Live Academy Award Updates: Amy Madigan Wins For Weapons

Follow 2:17 Horror Podcast co-host Jameus Mooney for live updates of the Academy Awards as horror is set to win big: Sinners has a record sixteen nominations and is challenging One Battle After Another for the most prestigious prize in film, with Ryan Coogler seemingly locked to take home an Academy Award. Amy Madigan, whose category is first on the night, looks to win an Academy Award for a zany horror villain performance for her turn in Weapons, landing her the first nomination she's had in over four decades. Her main competition? Teyana Taylor, and another horror performance, Wunmi Mosaku of Sinners. Perhaps, Michael B. Jordan goes all the way after his surprise SAG victory?

Coming in with their first nomination as a distributor, Shudder is represented through the makeup nomination landed from The Ugly Stepsister, a Norwegian body horror that's a classic take on the Cinderella tale. Did the overperformance from Get Out and the Substance in recent years, along with the expansion of the voting body, create an environment where horror can actually be respected within the Academy? Is this the year the dam breaks?

Other stories on the night: OBAA's Paul Thomas Anderson ends his historic Oscar drought, Jessie Buckley, currently starring in The Bride in theaters, will be taking home Best Actress for Hamnet barring an incredulous surprise, and it's perhaps the closest race in the history of Best Picture. No film to ever win Sinners guild haul has lost the award for Best Picture, but no film with One Battle After Another's guild haul has ever lost Best Picture. It's the closest Best Picture race since a different PTA race, one from 2007, where his There Will Be Blood lost to the Coen Brothers. Follow along throughout the show as we keep updating and analyzing the results of the night.

Live Updates:

• That will wrap up this years Academy Awards. Join a future episode of the 2:17 Horror Podcast as Jameus and Ash Rose talk about this years horror victories, including two acting wins for Michael B. Jordan and Amy Madigan.

• Paul Thomas Anderson, after a career that included Boogie Nights, Phantom Thread, There Will Be Blood, Punch Drunk Love, Magnolia, and many other classics, finally gets his flowers at the Academy. He points to the 1975 Best Picture category of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Nashville, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, and Barry Lyndon, one of the most iconic lineups ever, to say that there is no best among them, and it's the same case here.

• Best Picture recipient: One Battle After Another.

• Finally, our final award of the night is Best Picture. OBAA seems locked here, considering it's taken Director, Screenplay, Editing, and an acting prize, which is teflon in the Best Picture race. But Sinners gave a nice showing, and this is truly one of the greatest years the category has ever seen. The other nominees: Bugonia, The Secret Agent, F1, Sentimental Value, Marty Supreme, Hamnet, Frankenstein, Train Dreams.

• Best Actress in a Leading Role recipient: Jessie Buckley, Hamnet.

• For the first time ever, the Academy has awarded two separate horror films acting prizes in the same ceremony. Jordan, in an overdue first nomination, takes home Best Actor and gives a tremendous speech. Next: Best Actress in a Leading Role, which, while great performances from Rose Byrne, Kate Hudson, Emma Stone, and Renate Reinsve are worthy, it's very obviously Jessie Buckley. It'll be nice to see former Ghostface, Anora star Mikey Madison though.

• Best Actor in a Leading Role recipient: Michael B. Jordan, Sinners.

• Two-time Academy Award winner Adrien Brody comes out. Maybe to make Leonardo DiCaprio a fellow two-timer? We've Chalamet and Jordan looking to be crowned, and Hawke and Moura delivering strong performances. It's a very competitive category, and of course Brody makes a joke about how much he speaks on stage.

• Best Director recipient: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another.

• Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, who co-star in two films this year including the third installment of Dune, present Best Director. Chloe Zhao looks to be the first woman to win twice, but it's between Anderson and Coogler. Joachim Trier and Josh Safdie both did excellent jobs, however.

• Best Original Song: Golden, KPop: Demon Hunters.

• The Commodores Lionel Richie is out to present Best Song, likely going to Golden from Demon Hunters but still could be I Lied to You from Sinners. Diane Warren will wait at least another year, as is Academy tradition.

• Best International Feature Film recipient: Sentimental Value, Norway.

• Javier Bardem and Priyanka Jonas introduce International Feature. Norway's Sentimental Value has the most nominees, but The Secret Agent has Picture and Actor nominations, making it win competitive for Brazil. It Was Just An Accident (France), Sirat (Spain), and The Voice of Hind Rajab (Tunisia) are the other nominees.

