‘One Battle After Another’ triumphs at 98th Academy Awards in coronation for Paul Thomas Anderson

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You know Mandy Moore’s A-list choreography — from Taylor Swift’s monumental “Eras Tour” to the Oscars, where her show-defining work includes Ryan Gosling’s performance of “I’m Just Ken” in 2024 and last year’s “Wicked” -ly energetic opening. At this year’s Academy Awards, her goal was “to come out big again,” she told The Associated Press ahead of the ceremony. And “a big thing about these performances this year is you’re not just celebrating the songs. You’re celebrating the film.”

She did exactly that throughout the ceremony, and certainly for its two tentpole performances: Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami, the voices behind the fictional girl group HUNTR/X, who performed “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters,” and Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq tackling “I Lied to You” from “Sinners.”

For the former, Moore served as a creative director. “It’s a huge song. ‘Golden’ is huge.” she said. “There are two pieces to the performance: The first piece is a celebration of traditional Korean culture. And there is traditional drumming, singing and folk dance. And it then transitions into obviously the more kind of modern pop world of the ‘Golden’ performance.”

Preparation was extensive. “Immediately, I went to the Oscars team and said, ‘I need to work with someone who is a Korean consultant, and I would also love to hire this person to be in the performance.’” They landed DaEun Jung, associate professor from the University of California at Riverside, an expert in “not only the dance styles, but the wardrobe and the music and the singing,” Moore continued. “So, she has really been integral to that whole process of creating the prologue.” She also agreed to dance in the “Golden” performance.

Because “KPop Demon Hunters” is an animated film, Moore said “there’s kind of no rules” in what could happen with the performance, as long as the filmmaker’s tone and desires are met. And “in no way did they feel that we needed to create a live action performance of this song, to try and do it like the animation. Because you can’t.”

They also didn’t want the performance to only utilize “K-pop moves,” Moore said. After all, “I am not a K-pop choreographer.” It’s not a K-pop concert, but rather, a performance that emphasized “creating visuals.”

However, audience members did wave golden light sticks — a common feature of K-pop concerts — and a wonderful nod to that culture.

Moore also had the idea to incorporate gold flags into the performance. “The way the flags move through the space feels, visually, like I hear the song,” she said. “It needed to be event television, in a way … Something that is so epic in nature and scale that it really transcends just somebody singing and dancing.”

Moore was a bit less involved with the “Sinners” Oscars’ performance.

That’s because they engaged “directly with the choreographers and the filmmakers from ‘Sinners,’” she said, led by the movie’s head choreographer Aakomon “AJ” Jones. He’s the man responsible for the incredible dance sequence when “I Lied To You” is performed in the movie — which speaks to why the Oscars’ performance was a near-recreation of the iconic scene.

“I’m simply here as a support to Aakomon,” she said.

In addition to Caton and Saadiq, the “I Lied To You” performance featured Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey, and Alice Smith.

It’s exactly “what you would want from a ‘Sinners’ performance on the Oscars,” Moore said.

“And the throughline for both performances is that they start with storytelling, first,” she said. “Its story involved with dance. It’s not simply dance steps.”

Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” was crowned best picture at the 98th Academy Awards, handing Hollywood’s top honor to a comic, multi-generational American saga of political resistance.

The ceremony Sunday, which also saw Michael B. Jordan win best actor and “Sinners” cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw make Oscar history as the first female director of photography to win the award, was a long-in-coming coronation for Anderson, a San Fernando Valley native who made his first short at age 18 and has been one of America’s most lionized filmmakers for decades. Before Sunday, Anderson had never won an Oscar.

But “One Battle After Another,” the favorite coming in, won six Oscars, including best director and best adapted screenplay for Anderson, the Oscars’ first trophy for best casting and best supporting actor for an absent Sean Penn.

“I wrote this movie for my kids to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world — we’re handing off to them,” said Anderson while accepting the screenplay trophy. “But also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency.”

Ryan Coogler’s Jim Crow-set, blues-soaked vampire tale “Sinners,” which came in with a record 16 nominations, also landed some big and even historic wins. Coogler, the widely loved filmmaker, won the first Oscar in an unblemished career that started out with Jordan in 2013’s “Fruitvale Station.”

Arkapaw was also the first Black person to win for best cinematography. Only the fourth female cinematographer ever nominated, her win was a long-awaited triumph for women behind the camera.

“I really want all the women in the room to stand up,” said Arkapaw. “Because I don’t feel like I get here without you guys.”

And Jordan, one of Hollywood’s most liked leading men, won best actor in one of the night’s closest races. The Dolby Theatre rose to its feet in the most thunderous applause of the night.

“Yo, momma, what’s up?” said Jordan after staggering to the stage.

The Oscar night belonged to Warner Bros., the studio of “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners,” which scored a record-tying 11 wins. It was an oddly poignant note of triumph for the fabled studio, which weeks earlier agreed to a sale to Paramount Skydance, David Ellison’s rapidly assembled media monolith. The $111 billion deal, which awaits regulatory approval, has Hollywood bracing for more layoffs.

