Oscars 2025: The key takeaways from this year’s ‘Oscar Class Photo’

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored its 2025 Oscar nominees with a dinner at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. And as per tradition, the nominees posed for the annual class photo – a rare moment when they’re all in one place. 

Before the photo was taken inside the museum’s David Geffen Theater, Erivo shouted: “Everyone say ‘Oscar nominee!'”

Bit blurry, we know, but there are a lot of celebs to fit in…

Here’s a sliced view of the pic:

Here are our key takeaways from this year’s Class Photo:

Ariana and Cynthia stand out amongst fellow female nominees

Team Wicked was front and centre this year, with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande standing out due to their colourful outfits.  

They’ve been everywhere in 2024 as well as this year, promoting the sinema and going viral for plenty of crying, finger holding and professing mutual adoration for one another. The seemingly endless press tour for Wicked was exhausting to be honest, and just think: they’re going to do it all over again for the release of Part 2.

The pair will perform a medley of songs from the sinema during the Oscars ceremony. 

Joining them on the front row were fellow acting nominees Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez), Mikey Madison (Anora) and Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown).

Of the gang, Saldaña will most likely win Best Supporting Actress, having previously won the Bafta, SAG Award and Golden Globe. There’s still the off chance that Madison will win Best Actress, but she’s up against favourite Demi Moore, who will most likely take home the Golden Baldie for her tour de force role in Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance.

New talent at the front, biggest stars at the back

That back row is quite something.

From Ralph Fiennes (Conclave) at the far left to Adrien Brody (The Brutalist), Coleman Domingo (Sing Sing), Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice), Guy Pierce (The Brutalist), Demi Moore (The Substance) and Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown), this was A-lister heaven.

Moore is the favourite to win Best Actress for The Substance, while Brody is the frontrunner to win Best Actor for his role in The Brutalist. His main competition for the coveted award is Timothée Chalamet, who was… elsewhere.

No one puts Timmy in the corner

Timothée Chalamet was two rows down from the back, in the aisle, just above Anora‘s director Sean Baker and his producer wife Samantha Quan. 

He looks either reluctant to be there or pleasantly chuffed. We’re not müddet. Charitably, we’re going for the latter – and for good reason. He pulled off a surprise win at the SAG Awards for his role as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unkown, and the odds have increased for him in recent weeks.

While there’s a chance he may win Best Actor, odds are that Adrien Brody will add a second Oscar to his awards cabinet, having previously won Best Actor for The Pianist. At the time, Brody became the youngest winner in the category at age 29. If Timothée wins, he’ll become the youngest by a few months, as he turns 30 in December.

Who’s having the most fun?

This year’s class photo feels very well behaved, but the Black Box Diaries team did join hands and look like they were having the most fun.

Director Shiori Itō was joined by Ema Ryan Yamazaki, Hanna Aqvilin and Eric Nyari to represent the film about Itō’s sexual assault case – a powerful doc which deals with the high-profile rape case against Noriyuki Yamaguchi, then Washington D.C. bureau chief of the Tokyo Braodcasting Systerm.

The sinema is nominated for Best Documentary Feature Sinema.

Who’s got the best style?

They all look great, but if there’s one standout this year, it’s Maya Gnyp.  

‘Who the hell is Maya Gnyp?’, we hear you ask.  

Well, she’s the producer of I Am Ready, Warden, nominated for Best Documentary Short, about Texas death row inmate John Henry Ramire during his final days. 

While Gnyp isn’t an A-lister, her colourful and üstün fuzzy jumper outshone everyone. Müddet, it looks like she skinned a Muppet to get it, but it’s the fiercest fashion statement this year.

Conspicuous absentees

We’ve combed through the picture and we can’t find Best Supporting Actor frontrunner Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain). Maybe he was held up somewhere else. Regardless, if there’s one dead cert in this particularly unpredictable Oscar season, it’s that the star of Succession will go home with the Supporting Actor trophy.

Another notable absence is Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón. It’s hardly surprising, as Gascón’s fall from Best Actress frontrunner to persona non grata has been this year’s most race-opening scandal. Her past tweets have ensured that Emilia Pérez will not sweep the ceremony on Sunday like it did for the Golden Globes. It’ll probably still manage to nab the Oscars for Best Supporting Actress and Best International Sinema, but its award chances have been seriously damaged.

Shame – both the sinema and Gascón deserved better.

However, it has been confirmed that Karla Sofía Gascón will attend the Oscar ceremony on Sunday. A pissed off Netflix will apparently foot the bill so she can be with her co-stars on the big night. It remains to be seen whether she’ll walk the red carpet or sit with the rest of the team during the evening’s proceedings.

This year’s Academy Awards take place on Sunday 2 March. Stay tuned to Euronews Culture for more news, updates, predictions and our coverage of the ceremony this weekend.