Red carpet: check. Limousines: check. Film stars: check. Extremely tired British journalists overdosing on an unhealthy amount of caffeine: check. Yes, it's Oscars night, and we here at Empire will be covering every tearful speech, every shock upset and every fluffed autocue line in forensic and almost excruciating detail. Familiarise yourself with the all the nominees here, and be sure to click refresh on your browser as we will be periodically updating this page as night unfolds. It's the 91st Academy Awards, guys. Best put the kettle on, eh?
Note: all times below are GMT.
4.25am So there you have it. A fairly even spread among the films – Bohemian Rhapsody is the biggest winner of the night with 4 awards, Black Panther, Roma and Green Book all took 3, and a smattering of others managed one apiece. A surprising but rarely boring evening. We're going to bed now. Good night!
4.16am The final award of the night, and it's the big one. Best Picture. The smart money has been on Roma the entire time. But it's been a hard one to call. Some thought Bohemian Rhapsody could sneak in a win. Some thought Black Panther could. But in the end — it goes to... Green Book! Overcoming a fair bit of criticial backlash, Peter Farrelly's comic drama about race in the 1960s beat out the seven other nominees in this category to take the top prize. "We made this film with love," says Farrelly in an excited acceptance speech, as the cast and crew take to the stage. Well now. That is a surprise.
4.07am Yes, that time is correct – the show is running past schedule. We here in Empire HQ are quite keen to go to bed at this point. But it's down to the penultimate award now: Best Director. Last year's winner, Guillermo Del Toro, gets to present the award to his fellow countryman and friend Alfonso Cuarón for Roma. It's his second Oscar for Best Director (after Gravity) and his third this evening. "This doesn't get old," he jokes, thanking his cast and crew, and the countless indigenous domestic workers that Roma paid tribute to. "Muchas gracias, Mexico!", he says. And yes, there's only one award left, but yet again, we have a funny feeling we'll be seeing Mr. Cuarón back on this stage before the night is over.
3.53am Now it's Best Actress. Sam Rockwell and last year's winner in this category, Frances McDormand, are here to present. Everyone's expecting Glenn Close to take this one — her first nomination (of seven) came in 1982 — but in a bit of an exciting twist, it's Olivia Colman for her extraordinary work in The Favourite. She gives a typically authentic and funny speech. "It's genuinely quite stressful!" she says, a bit weepily. "This is hilarious — I've got an Oscar!" She is Britishly apologetic to Glenn Close ("Glenn Close, you’ve been my idol for so long and this is not how I wanted it to be") and blows a raspberry at the autocue when it tells her to wrap up. An amazing, emotional, funny, honest speech, and a hugely deserved award. The audience give her two ovations. Sophie from Peep Show!
3.44am Right. Home stretch now. It's the big four categories left. First up is Best Actor, and as expected, it goes to Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody. "I may not have been the obvious choice, but I guess it worked out," he jokes. He thanks Queen, the cast and crew, and pays tribute to the immigrant experience that both he and Freddie Mercury underwent. That makes four Oscars for Bohemian Rhapsody, now.
3.40am Barbara Streisand pops to tell us about BlackKklansman, and wins a standing ovation in the process (with particular enthusiasm, it must be said, from Streisand superfan Richard E. Grant). Streisand pays tribute to Spike Lee, and notes their similarities: "We were both raised in Brooklyn, and we both like hats." Lee jumps out of his seat with excitement at this. He's having a great night.
3.28am The other musical category of the night is the Oscar for Best Original Song, which might as well be the Oscar for Best Original Song Entitled 'Shallow' By Lady Gaga. It's the biggest foregone conclusion of the night. But Lady Gaga (for it is she) clearly hasn't been watching the bookie's odds closely, accepting the award with total shock and overwhelmed by tears. "I've worked hard for a long time. If you have a dream, fight for it."
