As per the Guinness World Records, Adrien Brody‘s best actor acceptance speech at the 2025 Oscars is the longest in Oscars history.
Brody emerged triumphant ahead of Timothée Chalamet, Sebastian Stan, Colman Domingo and Ralph Fiennes at the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood’s biggest night of the year, claiming one of the top performance prizes for his portrayal as Hungarian-Jewish architect László Tóth in The Brutalist.
He came up on stage — not before spitting out his chewing gum and throwing it to partner Georgina Chapman — and ignored the standard 45-second timer to speak for a whopping 5 minutes and 40 seconds. It beats the record of 5 minutes and 30 seconds held by Greer Garson, according to GWR, when she won for Mrs Miniver in 1943 (though there is no existing footage of the speech in its entirety).
When the music started to cut the star off, he said: “Turn the music off! I’ve done this before. Thank you. It’s not my first rodeo, but I will be brief.” The moment may have conjured up old memories for Brody — his first Oscar win aged 29 for The Pianist in 2003 was interrupted, too. At the time, he said: “One second, please. One second. Cut it out. I got one shot at this. I didn’t say more than five names, I don’t think.”
He got payback by covering a myriad of topics this time around, among them anti-semitism and racism: “I’m here once again, to represent the lingering traumas, and the repercussions of war and systematic oppression, and of anti-semitism, and racism, and of othering and I believe that I pray for a healthier and happier, and a more inclusive world, and I believe if the past can teach us anything it’s a reminder to not let hate go unchecked.”
The actor also described acting as “a very fragile profession.” He continued: “It looks very glamorous, and certain moments it is but the one thing I’ve gained, having the privilege to come back here is to have some perspective and no matter where you are in your career, no matter what you’ve accomplished it can all go away and I think what makes this night most special is the awareness of that and the gratitude that I have to still to do the work that I love.”
“Okay, I’ll get out of here, I love you, I appreciate you all,” he said as he wrapped up. “Let’s fight for what’s right, keep smiling, keep loving one another, let’s rebuild together. Thank you.”
Anora swept up at the 2025 Oscars, though The Brutalist did score wins for best original score and best cinematography, too. Mikey Madison was named best actress, while Sean Baker won a record-breaking four awards for his film: best director, best original screenplay and best film editing (in addition to best picture).
In the other acting categories, Kieran Culkin won the Oscar for best supporting actor for his role in A Real Pain and Zoe Saldaña was named best supporting actress for her performance in Emilia Pérez, noting that she is the “first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award.”
Read THR‘s roundup of the night’s most memorable moments here or head to the full list of winners here.
