Madison, Chalamet, Deadwyler and more: The Oscars red carpet is sure to include some stunners
Julianne Hough kicked things off in an elegant light beige ethereal look straight off the Christian Dior spring 2025 runway. Joan Chen also went fairy-like in green chartreuse, an off-shoulder number from the Elie Saab resort 2025 collection.
Mikey Madison, Demi Moore, Timothée Chalamet, Danielle Deadwyler, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are among A-listers with red carpet wow momentum heading into the Oscars.
The 97th Oscars come less than two months after the devastating Los Angeles fires subdued carpet dressing for a time. As the city moves into rebuild mode, stars have been upping their fashion games heading into the biggest awards night of the season.
Some are notable for playing it glam but safe.
Like Margot Robbie's Barbie pink, Grande has been mostly sticking to a far paler hue, her signature and an homage to her 'Wicked' good witch, Glinda. Castmate and carpet bestie Erivo has always taken fashion risks. She ditched her Elphaba black for last week's Screen Actors Guild awards, opting for a silver Givenchy look with a high shaggy collar worthy of her bad witch role.
Chalamet has been all over the place on carpet dressing as he navigates his Bob Dylan attention from 'A Complete Unknown.' At the SAGs, he married a bright brat green button-up shirt from Chrome Hearts with a shiny black leather suit and a bolo tie as he continues to channel the real-life icon he plays.
Deadwyler is a risk-taker, too. She wore a bright red strapless 3D structured tiered gown from Louis Vuitton at the SAGs.
Some planning to attend as nominees and presenters have generated fashion buzz for different reasons. Jeremy Strong wore a mint green velvet Loro Piana suit with a bucket hat in the same color to the Golden Globes. His white turtleneck topped it all off. He's nominated for supporting actor at the Oscars.
At the SAGs, strong wore a different shade of green. It was a dusty green for a custom Haans Nicholas Mott suit with satin shawl lapels. He wore it with a bowtie.
Madison, a new fashion darling, was among several stars to go vintage at the recent dinner for Oscar nominees. The star of 'Anora' wore a dark blue velvet gown by Bill Blass from 1987. She collected a BAFTA award earlier this month in a custom Prada in ivory, accessorizing with a long matching stole and a vintage Tiffany & Co. diamond necklace.
She also went Hollywood bombshell at the SAGs with a strapless silver Louis Vuitton look with a large pleated bow at the waist. She's been working with stylist Jamie Mizrahi, who has dressed Adele and Jennifer Lawrence, among many other celebs.
How to watch the Oscars red carpet
How can I watch the red carpet?
Oscar nominees and winners from past, present and future pose and mingle ahead of the ceremony.
The Associated Press will have a livestream of stars' arrivals available on APNews.com and YouTube now.
E! will kick off its show, 'Live From E!: The Oscars,' beginning at 4 p.m. Eastern.
ABC will begin its red carpet pre-show at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, live on air and streaming on Hulu.
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For full coverage of this year's Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards
Leanne Italie, The Associated Press
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Los Angeles Times
44 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
The 21 movies we're most excited to see this fall
Hollywood put up decent numbers this summer and we'd be lying if we told you we didn't find much to like (even if it didn't always come in a cape). But just as inevitably as the warm months wane, ambitious actors will attempt to play rock icons. Accents will be summoned, some of them mastered. Epic musicals involving witches, wicked or otherwise, will find their conclusions. Oscar winners will play Nazis. Jared Leto will continue to do what only Jared Leto does. Pathos will be mined from the tale of a wrestler. These are the things we expect from a robust fall season and the upcoming one will not disappoint. Here's what our staff is most anticipating. In a near-future America ruled by a totalitarian regime (ah, the movies), several young men take part in a nationally televised endurance contest with one brutal rule: Stop walking and you die. Adapted from Stephen King's novel first published under his Richard Bachman alias in 1979, 'The Long Walk' is directed by 'Hunger Games' veteran Francis Lawrence, who knows his way around dystopian survival stories. The march heads toward an ending only one contestant can reach, with Cooper Hoffman ('Licorice Pizza') among the participants and Mark Hamill in villain mode as the implacable Major overseeing the ordeal. The contest unfolds in broad daylight as cameras and soldiers turn the asphalt into an arena. Adaptations of King books have been around for decades, but few promise the kind of slow, creeping dread this premise invites and the political overtones of militarized spectacle are hard to miss. Wear comfortable shoes and hydrate accordingly. — Josh Rottenberg The award for the most intriguing combo of Hollywood's fall season has to be Scarlett Johansson and June Squibb. Johansson had a hit this summer with 'Jurassic Park Rebirth' while the 95-year-old Squibb has repeatedly scored praise for her recent performances, including 2024's 'Thelma' in which she played a grandmother seeking revenge after being targeted in a scam. Both are winning accolades for 'Eleanor the Great,' which marks Johansson's debut behind the camera as director. Squibb stars as the lonely title character who falsely claims to be a Holocaust survivor, then privately frets as her lie snowballs into something unfixable. The film was an audience favorite at Cannes, ranking among The Times' 10 best films at the festival. — Greg Braxton Paul Thomas Anderson, who gave us the oil-soaked intensity of 'There Will Be Blood,' the sleazy excess of 'Boogie Nights' and the knotty elegance of 'Phantom Thread,' is not the obvious choice to direct a big-budget Imax action-thriller, which is exactly why 'One Battle After Another' feels like an event. Loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel 'Vineland,' the film transplants the book's tangle of political grudges to a modern-day context of former activists forced back together when their long-vanished enemy resurfaces. