The Big Picture - The 2026 Academy Awards: ‘One Battle After Another’ Earns More Than a Few Small Oscars

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

Sean and Amanda instantly react to the 98th Academy Awards and share their main takeaways from Hollywood’s biggest night. They make the case for why these Oscars and the Best Picture win for ‘One Battle After Another’ were for “the movie nerds,” break down Michael B. Jordan’s incredible speech for his Best Actor win, and talk through their mixed feelings about the telecast itself. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins Producers: Jack Sanders, Chris Wohlers, and Kevin Cureghian Production Support: Lucas Cavanagh Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the Personal Price Plan®️. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there®️. Drivers wanted. Learn more at vw.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Have it all with Blue on Disney Plus. I'm Sean Fennacy. I'm Amanda Dobbin. And this is the big story. picture a conversation show about the 98th Academy Awards. We are dressed up and almost ready to break down. Amanda, how are you feeling? I feel great. I'm pumped. I'm pumped too, and I'm reckoning with my generational trauma. We have just witnessed one battle after another secure best picture and conclude one of the most dominant award season stretches in sometime. We also saw huge wins for sinners,

sentimental value, K-pop demon hunters and more. Amanda and I will break down the telecast, the winners, the speeches, the bits, the vibes, and so much more right after this. This episode of The Big Picture is presented by State Farm. Sure, being an expert and movie trivia is impressive. You know, it's even more impressive. Being smart about saving money. And a great way to do that is by saving when you choose to bundle home and auto with the State Farm Personal Price Plan. Bundling, just another way to save with the Personal Price Plan. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount to of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state.

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Okay, Amanda, here we are. We've just finished watching the Academy Awards here at our office. I'm wearing a bow tie that I tied myself. I'm feeling very proud of myself. We'll wait until hour two of this podcast to share how long it took you. But it was also about hour two. It was not less than an hour, that's for sure. Okay, the Academy Awards just happened.

You said you're feeling excited. You were feeling moved. Yes. Break it down. Over under for you on how many times I cried during this show. I'll try to match. you with me and I'll say three. I might have cried, it might have been more than three because certainly both original screenplay, Paul Thomas Anderson, no, I'm sorry, original screenplay Ryan Coogler,

adapted screenplay Paul Thomas Anderson, and Michael B. Jordan winning Best Actor, I was overcome. I think Best Director and then the surprise cinematography win for Autumn Durald-Arquapah was also very moving. So that's at five. This doesn't always happen at the Oscars. It's, It's not always so... I'm kind of reckoning with myself right now because I had a wonderful time watching the show. I think it was a largely predictable show based on how we followed the season over the years,

but not in a bad way. The surprises, I thought were very good surprises. And a couple of wins that even if we were expecting them felt great in the moment. Okay, telecast. Not the greatest telecast in Oscar's history. I would say less memorable for Conan than the first year.

Some bits worked. Some didn't work so well. I would see the actual production in terms of who was allowed to speak and for how long. And did everyone know they were live or not live? Yes. Was a bit shaggy at times. Not everyone who won was there. Yes.

You don't see that very often at the Academy Awards. You know, the story, of course, of the show is going to be one battle after another, ultimately winning five awards last night. And tonight, I should say, it feels like last night already. Six awards? Six awards. We counted again, right? Best picture, best director.

Sean Penn, adapted screenplay, editing, and casting. Casting. Which was the surprise. So One Battle wins six. Sinners wins four Academy Awards. And they had been the Alpha and the Omega of this race, especially in the final two months. Most people assumed that one battle was going to win. We got a, I think, a pretty strong preview when surprisingly casting went to Cassandra Kulakundas

for her work on the film and not Francine Maisler, who was heavily favored for sinners. But this was the first year of the casting award. And my first thought when Cassandra won that award, which is extremely deserved, and I think is a wonderful win, and was one of the very few moments when I popped out of my seat during the telecast tonight, because it just felt like something that wasn't going to happen, was, okay, so is this award maybe even more so than editing going to be closely associated with the best picture win? I'm already getting ahead of myself, but that's where my mind went right away. Yeah, I see what you mean. It does seem that that was the tell this year.

And we have traditionally said that editing is, you know, where editing goes, so best picture goes. And that was also the case this year. It was. But because casting came first and because there was a little more intrigue and because we did also think that that was one that sinners had in its, you know, in its bank of who will win? How will this shake out? It seemed like the twist. It may be that the next few years things get a little wonky or a little strange. You noted that this is the first year of that category and that there's, so there are many

venerated casting directors who were nominated tonight who did not win and who presumably will want another shot at the award. So how will they go about that? How will the guild the vote nominates goes about it? I think it's a little too early to guess. for the award down the road. But tonight, I walked out, I took a bathroom break, and I was like, okay, so casting is when we knew. And then there were moments when we weren't sure.

And even before Best Picture was announced, you turned to me and you were like sinners. I wasn't totally sure. Yeah, we were not totally sure, which, you know, I quibble with your argument that there weren't a lot of surprises or because our predictions were mostly right, but we didn't know what was going to happen. It's true. It's a great feeling. We really, really didn't. And so I thought, I was thinking a bit about how this was maybe an ideal awards show for us. And hopefully for listeners and watchers of this show as well, people who are invested in these movies and who love these movies and love the Oscars and really wanted to know who won.

I don't know if this show was the best show if you're just kind of like stopping by for some razzled ass. It had some nice moments. I really, really laughed throughout the Bridesmaid's reunion. Very, very funny stuff. A highlight for me too. But this was this was for the movie. nerds in a great way. It was. It was. And I'd like to talk about one battle now. I say this sincerely. Since I was 15 years old, Paul Thomas Anderson is my favorite director. He is my

favorite filmmaker of my life. He is probably a pretty big reason why I'm sitting here today, which sounds like a stupid thing to say. But he and a handful of other filmmakers just activated my imagination. And as you have said many times over the last five or six years doing the show, those people very rarely get to the place that Paul Thomas Anderson got to tonight, which is he now has a best picture Oscar, a best director Oscar, and a best screenplay Oscar. He won them all on the same night. Sean Baker did that last year. You know, that was unusual when he did it when he won four last year.

But for the most part, that's very rarefied air. And it's not typically our guys, so to speak, who has sent to those spaces. Has not been until now. Until now. Yeah. And so I find this to be a fascinating win. I find it to be the fact that it is a movie, as PTA said when he accepted his screenplay Oscar, that is very much about kind of exiting your youth, exiting that period of hope and expectation

and handing it off to the people behind you, that that is the time when he is recognized, while in the same category as a Ryan Coogler or a Josh Safdi and director is fascinating. because that is usually what the Oscars makes you do. They say, wait until you're 55, and you spent the last 20, 30 years of your life making super cool movies. And then when you get a little older, we'll say it's okay for you to join the club.

And that did happen for Paul Thomas Anderson tonight. I'm kind of sorting through what it means for me as a movie fan. Because I don't know that I ever expected it when I was watching The Master, and I was like, this guy's a fucking freak, and I love it. You know, I love how weird all of his movies are, despite them coming from huge studios and having huge movie stars. he had as a really oddball sensibility and an oddball sense of humor. And he somehow with this movie managed to not reject any of his principles or creative interest.

It's all still there in the movie. But make something, I think with a few key decisions that felt like it met the moment. And I'm moved by it. I'm very happy about it. It's a bit unusual and interesting that it comes in the sinners year. And we will definitely spend some time talking about sinners. and maybe its legacy versus this movie's legacy over time. But for right now, this is a massive triumph for one of the signature Gen X filmmakers.

Yes. And it doesn't feel the way some great best director and even great best picture wins for maybe not our generation's heroes, but cinema's heroes often come later in the career and they have to wait till 55 for 60 or 65 or 70. And it's for a good film. It's like, you know, a film with craft. a film that only this person could make, but it's not the peak of their powers. And you're right that one battle is about a later stage of life.

It's about being washed up in his adapted screenplay except in speech. He dedicated the award to his children. And he said, this is, you know, kind of an apology for this world that we've left you. The mess. Which, you know, is something I think we both felt very deeply, you know, upon seeing the movie. but so it is a later in life film, but it's not an end of life film by any means. And I also just don't think it's subpart work. I still think that it part of it's, it is doing what Paul Thomas Anderson does best.

And the openings or the decisions that you're referencing that make it maybe slightly more palatable as a best picture winner than say the master might have been. To me, they just open the film and they enrich it and they are, I mean, I still really ride for the master. but I thought that they were Paul Thomas Anderson kind of widening the lens and widening what he can do. Yeah, widening the tent for who can come in to hit one of his movies. Exactly. And so, and I really responded to that.

I'm with you in that I don't know what to do with an Oscars that rewards my tastes. And this was our favorite film of the year, both of us. Pretty far down the line, too. I mean, that's the other thing is there's not a lot of what I would, you and I are pretty unafraid to be like, this is a bad winner when something like that happens. it's nothing against the person.

