From unexpected acting wins to historic firsts and debates about genre films finally gaining recognition, this year’s Oscar ceremony produced several talking points across Hollywood. The Federal spoke to Poulomi Das about the night’s biggest winners, surprises, and what the results reveal about the evolving priorities of the Academy.
Do you think One Battle After Another truly deserved Best Picture, or was it simply the safest choice?
I do think it was the best film of the year. It’s very satisfying — and rare — to see an Oscars where the best film of the year (by popular choice) also wins Best Picture. That category is always up for debate because everyone has strong opinions. Often the Academy chooses something that feels safe or sends a message about the kind of films it wants to support.
With One Battle After Anotherthe Academy is honouring a movie that reminds them what kinds of films they want to make versus what kinds of films are actually being made. If you think about it, the film moves across many genres. It’s a father-daughter story, it’s about America, it’s personal and political, and it’s also about revolution. It explores an intergenerational dynamic between fathers and daughters, and also between Gen-Z and millennials.
One is that the Academy is changing because of the new voters who joined since around 2013. They are younger and more diverse, and they seem less interested in simply awarding people who have been around for decades.
So there are many aspects to it that different audiences can connect with. It’s also an out-and-out action film, yet it manages to do many things at once.
Another reason it works so well is that it gives one of the best showcases for one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s easy to take for granted what he can do. This is one of his rare comedic roles after a long time, and while we know him as a dramatic actor, this film allows him to blend drama, comedy and vulnerability. He plays someone who is helpless but still trying to make change and do the right thing.
Then there’s also the fact that Paul Thomas Anderson has been overdue for an Oscar for many years. So it fits the Academy’s narrative of finally honouring a creative storyteller who has been waiting for recognition for a long time.
We also can’t ignore the newcomer in the film. I feel like Chase Infinity in One Battle After Another is one of the biggest discoveries of the year. And when you look at the supporting cast — Benicio Del Toro, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor and Regina Hall — they each bring something different to what a supporting performance can do.
So I really think it’s much more than just a safe choice.
Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor for Sinners. Do you think this pushes him into Hollywood’s top tier of actors?
I really do think so. That was actually one of the awards that surprised me the most.
There had been a lot of conversation around Timothée Chalamet and also around Leonardo DiCaprio because he was nominated again. What made the result even more surprising is that Michael B. Jordan hadn’t won any of the precursor awards — not the Golden Globes, not Critics Choice, and not the other major awards that usually predict the Oscars.
The last time something like this happened was when Adrien Brody won for The Pianist. And it’s quite poetic that he was the one presenting the award.
Another reason the win is significant is that Michael B Jordan played two roles in the film — two different characters. Also, it signals the emergence of a strong director-actor partnership. We often talk about Robert De Niro with Martin Scorsese, or Leonardo DiCaprio with Scorsese. In a similar way, this collaboration that began with Black Panther and Creed and is now continuing with Sinners is becoming very solid.
If you also consider the box office, Sinners is the biggest movie of the year. So recognising the lead actor is also acknowledging that he carried the film on his shoulders. Much of the story unfolds through his perspective.
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Another thing I really liked about this year’s Oscars is the diversity of winners. Sometimes one film wins everything, which may be deserved but can feel predictable. This year, the Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Picture awards went to three different films.
That suggests the Academy voters are judging each category individually rather than just rewarding one dominant film.
The Oscars introduced a new category this year — casting. Do you think this recognition was long overdue?
Of course it was. That’s why there has been such a strong push for this category.
The Oscars celebrate storytelling — directors, writers and producers who bring films to life — but filmmaking is also about what happens behind the scenes. Craft and technical contributions are essential.
We usually talk about sound, editing, cinematography or music, but casting is just as crucial. It determines how we experience a film.
If you look at the nominated films this year, the cast is often what you remember most. For example, when people talk about Hamlet, they mention Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. With Sinners, they think of Michael B. Jordan. With One Battle After Another, it’s the entire ensemble.
So casting plays a huge role in shaping the film we see on screen.
I was also very happy to see that all the nominated casting directors were women. It made me realise that casting is a field with strong female representation. And the award going to Cassandra for One Battle After Another felt well deserved because, as I mentioned, Chase Infinity was such an incredible discovery.
Paul Thomas Anderson finally won Best Director after years of nominations. What do you make of that moment?
It definitely felt long overdue.
Paul Thomas Anderson has one of the longest losing streaks in Oscar history for a writer-director. He had around 13 nominations over about 14 years before finally winning this time — for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture.
So yes, it’s partly the Academy finally honouring someone whose talent has been recognised for years. But it also came at the right time.
