editing, and Cassandra Kulukundis won the inaugural best casting award.
The vampire horror Sinners, which received a record 16 nominations, won four awards including best actor in a leading role for Michael B. Jordan. Jessie Buckley won best actress in a leading role for Hamnet, while Amy Madigan won best actress in a supporting role for Weapons.
Multiple Australians were nominated, including Rose Byrne and Jacob Elordi. Nick Cave was nominated for best original song, and Fiona Crombie for production design. Conan O'Brien returned as host, joking he would be the last human host amid AI concerns.
Political tensions surfaced during the ceremony. Javier Bardem declared “no to war and free Palestine” while presenting. Jimmy Kimmel took swipes at President Donald Trump and CBS. Mr Nobody Against Putin won best documentary feature, with director David Borenstein speaking about complicity.
Firsts included the new casting award and KPop Demon Hunters winning best animated feature. Director Maggie Kang became the first filmmaker of South Korean descent to win in that category, and the film's song “Golden” became the first K-pop song to win best original song.
