Preview:
- The winners of the 30th Annual Critics Choice Film Awards include ‘Anora’ and ‘Wicked’
- ‘Emilia Perez’ and ‘The Substance’ also did well.
- The ceremony was hosted by Chelsea Handler.
If you had to use a metaphor to describe the 2025 edition of the Critics Choice Awards, it would be Oprah Winfrey during her big giveaway days on her talk show, but with kudos instead of cars: you get a trophy! You get a trophy! You all get a trophy!
Yes, while ‘Anora’ missed out on all of its other categories, Sean Baker’s film about an exotic dancer who falls for –– and marries –– the spoiled spawn of a Russian oligarch took home Best Picture.
This year’s awards, hosted for the third time by Chelsea Handler (whose monologue proved to be both funny and pointed in places, even touching on the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni legal PR chaos) at the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, was a typically jolly affair.
Yet it was tempered by plenty of references to the wildfires that have devastated chunks of the city’s hilly surroundings, and first responders were invited and saluted during the opening and in more than one speech.
Despite being snubbed by the Oscar nominations, it was ‘Wicked’ filmmaker Jon M. Chu who won Best Director, comically shouting out his shut-out by the Academy, quipping, “I’m gonna win that Oscar!”
RQxhOkO0isYC870cad8Zg4His film took three awards in total, including Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.
Also scoring a trio of trophies? ‘The Substance,’ for which Demi Moore won yet another Best Actress trophy along with Best Original Screenplay and the Hair and Make-Up award. And the controversy-hit ‘Emilia Pérez,’ which nabbed a Best Supporting Actress gong for Zoe Saldaña Best Song for “El Mal,” collected by the movie’s co-composer Camille and Best Foreign Language Film.
A few of the winners were entirely unsurprising; Kieran Culkin, who has been collecting hardware left, right and center, notched up another Best Supporting Actor award (though he wasn’t present at the show) for ‘A Real Pain’ and Adrien Brody won Best Actor for ‘The Brutalist.’
Actually a surprise? The seemingly forgotten ‘Challengers’ nabbing two, Best Editing and Best Score.
Here’s the full list of winners…
Critics Choice 2025: Film Nominees
BEST PICTURE
- ‘A Complete Unknown’
- ‘Anora’ – WINNER
- ‘The Brutalist’
- ‘Conclave’
- ‘Dune: Part Two’
- ‘Emilia Pérez’
- ‘Nickel Boys’
- ‘Sing Sing’
- ‘The Substance’
- ‘Wicked’
BEST ACTOR
- Adrien Brody – ‘The Brutalist’ – WINNER
- Timothée Chalamet – ‘A Complete Unknown’
- Daniel Craig – ‘Queer’
- Colman Domingo – ‘Sing Sing’
- Ralph Fiennes – ‘Conclave’
- Hugh Grant – ‘Heretic’
BEST ACTRESS
- Cynthia Erivo – ‘Wicked’
- Karla Sofía Gascón – ‘Emilia Pérez’
- Marianne Jean-Baptiste – ‘Hard Truths’
- Angelina Jolie – ‘Maria’
- Mikey Madison – ‘Anora’
- Demi Moore – ‘The Substance’ – WINNER
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Yura Borisov – ‘Anora’
- Kieran Culkin – ‘A Real Pain’ – WINNER
- Clarence Maclin – ‘Sing Sing’
- Edward Norton – ‘A Complete Unknown’
- Guy Pearce – ‘The Brutalist’
- Denzel Washington – ‘Gladiator II’
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Danielle Deadwyler – ‘The Piano Lesson’
- Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor – ‘Nickel Boys’
- Ariana Grande – ‘Wicked’
- Margaret Qualley – ‘The Substance’
- Isabella Rossellini – ‘Conclave’
- Zoe Saldaña – ‘Emilia Pérez’ – WINNER
BEST YOUNG ACTOR / ACTRESS
- Alyla Browne – ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’
- Elliott Heffernan – ‘Blitz’
- Maisy Stella – ‘My Old Ass’ – WINNER
- Izaac Wang – ‘Didi’
- Alisha Weir – ‘Abigail’
- Zoe Ziegler – ‘Janet Planet’
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
- ‘Anora’
- ‘Conclave’ – WINNER
- ‘Emilia Pérez’
- ‘Saturday Night’
- ‘Sing Sing’
- ‘Wicked’
BEST DIRECTOR
- Jacques Audiard – ‘Emilia Pérez’
- Sean Baker – ‘Anora’
- Edward Berger – ‘Conclave’
- Brady Corbet – ‘The Brutalist’
- Jon M. Chu – ‘Wicked’ – WINNER
- Coralie Fargeat – ‘The Substance’
- RaMell Ross – ‘Nickel Boys’
- Denis Villeneuve – ‘Dune: Part Two’
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- Sean Baker – ‘Anora’
- Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum, Alex David – ‘September 5’
- Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold – ‘The Brutalist’
- Jesse Eisenberg – ‘A Real Pain’
- Coralie Fargeat – ‘The Substance’ – WINNER
- Justin Kuritzkes – ‘Challengers’
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- Jacques Audiard – ‘Emilia Pérez’
- Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox – ‘Wicked’
- Greg Kwedar, Clint Bentley – ‘Sing Sing’
- RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes – ‘Nickel Boys’
- Peter Straughan – ‘Conclave’ – WINNER
- Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts – ‘Dune: Part Two’
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Credit: Aidan Monaghan / © 2024 Focus Features LLC.
