Adrien Brody joins elite group with Oscar win – and a kiss

The New Daily
Mar 03, 2025, updated Mar 03, 2025

Halle Berry kisses Adrien Brody

Source: The Academy

Adrien Brody has won his second best actor Oscar for playing an immigrant architect in the epic postwar drama The Brutalist.

The 51-year-old New York City native had previously won for The Pianist, when he became the youngest best actor winner at age 29.

Brody joins an elite group of multiple winners in this category that includes Daniel Day-Lewis, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins, Jack Nicholson and Spencer Tracy.

“I’m here once again to represent the lingering traumas and the repercussions of war and systematic oppression and of antisemitism and racism and othering,” he said in an acceptance speech that flouted strict rules about length.

“I pray for a healthier and a happier and a more inclusive world. And I believe if the past can teach us anything, it’s a reminder to not let hate go unchecked. I love you and I appreciate you all. Let’s fight for what’s right.”

Earlier, Brody and Halley Berry had revisited a famous – and controversial – Oscars moment with a staged kiss on the red carpet.

In a clip shared on The Academy’s social media, with the tagline “a reunion 22 years in the making”, Berry, who was due to present an on Sunday, greeted Brody warmly before initiating a kiss.

“I had to pay him back,” she told Variety.

The scene recalled a notorious moment from the 2003 Oscars, when Brody, who had just become the youngest best actor winner for his performance in The Pianist, embraced Berry, the award’s presenter, and delivered an impromptu kiss on the lips.

“I was like: ‘What the f— is going on right now?’,” Berry said some years later.

It was a good night for The Brutalist, but not so much for Australia’s Guy Pearce. He was pipped for best supporting actor for his performance in the movie about a Jewish immigrant and architect chasing the American dream.

Instead, hot favourite Kieran Culkin – who had swept the BAFTA, Critic’s Choice, Golden Globe and SAG awards for his role in A Real Pain, the movie about two cousins on a Jewish heritage tour of Poland – took home the gold statuette.

“I have no idea how I got here,” he said on stage at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday.

“I’ve been acting all my life. I never felt like this was my trajectory.”

Source: The Academy

Anora, a story about a sex worker who gets a shot at a Cinderella story, was named best picture, and also landed the award for original screenplay.

The movie’s 25-year-old star, Mikey Madison, was named best actress – ahead of favourite Demi Moore. Anora also won best director for Sean Baker.

The adapted screenplay award went to Conclave, a movie that imagines the secret proceedings to select a new pope.

The prize for best animated feature went to independent film Flow, the first movie from Latvia to win an Oscar. It beat Australia’s offering in the category, Memoir of a Snail.

Nominees Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo opened the show with a Wizard of Oz-themed medley, including the show-stopping hit Defying Gravity from their film Wicked.

This year’s Oscars race has featured twists and turns, and no movie has dominated the precursor film awards.

Any of three films could score best picture, according to Oscars pundits. They are Anora, Conclave and The Brutalist.

Others in the best picture field include blockbuster musical Wicked, a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, and A Complete Unknown, the Bob Dylan biopic starring Chalamet.

Netflix musical Emilia Perez headed into the ceremony with the most nominations.

But its chances of victory dwindled when offensive social media posts surfaced from star Karla Sofia Gascon. The actress, the first openly transgender person nominated for an acting Oscar, disappeared from the awards circuit but was at Sunday’s ceremony.

Zoe Saldana won the best supporting actress title for her role in Emilia Pereze as he fixer for a Mexican drug lord.

Winners of the gold Oscar statuettes are chosen by the roughly 11,000 actors, producers, directors and film craftspeople who make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.