Not a lot of bad winners this year. No. Some of them might have been predictable. No, one or two still. We can talk about those as we get there. We're going to stay positive for the top of this. Yes, but we have, and I think an entire generation, we grew up watching the Oscars and from about what, 99, 98, 99 on. 99 is American Beauty, right?

And we all know the amazing year in film that 99 was. So that's when they started turning and we became. Well, I mean, it might have been when saving private Ryan lost to Shakespeare. I love one year prior. Sure. Okay. Just for the record. That was a bit of an awakening for me.

As I was like, what the fuck? Actually, even more so was Pulp Fiction losing to Forrest Gump. You know, there are a lot of these. Yeah. Sure. Yes. But our taste was developing along with that. That's important to this conversation, which you and I are not qualified to confirm,

deny, even fully understand at this exact moment. But do you think that younger generations will look back at this Oscars and say, maybe not that this is an American Beauty kind of win, but that if Sinners is the more remembered film, the more iconic film, does this then have the chance to be one of those like grandma and grandpa and get it, they don't know my cinema taste? I grew up on the movies of Ryan Coogler, and Ryan Coogler was overlooked. That's kind of the fast, that's kind of the amazing thing about the Academy Awards. they only exist in their time.

And we remember them forever and talk about them forever, but they can only be understood that night. That's the only time. Well, I thought that PTA had a pretty good rejoinder to the point that you're making and the words that you're putting into the mouths of the babes in the booth and on Netflix and all around us. I didn't say that.

No, you guys were great. Keep fighting, you know? In his best picture speech, he mentioned the year 1975 and the films that were nominated for that year, the Oscars of which were held in 1976. We got to work on this nomenclature long term. Anyway, one floor with the cuckoo's nest, Barry Linden, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, and Nashville.

And he said there is no best among those. It's just what people were feeling that day. And when you have 10 nominees, there are some betters than not as goods, but maybe it can be a year where there's not a best or at least this. It was a special year in movies. And that vibe, we got closer to that feeling throughout the ceremony, even throughout the winners list, than I thought maybe we could have even when we were doing our predictions. It was of like a sense of now it's a time for one battle after another. And now here's a great sinners moment. And now's, and they were paced.

They were going back and forth. And sometimes when that happens and we're watching the Oscars, it's real. Okay. So now it's one battle. Now momentum is for sinners. you're watching it like a ping pong match. But I really experienced it more as people were really excited about this film. And then people were really excited about this film.

And this, you know, we got to honor this part of this film and this part of this moment. So I thought that the winners and the speeches, that part of the ceremony, at least, did a good job of honoring that idea of these are two great, great films. If it was 1975 and we were doing this show, would you hire a bot army to stand for Nashville, which, film would you choose? There was really like justice for Barry London, come on. About that, I agree. There wasn't really intense fandom

around both of these movies and so I think it felt like a very noisy and at times intense race, but it was also, you know, filmmakers who are friends, a lot of actors who are friends. You could see the excitement from, say, the one battle cast

when Michael B. Jordan won best actor. That was, again, just like at the actor awards, one of the great moments of the night, you know? And that, again, like, sinners did not win Best Director or Best Picture, but that was the climactic Sinners moment. And the room, you know, lit up and reports from inside the room or that it was like it was almost shaking. But you could feel it, like, at home.

Yes. I mean, just the Michael B reaction shot of him. Just, you know, he's a star. He is amazing. And that sense, as soon as he got up on stage at the SAG Awards and it clicked and we all realized, yeah, no, no, no, no. This is our next best actor. but it was fully realized.

It was amazing. And it was great. I was really loved it. I was moved. I was choked up watching him talk. And I think it was, I think one of the reasons why he won, in addition to being an exceptional actor and giving a really good performance in that film is he's very easy to root for. And in his speech, it's just very easy to feel like he's a real normal person who was just like,

thanks so much for believing in me and following me for 25 years, which is what we've been doing. Yes. As fans of movies and TV, I mean, that's just very easy to feel. is Wallace on the wire. You know, that's the QB from Dylan. That's like, that's a kid that we've seen for a long time grow up into being one of these generational stars. And

obviously the partnership that he and Coogler have is very special. I like to seeing them embrace when MBJ won. And best actor has been a weird race. And I think it's been a, it's been a very good race because those five nominees are really, really strong. It's one of the best, I've been saying it for months. It's one of the best categories

we've had in the Oscars in like 15 years. But you know, the Chalemay thing was so noisy for so long. And it makes a lot of sense in the arc of history that this didn't work out for him. I'm not saying it's just or whatever. It's not for me to say. Right.

But this is just not usually how it goes. And how it usually goes is for someone like Michael B. Jordan, who's a part of a big movie that people love, who's been in our lives for a long period of time, not a shorter period of time like Timothy Chalame. And who represents something, I think, honestly, about what is good about Hollywood. And that's what the Oscars is too.

I mean, it's a big billboard for movie making. And Michael B. Jordan, much like Timothy Shalame, much like Leonardo DiCaprio, even like Wagner Mora, he can get your movie made. And he's someone that you can comfortably say, like, now it says Academy Award winner Michael B. Jordan over every poster that he's on for the rest of his career. You know, not to overthink it, but that's like a good thing for the industry. And I think everybody can just kind of feel excited

about something like that happening. I thought his speech was just really great. And I think him circling back to his mom. Big night for moms, as always. Jesse Buckley also spent some time speaking about moms with her win. We'll get to her momentarily. But I liked her sitting there and being there. He said his dad flew in from Ghana to be there, which was incredible.

And he just seemed authentically moved. Not fake moved. No. And both prepared but also surprised. And if it was rehearsed, if it was rehearsed, if it was. prepared in his head, then it felt in the moment, felt and off the cuff and responsive. I mean, you know, part of it is he just got up there and the first thing he said was, what's up, Mama? It's like really, really good. But did you happen to catch the, there was an angle capturing all the

winners as they came off stage? And he was motioning to all of the people, all of his nominees in the audience, but they had Ethan Hawk also in the angle. And so he and Ethan Hawk were gesturing to each other. And Ethan Huck, I mean, Ryan Cougler is our Merrill Streep number one reaction shot guy of the night. And maybe just like the new mayor, maybe the award is now the Ryan Cougler Award. I don't know if he's going to show up at a lot of Oscars. He's not competing at, though. He's not even in the academy. I would say that the work that he did tonight was really very special.

But Ethan Hock has also, you know, been on that leaderboard. He has been doing the work. So, I mean, it was lovely. They're obviously tight. He raced up when he won the actor award as well a couple weeks ago. Yeah, I mean, that was a great category. That was a great win. It wasn't surprising because of the actor awards,

we both predicted it. And yet it did have that thing you were describing where it was just like, oh my God, like we were kind of surprised. Yes, because we all predicted it. And then the internet spent a lot of time. There's just, there is too much time between when voting closes

and when the Oscars are broadcasts. There's too much time in the season. People were getting up to shenanigans on the internet. They were making their hats of tinfoil and then claiming to know the vote tallies for Best Actor at the Baptist. Where are all my Leo number two guys now? Show yourselves.

But there's always room for self-doubt. And we always do this, right? I feel like I get a text from one of our Oscar nerd friends on like the Saturday before Oscars every year being like, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's, you know, number five on the list. Trust me. Not to say that Leo would have been fun too.

And you turned to me at one moment, And you were like, well, I think it was after casting. And you're like, how about Leo now? I felt that way all the way up until cinematography went to Autumn Dural Darkapal. And I was like, no, actually, okay. Everything is going to be as is expected. Yeah. I mean, those to me felt like the biggest and the noisiest awards.

And they've been the biggest than the noisiest awards all the way through this season. Our predictions, you know, we were very close again. We're always very close. I took a flyer. It didn't work out. You took one risk. And it was the wrong risk in a year of a lot of chalk. You went 18 for 24 and you're picking?

18 or 19? 19 for 24? No, I was 18 and you were 19. I think we have more. I think we only had four wrong and five wrong because we have 24 awards now because of casting. Okay. So I'm just reading what you wrote in the spreadsheet.

Yeah. I wrote something down. You have eight. Yeah. Okay. So I have 19 and you have 20, I think. And if anyone in the booth wants to flash things up. Let's do some producing out there.

