Oscars 2025: What You Didn’t See on TV

Now we know who took home all the trophies at the Oscars 2025—but there was plenty of action that didn’t make it onto the broadcast. The Vanity Fair team was on the red carpet, inside the Academy Awards, and at the Governors Ball, following around the nominees and winners all night to catch all the drama and fun that happened behind the scenes.

From a wild red-carpet kiss to a late-night Anora dance party, here are some of the best moments from this year’s Oscars that weren’t captured by the cameras.

Red-Carpet Reunions

This year’s red carpet was full of fun reunions, including Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, who starred in the 1990 film Ghost together, and Marvel stars Robert Downey Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson, who hammed it up for the cameras in the photo section. Also arriving at the same time were Succession stars Jeremy Strong and Kieran Culkin, both nominated this year for best supporting actor for their roles in The Apprentice and A Real Pain, respectively. Though the actors didn’t chat on the carpet, fans in the bleachers were excited when Strong went over to take some photos with them, while others yelled for Culkin to join. And when Culkin won the Oscar, he said some kind words onstage about his Succession costar. They were later seen embracing in the theater.

But the biggest surprise reunion came when Halle Berry walked the red carpet and spotted Adrien Brody doing an interview. She ran over to him and planted a kiss right on his lips, recreating the infamous moment from the 2003 Oscars when Brody won and kissed Berry, who presented his award. “Sorry, Georgina, but I’ve got to do it,” she said to Brody’s partner, Georgina Chapman, before the kiss. All three of them embraced after, and everyone had a good laugh.

Red Carpet Gets Animated

The Oscars red carpet is the longest carpet of the year, both in actual length and in running time, lasting three and a half hours. Some of the biggest stars on the carpet this year weren’t actual people—they were the figurines from some of the animated films nominated for an Oscar. Wallace and Gromit, the titular leads of the nominated animated feature Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, were in attendance, along with figurines from the animated feature Memoir of a Snail and the main boy and dog from animated brief Magic Candies. One of the male characters in animated brief Beautiful Men got the real A-list treatment—being carried in a glowing pink baby sling along the carpet.

A Moment for the City of Los Angeles

Before Los Angeles firefighters were honored live on the broadcast, Colman Domingo took the stage during a commercial break to toast the city of Los Angeles and all it’s been through since the start of the year. Domingo, who has a home in Malibu near where the Palisades fire took place, said that people had asked him if he’d leave Los Angeles due to the recent devastation—but he said he loved this city too much to do that. “This is a toast to our city, Los Angeles,” Domingo said. “I think we all fell in love with it a bit more recently. Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Los Angeles. We watched our first responders, firefighters, and communities go above and beyond.” He ended his toast by encouraging the audience to get out of their seats. “I think we need a little dance party. Get up with me, get your phones up, and let’s dance,” he said.

Best Actor Buddies

During the commercial break right after The Brutalist star Adrien Brody’s win for best actor, Brody was congratulated by Ana de Armas and several other attendees. Notably, he was seen talking to Timothée Chalamet—his biggest competition in the category—and Brody wrapped his arm around him. He also posed for a photo with all five of the best-actor nominees—Chalamet, Colman Domingo, Ralph Fiennes, and Sebastian Stan—taken by Chalamet’s A Complete Unknown costar Edward Norton. So it seems like there’s no difficult feelings within that group of best-actor nominees.