If you think about There Will Be Bloodthat might have been his most traditionally “Oscar-friendly” film. But many of his films exist on the margins — they’re admired by critics and have a cult following but may not achieve mainstream success because they are quirky or unconventional.
I was also very happy to see that all the nominated casting directors were women. It made me realise that casting is a field with strong female representation
One Battle After Another feels like his attempt to bridge those two sides. It has his distinctive personal filmmaking voice, but it’s also a big, accessible action film.
It’s personal, political and emotionally powerful. The performances are incredible. And this year he basically won everything — the writers’ awards, directors’ awards, Golden Globes and Critics Choice.
So this really felt like the year when there was no other option but to honour him.
Which wins surprised you the most?
The biggest surprise for me was Michael B. Jordan winning Best Actor because I genuinely hadn’t expected that.
Another surprise was Sean Penn winning Best Supporting Actor. I had thought Stellan Skarsgård might win because it was his first nomination after nearly 50 years of acting. It was also for a Norwegian film that had a record number of nominations.
Another interesting moment was the Original Song category. I knew “Golden” from K-Pop Demon Hunters was a strong contender, but I thought Sinners might have a chance there. Seeing K-Pop Demon Hunters dominate that category reinforced the idea that Academy voters are evaluating each category separately.
Were there any films or performances you think were overlooked?
Yes. One performance I definitely thought should have been nominated was Anne Lee in The Testament of Anne Lee for Best Actress.
I also feel there could have been more recognition for international films. For example, The Secret Agent or Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident.
The Oscars are primarily meant to celebrate Hollywood and American films, but I think it’s time to expand beyond that. International films are usually recognised only in categories like Best International Feature or sometimes Best Director.
But performances, editing or writing from these films could also be recognised more often. For instance, Wagner Moura in The Secret Agent delivered a performance that really stood out.
Hopefully, in the coming years, we will see more openness in that direction.
This year also saw the first woman win Best Cinematography. How significant is that?
It’s very significant — not only because she’s the first woman to win but also the first Black woman.
And she won for Sinners, which is the biggest film of the year. Cinematography is often seen as a male-dominated field because of the equipment and technical aspects involved.
So seeing a woman win in that category challenges those assumptions.
The film itself is beautifully shot, and the award adds legitimacy to the idea that women can excel in this field at the highest level.
Her speech was also one of the most moving moments of the ceremony. She paid tribute to Rachel Morrison, who was the first woman and first Black woman nominated for cinematography for Mudbound. She acknowledged that people like Morrison paved the way for her.
Did this year’s Oscars reflect a clear theme in terms of the kinds of films being recognised?
Yes, I think there were a few clear trends.
One is that the Academy is changing because of the new voters who joined since around 2013. They are younger and more diverse, and they seem less interested in simply awarding people who have been around for decades.
For example, last year Mikey Madison won over Demi Moore even though many expected Moore to win. Similarly, this year younger filmmakers like Ryan Coogler were recognised for writing.
Another pattern is that the Academy tends to reward films that succeed at the box office. If a film is expected to perform well but fails commercially, the Academy sometimes hesitates to recognise it.
Finally, there’s a growing openness to genre films, especially horror. Historically, the Academy hasn’t been very supportive of horror. But last year The Substance received nominations, and this year films like Sinners and Weapons gained recognition.
Ryan Coogler becoming only the second Black writer to win Original Screenplay after Jordan Peele also reflects this shift. The Academy seems to be reconsidering what counts as a “prestige” film.
If you could change one result from the ceremony, what would it be?
I’ve actually thought a lot about this since watching the ceremony.
If I could change one result, it would be Best Original Score. Ludwig Göransson won it for Sinners, which is a deserved win. But if I had the choice, I would have given it to Jonny Greenwood for One Battle After Another.
The soundtrack in that film feels like a character. The movie would not have affected us the same way without the score. It builds tension and emotional depth alongside the cinematography and editing.
Greenwood and Paul Thomas Anderson have also been collaborators for a long time — they’ve made many films together over decades. So that would have been a nice recognition of a creative partnership.
If I could change a second result, I would give Best Supporting Actor to Stellan Skarsgård for Sentimental Value. His performance is built on silences and subtle gestures rather than big dramatic moments.
He has been acting for 50 years and is one of the biggest stars in Scandinavia. This was his first Oscar nomination, and it would have been wonderful to see him win for a film about filmmaking and memory.The content above has been transcribed from video using a fine-tuned AI model. To ensure accuracy, quality, and editorial integrity, we employ a Human-In-The-Loop (HITL) process. While AI assists in creating the initial draft, our experienced editorial team carefully reviews, edits, and refines the content before publication. At The Federal, we combine the efficiency of AI with the expertise of human editors to deliver reliable and insightful journalism.
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