You want to do some like Morris Code? I'm on it right now. Okay, thank you. And so even though it felt very predictable all season, that ineffable feeling of anything could happen was exciting for a change. And I'll tell you one of the reasons why I think that was the case. I like a lot of these movies and we like a lot of these movies. And so the absence of a real villain being in contention for a lot of the awards

made this just feel like a different vibe. There are people at home who were like, I hated one battle or I hated sinners and that's fine. But I think in general to the sort of like award system at large this year, a lot of enthusiasm for all these awards. You know, a lot of, like Rose Byrne never really had a chance to win best actress. But there was a lot of enthusiasm for her and for her performance. And if I had legs, I'd kick you. Just it didn't, it felt different than in certain years past where maybe there was some campaign shenanigans with movies getting in or not getting in or not getting the prizes they should have. Or there were people who were just so obviously there because they were due as opposed to the, they had done great work.

just felt a little bit more balanced all the way around. Do you agree with that? Absolutely. And that's why I was like, I think that this was really a show for us. And I don't just mean you and me. So I appreciate anyone who wants to program for me. But for people who are listening to this show, who are watching all of the movies, who are reading all the stuff, who are nerds, who are too much online talking about, you know, vote tallies. it did feel like the awards were sprinkled out enough. And again, for films we mostly like. And even the films that didn't win any awards were nominated and represented, that it was just fun. It kind of felt like a nice elementary school ceremony of being like,

oh, yeah, and so-and-so did great work, and so-and-so. And I don't mean that in a participation way, just in the sense of it was a successful year. and that was represented on stage. Let me ask you about something else that you've been circling for the last few months. The steamroller thing did turn out to be true. You know, the six months ago we decided that one battle will be coronated this year

and we were not letting our foot off the gas until that happens. And that was the case for Anora. That was the case for Oppenheimer. That was the case for everything ever were all at once. We're out of streak here. Yes. Of very dominant films

that get multiple above and below the line, nominations and wins and feel like they have a three-month glide path into best picture. Now you could say, oh, there was like a hot moment where the brutalist seemed like it had a chance with the Nora, but not really. So this is four times in a row that that's happened. Though a week ago, you were not saying this, and many people online were not saying this, that it was a real race. And so I do think that this, even if one battle was anointed back when, it didn't feel like that in the same way. But that's the thing is we're still talking about vibes, and the vibe conversation is over.

The wins happened. Like, we got picture director screenplay and acting and editing and the first casting, even though that one battle didn't hit that Gandhi quintet of awards, which is very, very rare. It kind of started a new trend by getting that casting Oscar. So now, when we talk about packages in Oscar's history, this is a very, very strong package. I mean, this is an incredibly elite historical package that this movie has. So now we'll look back on it as like a major triumph. It'll be one of the kind of big, full-chested Oscar Titans. Yeah.

And that's kind of fascinating. It was fun for the show and for the race. Sinners, I think this is how to say this in a way that is understood. It's probably better for its legacy that it didn't win. It gets to be, because Coogler's going to get his. he's going to be 52 and it's going to be annoying, but he's going to get his. Also, he did win an Oscar tonight. And he, and again, and gave a beautiful speech.

And that was, you know, I said to you, I think I was at 530 Pacific time. So about an hour and a half into the show. And they grouped original screenplay and adapted screenplay. Adapted screenplay went first. And so you had this really nice balance moment where the thing that I think many people watching wanted to have happen in Best Picture actually did. did happen in screenplays where PTA got an award, gave his first Oscar. His first Oscar.

Same as Ryan Coogler and gave a really beautiful speech and dedicated it to his children and, you know, the hope of a better world. And then Ryan Coogler won his first Oscar, like five minutes later, also very moved. Both men very nervous, by the way, which we have been watching them all season. And they still had great presents. But at every other awards show, they've, you know, had a ready remark and they have been like wise and, you know, the leaders of cinema that we want them to be and seemingly like unbothered by all the eyes on them. And you could see that they were very nervous. And Ryan Kugler was really so nervous that he acknowledged as much and then just talked about how much he loved his kids.

It was wonderful. Yeah. But I said to you. late on a show where when we don't have anything to say, we fall back on talking about how much we love our kids. But it was still really emotional. It was also both men getting their first Oscar within five minutes of each other. And I was kind of like, this is interesting that this is, we're an hour and a half in the show. And we definitely have two more hours and a lot more awards to give. But that was the heart of the show. Yeah, which is so interesting because there was no doubt that that was going to happen in either category. It was there was no confusion. But you're right. It did kind of feel like the emotional fulcrum of the evening. just like, okay, that has happened. These were the important things in a way.

I would argue that best actor also, it just felt like there was a big emotional weight and burden on that award, and it lived up to the moment in an interesting way. What was your favorite award that was not in that power trio that we're talking about here? Of the great moments. I mean, Cassandra Culacundas for one battle

and for the first best casting was, like, exuberant because she was so genuinely psyched. Yes. And they also, because it was the first time the best casting was given out, they had five actors, one from each of the nominated films come out. So you got Paul Meskell,

you got my beloved Gwyneth Paltrow, Chase Infinity, Fagner Mora, Del Rey-Lindo, like five awards show, like, beloveds, all on stage. Very smart move by the Academy. Yeah, and they did the thing that they sometimes do during the acting categories, but they had each actor speak to their casting agent.

So it was great. And then Cassandra Culkinas was just was hype. And, you know, like was like, whooping. And then she was like, Paul, 10 movies. Like, we've been doing this. Yeah. And she's also like, I can't believe I have an Oscar before you because it was handed out, which is, which was funny. And they were charming.

So that, not only because of its significance in the, you know, the Oscar count for the night, but just because that was a fun moment. What else? I mean, my, my, I mean, Autumn, Gerald Archvall is probably my favorite way of the night, which is because I, I didn't think it was going to happen. I was fairly certain about it when we talked about it in our predictions. And even after some of the precursor awards that happened, which had all been going to Michael Bauman for one battle after another. And I hope people saw my interview with her on this show.

She's obviously, you know, an incredibly thoughtful artist. And this is a historic victory. A woman has never won in cinematography in the history of the Academy Awards. 98 years it took. And everyone in the room knew that fact and stood up. Two amazing things happened. So we weren't in the room. I was doing my makeup and watching in a different room.

And so you didn't hear me yell like, hey, but I was just like screaming down the hall as soon as it happened. And then I went back to watch. Jack Lucas and I were very excited. And two important things. Ryan Coogler ran back into the upper reaches of the Dolby Theater to find her son and bring him down to her seat so that she could see it, which is when Ryan Coogler cemented his like his audience, you know, number one. work for, but just like, amazing TV. And then she was, like, you know, clearly moved but also ready.

And she knew the historical significance and knew, you know, the names to shout out. And then she had every woman in the room stand up. And it was, but not in an annoying girl bossy way. It was just really lovely and felt and also deserved and a surprise. So it was great. It was the trifecta. A very serious and cool artist working at the top of their craft, winning in a very cool below-the-line category making Oscar history. I kind of can't ask for more.

This is a really, really good moment. And that was kind of like that was ultimately the balance between these two movies tonight. And one battle emerged in the big, big race. But I think it was like not, there was no like, when casting happened, I was like, oh, I'm a little nervous. We're going to like eight for one battle. and two for sinners. And this is going to seem a little icky. It's not going to feel right for it to be so unbalanced.

And that didn't turn out to be the case. You know, a few films did not do all that great. You know, Marty Supreme, winless, the Secret Agent, winless. Yeah. And we did see your beloved Frankenstein won three awards below the line. You know what? Another person who gets an honorary Merrill Streep great in the audience award, Guillermo del Toro.

I thought you're going to say a lordy. Well, no, come on. We're going to do mustaches later, mustache watch. But, no, he was very sweet. And he was seated up close because. He was shouted out in every thank you from his film. He was looking up. He was like doing the Spielberg stare up at the stage the whole time.

It was great. He's a good audience member, a good, you know, a good filmmaker, a good leader. Let's talk a little bit about the other acting awards. So supporting actress, which was the first prize of the night, went to Amy Madigan. That's right. Who became the favorite after the actor awards. I would not say it was existing as the favorite, but whose narrative, so to speak, always made a lot of sense. And she went up and gave a daffy old nice speech from a person who hadn't been up there in 40 years or hadn't been nominated in that long.

Yeah, it was daffy but also heartfelt. It didn't get away from her. No. You know, it was just charming and ultimately shouted out Ed Harris sitting in the front row looking amazing. It was really lovely. So I asked you this while we were sitting together. Ed Harris, of course, doesn't not have an Academy Award his wife Amy Madigan does. Well, deserved for weapons, by the way, which fucking rocks and I love him, Gladys.

Ed Harris is four Oscar nominations. Yes. I got to two. You got two. What were the two? Apollo 13. He was wearing a white tux today, just like the white flight vest, that he wears in Apollo 13. a perfect film that will never be rewatchable. And I don't know what Bill has against it.

It's okay. They just, they saved three men from space, but whatever. And then Truman Show. Truman Show, yeah. That's, that's one of them.

Yeah, but I didn't get the rest of them. Well, one of them is a film he directed. Okay. It did get an Academy Award win. Oh. You don't know it.

