All The Biggest Moments From The 2022 Oscars!

Another Oscars in the books, y'all, and one that will be talked about for years to come... I mean did you HEAR that Kevin Costner speech? Whew! Twitter is BLOWING UP.

Without much further ado, here are all the biggest highlights from the 94th annual Academy Awards!

- For starters, let's give it up for our 3 amazing hosts: Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall. All 3 did an outstanding job, bringing their own unique comedic sensabilities to the table and each nailing their bits. Their humor not only kept the show flowing but also alleviated some of the tension in the room, Excellent work, ladies!

- The big winner of the night, in terms of total trophies, went to Denis Villeneuve's Dune with 6 Oscars. It very nearly swept the technical categories, taking home Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Sound, Best Score, and Best Visual Effects. Now, to my mind, being the absolute best in those categories would seem like a recipe for a Best Picture winner, no? Alas, it was not to be (and Villeneuve wasn't even nominated for Best Director). Go Figure.

- Indeed, the frontrunner heading into the ceremony tonight was Jane Campion's slow-burn western The Power of the Dog, which seemed poised to take home at least a handful of their whopping 12 nominations, including Best Picture. Yet it was not to be their night either, but Campion was handed a very lovely parting gift of being only the 3rd ever woman to win an Oscar for Best Director (after being the only woman ever nominated twice in that category).

- No, the movie that was on everyone's lips and fingertips was none other than indie dark horse CODA. The film's first accolade came when Troy Kotsur was named Best Supporting Actor for his moving role as a Deaf father, making him the first Deaf male actor to win the award and only the second ever actor (his co-star Marlee Matlin happened to be the first). In one of the most wholesome moments of the show, last year's Best Supporting Actress Youn Yuh-jung used ASL in her announcement of his winning, and then as he made his speech, she stood right next to him the whole time holding his Oscar, making sure his golden achievement was on-camera. Also, as Kotsur made his way up to the stage, the entire audience went silent -- because they were all doing the ASL sign for applause. It was a truly heartwarming and poignant moment all around. Later on in the night, writer/director Sian Heder won Best Adapted Screenplay, which was as good a compensation as any for not being nominated for Best Director (indeed, the majority of her speech was focused on her work as the director). Then the big moment came, as the legendary Liza Minnelli announced CODA as Best Picture. A big night not just for representation but for the normalization of differently-abled people as just regular folks doing regular folk things... only in a different language, as Troy Kotsur said.

- If last night proved anything, it's that the role of Anita from West Side Story is officially charmed! 60 years after Rita Moreno won the Oscar for the role (becoming the first Latina to do so), Ariana DeBose pulled off the same feat, and in doing so became the first openly LGBTQ+ Afro-Lantina to get this award. It's the first time in Oscars history that two different actors have won for the exact same role (not the same character, in case you're thinking of Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro as Don Corleone). History-making aside, it was 1000% well deserved!

- As for Best Actor & Actress, third time was the charm for both winners! Will Smith, who took home the nod for King Richard, and Jessica Chastain, who won for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, were each nominated two previous times before their wins tonight. Smith gave an empassioned and emotional speech about protecting his family, both on screen and off, and Chastain took her moment to call out bigotry and injustice. Legends only!

- Hard to believe, but Kenneth Branagh won his first ever Oscar last night (for Best Original Screenplay for his autobiographical film Belfast), after having been nominated a total of 8 times throughout his career -- his first nomination coming all the way back in 1989! This was his first ever nomination for an original screenplay. I guess it's true what they say: write what you know!

- Now, as we all know, it caused quite a controversy recently when the Academy announced that it would be giving out certain awards before the main Oscars telecast, leading many to believe that we wouldn't be seeing those categories at all; turns out, they did broadcast those winners after all, pre-taping them and then playing them over for the telecast. So, it really didn't streamline anything and the show was still like 30 minutes over budget but whatever. The good news is, we still got to see those winners have their moment. A year after missing out on the Best Actor Oscar, Riz Ahmed made good this year with an Oscar for his Live Action Short Film, "The Long Goodbye", and he stepped up with one of the most succinct yet inspirational sound bytes of the night.

- We got a real treat during the live performance of Encanto's now-iconic song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" when the one and only Megan Thee Stallion stepped into the spotlight with a rap remix that had us all talking for sure!

- The broadcast featured many tributes to classic films celebrating anniversary milestones, such as The Godfather, but it was the James Bond tribute that was especially epic, with a montage played over one of the best James Bond themes of all time, "Live and Let Die" by Paul McCartney and Wings.

- On the fashion front, red seemed to be the go-to color of the night, with many stars rocking looks to match the carpet, including Kirsten Dunst, Ariana DeBose, Marlee Matlin, Simu Liu, Jennifer Garner, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Rosie Perez.

Venus Williams totally channeled her goddess namesake in this Elie Saab gown.

Kristen Stewart did what only Kristen Stewart could by showing up on the red carpet in shorts and we have no choice but to stan.

Meanwhile, Timothée Chalamet showed up without a shirt, so between him and K.Stew, they make one complete red carpet fit!

Lupita Nyong'o always impresses on the red carpet, but when you're tasked to present Best Costumes, you have to doubly bring it, and Lupita 100% understood the assignment in this golden Prada dream.

For my money, though, the Best Dressed of the Night goes to Jessica Chastain in a mesmerizing sparkly rose gold & lavender ombre gown by Gucci. An unforgettable dress for an unforgettable night. Simply STUNNING!

And that's it, that is literally all that happened last night!!! Check out the full list of winners HERE, goodnight!