Featured Image Credit: The Academy Award
Topics: Oscars, US News, Celebrity, TV And Film
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Oscars, US News, Celebrity, TV And Film
Ahead of this Sunday's official ceremony, all 2025 Academy Award nominees were this week invited to a star-studded get-together to celebrate their achievement.
A photo from the annual Los Angeles luncheon has since gone viral for a very controversial reason, however - with hundreds of viewers having raised the same issue after taking a look at the snap.
For those in need of a reminder, the 97th Oscars will take place this weekend at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, with comedian and podcaster Conan O'Brien set to make his presenting debut.
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As we know by now, however, it isn't just the movies and screenplays themselves that are nominated for the prestigious achievement, but the actors and actress' that star in them.
And this year, 172 of these A-listers were invited to a pre-Oscars meet-up in Los Angeles ahead of Sunday's soiree. (The official luncheon usually takes place in January, but was postponed this year as a result of the Los Angeles wildfires.)
In images taken of this year's nominees, they could be seen posing together as they sit side-by-side in the audience of a museum theatre.
Among the group are The Substance's Demi Moore, who is up for Best Actress, and A Complete Unknown front-man Timothée Chalamet, up for the male equivalent.
Going up against the latter is Ralph Fiennes - who also features in the photo - for his role in Conclave.
Four of the five Best Supporting Actress nominees were also photographed together - Isabella Rossellini for her role in the priestly drama, Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez, Ariana Grande for Wicked and Monica Barbaro for A Complete Unknown.
Despite us giving shout-outs here to some of this year's female nominees, some viewers of the now-viral photo have been left concerned with the overwhelming amount of male stars up for awards.
"That’s a lot of white men!!!" one penned in the comments of the BBC's upload of the snap.
Another noted: "Look how many men..."
"There are a lot of men" a third chimed in.
A fourth added: "cinema is about life and story telling. women are 50% of us and all our human history. women are underrepresented in hollywood. that is all"
Another continued: "too much men, so sad"
Netflix musical-drama Emilia Pérez has received the most nominations this year - despite the film having been called out by a handful of critics.
Coming in at joint second are period-drama The Brutalist, and Broadway musical adaptation Wicked, which are up for 10 accolades each.