But “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” — the much-acclaimed heavyweights of the season — were each Hollywood anomalies: big-budget originals born from a personal vision. In a year where anxiety over studio contraction and the rise of artificial intelligence often consumed the industry, both films gave Hollywood fresh hope.

Jessie Buckley won best actress for her performance as Agnes Shakespeare in “Hamnet,” making her the first Irish performer to ever win in the category. At an Oscars where no other acting award seemed a sure thing, Buckley cruised into Sunday’s Oscars at the Dolby Theatre as the overwhelming favorite.

“It’s Mother’s Day in the U.K.,” said Buckley on the stage. “I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart.”

‘KPop’ and ‘Frankenstein’ win for Netflix

From the start, when host Conan O’Brien sprinted through the year’s nominees as Amy Madigan’s character in the horror thriller “Weapons” in a pre-taped bit, Sunday’s ceremony was quirky, a little clunky, and preoccupied with the shifting place of movies in culture. There was, of all things, a tie for best live-action short film.

As expected, the Netflix sensation “KPop Demon Hunters,” 2025’s most-watched film, won best animated feature, as well as best song for “Golden.” It was a big win for Netflix but a more qualified victory for the movie’s producer, Sony Pictures. Though it developed and produced the film, Sony sold “KPop Demon Hunters” to the streaming giant instead of giving it a theatrical release.

On Netflix, “KPop Demon Hunters” became a cultural phenomenon and the streaming platform’s biggest hit. It has more than 325 million views and counting.

“This is for Korea and Koreans everywhere,” said co-director Maggie Kang.

Another Netflix release, Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” picked up three awards for its lavish craft, for costume design, makeup and hairstyling, and for production design.

Amy Madigan won best supporting actress for her performance in the horror thriller “Weapons,” a win that came 40 years after the 75-year-old actor was first nominated, in 1986, for “Twice in a Lifetime.” Letting out a giant laugh as she hit the stage, Madigan exclaimed, “This is great!”

O’Brien presides over a ceremony shadowed by politics

Hosting for the second time, O’Brien began the Dolby Theatre show, alluding to “chaotic and frightening times.” But he argued that the current geopolitical climate made the Oscars all the more resonant as a globally unifying force.

“We pay tribute tonight, not just to film, but to the ideals of global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience, and that rarest of qualities today — optimism,” O’Brien said. “We’re going to celebrate. Not because we think all is well, but because we work and hope for better.”

Throughout the show, O’Brien hit several targets, like Timothée Chalamet — who again missed out on winning his first Oscar, this time for “Marty Supreme” — for his diss of opera and ballet. But the ceremony wasn’t seldom shadowed by politics, whether in references to changes under U.S. President Donald Trump or the recently launched war in Iran.

Joachim Trier, whose Norwegian family drama “Sentimental Value” won best international film, quoted James Baldwin in his acceptance speech: “All adults are responsible for all children,” he said. “Let’s not vote for politicians who don’t take this seriously into account.”

Presenter Jimmy Kimmel, whose late-night show last year was suspended after comments he made about Charlie Kirk’s killing, was among the most blunt.

“There are some countries that don’t support free speech,” said Kimmel. “I’m not at liberty to say which. Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS.”

Shortly after, “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” a film about a Russian primary schoolteacher who documents his students’ indoctrination to support Russia’s war with Ukraine, won best documentary.

“‘Mr. Nobody Against Putin’ is about how you lose your country,” the co-director said. “And what we saw when working with this footage is that you lose it through countless, small, little acts of complicity.”

“We all face a moral choice,” he added, “but, luckily, a nobody is more powerful than you think.”

Tributes to Reiner, Redford, and others

Elegy also marked the Oscars. Producers expanded the in memoriam segment following a year that featured the deaths of so many Hollywood legends, including Keaton, Robert Duvall, and Redford. Barbra Streisand spoke about Redford, her “The Way We Were” co-star.

“Bob had real backbone,” said Streisand, who called Redford “an intellectual cowboy” before singing a few bars of “The Way We Were.”

Billy Crystal paid tribute to Rob and Michele Reiner, who were killed in their home in December. Crystal, a close friend of Rob Reiner’s who memorably starred in 1989’s “When Harry Met Sally...” and 1987’s “The Princess Bride.” In his moving remarks, Crystal quoted the latter.

“All we can say is: Buddy, how much fun we had storming the castle,” said Crystal.

Theatrical bests streaming, again

Yet again, the night’s final award didn’t go to a streaming release; Apple’s “CODA” remains the only streaming film to achieve that distinction. “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” were both theatrical releases shot on film.

Apple’s top contender this time, the Formula One race drama “F1,” a movie that it partnered with Warner Bros. to distribute theatrically, won for best sound. The lone blockbuster of the year to go home with a win was “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” for visual effects.

Some of O’Brien’s best digs came at the expense of the streamers. Netflix chief Ted Sarandos, he joked, was in a theater for the first time. The host also lamented the lack of nominees for Amazon MGM: “Why isn’t the website I order toilet paper from winning more Oscars?”

“I’m honored to be the last human host of the Academy Awards,” said O’Brien. “Next year it’s going to be a Waymo in a tux.”


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