Demi Moore’s tense one-word reaction to her shock Best Actress Oscar loss to Mikey Madison has been revealed.
The Substance star, 62, had been widely expected to win the trophy as she had already clinched all the major awards leading up to the recent ceremony, with the exception of a BAFTA.
However, Madison, 25, was the surprise winner on the night with cameras capturing Moore’s icy reaction.
After the event, lip reader Nicola Hickling revealed exclusively to DailyMail.com details of Demi’s reaction, stating, ‘Demi commented “nice,” however, her expression was not accompanied by a smile. It appeared as though she had to make a conscious effort to acknowledge it.’
Moore had faced off against Mikey, Fernanda Torres, Karla Sofia Gascon, and Cynthia Erivo.
Despite some viewers cheering for the winner, Mikey, a significant number of Demi’s supporters voiced their disappointment over her loss, expressing their frustrations on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.
Soon after the award was announced, the platform was flooded with posts about how Demi deserved it.
One user said she was ‘robbed’ and another called it the ‘biggest snub in Oscars history.’
As she portrays an escort in the film, Mikey made sure to recognize the sex worker community in her touching acceptance speech.
She said: ‘I also just want to, again, recognize and honor the sex worker community. I will. Yes. I will continue to support and be an ally.
‘All of the incredible people, the women that I’ve had the privilege of meeting from that community has been one of the highlights of this incredible experience.’
She concluded her speech by recognizing her fellow nominees including A-lister Demi.
Mikey said: ‘I also just want to recognize the thoughtful, intelligent, beautiful, breathtaking work of my fellow nominees. I’m honored to be recognized alongside all of you.
‘This is a dream come true, I’m probably going to wake up tomorrow. Thank you so much, Sean [Baker], I adore you. This is all because of you. Thank you.’
2025 Oscar Winners: AT A GLANCE
Best Picture: Anora
Actress in a Leading Role: Mikey Madison — Anora
Actor in a Leading Role: Adrien Brody — The Brutalist
Actress in a Supporting Role: Zoe Saldaña — Emilia Pérez
Actor in a Supporting Role: Kieran Culkin — A Real Pain
Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Zoe Saldana and Kieran Culkin are seen left to right
Best Director: Sean Baker — Anora
Original Screenplay: Sean Baker — Anora
Achievement in Film Editing: Sean Baker — Anora
Adapted Screenplay: Conclave — Peter Straughan
International Feature Film: I’m Still Here (Brazil)
Documentary Feature Film: No Other Land
Achievement in Costume Design: Paul Tazewell — Wicked
At the end of the night the film earned top prize Best Picture Award over The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Emilia Pérez, I’m Still Here, Nickel Boys, The Substance, and Wicked.
Anora’s writer and director also earned three awards including: Best Original Screenplay, Achievement in Film Editing, and the coveted Best Director.
The film is centered around a young escort named Ani (played by Mikey) from Brooklyn meets and impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairy tale is threatened as his parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.
Adrien Brody took home his second ever Best Actor award earlier in the night.
The 51-year-old actor stopped the exit music from playing as he was recognized for his work in The Brutalist.
He beat out an impressive field including: Timothée Chalamet — A Complete Unknown, Colman Domingo — Sing Sing, Ralph Fiennes — Conclave, and Sebastian Stan — The Apprentice.
During his acceptance speech Adrien surpassed his allotted 45seconds for his acceptance speech as he referenced his previous Oscar win.
He said: ‘And I’m wrapping up, please turn the music off. I’ve done this before. Thank you. It’s not my first rodeo, but I will will be brief. I will not be egregious, I promise.
‘You know, I am — I’m oddly — I have to thank my mom and dad who are here, as well. And they’ve given me — they just created just such a strong foundation of respect. And of kindness and wonderful spirit, and they have given me the strength to pursue this dream.’
Adrien referenced the state of the world as he concluded his speech with a powerful message.
He concluded: ‘I’m here once again to represent the lingering traumas and the repercussions of war and systematic oppression. And of anti-semitism and racism and of othering, and I believe that — 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.
‘Okay, I’ll get out of here. I love you. I appreciate you all. Let’s fight for what’s right. Keep smiling, keep loving one another. Let’s rebuild together. Thank you.’
Adrian previously won Best Actor for his work on classic film The Piano back in 2003.
Zoe Saldaña shook the controversy surrounding her film Emilia Pérez as she earned Best Supporting Actress earlier in the night.
The show hit a high note as the 46-year-old American actress was crowned for the Netflix film.
She triumphed over: Monica Barbaro — A Complete Unknown, Ariana Grande — Wicked, Felicity Jones — The Brutalist, and Isabella Rossellini — Conclave.
Zoe became the first ever Oscar winner of Dominican descent and made sure to thank her ancestors for paving the way to have a successful acting career in America.
She said: ‘My grandmother came to this country in 1961 — I am a proud child of immigrant parents. With dreams and dignity and hard-working hands, and I am the first American on Dominican origin to accept an academy award, and I know I will not be the last. I hope.
‘The fact that I’m getting an award for a role where I got to sing and speak in Spanish, my grandmother, if she were here, she would be so delighted, this is for my grandmother. Thank you so much. Thank you.’
Emilia Pérez has earned a tide of negative publicity after racist and Islamophobic tweets from her costar Karla Sofía Gascón — some quite recent — were discovered.
Netflix went so far as to stop covering Gascón’s travel for awards shows, but she did appear at the Oscars.