3.24am Our next presenters are Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson, for Best Original Score, and Jordan gets to hand his Black Panther colleague, Ludwig Göransson, the Oscar, the third for the Marvel movie so far tonight. Göransson thanks director Ryan Coogler: "I remember 12 years ago in our dorm at USC writing the score for your first short film..."
3.13am Samuel L. Jackson and Brie Larson are up to present the screenplay awards — but not before Jackson gently ribs Spike Lee. "The Knicks won tonight!" he says. We can only assume this is some sort of reference to a kind of popular American sport.
Anyway, Best Original Screenplay goes to Green Book, which is another minor shock (The Favourite was, erm the favourite). Amazingly, the guy who made Dumb & Dumber To is now an Oscar-winning screenwriter.
Then it's the turn of Best Adapted Screenplay — and it's the turn of BlackKklansman and Spike Lee. His first Oscar ever (not counting his 2015 honourary award) and long overdue. The audience in the room recognise the significance and grant Lee a standing ovation. "Do not turn that motherfucking clock on!" he implores the autocue, before giving an incredible, electrifying speech about American history and race. Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, who marched with Martin Luther King in the '60s, watches rapt from the audience; Jordan Peele, who produced the film, can be seen in the audience in tears. Lee ends his speech by "Let's do the right thing!" and leaps in the air with joy. A beautiful thing to behold.
3.09am Next up is Best Live-Action Short and the Best Reaction To Winning An Award, in our book, goes to Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman for Skin. These two are positively buoyant, bounding from the back of the auditorium and screaming with excitement. Lovely to see that enthusiasm.
2.56am Paul Rudd and Sarah Paulson are here to present Best Visual Effects – as Rudd jokes, it's the magic that "allows audience to believe I am an actor". A tight category, with Marvel and Star Wars in the mix, but it goes to the otherwise sadly underrepresented First Man. Then: a wildly speedy transition in which a grand piano is wheeled onstage, before Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper get out of their seats to sing 'Shallow' from A Star Is Born. It's refreshing to hear music that isn't Queen, quite frankly!
2.43am Mike Myers and Dana Carvey pop on stage to briefly reprise (in voice only) their Wayne's World personas for a Bohemian Rhapsody tribute. (Reminder: Bohemian Rhapsody currently has 61% on Rotten Tomatoes.) The next category is Best Animated Short and the winner, unsurprisingly, is Pixar's Bao, which was shown before Incredibles 2. Then in quick succession, it's Best Documentary Short, which goes to Period. End Of Sentence. "I can't believe a film about menstruation just won an Oscar!" says tearful director Rayka Zehtabchi. Turning into a good night for Netflix.
2.30am Michelle Yeoh and Pharrell Williams (the latter wearing combat shorts) are now here to present Best Animated Feature. A tough category, this one, especially with Disney and Pixar in the mix, but the favourite takes it: it's Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. An absolutely deserved win, if you ask us. The directors, producers and stars flood the stage, giving thoughtful speeches about representation. But alas! They're cut off too. The Academy is being savage about speech lengths this year.
2.24am A big one is up next: Best Supporting Actor. We'd all love Richard E. Grant to win this one, if only to see how giddy his speech would be, but as expected it goes to Mahershala Ali for Green Book. He gives a serious, sincere speech, thanking his collaborators and his grandmother.
2.20am Next up is Best Editing. Vice was the favourite for this category — but in a minor shock, it goes to John Ottman for Bohemian Rhapsody. That's three for the Queen biopic now. Curiously no mention in any of the acceptance speeches for the director. Hm.
2.10am Keegan-Michael Key arrives — via umbrella — to introduce the next musical number, Bette Middler singing one of those songs from Mary Poppins Returns. Afraid to say that we've already forgotten the song. But Key's entrance was outrageously good.
2.05am Javier Bardem and Angela Bassett are here to present Best Foreign Language Film, and Bardem begins with some (subtitled) Spanish. And the winner is...Roma! "Am I going to get subtitled too?" jokes Alfonso Cuarón. Again, we have a funny feeling we'll be seeing Mr. Cuarón back on this stage before the night is over.