No, I don't know it. It's called Pollock about Jackson Pollock. He directed Pollock? Yes, he's the star. and the director of the film Pollock, Marcia Gay Hardin won. Okay. For playing Jackson Pollock's

wife Lee Krasner. Is that her name? I believe so. Just pulled Lee Krasner out of my head. Amazing here on Netflix. And the other nomination that I completely forgotten is for The Hours. Remember the Hours? Wow. Is he Mr. Dalloway?

Yeah, Steve Dalloway. What? Actually, is he? I remember the hours. I don't know. Anyhow, Amy Madigan, terrific win. keeping in the tradition of Oscar villains, you know, not actual in the competitions, but villains in movies, winning and supporting categories like Heath Ledger and like Javier Bardem.

And I knew the minute that the telecast started. We'll talk about Conan more and a bit, but within two seconds, Conan was on screen in full Aunt Gladys drag. Like two seconds into the broadcast. And I was like, well, okay. So Amy Madigan is winning. Yeah, I got to go back to my generational feelings. I also want to say Amy Madigan was wearing Dior and she looked great. Nice.

How wonderful. Didn't clock that. Best supporting actor went to Sean Penn. Who was not in attendance. Sean Penn. I say to you, why? Joined an extraordinary class of actors who have three Academy Awards and he did not show up to the show. What I don't understand is that he was at the goal.

Golden Globes. And we know he was at the Golden Globes because he was filmed smoking in the middle of the Beverly Hilton Ballroom. And so it can't be, it's not a blanket objection to award season. It's not like he just didn't want to be bothered with all of it. He started on the train. He was there. And then he was no longer there. I don't understand. He completely lost interest in this two months ago. Okay. And now he has three Oscars. How many three-time Oscar winning acting? or actresses can you name? Francis McDormon. That's one.

Merrill Street. That's two. Denzel still only has two. Nicholson only has two? Or does Nicholson have three? Nicholson has three. How many did Hackman have? Nope, just two.

There are eight total. You've got three. Well, four makes Sean Penn. Okay, four makes Sean Penn. Okay, there's got to be some more men here. There's a very obvious man. Daniel DeLuis. That's five.

Okay. Because sometimes I'm rounding up to four, but who else? The next three has two. The next three are classic cinema. Okay. Tom Hicks has two because he won for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump in a row, but then he was snubbed for Apollo 13 the next year. Yes. So I've heard.

Okay. We are live. Sure, but you brought up movie trivia and let me... I brought up because there's nothing to say about Sean Penn's speech. I was like, this is allotted for the Sean Penn moment. Classics and a lot. I had not Carrie Grant because they didn't give him an Oscar. Jimmy Stewart.

No. Okay. Two or easy, one is hard. Not Paul Newman. No. But more classic. More two gals. Well, Catherine Hepburn has four.

Yes, that's one. She has four. Well, yeah. Oh, I didn't know we were rounding up. Three or more. I thought we were doing it. I thought this is right. Okay, two more.

I didn't know you could go over. Hang in there, Mama. You got it. You're going, you're doing great. Am I wrong here in the booth? Okay, they're not, they're not. Okay. So Catherine Hepburn and two gals.

Jack, what happened with the World Baseball Classic game? The United States won on a very controversial, three, two pitch that was a ball and called a strike to strike out Geraldo Pardomo. What? Wow. What? It's your night. One battle. we're going for.

Wow. Unbelievable. Sort of, I don't want to like a metaphor, no comp there. Mark DeRosa, crazy like a fox lining up the Dominican Republic

semi-final. My goodness. Okay, there's two more people. I'm going to tell you who they are. You want to know? One of them is Ingrid Bergman, of course. Oh, yeah.

And she had, you know, the murder on the Air Express one is a little, little phony. But Gaslight and Anastasia, those are good wins. And then Walter Brennan, who has three best supporting actor

Oscars for Come and Get at Kentucky, which I know you love, and the westerner. So Sean Penn joins that hallowed group. Sean Penn. Sean Penn. Sean Penn, Sean Penn, who interviewed El Chapo. Do you think that Sean Penn, Egrid Bergman, would have had a lot to say to each other?

Kind of yes, right? I kind of do. That's why I brought it up. Well, you know, Robert Rossellini, who Ingrid Bergenman married, famously interested in the post-war, the carnage in Italy in the 1940s and 50s. that Sean Penn loves to go to war sites. I'm not making a joke. He really does.

That's what I'm saying. He goes to war-torn areas. He goes to countries in need. All right. Sean Pan is just a crazy cat, you know? This is three Oscars for that guy. I just can't believe it. This is not insightful commentary.

I'm just blown away. So if you don't show up to collect your Oscar. Yes, it goes straight to me. I get it. Yeah. I have several Oscars waiting at home. Do they mail it to you? Do you have to send someone to messenger?

I think he probably has to go to the post office to pick it up. Or the library? Where does he have to go? What civic institution does he have to visit to go pick it up? We broke face. Okay. We broke down a little bit. It's been a long day.

It's been a long day. My earring fell off. I tried to fix this before, but I knew this was going to happen. All right. Jesse Buckley. She won best actress. This has been understood to happen for months and months. Yes.

She gives an incredible performance in Hamnet, of course. You know, Bill Simmons's favorite movie of the year, Van Lathen's favorite movie of the year. Just touching, touching soul. I mean, they both love it. I know what, I know they both love it. Every time I see them, they're like, number one. I love Hamnet. Like, stop making eye contact with me so intensely.

You got to just, just punch. I know. It's gone. So I'm just doing one. No, you can't. The thing is that it won't stay on. No, it'll stand my ear. Okay, we'd love for you to try. We're just putting it right here.

I already had to take the bracelet off because it was clanking against the table. You know what? Black Tie and podcasting don't necessarily go together. We're working every day to further the definitions. of what black tie can be. I feel stronger than ever. Okay, I'm just keeping my hair like this and then you won't be able to see it. Jesse Buckley won and she did the full cover, your face, like instant cry reaction shot, which I thought was a tiny bit too much given that we knew that she was going to win.

I've always wondered this. I've never won anything, of course. Yeah. Ever? What's up with the IHeart podcast? Did we win? Oh, wait. Oh, no, it's actually tomorrow, I think.

I think it's the day after the Oscars. Well, it's all hinging on this moment. Don't fuck this up for us. Jesus. I'm trying to get a thought off. Jesse Buckley was in this unique position that you and I, maybe you have felt this, but I have definitely never felt this.

I won some awards in high school. I'll bet you did. Where she's known for months. You know, I'm sure she's a humble person and is a very serious artist. And I love her. I've been singing her praises on the show for years. I think she's an elite, phenomenal. actor. But she has, you know, when she goes home and it's her and her husband and they've had a long day,

they're taking care of the kid. Yeah. It's tough times. She can rest on the pillow and say, I shall be the best actress very soon. Right, right, right, right. So, like, how do you keep that from popping out? How do you, how do you, like, how do you put your hands over your face and be like, I can't believe this is happening? I think it helps is that if, uh, the studio that won the, the Oscar and the runner up tonight releases your, you know, your. or less than ideally reviewed blockbuster adaptation of the Bride of Frankenstein, like a week before. Yeah, maybe that just brings you down a little bit. She was fantastic in that movie.

You and Yassi Sahlik, it's good that you can find joy wherever. It was the character and the writing. It was not Jesse Buckley's performance that I had an issue with. Let's psychoanalyze. Yeah. Renata Rinesva, Kate Hudson, some of her other fellow nominees. Yeah. When she is like, she's like, I can't believe I won.

Uh-huh. Do you think they're like, you've been backing your Cadillac over my body for the last four months at award shows? Like, please don't do this to me? I think they're probably like, please get this camera out of my face so I can go get drunk. Okay. Is what I would guess. That's exactly how you feel right now. Yeah, except it's so true.

Except for Kate Hudson, who is like, do I have any more paid promo with Grogo to do before I get to go home? home and get drunk. And let me say, she sold it very well. She did. And she, as always, looked very beautiful. And I hope she's having a nice time at a party right now. Let's pivot briefly to that conversation. So I would say Disney, the Disney Corporation seemed very comfortable,

synergizing some of their products with this award show. We saw a reunion, a reunion between Chris Evans and Robertownie Jr. Two guys who have been apart for so long. What have they been doing without each other? I don't know. But they were reunited because they're promoting. a forthcoming Avengers movie. It was the 14th anniversary

since their first Avengers film Who fucking cares? And then we saw Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver present an award which led to that Grogu moment that you mentioned openly promoting the Mandalorian and Grogou also at Disney film.