In Emilia Perez, Zoe plays Rita Mora Castro who is a lawyer as the film is centered around four remarkable women pursuing their individual happiness in Mexico.
Cartel leader Emilia (played by Gascon) enlists Rita, an unappreciated lawyer, to help fake her death so that she can finally live authentically as her true self.
The award show started out in fine form as Kieran Culkin took home the first award of the night.
It kicked off with the 42-year-old actor taking home Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in A Real Pain.
He beat out an impressive field including: Yura Borisov — Anora, Edward Norton — A Complete Unknown, Guy Pearce — The Brutalist, and his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong — The Apprentice.
Kieran started out his acceptance speech by acknowledging Strong – who portrayed his brother Kendall Roy on the highly-popular HBO series – with profanity as the broadcast had bleeped much of the acknowledgement.
He said: ‘Jeremy you’re amazing in The Apprentice, I love your work, it’s f***ing – there we go, I cursed, I didn’t mean to, and I’m not supposed to single anyone out as favouritism, but you were great.
‘And I’ve already lost whatever speech I prepared, 20 seconds in.’
Oscar winners 2025 full list – see who received honors for this year’s Academy Awards
Best Picture
Anora – WINNER
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
I’m Still Here
Nickel Boys
The Substance
Wicked
Anora was the biggest winner of the night as Mikey Madison earned Best Actress
Best Director
Jacques Audiard — Emilia Pérez
Sean Baker — Anora – WINNER
Brady Corbet — The Brutalist
Coralie Fargeat — The Substance
James Mangold — A Complete Unknown
Actress in a Leading Role
Cynthia Erivo — Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón — Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison — Anora – WINNER
Demi Moore — The Substance
Fernanda Torres — I’m Still Here
Actor in a Leading Role
Adrien Brody — The Brutalist – WINNER
Timothée Chalamet — A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo — Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes — Conclave
Sebastian Stan — The Apprentice
Actress in a Supporting Role
Monica Barbaro — A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande — Wicked
Felicity Jones — The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini — Conclave
Zoe Saldaña — Emilia Pérez – WINNER
Zoe Saldana was recognized in the Best Supporting Actress category for Emilia Perez
Actor in a Supporting Role
Yura Borisov — Anora
Kieran Culkin — A Real Pain – WINNER
Edward Norton — A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce — The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong — The Apprentice
Animated Feature Film
Flow – WINNER
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
Cinematography
The Brutalist — Lol Crawley – WINNER
Dune: Part Two — Greig Fraser
Emilia Pérez — Paul Guilhaume
Maria — Ed Lachman
Nosferatu — Jarin Blaschke
Original Screenplay
Anora — Sean Baker – WINNER
The Brutalist — Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold
A Real Pain — Jesse Eisenberg
September 5 — Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; co-Written by Alex David
The Substance — Coralie Fargeat
Sean Baker earned three individual honors for Anora in addition to Best Picture
Adapted Screenplay
A Complete Unknown — James Mangold and Jay Cocks
Conclave — Peter Straughan – WINNER
Emilia Pérez — Jacques Audiard with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi
Nickel Boys — RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes
Sing Sing — Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield
Achievement in Production Design
The Brutalist
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Wicked – Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales – WINNER
Achievement in Sound
A Complete Unknown
Dune: Part Two – WINNER
Emilia Pérez
Wicked
The Wild Robot
Dune: Part Two won Best Achievement in Sound as Gareth John, Richard King, and Ron Bartlett are seen left to right
Original Song
El Mal – Emilia Pérez – Clément Ducol, Camille, and Jacques Audiard – WINNER
The Journey – The Six Triple Eight
Like A Bird – Sing Sing
Mi Camino – Emilia Pérez
Never Too Late – Elton John: Never Too Late
Original Score
The Brutalist — Daniel Blumberg – WINNER
Conclave — Volker Bertelmann
Emilia Pérez — Clément Ducol and Camille
Wicked — John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
The Wild Robot — Kris Bowers
Live-Action Short Film
A Lien
Anuja
I’m Not a Robot – WINNER
The Last Ranger
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent
Animated Short Film
Beautiful Men
In the Shadow of the Cypress – WINNER
Magic Candies
Wander to Wonder
Yuck!
Documentary Feature Film
Black Box Diaries
No Other Land – WINNER
Porcelain War
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Sugarcane
No Other Land took home Documentary Feature Film as Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, and Yuval Abraham are seen left to right
Documentary Short Film
Death by Numbers
I Am Ready, Warden
Incident
Instruments of a Beating Heart
The Only Girl in the Orchestra – WINNER
International Feature Film
I’m Still Here (Brazil) – WINNER
The Girl With the Needle (Denmark)
Emilia Pérez (France)
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany)
Flow (Latvia)
Makeup and Hairstyling
A Different Man
Emilia Pérez
Nosferatu
The Substance – Pierre Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon, and Marilyne Scarselli – WINNER
Wicked
Achievement in Costume Design
A Complete Unknown — Arianne Phillips
Conclave — Lisy Christl
Gladiator II — Janty Yates and Dave Crossman
Nosferatu — Linda Muir
Wicked — Paul Tazewell – WINNER
Blockbuster Wicked did not come away empty handed as Paul Tazewell became the first Black male winner of Achievement in Costume Design
Achievement in Film Editing
Anora — Sean Baker – WINNER
The Brutalist — David Jancso
Conclave — Nick Emerson
Emilia Pérez — Juliette Welfling
Wicked — Myron Kerstein
Visual Effects
Alien: Romulus
Better Man
Dune: Part Two – WINNER
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Wicked
