The Oscars love record breakers.
On Sunday, “Anora” director Sean Baker made history with his four Academy Award wins, including Best Picture, in one night. And Paul Tazewell (“Wicked”) became the first black man to accept the trophy for Costume Design. Fun, nice.
But a grotesque and sickening achievement was also notched at the Dolby Theatre.
Adrien Brody’s Oscar speech lasted five minutes and 40 seconds. AFP via Getty Images
Adrien Brody, Best Actor victor for “The Brutalist,” gave what some are calling the longest winner’s speech in the ceremony’s 96-year history.
He’s probably still giving it.
Like his 3½-hour movie, Brody’s remarks were extended and brutal. Monday morning, angry viewers were still hungover from his binge-droning.
Brody demanded the orchestra “turn off the music” when they tried to play over him. Getty Images
The spiel lasted five minutes and 40 seconds. That’s nearly three Gettysburg Addresses, dripping with actorly indulgence and stratospheric entitlement.
The same way that the wad of chewing gum he hurled at his girlfriend Georgina Chapman before he took the stage was dripping with saliva.
Brody, 51, spoke with the boring Zen of a yoga teacher as he calmly called acting “a fragile profession” and said the award “signifies a destination.” It was all a bit “Here, drink this definitely un-poisoned Kool-Aid.”
Brody threw his chewed gum to girlfriend Georgina Chapman before taking the stage. REUTERS
Then Mr. Miyagi disappeared. When the orchestra started to play over him — rightly! — Brody sternly instructed them to “turn the music off.”
“I’ve done this before. Thank you,” he curtly added, turning off not only the music, but millions of people around the world.
The pompous display joins a growing list of live-TV moments that Brody single-handedly made extremely uncomfortable: creepily smooching Halle Berry when he won 22 years ago and donning dreadlocks and a Jamaican accent for a cringe Sean Paul impression on “Saturday Night Live” that led Tina Fey to suggest he was the worst host of all time.
He even pulled the same move when he won for “The Pianist” in 2003.
“Cut it out, cut it out. I get one shot at this!” he told the band from the Oscars stage.
Adrien Brody kissing Halle Berry at the 2003 Academy Awards. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Adrien Brody notoriously kissed Halle Berry onstage at the Oscars in 2003. AP Photo
Two decades later, when Brody tossed into his speech, “This is not my first rodeo,” he brought to mind another performance: Faye Dunaway playing Joan Crawford in “Mommie Dearest.” Brody, Dunaway, Crawford — Oscar-winning divas, all.
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Another, better surprise followed a short while later when the marvelous Mikey Madison won Best Actress for her stunning turn in “Anora.” The 25-year-old beat the odds-on favorite Demi Moore from “The Substance.”
The shocker was called “an upset.” “Poor Demi” texts dinged on my phone for hours.
But as far as honoring the best performance of the year goes, there was nothing upsetting about the result. Uplifting, more like. Little-known Madison, not Moore, was the more deserving actor.
Mikey Madison (“Anora”) deserved to win Best Actress over favorite Demi Moore (“The Substance”). REUTERS
Deer-in-the-headlights Demi, from the look on her face, did not see it coming. She’d been on a roll all season.
When Moore, 62, won the Golden Globe in January and admitted that throughout her career, producers dismissively labeled her a “popcorn actress,” it kicked off a feel-good campaign for a Hollywood vet finally getting her due. And it mostly worked. She took home critics prizes and the SAG Award.
But people forget that Moore and “The Substance,” a gruesome French-made body-horror flick that satirizes show business, started out as a long shot. It’s really weird, even for the younger and more international academy voters. Moore’s great and bold in one of the most bizarre roles ever nominated. However, it’s not the easiest box for somebody to check.
Madison was the standout all along. As Baker said to Quentin Tarantino as he accepted his directing Oscar, “Quentin, if you didn’t cast Mikey Madison in ‘Once Upon a Time [in Hollywood],’ there’d be no ‘Anora.’”
Demi Moore appeared surprised to not have won, after a season of accolades. ABC
Exactly right. Without her, there’s no movie. No 2025 Best Picture. Madison’s Ani — ferocious, sweet, hilarious, vulnerable, romantic — is unforgettable. And the young phenom will surely never forget her whirlwind Sunday night.
Will audiences, though?
Domestically, “Anora” stands among the lowest-grossing (non-pandemic) Best Picture winners ever, at $15 million. Most viewers who watched the show probably haven’t seen it, or second-place “The Brutalist” or “The Substance” or “Nickel Boys” or “Sing Sing” or “I’m Still Here.”
A lack of passion for, or even basic knowledge of, the nominees is obviously not good for ratings. It’s Tonys-esque.
Honored films have become smaller and more eclectic in recent years, in part because of the new academy, but also due to Hollywood trends. They’re simply not making many awards-caliber movies anymore. Tell me — what should have been nominated? “Twisters” and “Deadpool & Wolverine”?
“Anora” is among the lowest-grossing Best Picture winners. Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
“Wicked” was just OK.
I know of at least one major studio bigwig who’d been going around town saying, “‘Anora’ winning would be bad for the industry.”
Well, it did.
And like Demi Moore’s narcissist character in “The Substance” should’ve learned when staring at her changed face in the mirror, a reflection isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just reality.
The Oscars are niche now. Get over it.