And we also saw Anne Wintor and Anne Hathaway. I thought in one of the better of the bits, certainly the best of the synergy moments. Presenting for costume design and makeup and hairstyling, of course, connected to the Devil Wars Prada too,

which is coming out in six weeks. You know, Disney won't have the Oscars in three years. YouTube will be taking the show over. Conan made a joke about that very fact at the show, which was very funny thanks to Jane Lynch. And also the credit sequence of the Oscars when he did the one battle send up and then they replaced the title on the door

from Forever Host Conan O'Brien to Forever Host Mr. Beast. Yes, very funny. It all comes for all of us. And it came for Conan tonight. I thought this was like gross, but I get it. What else is Disney supposed to do? And why aren't more studios just buying time during the Oscars? 20 million people are going to watch this show.

I do think we could do it a bit better. Sure. The Anne Hathaway Anna Winter won was at least, it understood the subject matter that it was working with. And they had Anna do very little, but do it well. Good time. Props to her for actually living up to her reputation performatively. And then, but the other two, the Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans one, which I realized in retrospect is like the Marvel moment that we were sold, which is two guys doing really bad half-hearted copy about what gifts they gave each other for the Avengers anniversary. Really, really dingy stuff.

It's really, really, like I would have asked for some new copy, were I them? Yeah. But the Groga one is how I feel about men. Andalorian and Grogu in general, which is this does look sort of like the bottom rung of IP management delivered to small children. And we should all be ashamed of ourselves. And I'm saddened that Sigourney-Wiver participates in it. And also the report from home is that my son was psyched.

And he was waiting and waiting and waiting for the performance of Golden, which they saved until 6.55 p.m. Pacific, 9.55 Eastern. I genuinely don't understand that. But, you know, at least Grogu showed up at some point. And he was like, can you believe it's Grogu? So, you know, I don't know. Like I, like all of the celebrated filmmakers who won Oscars tonight and but a parent. In terms of the arts, would you say that you love puppets?

I like them more than cartoons, yes. I see. Okay, good to know. Because that was some handmade puppetry. You went to puppetry camp. I did at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta. And you had to make a puppet out with a tennis ball as a head. But I have to tell you that it was very hard to puncture the tennis ball in order to get, you know, the appropriate steering instruments.

This is my solemn vow. Never quit this show with you. Never. It's moments like that. They're just revelatory. I went to all the performing arts games. Puppetry is a performing art. Check out the people at Bob Baker's Mary.

I know. I'm aware. I'm a huge fan. When I see them walking around and they're red, just like on the street, I'm like, that is a real celebrity. Those are the Bobbaker, Mary. The puppeteers. Yeah, they're incredible. Yeah. Shout out to them. I know. We have spent many, many, many, many and violate their space, you know. Wow. But if it was Leo, you'd roll up to him and be like, yo, what's up, dog? No, I will respect Leo's space. Um, yeah, there was, there was a lot of, there was a decent amount of synergy. I still find it very strange that the Super Bowl has more capital. with the movie business than the Oscars does. I mean, obviously more people watch the Super Bowl, but there's a captive audience of movie fans that are tuning in for the Academy Awards and, like, watching the commercials tonight and even watching the presenters, like how many of them were even promoting new movies tonight?

I found it to be very odd. I don't know, but we got multiple Rolex ads, including, like the same Rolex ad, played twice, and then there was a special Zendaya-only Rolex ad. Okay. So maybe that says good things about the, the net worth of the Oscar watching committee, audience?

Sure. I don't know. Do you have a Rolex? I don't have a Rolex. No, I don't. And we're really into the Oscars. So what does that tell you? Other words.

Let's talk about the trio of animated international and documentary. Okay. Animated one to- It's a real up-down, up-down. The rollercoaster of emotions here. That's how roller coasters go. animated feature went to K-pop Demon Hunters. Yes, very early in the night.

Yes, Maggie Kay and Chris Appalachans spoke. Maggie seemed knocked out. She was very emotional. I thought it was lovely. I liked what Chris had to say about art and cultures connecting to each other through art. I think that movie, if you can just remove your cynicism for five seconds, is an amazing way to introduce young people to all kinds of different kinds of art. And I think that's a really cool movie.

And it's like a pretty good win and an interesting win in terms of, terms of that category, which is really evolving right now. Like, it used to just be like, all right, it's Pixar, and then maybe every 10 years you get a Miyazaki. And now I feel like it's a little, the aperture has been widened for what's eligible. And also, interesting moment for Sony Pictures animation, too. Obviously, Netflix distributed the movie, but they've just had another hit with goat. And they're kind of riding high right now. I loved the moment.

I loved the speech. I thought both Maggie and Chris, like, they are another situation where they've won everything. all season long and kind of had to know it was coming, but still, and we're ready and knew what they wanted to say, but also were clearly very moved by the moment. So it was great. I was happy to see at least one K-pop Demon Hunters up earlier because I do know that there were a lot of young children just waiting for K-pop Demon Hunters wherever they could get it. It's been interesting, like in the span of this award season is when my household has really caught on to that movie because we're a bit younger, but it's powerful. And I agree. I've

all of the other kids stuff that I'm watching. It teaches kids great things, not just about music and Korean culture and, you know, how sometimes girls are cooler than boys. But it's just a way of thinking about yourself. So I'm very pro. I'm very happy for them. International feature. Sentimental value from Norway. Yoke M. Trir's film one here. And I think after it won at Bafta, it seemed like it had the run of show. There was not really a lot of a sense that the Secret Agent or any other film was going to come in behind it. Except for everyone with their itchy fingers online

in the past week. Yes. Some respondents did still go with the Secret Agent. You and I never really came off that. I almost did. I had it noted because hello to the people of Brazil. They are very powerful. And their enthusiasm for this movie and this performance is, I think, part of what has propelled it along with the good people at Neon

who buy movies it can and do the work. And the sentimental value had four acting nominations and screenplay and director and picture. It was just, and it was kind of the only place for when to go. So I don't think anything else ever had a chance. But I don't know. Secret Agent is an amazing film if you haven't seen it. It is.

And now feels overlooked. And now I think we've done a lot to try to promote the greatness of that movie. But zero wins tonight. And that leaves us a documentary. Yeah. Where you had a sour puss on when it was announced that Mr. Nobody against Putin won. Yes. I didn't really care for this slate of documentary nominees.

All worthy issues and all media. to questionable films. And I found this to be the most questionably executed of the films. And I thought

that the speech that the filmmaker gave about tying it to a current moment was perceptive. I would have liked to see a little bit more of that

in the film and a little bit less of the um solipsistic nature of the the Pasha character and I still want to know

what's going on in that town but I guess no one will ever tell me I hope they're okay yeah not my favorite category this year and it ended with kind of a strange win I don't want to speak too strongly but I think we need to reevaluate

what this category is supposed to do and I think the branch is a little weird and everybody knows it's a little weird historically been very finicky and And it's not just because it's hard to predict. It's mostly because the slate of films that we have have kind of shifted dramatically.

A listener to the show sent along some extraordinary research and analysis around social issues, becoming dramatically more important to the nominees in this category over time, and also increasingly more international nominees. That in and of itself, there's nothing wrong with it. But this category has undergone a problem.

pretty dramatic shift. And next time we talk docs, I'll read more deeply from that research. But, yeah, wasn't my favorite. Let's talk about the shorts categories. Mm-hmm.

Because, you know, speaking of documentaries, all the empty rooms did win. Yes. The devil is busy. No, you did not predict the devil is busy. No, I just wanted it to win.

And that was the exception to my annual, the shorts should be in a different awards show, rant, And every once in a while, I'm wrong. And it's important to say that. Wow.

That was very, very brave and sincere of you. Live action short film, I thought produced perhaps the best moment of the night, which was a tie. Not the best moment, but something interesting. It was something where I was like, oh, my. I have not seen this in some time. It's been, in fact, I think, 13 years since we had a tie at the Academy Awards. Yes, 2012 was the last. And what cat?

Was it sound editing? It was in sound editing. Yes. And the winners were Skyfall and Zero Dark 30. I remember this. So live action short film, we did, in fact, have a tie. Kumail Nanjiani was introducing this category. He took an absolute stray from Conan O'Brien who said that the following presenter has the physique of a Marvel hero and the voice of a Marvel collector.

And Kumel clearly did not know that was coming. He was extremely funny in the receiving of that joke. And then he also had a pretty. good bit about how maybe more feature films could just be best live action films and then did a whole list. But what I remember was just one battle. And then Schindler's post it. It was very funny. And he opened the envelope for this award and he revealed and explained perfectly that there was a tie. Yeah. That he was not joking. And that the way that this would go is he would announce one film's name. People would come up, give an accepted.

speech, then they would leave, and then he would announce the next film's name, and then those filmmakers would come up and give their speech. And it went over beautifully. It was an extraordinary moment of crowd management. To the point that, and if he was tipped off, then great job by everyone involved, because he knew exactly what to do. He said, there's a tie. I'm not joking. We're going to get through this. I'm going to, you know, and the right amount of funny and also very clear, he would be like he would be a great elementary school teacher. I don't know why I keep invoking elementary school. But so did he know to do that? Or did he just decide off the cuff? I don't know how. Was there like, was there a

500 word essay inside of the envelope explaining what he should do? Like, how did he know that? I don't know. Throw some of the Pricewaterhouse stuff into question there. Like what information, was he given information that there was a tie but didn't know, didn't say who the winners were? It could be that. And it could be explained what to do because I remember after. the moonlight la la land debacle. It was explained that there is always, or at that time, maybe procedures, maybe security's been upped since then. But that there would be a Pricewaterhouse, there was always a Pricewaterhouse Cooper representative

standing on the side of the stage who knew the results so that if anything went wrong on stage, they could intervene. And they were, they're also supposed to check the envelope. In case you're making the stake, he bursts on stage. You guys, shut up. You're wrong. It wasn't Jesse Buckley who won. So maybe someone there.

