NPR｜Oscars 2026 - 5 takeaways from the night

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Before last night, filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson was a prolific Oscar nominee - "Boogie Nights," "There Will Be Blood," "Inherent Vice," "Phantom Thread" - but he had never won. Last night he changed that. He brought home a haul. "One Battle After Another" won best picture, and Paul Thomas Anderson also won Oscars for best director and best adapted screenplay.

PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON: There will always be some doubt in your heart that you deserve it, but there is no question at the pleasure of having it for myself.

KELLY: Yeah, I love that. Our critic Linda Holmes joins us now. Hey there, Linda.

LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: Hello.

KELLY: So to be clear, you can hear he was happy about it, but "One Battle," it did great. It did not sweep last night. "Sinners" also did really well. Ryan Coogler wrote and directed it. He won for best original screenplay, and then Michael B. Jordan won best actor. Here's what he had to say on stage.

MICHAEL B JORDAN, HOST:

I stand here because of the people that came before me - Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith.

KELLY: Yeah, you can hear the joy of the reaction there. It is rare, Linda, to see an acting Oscar go to a performance in a horror movie, and "Sinners" definitely veers into horror. Why do you think voters went for it?

HOLMES: Well, you know, this performance has a few things going for it. First of all, it's just great work in a movie that I think a lot of people really liked and admired. I think that's the main reason it won. Second of all, he does play twins, which is a neat trick. And I think Jordan is a really well-liked actor who's been very good in a lot of things going back at least as far as, say, "The Wire" on television almost 25 years ago.

KELLY: Twenty-five years ago? Oh, my God.

HOLMES: I know.

KELLY: Yeah, I know.

HOLMES: And I think this victory is also really a recognition of his collaboration with Ryan Coogler in "Sinners," but also in "Fruitvale Station," in "Creed," in "Black Panther." But horror did have a really strong year. Amy Madigan also won best supporting actress for her performance in the horror movie "Weapons." I think it's exciting to see the academy recognize a performance that is quite as strange and singular as that one was, too.

KELLY: Let me turn us to cinematography because there was some history made there last night. Autumn Durald Arkapaw, who was the cinematographer for "Sinners," she became the first woman ever to win in that category, which is kind of mind-blowing. Why do you think the camera work was so effective?

HOLMES: Well, it's a very challenging film to shoot, I suspect, because of everything from musical numbers to nighttime setting, the doubling of Michael B. Jordan playing twins. But it is a luscious-looking movie that uses light so effectively and creates these very specific worlds that are both very beautiful and very scary. I was so, so delighted that she won.

KELLY: The first ever - first ever - Oscar for casting went to Cassandra Kulukundis. She was the casting director for "One Battle After Another." Did you get a sense of why? Like, what are you going to take from that in terms of what voters might be looking for in future years when it comes to casting?

HOLMES: Yeah, I mean, it's hard to conclude anything from a single victory, but I would suspect that "One Battle" is an example of the kind of film that will do well in the casting category. It's got stars - Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, people like that - but also new faces like Chase Infiniti, who introduced Kulukundis when the award was announced. A lot of casting directors have these very, very long histories in Hollywood and have worked with huge numbers of people. I think for a while, you will probably see those well-regarded casting directors get what people see as their due, including Francine Maisler who did not win for "Sinners" last night but is another giant in this field, who I suspect will win at some point.

KELLY: We will look forward to it. For now, Linda, I'm going to return to drooling over Jessie Buckley and Teyana Taylor's dresses, these fabulous Chanel dresses that just lit up the red carpet. It was my favorite part of the Oscars.

HOLMES: Absolutely gorgeous dresses last night - I loved Rose Byrne's dress. If you haven't seen Rose Byrne in "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You," it's a terrific film. And she had a great dress.

KELLY: There you go. Winning on the red carpet. Linda Holmes hosts the NPR podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour. She and her cohosts have an Oscar recap ready for you in your podcast feed. Thank you, Linda.

HOLMES: Thank you.

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