• Arkapaw is the first female to ever win in the cinematography category.

• Achievement in Cinematography recipient: Autumn Arkapaw, Sinners.

• Demi Moore, nominated last year for Best Actress thanks to her role in The Substance, presents Achievement in Cinematography. The nominees: Frankenstein, Sinners, One Battle After Another, Marty Supreme, and Train Dreams.

• Best Editing recipient: Andy Jurgenson, One Battle After Another.

• Father and son Bill and Lewis Pullman are out to present editing. The winner should be F1, because its thrills are entirely how they edited those driving, but it will probably be Sinners or One Battle, with the winner also taking home Picture. The other nominees are Marty Supreme and Sentimental Value.

• Best Achievement in Sound recipient: F1.

• Achievement in Sound should probably go to Sirat, but will likely be F1. Its nominees outside of those two are Sinners, One Battle, and Frankenstein.

• Best Original Score recipient: Ludwig Goransson, Sinners.

• Next, Ludwig Gorannson tries to go 3/3 in the nomination-win ratio for his work in Sinners for Best Score. His competition includes the scores from Bugonia, Hamnet, Frankenstein, and One Battle After Another.

• Best Documentary Feature recipient: Mr. Nobody Against Putin.

• Best Documentary Short recipient: All the Empty Rooms.

• This felt like the obvious win, considering the entire movie is visual effects. Next: documentary categories. Shorts nominees: The Devil is Busy, All the Empty Rooms, Perfectly a Strangerness, Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud, Children No More. Best Documentary Feature: Mr. Nobody Against Putin, Come See Me in the Good Light, The Alabama Solution, The Perfect Neighbor, Cutting Through Rocks.

• Best VFX recipient: Avatar: Fire and Ash.

• They stay onto present Best Visual Effects, between Avatar: Fire and Ash, Sinners, The Lost Bus, F1, and Jurassic World: Rebirth. Weaver is likely presenting the award for a movie she stars in.

• Best Production Design recipient: Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau for Frankenstein.

• Mandolorian and Grogu stars Sigourney Weaver and Pedro Pascal come out to present Best Production Design. Likely going to One Battle or Frankenstein, it could still be any of Sinners, Hamnet, or Marty Supreme.

• Rachel McAdams, midway through, gives a lovely tribute to Diane Keaton. Barbra Streisand gives another lovely tribute at the end to her The Way We Were co-star Robert Redford.

• It's time for the in memoriam. Billy Crystal comes out to talk about Rob Reiner, who he famously worked with on When Harry Met Sally, as well as other projects like All in the Family. All the cast members of the Reiner films come out as the in memoriam begins.

• Ryan Coogler has officially won the Academy Award for one of the most original horror films to ever be made. The film is not just horror, but it's an historical period piece that incorporates musical numbers, action techniques, and a number of other aspects that make it an incredrible genre-bind with an even more spectacular story.

• Best Original Screenplay recipient: Ryan Coogler

• For Anderson, his first Academy nomination came in the '90s for Boogie Nights. After eleven tries before tonight, he finally wins his first Academy Award.

• Best Adapted Screenplay recipient: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another.

• Avengers stars Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. present the screenplay awards, with Coogler and Anderson being respective frontrunners. The ten films to score Screenplay noms are One Battle After Another, Bugonia, Frankenstein, Train Dreams, Hamnet, Sinners, Blue Moon, Sentimental Value, It Was Just An Accident, and Marty Supreme.

• Culkin calls out Sean Penn not wanting to campaign, and accepts the award on his behalf. Penn, who talked at length about his disdain for the Academy less than two years ago, has become only the eighth actor to win at least three Academy Awards. Penn joins Kate Hepburn (four), Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Ingrid Bergman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Walter Brennan, and Frances McDormand.

• Best Supporting Actor recipient: Sean Penn, One Battle After Another.

• Up next is Keiran Culkin presenting the award he won last year. Did Sean Penn show up for potentially his third Academy Award? Did Delroy Lindo pull a Marcia Gay Harden? We'll find out, as they're up against Stellan Skarsgard, Benicio Del Toro, and Jaacob Elordi for Best Supporting Actor.

• Ties aren't unprecedented, including a Best Actress tie for Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand, where infamously the rule-bending inclusion of Streisand into the Academy early allowed her to cast the tying vote to give her the Oscar. But it is rare, and cool to see.