But he looked surprised. He did. He sold it. Does everybody get briefed? Like, if there's a tie, here's what happens? I don't know. I didn't look like most presenters are paying that much attention. No. Ties are fascinating.

There was a question about the possibility of a tie in our Instagram live before the show. And also, another thing that I said to you was that I was having some second thoughts about my pick for Best Live Action Short. You know, you and I both picked two people exchanging saliva, which had been the heavy favorite and is very liked. And then I was thinking about the singers, the Netflix film about a group of men in a bar singing and how it makes people feel, which is they feel moved by it and they like it. And we split the difference here. They both won.

Yes. So just to be clear, we are counting the live action short that we got, that we picked that did win one of the two Oscars as a correct prediction. Yeah. I think that's right. Yeah. Because otherwise, no one predicted a tie. Well, yes.

If someone did predict a tie out there in the world, I mean, they can't prove it. It just made a very difficult to predict category that much easier, which is we salute them. We did not get correct. Best animated short. Yeah. And that prize went to the girl who cried pearls.

And we predicted butterfly. And it didn't win. Any thoughts? I don't care for... Stop motion doesn't speak to me. It's not my preferred form of animation. Okay. Thank you for your time.

those are your only thoughts I mean, what do you got? No, that's fine. Okay. That just about does it, I think. You know, we haven't spoken in any detail about costume design or makeup and hairstyling, production design. All went to Frankenstein?

They all went to Frankenstein. As predicted? Mm-hmm. Let's spend a little time on the show itself. Okay. Conan O'Brien was back for a second year. Mm-hmm. He opened the show with a big...

Billy Crystal-esque filmed montage in which he appeared in several of the nominated films, starting with his appearance as Aunt Gladys, or as Conan in Anne Gladys drag. As Conan having what is either a nightmare or a weapons-esque, you know, alternate reality where everyone else sees Conan, but he knows he looks like on Gladys. and the small children who are falling behind him and all screaming

also seemed to think that he looks like in Gladys and they're in his thrall as such and he raced through F1 he raced through Marty Supreme

he raced through Hamnet very funny in the back behind behind Hamlet he raced through he had a sit-down conversation

with Gustav Borg and sentimental value and he raced through sinners as well he sang Danny Boy at the you know, the open the barn will you let me in see?

This was all said to the Beastie Boys sabotage. It was. Yeah. And once again, my adolescence to the four, a lot of my stuff colliding. This is specifically happening to us more and more with Beastie Boys songs because they're getting looser and looser

with the licensing. And every time we are generationally confronted with, this was the most sacred, coolest thing that I could possibly know. and now it's in a Minions movie, or it's at the beginning of the Oscars. And what does that mean for us as people?

What does that mean for what's cool? What does that mean for time? None of its answers we want. So I think we just got to move on. I thought it was a funny, it was a funny cold opening. Yeah. I thought Conan's monologue was a little weak,

and I think he felt it a little bit. And Conan famously on his show delivered many a week monologue again, often played into the fact that he was like, I'm doing my best here, guys. So it was kind of part of his comedic persona. He was very funny with that. And it's very funny for him to be doing that in the room. I seem to remember him killing a lot more last year. I could be wrong.

Part of it was just the kind of excitement to see him in that setting. I think also he did have a very sincere moment at almost the very end of the opening that acknowledge, if not in specific terms, all of the horror is currently happening or in the world around us, both in the United States and outside of the United States. much of it at the United States doing. But just acknowledging that it is a very tough time and talking about the power of movies really like as a portrait of something to look forward to,

of hope of things getting better. And I thought it was sincere and really definitely handled. And it made the silliness of the rest of the monologue make more sense. There weren't very many like going for it, Jokes, everything was goofy. You know, there were like lunchmeat puns. And, you know, delivered in the Conan, you know, nodding your head a lot. Yes.

Charm. It wasn't unfunny. It was just kind of goofy. And like he wasn't really trying to hurt anyone. It wasn't in general an overtly political academy words. We already mentioned one of the speeches for Best Documentary that spoke to it. Javier Bardem. spoke very strongly and said free Palestine from the stage, which is something that is not.

And end all wars. Yes, not common. Also with like not the tiny ice out pen, though I didn't see many of those tonight. No, I didn't either. But like he had like full medallions. Yes. Which, you know, is consistent with how Javier Bredem has spoken his views at every public event that he has attended. Yes.

But one of the very few people at this at this award show who even spoke to the severity of a lot of issues around the world. in a specific way. Yeah. You know, there were a lot of bromides, of course, about being together and caring for one another, but not a lot of specificity this year. Conan... He also then ended with a whole opera bit,

but not a Timmy bit. He did the Timmy joke. And... How are you feeling about that? How are you feeling about the... The ballet and the opera? Well, just that that controversy took off after the voting ended.

He's been roundly roasted. Yeah, to be very clear, that all happened. The interview happened before, but the virality of that clip being posted and the outrage all happened after voting closed. So if it had anything to do with the results in Best Actor, it was a reflection rather than a cause of Timmy losing the Oscar. Do you think it was a little overkill with a lot of the like commentary and jokes and... Yeah, well, by tonight, by Oscars night, it wasn't funny. And especially by the fourth one. Even the Conan joke was like Timmy was kind of taking Timmy under his winglet.

I can't remember the exact phrasing, but it wasn't at Timmy's behest. Even one of the guys who won best live action short film is making a shot, taking a pointed ballet comment. I was like, all right, man. Like, come on. Yeah, you're not funny anymore. It's not creative. So, yeah, I think it's over. You know, as you said to me, they'll never take that phone from us.

They'll never take the... I love Marty Supreme. I love Marty Supreme. I know I love that performance. I am Team Timmy. I'm really, really happy that Michael B Jordan won. I think it's deserving.

Me too. But yeah. It's a good one. Timmy's going to be back in Dune 3, man. It's like this is going to get going all over again. Dune 3 is about to be an Oscar movie too. So like buckle up. He's going to be back.

That's great. But no, but then the second opera thing was when after his moment of sincerity, Conan did a whole, this is what I'd do if I won an Oscar bit. and he had like a full he accepted the Oscar on like a mountain set and Josh Grobin was singing a song about it

and I was quite amused. My favorite Conan Joke of the Night was when he brought up sinners and he mentioned that Coogler is not a member of the academy because he doesn't feel that you know we should individually be celebrating the works of a single film. He doesn't like judging his peers work.

And then Conan said but the rest of you pricks seem to love it which I thought was the kind of like mean-spirited FU that the host needs to have sometimes. You know, Kimmel always, I thought, did a nice job of kind of balancing that. And don't forget, you guys are fucking clowns a little bit in all of his... Speaking of Kimmel, they had him come out to present the two documentary awards, which I thought was really great programming and great producing. Some really good ABC synergy as well.

What else? I mean, what else? We mentioned the YouTube Oscars joke at the end of the film. With the Mr. Beast bit, there was also a YouTube joke about Beam Pro and Jane Lynch. There was adventure crossroads, AI improving films, shrinking down the images that you would see and redefining them. Let's talk, I guess, about the tributes. Yeah, which were much earlier in the show than they usually are. Billy Crystal came out to celebrate the Reiner's and his work with Rob Reiner over the years and walked through some of the films that they made together and that incredible run that he had from roughly 1980s or 1995.

And I really liked that they did that. After he spoke, they started to kind of start the traditional In Memorium package where they showed us a series of people who had worked in Hollywood over the years making films and internationally as well. And then they cut out and they cut to Rachel McAdams who gave a tribute to Diane Keaton, which at first I thought was going to be a little eye-roly. And then I was kind of crying by the end of it. It was really good. It was so beautiful. I mean, we've talked about it before on this show this year. Rachel McAdams is the star.

and a wonderful presence, they start together in a truly underrated romantic comedy, Morning Glory, also starring Harrison Ford. He makes a frittata. And that is how he enunciates those teas. But so she had real stories and she told, she closed it with like an amazing story of a song that Diane Keaton would sing on set, make new friends, but keep the old. And, you know, and then, exactly. And the. And they weave it into the tribute. It was great writing, great performance, and she's such a lovely person. And also, you know, she pointed out, like, Diane Keaton was a legend to every single aspiring actress. And especially anyone who wanted to do comedic work, which Rachel McAdams does. I thought they really did write by her. And I liked how they did that.

