The 2026 Oscars took place in LA last night (March 15). As ever, they were a tonally uneven endurance test worth sticking out. Here are the major talking points, including a poor showing all around for Timothée Chalamet.
One Battle After Another trumped Sinners
Paul Thomas Anderson’s rollicking black comedy about a sad sack former radical on the comeback trail won six awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Anderson’s hat-trick was a major vindication for a visionary filmmaker who’d previously lost all 11 Oscars he’d been nominated for. It was about time, quite frankly.
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, a genre-blending horror romp that cleaned up at the box office, took home four prizes from its 16 nominations. A little disappointing? Perhaps, but Coogler’s Best Original Screenplay victory was no mean feat for a genre film; Autumn Durald Arkapaw made history by becoming the first woman to win Best Cinematography; and Michael B. Jordan deservedly won Best Actor for his dual performance as the Smokestack twins.
His gracious acceptance speech name-checked the five previous Black actors to win this award – Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker and Will Smith – as well as Halle Berry, the sole Black woman to win Best Actress. It was a classy finish to Jordan’s pretty much flawless awards season.
Marty Supreme was completely shut out
Chalamet had lost momentum in recent weeks, but he still looked like the best shot for Josh Safdie’s gonzo ping-pong flick to win something. However, as many pundits predicted, Jordan pipped him to Best Actor. Timmy can take comfort in the knowledge that Leonardo DiCaprio had to wait even longer to win an Oscar – he was 41, 11 years older than Chalamet is now. So, place your bets now on the scourge of the opera world finally winning Best Actor in 2033.
Sean Penn is now a triple Oscar winner
Penn’s villainous turn in One Battle After Another – a big swing that really pays off – won him Best Supporting Actor over well-fancied veterans Delroy Lindo (Sinners) and Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value), who both would have been worthy first-time winners.
Penn, who previously won Best Actor for Mystic River in 2004 and Milk in 2009, duly becomes only the seventh person to secure a career hat-trick. Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Frances McDormand, Walter Brennan and Ingrid Bergman also have three Oscars apiece, while Katharine Hepburn remains in a class of her own with four.
Oh, and Penn didn’t even turn up to collect his statuette – maybe a case of ‘been there, done that’?
KPop Demon Hunters had a killer night
They’re going up, up, up, it’s their moment! EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami – the singing voices behind the film’s girl-group Huntr/x – delivered a suitably jubilant rendition of their global megahit ‘Golden’. Plus, the Netflix phenom won both awards it was nominated for: Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for ‘Golden’. The only bum note was the aggressive way the songwriters were played off before finishing their acceptance speech. Might those scheming Saja Boys have had something to do with this?
Which means the Diane Warren drought continues
The queen of power ballads is now 0 for 17 in the Original Song category – no one in Oscar history has been nominated for more awards without a win. She did receive an honorary Oscar in 2022, but stressed in her recent documentary, Diane Warren: Relentless, that she still really wants to win a competitive award. Could 2027 be her year? Well, at least there won’t be a new Bond theme to steal her thunder.
Barbra Streisand sang during the In Memoriam segment
Only a few bars of ‘The Way We Were’, admittedly, but it was still a touching tribute to Robert Redford, her co-star in the classic 1973 tear-jerker of the same name. Apparently, he always called her ‘Babs’, and she let him get away with it – no, you have something in your eye.
Conan O’Brien delivered at least one savage zinger
The host’s opening monologue was adequate rather than dazzling – he was always going to make comedic hay from Chalamet’s recent facepalm comments about opera and ballet. However, his best joke felt a little closer to the bone. “It’s the first time since 2012 that there are no British actors nominated for Best Actor or Best Actress,” O’Brien told us, his face an impeccable deadpan. “A British spokesperson said: ‘Yeah, well, at least we arrest our paedophiles.'”
And there was an actual tie!
Only the seventh in Oscar history, and the first since 2013. The award for Live Action Short went to both The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva. Presenter Kumail Nanjiani read the room when he quipped that “it’s ironic that the short film Oscar is going to take twice as long [to hand out]”. Well, quite.