• Best Live Action Short recipients, in a tie, are: The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva.

• Live Action Short finds its way on stage. The nominees include The Singers, A Friend of Dorothy, Butcher's Stain, Jane Austen's Period Drama, and Two People Exchanging Saliva. It is presented by Kumail Nunjiani.

• Kulukundis delivers a fantastic speech that points out how overdue the category is. She's been working for director PTA for ten films, starting as an intern on his directorial debut, Hard Eight. Her find of Infiniti is the crown jewel of an ensemble film that felt incredibly authentic.

• Best Casting recipient: Cassandra Kulukundis, One Battle After Another.

• The newest award for Casting is on tap. There isn't a consensus frontrunner here due to the nature of a new award, potentially allowing for a surprise. That said, Sinners and their exploration to find Miles Caton seems to be strong. Other nominees include Marty Supreme, who brought Odessa A'Zion to the forefront, One Battle After Another who introduced Chase Infiniti to the world, as well as the Secret Agent and Hamnet, the latter of which delivered one of the greatest child actor performances in history. It is presented by Chase Infiniti, Wagner Moura, Delroy Lindo, Paul Mescal, and Gwyn Paltrow. Each of these presenters were cast in a nominee, as they talk about how each individual casting director is grea at their job.

• This likely won't be the last award for Frankenstein tonight. Even with Jacob Elordi unlikely to win in Supporting Actor, it always eyed a domination in the tech categories, much like every Del Toro picture.

• Best Hair and Makeup Styling recipient: Frankenstein.

• Next is Hair and Makeup Styling. The nominees are: Sinners, Frankenstein, Kokuho, The Ugly Stepsister, and The Smashing Machine.

• Best Costume Design recipient: Kate Hawley, Frankenstein.

• Miles Caton follows the Sinners Best Picture clip with a live performance of Best Original Song nominee I Lied To You with other musicians such as Buddy Guy and Shaboozey. The stage is set up like a juke joint, with dancers all across the stage, recreating the barn sequence from the picture.

• With the next category being Costume, it's likely horror gets its second win of the night. The nominees are Sinners, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Hamnet, Frankenstein, and Marty Supreme. It will be presented by Anna Wintour and Anne Hathaway.

• Best Animated Short recipient: The Girl Who Cried Pearls.

• Next is animated short, nominees: The Girl Who Cried Pearls, The Three Sisters, Butterfly, Forevergreen, and Retirement Plan.

• The creators behind Demon Hunters give a lovely speech focusing on the culture behind the film, even though the Academy attempted to play them off toward the end.

• Best Animated Feature recipient: KPop: Demon Hunters.

• The next award is Best Animated Feature Film. While KPop: Demon Hunters is the favorite, it's up against two Disney features (Elio, Zootopia II), and two excellent international offerings in Arco and Little Amelie. The award is being presented by Channing Tatum and Will Arnett.

• Armed with her Aunt Gladys laugh, Madigan takes home the Academy Award for a horror villain performance. While more psychological horrors have produced acting wins, particularly Ruth Gordon in Rosemary's Baby, Kathy Bates in Misery, and the two lead actors in Silence of the Lambs, more traditional horror is no longer shut out. The horror icon of her generation takes home the industry's biggest prize. Horror has been welcomed, thanks to a role written by Zach Cregger.

• Best Supporting Actress recipient: Amy Madigan, Weapons.

• Conan gives a very entertaining speech, with a very poignant moment at the end about the optimism represented in film. The first category is Best Supporting Actress, with the nominees being Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleas from Sentimental Value, Wunmi Mosaku from Sinners, Amy Madigan from Weapons, and Teyana Taylor from One Battle After Another. The award is presented by last year's recipient, Zoe Saldana.

• Conan O'Brien, host, dresses up as Aunt Gladys from Weapons, to be chased through an F1 event, a ping pong game from Marty Supreme, the play from Hamnet and had to jump out of Sensei's car, before appearing in K-POP Demon Hunters, have a conversation with Stellan Skarsgard's character from Sentimental Value dealing with daddy issues, only to end up at the Sinners juke joint, all the way to the Oscars. This is the second year, much like last year with his version of the Substance, he used a popular horror film to explore the year of film before his monologue.

The 2026 Academy Awards can be found on ABC and Hulu at 7PM on March 15th, 2026.

Photo credit: Sinners, Warner Bros.