And as I was watching that, and even before Barbara Streisang came out to honor Robert Redford, all, like, I think to myself was like, this is the point of this show. Like it's not to honor people who have passed away, but it's to say that there's connectivity in the work, movie to movie, career to career, that these people know each other, that they're interested in each other and care about each other, and that they can communicate about things that their peers do

in ways that maybe we can't. And if you're not platforming that and making that more a point of the show, and obviously you want to entertain the masses and you want to talk about the new movies, but there should just be more of this in the show. And maybe it was because Rachel McAdams was just good at it. And what she wrote or how someone helped her. I don't know what happened, but it was really well, nicely done.

But same for Billy Crystal. And same for Barbara Streisand when she honored Robert Redford. And they obviously worked together many years ago and had known each other for decades. And she gave kind of a sleepy tribute. Barbara Streisand, you know, is in her 80s, of course. And then she started singing and she was like singing her balls off. I just, I can't express the number of different emotions that I felt in the moment when Barb Strisson was handed the microphone and seemingly was not expecting it and then launched into

memories. And it was, I went from, oh, no, and I think I was clutching the side of the couch because in general, I get nervous when people sing live. Yes. You know, and then she's still Babs, even though she doesn't want to be called Babs, as we learned from her tribute to Robert Redford. She's still got it. But I really, I was down. I was holding. Morified. I was up. I was moved. Well, in my head, I was like, Rachel McAdams just crushed this. We're really bringing the energy down here. Come on. Let's get it going. But she's saying well.

The tribute was, the in-memorium section was almost 10 minutes long. It was very long or much, much longer. And that just reflects that it was a pretty extraordinary year in terms of the number of, like, true great Hollywood legends that we lost. But I think you're right that they found a way to. like is to spend a moment with those really titanic kind of outsized names, but fit a lot of people in and made it like an actual moment in the show. You could have

spent more time on Claudia Cardinali and Robert Duval and Val Kilmer and I mean, they were really well-known Fatharro. Yeah, Catherine O'Hara. Actors and actresses with really big careers, decades on careers. People who won Academy Awards who didn't get some of that time. So, yeah, I just thought it was nicely done and really good on the Academy for carving out

more time for it. Musical performances, speaking of Bab singing. Sure. So I lied to you. Yes. Which came before Golden and effectively recreated the scene. Yes.

From sinners in which Miles Katin sings and we travel through past and future of musical styles across multiple diasporas. Kind of like shockingly well done? I was amazed that they even tried to do it. And they were even trying, they were trying to replicate some of the camera work. That's what I'm saying. And, you know, and they added in some performances. It kind of crescendoed to Misty Copeland performing ballet, front and center.

But I mean, Misty Copeland's a legend. So why not if you can get her? And people coming down the aisles of the theater. And I had the same reaction. I was like, oh, they're trying to recreate this out of context. A scene that seemed to jar so many people in the, in the same. situation of the film, and then it just kind of worked. It worked, yeah.

I thought so, too. And I think, you know, in some ways distills what that scene is trying to do in the movie for a larger audience. But yeah, it was cool. I was also, I mean, I assume Ryan Couglar didn't actually, like, direct that performance. So kind of the balls on whoever to be like, no, no, no, we got this and we can adapt it to the stage. I thought it was really impressive.

And I thought it was not just, you know, first of all, Miles Caden, his voice is just unbelievable and live he crushed it. But incorporating Jamie Lawson and Lee Jun Lee and actors and Jack O'Connell and Lola Kirk having a, you know, like the fact that it felt like they were actually celebrating the movie. It wasn't like a tribute to a movie featuring dancers who were not related to the movie. Like the Oscars has been guilty of that many times in the past. And this was like, no, these people who made this are remaking this before your eyes. Like it is live theater. Yeah. And that is really cool. Again, something that a lot of really good decisions like this, throughout the show that were impressive.

The golden performance I thought was a little stiff. I didn't think it was as impressive, either visually or sonically. First of all, we had to wait too long for it. It was curtailed. You know, they didn't sing the whole song. And here's what I'll say. E.J. hit the note live. And I was a little, I was nervous.

You know, and it's probably because I've seen K.P. Demon Hunter so many times. So I have the, from the plot in my head. Yep. But she can hit it live But they had adjusted the mix Just in case she couldn't So you could barely hear it Which I thought was a shame

And yeah they looked a little nervous It also started with a little... There were some demons for a second or two On stage before they got to the performance As if they were trying to recreate the movie How would you fare against a demon? You mean a K-pop demon hunter demon? Yeah

What's one demon versus another? Those, they're pretty clueless, those demons, right? There's like watering plants with coffee. They don't really know where they are. Yeah, that's feminism. And I just don't, I would be fine with it. I would just say, no, thank you. You know?

Not sure how that's how that works. No, no, I just like, I would handle it. Like they would. Okay. You know? What's your weapon of choice? How it's done, done, done, right? And then go, that's Knox's favorite.

So I, you know, I know what is. What would be your weapon of choice? I don't know. The blade? The blaster? No, no blaster, no guns, blade, I guess. Okay, and the blade? Or just the power of my hands. What about the bow or the size?

No, the bow I don't really have that much. No, I meant the bow, like the staff. No, I don't like gear, you know, in life. No, I really don't. Have you ever been rock climbing? I have, because it was required in my elementary school. It's a long story. Did you also go to rock climbing camp?

No, but we went on like rock climbing trips. And you had to like repel to learn trust. You asked me. How long have we been going? I don't. We've been going for maybe almost 90 minutes, which is still shorter than it took you to tie that bow tie. Let's talk about the bow tie. Looked at several tutorials.

So you were watching Instagrams. You were looking at like WikiHoud, you know, diagrams. What finally broke through for you? I was not paying attention closely enough to what I was supposed to be doing. And it's on me. It all worked out. It miraculously happened. You were trying to do it.

But I was trying to pay it into the Oscars. I know. In front of the thing. So you were just sitting there for a full hour. An hour. Yeah. Yeah. But it's pretty pathetic. Do you think it cut down on your tweeting?

That's a good question. There probably is some correlation. Yeah. So that's positive for all of us. Slow down in social media output. Yeah. Which is probably for the best, right? One Epstein joke.

Right. Yeah. In England, we arrest. are pedophiles. In England, they arrest their pedophiles. Yes. That was pretty much it, right? Yeah.

Did you think there should have been more? I'm good. Can we do bridesmaids? Let's talk about bridesmaids. I was just giggling the whole time. You know, we were talking about on the pre-show, and I was like, okay, they do this. They have reunions of casts, and they put like a middling anniversary against it. And then Melissa McCarthy, Roseburn, Kristen Whig, Maya Rudolph, and Ellie Kemper come out.

Right. Oh, this is, it's the 15th anniversary. 15 is a silly anniversary. Well, that's what I'm saying. When I heard about it, I was like, this is kind of whatever. You know, obviously a big night for Maya Rudolph because her husband was nominated for and expected to win many Academy Awards. Right. But, you know, bridesmaids is still a beloved and memorable movie and it's probably the kind of movie that the Oscars should be celebrating.

We're kind of in that zone where like whatever happened 15 to 20 years ago now is the pure nostalgia for younger people who are getting into watching the Oscars. And they were absolutely hilarious. It was easily the funniest moment of the night. It was so funny. So they were each given, quote, unquote, notes from the audience to read halfway through, right? As Ellen Kemner was starting to explain what the score it does in a film. And they were all weird notes from Stellan Scarsguard. You know, not actually.

El Fanning, who was actually just Stellan Scarsguard again. Leonardo DiCaprio, who really, really played. the bit with Roseburn perfectly. Benicio del Toro and then Sweet Jacoby Jupe at the end. Really, really funny. Then they came back. And what were they talking about? Well, that was when Maya Rudolph said...

Oh, Sound. For Sound, they came back. She said earlier today, when I was counting my money, I said to myself, what is sound? And Kristen Wigg had a follow-up to that. That was just like, that's 10 years of SNL working together. where they had a moment of chemistry. It was very enjoyable.

Really, very good. Congratulations to all of them. I do feel like every year, whatever the S&L present or former S&L cast members do to present, where I was just like, well, that was the best part of the night. This is why I never cashed my wig check. Whig is nine out of ten times as a part of the bit. Like she crushes at the Oscars any time she's there.

That's great. Let's just not have her in The Martian. But that's okay, you know? They canceled that show. They canceled her show that Wesley Like so much. Yeah, we'll never see it now. I've never seen the show. When did they cancel it?