1.57am The sound categories are up next, which leads to a huge annual spike in people Googling "what is the difference between sound mixing and sound editing? Best Sound Editing goes to Bohemian Rhapsody, while Best Sound Mixing goes to... Bohemian Rhapsody. Do we read anything into the tea leaves about this? Some might argue this bodes well for the film's chances in the Best Picture category. Some might also argue that a few befuddled Academy voters simply voted for the film with the Most Sound In It.
1.47am A musical break, with Jennifer Hudson singing a song from RBG. And then... Serena Williams. Yes, that Serena Williams. For some reason, the Oscars this year have decided to invite a few non-filmy people to introduce the highlights packages of all the Best Picture nominess. Not quite sure what tennis has to do with A Star Is Born — but nonetheless this new, trimmed down hostless Oscars feels rather efficient. Think it's going...quite well? Or possibly we just want to go to bed and feel quite relieved it's going quite quickly?
1.43am Tyler Perry is here to present Best Cinematography (and cheekily acknowledges that it is not being presented in the commercial break, as was originally the plan). And the winner is... Alfonso Cuarón for Roma! This is the first time a director has ever won in this category. He thanks his longtime cinematographer, Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki, who was unavailable for the film, leading Cuarón to simply do the job himself. We have a funny feeling we'll be seeing Mr. Cuarón back on this stage before the night is over.
1.39am Next: Best Production Design. And it's two-for-two for Black Panther! Hannah Beachler reads a heartfelt speech from her iPhone, thanking director Ryan Coogler for the opportunity. This is turning into a fantastic night for Marvel. Don't forget, it's nominated for Best Picture, and some have speculated that the Academy's preferential voting system could favour it. Could it be the big, extremely welcome shock of the night?
1.29am Melissa McCarthy and Brian Tyree Henry are our next presenters, for Best Costume Design, and it is, as the kids say, A Look. They're both in farcical Elizbethan dress, a cheeky nod to The Favourite; McCarthy is covered in toy rabbits while deadpanning about "subtlety". She hilariously struggles to open the envelope with her rabbit glove. And the winner is... Ruth E. Carter for Black Panther. A massively popular choice in the room, she gives an impassioned speech about representation — she's the first African-American to win in this category — and jokes that "adding vibranium to costumes is very expensive". She, too, gets an ungenerous play-off for her speech. Pretty poor form from the Academy, if you ask us. Is this due to the shorter ceremony this year (three hours, down from the usual four)?
1.24am Next up is Best Make-Up and Hairstyling, which goes to Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia Dehaney for Vice. The three of them give a slightly shambolic acceptance speech, giving awkward but sweet thanks to a various list of people from two scraps of crumpled paper. For those playing at home, that's the second orchestra play-off of the night. Their mic gets cut off, too. Bit brutal.
1.15am Best Documentary Feature is the next category, presented by Helen Mirren and Jason Mamoa (both pretty in pink, as Mirren notes). And the Oscar goes to... Free Solo! The film detailed Alex Honnold making the very first no-ropes climb of the El Capitan mountain — and directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin make the night's first acceptance speech to earn the dreaded play-off music.
1.07am "Good evening and welcome to the one millionth Academy Awards!" says Tina Fey. She's the first presenter of this newly-hostless Oscars, standing alongside comedy cohorts Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph. They do an incredibly funny run through all the nominees with jokes too quick-witted or fast for this sleepy journalist to type — but the important thing is they're here to announce the winner of Best Supporting Actress. And the winner is...Regina King for If Beale Street Could Talk! She thanks her fellow nominees; her director Barry Jenkins; James Baldwin (on whose book the film was based); and her mother — who is sat in the front row, next to Chris Evans.
