Martin Scorsese Almost Fell Asleep, Everybody Swooned for Brad Pitt, and All the Other Details From Inside the Oscars Ceremony

The first thing that strikes the lucky Oscars ticket holders upon arrival is the sheer size of the operation. Several city blocks in the touristic heart of Hollywood had been cordoned off, with police only letting a black fleet of limousines with special permits advance toward the entrance—but not before checking every single one with inspection mirrors. From there it was bumper-to-bumper all the way up to the entrance of the red carpet, housed in a hangar-sized tent. The doors opened, and an illustrious crowd spilled out, only to immediately form another queue. While the Academy had a strict no-pictures policy in place (even banning posting pictures of the ticket itself), its reluctance to enforce it, meant that the procession along the red carpet moved at the pace of one selfie at a time.

From the tent, the caravan of flowing ball gowns and their tuxedoed companions moved inside the Dolby Theatre. On any other day, the hallways and lobbies of the Dolby exude the charm of an abandoned Las Vegas conference center, but last night they were somehow magically transformed into a festive location appropriate to the occasion. Instrumental in that transformation was, apart from the glamorous décor, an army of waiters serving up a total of 8,500 glasses of Piper-Heidsieck, the night’s official Champagne.

Shortly before the official start of the ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time, the announcer exhorted the guests to make their way to their seats and thus, the 92nd Academy Awards began in earnest. An early highlight came with Brad Pitt, Hollywood’s eternal beau, winning his first Oscar for his supporting role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. His speech included a dig at the Republican Party, one of only a few political statements of the night, but was most notable for an emotional moment of retrospection of his classic Hollywood career. The first instance of levity was provided by comedic duo Chris Rock and Steve Martin, who joked about the fact that they both had hosted the show before and that merely introducing a category at yet another hostless Oscars felt like an “incredible demotion.”

As the show went on, guests began sneaking out during commercial breaks, but a series of powerful musical performances brought the audience to their feet. It included a surprise appearance by Eminem with a stark performance of “Lose Yourself” (though he clearly didn’t impress Martin Scorsese, who could be seen falling asleep halfway through the song). Elton John delivered a beautiful rendition of “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” for which he promptly won the Oscar for Best Original Song. Billie Eilish, once again, wooed the crowd with an emotional version of “Yesterday” during the In Memoriam section, highlighting the members of the industry who have recently passed away. Audience members decided to ignore the announcer’s plea not to applaud the departed, which included Kirk Douglas, who had died just a few days earlier.

As for the acting awards, they all went to the expected recipients with Joaquin Phoenix giving an acceptance speech that carried some of the intensity of his performance in the Joker. Admitting that he had been a “scoundrel all his life,” he appealed to our better natures. By that time, the show had already run for three hours long and parts of the audience began to feel it. Someone in the back of the theatre got up and proclaimed, “Alright everybody, that’s a wrap,” with the response being a mix of laughter and shushing. The night ended with the revelation that Parasite had been chosen and a group of exuberant Korean filmmakers hugging and crying, before the glittering crowd flooded out of the theater and on toward the after-parties.