They canceled it. Like two days after Wesley was here. Oh, no. Should I binge it tonight? Yeah, we've got plenty of time. Adrian Brody presented Best Actor, and he had a bit. Yeah. A lot of stuff written down on a piece of paper.

Right. The problem is that Conan made his joke before he did his bit. So Conan took his bit from him, which is fine because Conan's bit was funnier. And then, I mean, at least we didn't really, at least he didn't give another speech, you know, after last year. Thank God. Yeah. Okay. Let's go into post-game reflections.

Okay. On what this is. Okay. 90 minutes in. Yeah. Who is the next Paul Thomas Anderson? I don't mean who's the next filmmaker who's going to be as good as him or whatever. Right.

I mean who's the next person in line. that has been nominated many times. Oh, okay. It is widely beloved, but has never quite gotten over the line. Okay. So probably in his generation-ish, could be a bit younger, but...

You've got to remember that Paul Thomas Anderson had won zero Academy Awards. Right. You know, like Quentin Tarantino already has multiple Oscars for writing, for example. David Fincher, on the other hand, has zero Academy Awards. Yeah.

Well, that's an example. Is it good... But you think, do I think that it's going to happen for, I mean, Spike Lee, even though he does have an Oscar. He has an Oscar. He has a writing Oscar, not a directing Oscar. Yeah, but you know what I mean. Yes. But so someone who's been totally blanked.

Yes. Is there somebody out there right now? Because a lot of people who were kind of younger then, you know, no one already, he crossed the threshold. Right. In terms of, you know, your beloved Sophia, she's already got one. That's right. I mean, so Fincher, there you go. Although I don't know about Cliff Booth being the one.

You know, I think a lot about Noah Baumbach, who doesn't have an Oscar of any kind. Speaking of people in that marriage who don't have Oscars, Greta Gerwig, obviously younger, but has been at the table a lot. Yes. Jordan Peel has been at the table. He has an original screenplay. That's right. Okay. Well, those are my two for you.

You know who doesn't have one? Ridley Scott. Well, Ridley Scott. He has a film coming out this year, the dog stars. You guys are aware of the dog stars? I'm looking forward to it. New Ridley movie? Love Ridley.

Listen, same. I'd like to, people were asking me about like bucket list, right, after talking to Steven Spielberg. Yeah. Which, I don't know if I mentioned it was a fucking dream of my life. What an amazing Friday I had. Never talk to Ridley. Never met him.

Don't know him. Nothing. I think I'd really like to dig in and try to get him to come on. Because, you know, he doesn't, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's a man of, of few words or only the words that he wants. I would enjoy it. I would like you talking to him. He's another filmmaker whose work I have studied closely. I really like his movies.

Are we counting Wes Anderson's shorts, Oscar? He has one. But it doesn't count. Yeah, you know, it's, he has one, right? That's what I'm saying. The Paul Thomas Anderson thing, I think when people look at this, they're like, oh, when battles overrated or whatever, it's like, Paul had a real, and he even said, you make a guy work hard for one of these.

He said that while he was holding one during his best director speech. He had been waiting a long time for somebody who a lot of serious movie fans are like, that's my fave. There's not, that's not that common for that to happen, you know. Lumet, Altman, Kubrick, these people didn't win best director. Yeah, Lynch. Hitchcock, Lynch, none of them won best director. That never happened for any of those people.

Orson Wells. He never won Best Director. He shared a best original screenplay Oscar with Herman Mankwitz. They made a film about that. It's called Mank. David Fenture did not win any Oscars for it. No. Yeah, I don't know.

So real Mank strays on the Zodiac Rewatchables. Not from you. A film I like. I like the film. A film I like. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I think that...

We got to get Fincher an Oscar. But does he want it? I don't think he cares. Okay. That's why he's so cool. He had three big competition years, Benjamin Button, social network, and Mank. And he didn't come close in any of those three.

So maybe he's just like, fuck it. I'm going to make cool movies for a streaming service. I look forward to seeing it. Any other generational, emotional, closing thoughts here? So we wrap up this award season, which has been going on for very long. It feels kind of warm and fuzzy. Am I wrong right now?

This was a nice night. It was a nice night. How long, like how long before that turns? Am I wrong to trust that? Am I wrong to, can we have a nice thing? Can we have a nice thing? Will you look at the discourse? I mean, I try not to, but, you know, then people serve me tweets of you say and stuff.

And I'm like, oh, great, now I got to know about this. You say it like a man holds a silver tray before you full of tweets. And you use tweezers to choose the one that you choose to consume. It was like, ma'am, ma'am, once again, Sean is at it. He's tweeting about aliens and the Mets. Well, everything's coming up aliens and the Mets. That's coming? Pretty soon.

Two weeks, right? Feeling good? Up, down? Yeah, I'll say it right here on Netflix. Okay. Well, Mets Corner is on Netflix. I think that's your goddamn right it is. I think the Mets are going to the World Series.

Oh, Christ. Okay. I think they are. I think Paul Thomas Anderson won best picture. So what you've learned from the last 72 hours when you talk to Steven Spielberg and your other hero won best picture and best director and best adapted screenplay. Yes. And the Beastie Boys kicked off.

And your childhood hero's Conan and the Beast Boys kicked off the Oscars. Is that anything's possible, including the Mets going to the World Series. Not only that, but sometimes the good guys win. That's all I'm saying. And we can make that if you will it, it is no dream. Okay. And that's the energy that I'm bringing to 2026. And if you're watching this show for the first time, this is how I always am.

I'm always very positive and very enthusiastic about my work and my life. And wearing a tuxedo. We will be talking more about the Oscar season and especially the telecast in a mailbag, in mailbag form. When are we going to do it? Tuesday. Yes. So send your questions. to what?

Big pick mailbag at gmail.com that's big pick mailbag at gmail.mall.com. I want to emphasize that's questions, not comments, not essays. We won't be reading them. But our producer, Jack Sanders,

he's had a long weekend. Spare Jack. Yeah. He's been working extremely hard these last few days. You know, because I can't help myself, I'm going to gin up some 2027 odds. who I think is going to be in the race that will be completely erroneous

within a few months' time. But this is just how they made me. This is just how God made me full of optimism. Right. Enthousiasm. Sincerity. You know, I'm happy for you. I worked out. Just this once for you.

The guy in the tux wins the night. Just this once. Incredible night for white guys. I mean, just unbelievable. Well, this was fun. This season was too long. Way, way, way, way too long. We'll cut it shorter next time.

Oscar's 2027 date. Googling. They haven't announced it. Okay, let's go. Let's go. February 10th or whatever. That would be sick. That's definitely not going to happen.

Last question for you before we wrap up ratings. They were, I think, at 19.7 million last year up a tick from previous years. That was attributed to, I think, in part, largely in part, Hulu finally streaming the show. Okay. And I think there were even some streaming snafus last year. I didn't get a sense of any streaming snafus this year for the show. Do you think they're up again, given the films that were nominated, given the outcomes that we just saw? I think they're probably steady.

Okay. Because, yes, sinners and K-pop Demon Hunters and all these very beloved films were nominated, but also those moments didn't happen until much later in the show. And people probably gave up. You know, I just, I don't know. I don't think ratings were going to go up. I think that we have to create a brave new world where we find, you know, where we go beyond linear audiences, you know? We reach people in other ways, like on Netflix or on our stupid little YouTube clips. So what, you know.

No, that's wrong. They're going to be up. Okay. They're going to be up because this is a time of positivity. This is a time of greatness. people love the movies. Did you know that the box office is up significantly this year over last year? Well, that's great.

I feel renewed. I think that's great. We could drill down on some numbers if you wanted to there, but it's fine. What do you mean? I like that. I don't know. Is that that's cumulative box office? That's not accounting for inflation.

Yeah, but sure. I bet the numbers of people going to the movies. Count that out for me. Well, you got to call Gene Fandango to talk about that. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the box office. Listen, movies are live to the people who love them. And that is us.

So, and that is the people who are still watching this weird podcast. So that is beautiful. Do you think Ted Sarandos after the show raced home so that he could watch us? Do you think he skipped all the parties so that he could watch us? What if we are being projected live on a Netflix, like, a party thing? You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. It's like, or if they have, you know, so he can both party and watch it.

And he's like shushing people so that he can hear us. Yeah, exactly. Well, I assume it's close captioned, you know, so that people can do whatever they need to do. That's not our best friend, given some of the language used here today. What a, what a time. What a season. Yeah. What an amazing job by you.

Thanks. Thanks. You're the best out. Congratulations. Doing my best. Thank you so much to Jack Sanders. And thanks to everybody here at Spotify who helped us go live. Thanks to the folks in Netflix for helping us go live.

That's been wonderful. Thanks to Lucas Cavanaaw. for his production support today. And in these recent days, as I said, we will be back with a mailbag. In just a couple of days, email us at big pickmailbag.com. We will answer your questions about the Oscars.

We will see you then.