1.00am And we're off! No more bets, please! Eyes down for a full house! The 91st Oscars has officially begun, kicking off with a performance from Queen and Adam Lambert, singing a medley of Queen songs. It all seems a little like pereferential treatment for Bohemian Rhapsody; the camera cuts to Bradley Cooper offering the most polite and magnanimous applause he can muster while presumably wondering what time the A Star Is Born medley is due.
12.57am Three minutes to go! Just time to make a cup of tea, have a wee, and open a third pack of Oreos.
12.45am And here's Rami Malek, nominated in the Best Actor category for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Fun fact: Rami Malek has a twin brother called Sami Malek! Less fun fact: if it won, Bohemian Rhapsody would be the worst-reviewed Oscars Best Picture in the modern era!
12.38am Here's Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira, both nominated tonight for Roma. Alfonso Cuarón's drama could sweep the categories tonight. But there's some scuttlebut that there may be some anti-Netflix voting in the Academy which might scupper its chances. Just ask for a friend's login if you can't afford the subscription, lads!
12.30am 30 minutes until the ceremony starts, and a mere 210 minutes away until the sweet, sweet mercy of sleep. Sky Cinema's coverage switches from E! to its own panel, which thrillingly features our very own Boyd Hilton, stalwart of Empire's sister magazine, Pilot TV.
12.27am E!'s 'glambot' experts have just imparted this pearl of wisdom: "Never waste a waist." Team Empire considers this while chowing down on our fourth greasy handful of Dairy Milk Caramel Nibbles.
12.23am This expression on Chadwick Boseman's face seems to say, "No, I won't do the Wakanda Forever thing, and you can stop asking"
12.13am You'd be forgiven for thinking some sort of Tommy Robinson rally had broken out in the Los Angeles area — but don't be alarmed! It's just Sam Rockwell. Nominated tonight for his brief role as George W. Bush in Vice, Rockwell is sporting this almost unrecognisable look due to his role in an upcoming TV series about choreographer/director Bob Fosse. Anything where Sam Rockwell gets the opportunity to dance is fine by us.
12.07am Less than an hour to go! Still time for a power nap. While we munch our way through some diabetes-inducing snacks, over on Hollywood Boulevard the stars continue to pile in by their dozens. Here's Amy Adams, who is always the Oscars bridesmaid, never the Oscars bride. Tonight she's nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Vice, her sixth nod (and criminally, she wasn't even recognised for Arrival). Could this be her night?
11.51pm Ryan Seacrest, to Joe Alwyn: "Is it your birthday?"
Joe Alwyn: (slightly puzzled) "It's not my birthday."
11.39pm Here's Glenn Close, looking regal in a big gold dress. (Look, you don't come here for insightful fashion analysis, do you.) She's nominated tonight for Best Actress for her work in The Wife, and the smart money says she might take it, having never won before. But could Sophie from Peep Show cause an upset?
11.27pm Richard E. Grant is on the red carpet! Here he is, with his daughter Olivia. After over 30 years in the business, he won his first Oscar nomination this year, and in the process won over the nation's heart. It's fair to say that whether he wins tonight or not, everyone has rather fallen in love with Mr E. Grant for running a campaign based on childlike excitement and Barbara Streisand-baiting glee. Why, only today, he was bouncing on a trampoline. Oh Richard, you are too pure for this world.
11.00pm It's still two hours until anything happens and we're already knackered. Is it too much to ask for the Academy to hold the Oscars in the UK one year? There are plenty of venues here that could put on a good spread. The Milton Keynes Bowl has adequate transport connections, we hear.
Anyway, we're watching the red carpet coverage on E! and the only thing saving us from the abject horrors of listening to Ryan Seacrest is Spike Lee's outfit. He looks like a bus conductor from a Wes Anderson film. A joy. He's nominated for BlackKklansman tonight, including, astonishingly his first Best Director nod in a long and storied career. Could this finally be the recognition he deserves?