- Jarin Blaschke – ‘Nosferatu’ – WINNER
- Alice Brooks – ‘Wicked’
- Lol Crawley – ‘The Brutalist’
- Stéphane Fontaine – ‘Conclave’
- Greig Fraser – ‘Dune: Part Two’
- Jomo Fray – ‘Nickel Boys’
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
- Judy Becker, Patricia Cuccia – ‘The Brutalist’
- Nathan Crowley, Lee Sandales – ‘Wicked’ – WINNER
- Suzie Davies – ‘Conclave’
- Craig Lathrop – ‘Nosferatu’
- Arthur Max, Jille Azis, Elli Griff – ‘Gladiator II’
- Patrice Vermette, Shane Vieau – ‘Dune: Part Two’
BEST EDITING
- Sean Baker – ‘Anora’
- Marco Costa – ‘Challengers’ – WINNER
- Nick Emerson – ‘Conclave’
- David Jancso – ‘The Brutalist’
- Joe Walker – ‘Dune: Part Two’
- Hansjörg Weißbrich – ‘September 5’
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
- Lisy Christl – ‘Conclave’’
- Linda Muir – Nosferatu’
- Massimo Cantini Parrini – ‘Maria’
- Paul Tazewell – ‘Wicked’ – WINNER
- Jacqueline West – ‘Dune: Part Two’
- Janty Yates, Dave Crossman – ‘Gladiator II’
BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP
- Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener, Neal Scanlan – ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’
- Hair and Makeup Team – ‘Dune: Part Two’
- Hair and Makeup Team – ‘The Substance’ – WINNER
- Frances Hannon, Sarah Nuth, Laura Blount – ‘Wicked’
- Traci Loader, Suzanne Stokes-Munton, David White – ‘Nosferatu’
- Mike Marino, Sarah Graalman, Aaron Saucier – ‘A Different Man’
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
- Mark Bakowski, Pietro Ponti, Nikki Penny, Neil Corbould – ‘Gladiator II’
- Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, Paul Corbould, David Shirk – ‘Wicked’
- Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, Gerd Nefzer – ‘Dune: Part Two’ – WINNER
- Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft, Peter Stubbs – ‘Better Man’
- Visual Effects Team – ‘The Substance’
- Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story, Rodney Burke – ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
- ‘Flow’
- ‘Inside Out 2’
- ‘Memoir of a Snail’
- ‘Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl’
- ‘The Wild Robot‘ – WINNER
BEST COMEDY
- ‘A Real Pain’
- ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ – WINNER
- ‘Hit Man’
- ‘My Old Ass’
- ‘Saturday Night’
- ‘Thelma’
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
- ‘All We Imagine as Light’
- ‘Emilia Pérez’ – WINNER
- ‘Flow’
- ‘I’m Still Here’
- ‘Kneecap’
- ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’
BEST SONG
- “Beautiful That Way” – ‘The Last Showgirl’ – Miley Cyrus
- “Compress / Repress” – ‘Challengers’ – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
- “El Mal” – ‘Emilia Pérez’ – Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Camille – WINNER
- “Harper and Will Go West” – ‘Will & Harper’ – Kristen Wiig
- “Kiss the Sky” – ‘The Wild Robot’ – Maren Morris
- “Mi Camino” – ‘Emilia Pérez’ – Selena Gomez
BEST SCORE
- Volker Bertelmann – ‘Conclave’
- Daniel Blumberg – ‘The Brutalist’
- Kris Bowers – ‘The Wild Robot’
- Clément Ducol & Camille – ‘Emilia Pérez’
- Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – ‘Challengers’ – WINNER
- Hans Zimmer – ‘Dune: Part Two’
Related Article: ‘Wicked’ and ‘Conclave’ Lead The Critics Choice Film Awards Nominations With 11 Each
