Gaga and Rihanna! Oh my! (a donkey and a bear too): the must-see moments of the Oscars 2023

Laundry, taxes. Dreams and Academy Awards.

The “weirdos” behind the multi-universe hopping awards season juggernaut “Everything Everywhere All at Once” staked their claim on the Oscar-verse on Sunday, dominating the 95th Academy Awards. with seven wins, including best picture and best direction.

The film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and on a night it rose from Will Smith’s show-stopping slap at last year’s ceremony, we’ll cite the star of “The Whale” and the lovestruck winner from lead actor Brendan Fraser: “So this is what the multiverse looks like?

Evening stalwart Jimmy Kimmel hosted the ceremony for a third time and the ceremony ran at least 30 minutes longer than its planned three-hour runtime, a certainty the host repeatedly referred to throughout the week. throughout the night as the broadcast avoided incidents that would require the Oscars “crisis team.” In the end, though, Kimmel reset the tally on his “No Incident Oscar Number” counter as the show tried to get back on track after the slapstick and pandemic.

Here’s a look at the key moments this year:

Jimmy Kimmel slaps him back, repeatedly

The host didn’t let last year’s slap go by in silence, repeatedly taking aim at 2022 Lead Actor winner Will Smith in his opening monologue and throughout the show.

“We want you to feel safe. And most importantly, we want me to feel safe,” Kimmel said during his monologue. “So we have strict policies. If someone in this theater commits an act of violence, they will be awarded the Oscar for best actor and will be allowed to give a 19-minute speech.”

The past of the Oscars correcting the course

Last year’s winning documentary, Questlove, introduced the category this year after the slap “skirmish” upstaged its big win last year. Although the “Summer of Soul” filmmaker didn’t directly address the incident onstage (he already did at last year’s Grammy Awards and on the Oscars red carpet), his appearance was one of the apparent attempts by the producers of correct course.

The Oscar for Lead Actress, which is usually presented by the previous year’s winning Lead Actor (Smith in this case), was presented by previous winners Jessica Chastain and Halle Berry, who welcomed Michelle Yeoh to their ranks.

Meanwhile, “Creed III” star and director Michael B. Jordan thanked supporting actress nominee Angela Bassett when he and Jonathan Majors performed together. “Hello, aunt,” he said, echoing one of his lines from “Black Panther” and allowing anyone who felt Bassett was snubbed again at the Oscars a chance to feel seen. When “Wakanda Forever” costume designer Ruth E. Carter returned to the stage to pick up another Oscar, she thanked the academy “for recognizing the superhero who is a black woman.” (“She endures. She loves. She conquers. She is every woman in this movie. And she is my mother (deceased aged 101).”)

And “desperately devoted” John Travolta, he of “Adele Dazeem” infamy, introduced the In Memoriam segment with a tearful tribute to his “Grease” co-star Olivia Newton-John.

Those ‘Everything Everywhere, All At Once’ speeches are still lighthearted

After a long awards season and many wins, the cast and crew of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” kept up the momentum of their speeches. If you didn’t believe in the magic of the multiverse, at least let its stars help you believe in slow-burn professional magic. (EITHER see Ke Huy Quan wrap frantically his “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” (1984) co-star Harrison Ford, when Ford awarded him and the team the award for best picture).

Starting with supporting actor Quan’s latest emotional speech about the American Dream at the start of the show, responding to the triumphant Jamie Lee Curtis. “We just won an Oscar” Supporting Actress Love Festival, Daniels’ multiple acceptances and Yeoh’s words of wisdom, the grand winners celebrated mothers, the “genius emerging from the collective,” and the “greatness in every person.”

“This is a beacon of hope and possibility…Dreams do come true,” Yeoh proclaimed. “Ladies, don’t let anyone tell you that you’ve ever been past your prime.”

Pop stars win live performances

Original Song nominee Lady Gaga made it to the Oscars and even performed! The “Hold My Hand” singer-songwriter made headlines earlier this week after producers said she would be the only song nominee not to perform during this year’s broadcast because she “didn’t feel like she could put on a performance of the caliber that we”. I am used to her and that she is used to it” at the time.

Then, after walking the champagne-colored red carpet in all the glamour, Gaga disrupted expectations with an intimate, minimalist rendition of the power ballad “Top Gun: Maverick” while wearing a black T-shirt, ripped jeans and sneakers, without anything. a hand of remaining makeup on her face.

Rihanna made her exciting return to live television after last month’s performance at Super Bowl LVI to deliver her Oscar-nominated song “Life Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” The ballad was written as a tribute to the late “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman and seeing it performed live by the pregnant pop powerhouse was just different, as they say.

And David Byrne was joined by Son Lux and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” star Stephanie Hsu to give us the version of “This Is a Life” with the hot dog fingers we didn’t know we needed.

‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ makes some noise

For a stretch of the night, Edward Berger’s World War II epic “All Quiet on the Western Front” seemed on the verge of displacing “Everything Everywhere All at Once” as the big winner. Scoring wins in cinematography, international feature, production design and original score, the film went on a mid-ceremony run that made it the second-winningest film of the night with four Oscars out of nine nominations.

The Oscars become a real zoo

We tune in a zoo! Kimmel gleefully brought a bit of wildlife to the stage when he introduced Jenny, the donkey now retired companion of “The Banshees of Inisherin”, as an emotional support animal — at least that’s what they told the airline — for the show. (However, she was not the real Jenny.)

Later, “Cocaine Bear” director Elizabeth Banks presented the prize for visual effects accompanied by a person in a huge bear costume. The furry guest star later made his way through the audience. on a walk with Kimmel, who delivered another blow to his old enemy Matt Damon. The Oscars, man, are they wild.

Four awards ceremonies and a meeting.

Annoys Oscar viewers at home and goes viral with his rude and reticent red carpet interview With “On the Red Carpet” co-host Ashley Graham, “Glass Onion” actor Hugh Grant apparently tried to redeem himself with his trademark self-deprecating humor during the ceremony. The British actor joined his “Four Weddings and a Funeral” co-star Andie MacDowell onstage to present the award for production design. That’s when he waxed poetic about the power of hydration, later calling himself “basically a scrotum” during the ceremony. (Did you hear that, Ashley?!)