The 30th annual Critics Choice Awards selected Neon’s Anora as its Best Picture on Friday, boosting the fortunes of Sean Baker’s indie pic that started its journey by winning Cannes’ Palme d’Or last spring.
Anora had come into the night with seven nominations but had come up short until the final category was announced at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. Up next this weekend for Anora to keep the momentum going are the DGA Awards and PGA Awards, where it is up for both top prizes.
The Critics Choice Awards, which were hosted for a third year in a row by Chelsea Handler, traditionally has served as a good Oscar bellwether. Last year, eventual Best Picture Oscar winner Oppenheimer scored a leading eight wins here including the marquee Best Picture prize that Anora just snagged.
Wicked, Universal’s blockbuster Broadway musical adaptation that came into tonight tied with Focus Features’ Conclave with the most Critics Choice nominations overall this year with 11, ended up winning three awards, including a jubilant Jon M. Chu scoring the Best Director trophy after being snubbed by the Oscars. It also won for Costume Design and Production Design.
Conclave, meanwhile, took Best Ensemble and won for Peter Straughan’s Original Screenplay.
Emilia Pérez, which has 10 nominations coming in, scored a Best Supporting Actress win for Zoe Saldaña, cementing her place as a frontrunner for the Oscars next month and giving a push to the musical movie that has been dealing with the fallout from its star Karla Sofía Gascón‘s old tweets. Gascón, nominated for Best Actress here, die not attend.
The Netflix pic from France also won tonight in Best Foreign Language Film and for Best Song (“El Mal” from Saldaña, Gascón and Camille).
Another triple winner was Mubi’s The Substance, with Demi Moore taking Best Actress after doing the same at the Globes. Coralie Fargeat won Adapted Screenplay, and the pic also won for Hair and Makeup.
Among double film winners tonight was Searchlight’s A Real Pain, which landed Kieran Culkin a Supporting Actor win and also tied for the Best Comedy Film prize with Disney/Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine. Amazon MGM’s Challengers won for both Score and Editing.
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On the TV side, FX/Hulu’s Emmy juggernaut Shōgun, which led the way with six nominations coming in, won Best Drama Series and Best Actor in a Drama Series for Hiroyuki Sanada, repeating his Globes and Emmys wins. The Japanese period drama also swept both Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress categories.
The only category it didn’t take was Best Actress in a Drama, where Kathy Bates of CBS’ Matlock won over Emmy winner Anna Sawai.
HBO | Max’s Hacks scored three wins tonight, both for lead Jean Smart and Supporting Hannah Einbinder ahead of its win for Best Comedy Series.
Colin Farrell, who transferred his Oswald Cobblepot from the big to the small screen for HBO | Max’s The Penguin, won for Best Actor in a Limited Series to add to his Golden Globes win for the role, while his co-star Cristin Milioti won Best Actress. The Best Limited Series prize however went to Netflix’s Baby Reindeer, which also won for Jessica Gunning’s Supporting performance.
This year’s Critics Choice Awards aired live on the East Coast and are tape delayed in the West until 7 p.m. PT on E! in the debut of a new deal with the network and Peacock. The show will drop on the streamer on Saturday.
Here are tonight’s winners:
MOTION PICTURES
BEST PICTURE
Anora
BEST ACTOR
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
BEST ACTRESS
Demi Moore – The Substance
BEST DIRECTOR
Jon M. Chu – Wicked
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Peter Straughan – Conclave
BEST SONG
“El Mal” – Emilia Pérez – Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Camille
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Nathan Crowley, Lee Sandales – Wicked
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Paul Tazewell – Wicked
BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP
Hair and Makeup Team – The Substance
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, Gerd Nefzer – Dune: Part Two
BEST SCORE
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Challengers
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Emilia Pérez
BEST COMEDY (tie)
A Real Pain
Deadpool & Wolverine
BEST EDITING
Marco Costa – Challengers
BEST YOUNG ACTOR / ACTRESS
Maisy Stella – My Old Ass
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jarin Blaschke – Nosferatu
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wild Robot
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
Conclave
TELEVISION
BEST DRAMA SERIES
Shōgun (FX / Hulu)
BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Kathy Bates – Matlock (CBS)
BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Hiroyuki Sanada – Shōgun (FX / Hulu)
BEST COMEDY SERIES
Hacks (HBO | Max)
BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Jean Smart – Hacks (HBO | Max)
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Adam Brody – Nobody Wants This (Netflix)
BEST LIMITED SERIES
Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
BEST ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Cristin Milioti – The Penguin (HBO | Max)
BEST ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Colin Farrell – The Penguin (HBO | Max)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
Moeka Hoshi – Shōgun (FX / Hulu)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Tadanobu Asano – Shōgun (FX / Hulu)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Jessica Gunning – Baby Reindeer (Netflix)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Liev Schreiber – The Perfect Couple (Netflix)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES
Hannah Einbinder – Hacks (HBO | Max)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Michael Urie – Shrinking (Apple TV+)
BEST MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Rebel Ridge (Netflix)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE SERIES
Squid Game (Netflix)
BEST ANIMATED SERIES
X-Men ’97 (Disney+)
BEST TALK SHOW
John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in L.A. (Netflix)
BEST COMEDY SPECIAL
Ali Wong: Single Lady (Netflix)