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a drug-and-booze-addled revolutionary trying to rescue his kidnapped daughter, with Teyana Taylor, Regina Hall and Alana Haim as his comrades, Benicio del Toro as his wild-card ally Sensei Sergio and Sean Penn as their white-nationalist antagonist, Col. Steven J. Lockjaw. Anderson last adapted Pynchon with the loopy, stoner-inflected 'Inherent Vice,' but here he's working on a grander scale. Shot on 35mm VistaVision, 'One Battle After Another' will be a rare chance to see Anderson bring his sly digressions, oddball humor and tonal whiplash to a canvas usually reserved for Bayhem. — Josh Rottenberg It's being described by early marketing as an exploration of bonds between fathers, sons and brothers through 'personal journeys and generational conflicts,' which honestly could describe 80% of all movies ever. Fortunately, though, plot is not the headline; casting is. 'Anemone' has apparently forced Daniel Day-Lewis out of the retirement he announced in 2017. And for a good reason: Day-Lewis co-wrote the film with his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, a New York-based painter who also directs. This will be the second time Day-Lewis the elder has come out of retirement — he left acting in the late '90s, only to return after Martin Scorsese convinced him to do 'Gangs of New York,' after which he won two more Oscars. (Not to put too much pressure on 'Anemone.') The film also stars Sean Bean, Samuel Bottomley, Safia Oakley-Green and Samantha Morton. — Mary McNamara What's the Rock cooking? Another crafty career pivot from face to heel: specifically, from being the face of too many franchises with too few critical hits, to teaming up with Benny Safdie, one of the beloved bad boys of indie cinema. 'The Smashing Machine' — Safdie's first film since 'Uncut Gems' (which he co-directed with his brother Josh) and Johnson's most intriguing release since 2013's underappreciated 'Pain & Gain' — stars the former wrestler as MMA fighter Mark Kerr, who won multiple gold medals in the '90s and early aughts while getting slammed by the painkiller addiction that enabled him to keep getting back in the ring. Kerr shared his story in a 2002 HBO documentary of the same name. It'll be interesting to see how (or if) the harsh truth of combat sports gets the manic Safdie treatment. Best-case scenario: No holds will be barred. — Amy Nicholson Italian director Luca Guadagnino ('Call Me by Your Name,' 'Challengers') likes erotic stories that flirt with disaster. He tweaks the audience's moral compass, and 'After the Hunt' sounds like a dangerous spin on his risque business. The #MeToo-adjacent thriller stars Julia Roberts as a college professor who freezes when her favorite student ('The Bear's' Ayo Edebiri) lodges an assault accusation against her favorite colleague (Andrew Garfield). Counter-accusations ensue, leaving Roberts' character unsure whom to believe and paranoid that this blame tsunami will cause her own ethically dubious past to surface. Guadagnino has hinted that he's interested in teasing out how different people (and generations) disagree on the definition of consent. The early buzz is that Roberts has seized onto the opportunity to deliver her richest performance in ages and it's worth noting that Guadagnino has yet to win his first Oscar. — Amy Nicholson Kathryn Bigelow, the Oscar-winning director behind 'The Hurt Locker' and 'Zero Dark Thirty,' is an expert at turning real-world crises into procedural pulse-pounders. In 'A House of Dynamite,' she trades the battlefield for the White House, tracking a team of officials scrambling to respond to an incoming-missile alert in near real time. The stacked cast includes Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Jared Harris, Greta Lee, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos and Jason Clarke. Shot with you-are-there immediacy by cinematographer Barry Ackroyd and edited by Fincher veteran Kirk Baxter ('The Social Network'), it's Bigelow's first feature in eight years, since her period crime drama 'Detroit.' This time, it's situation rooms, red phones and competing chains of command. The fuse is bureaucratic and the stakes are global. — Josh Rottenberg The most terrifying movie of the year, unsurprisingly, is about a mother just trying to get through a day — or maybe it's her whole life? Rose Byrne stars as Linda, a Montauk therapist in an emotional tailspin: she's tending to a sick daughter with a mystery illness that prevents her from eating normally, there's a hole in her ceiling that's gushing water, her husband is MIA and she's desperate for counsel from her own aloof therapist (Conan O'Brien). Mary Bronstein's sophomore feature skillfully takes a darkly funny look at the harrowing isolation and chaos of motherhood, often zooming in on Byrne's face as she's pushed to the brink. It's also worth mentioning that rapper ASAP Rocky plays James, an unlikely partner-in-crime with a gnarly internet browser history whom Linda comes to know when her water disaster forces her to move into a motel. The A24 film, which counts Josh Safdie among its producers, earned raves out of this year's Sundance and critics are already heralding Byrne's performance as Oscar-worthy. — Yvonne Villarreal AI continues to evolve onscreen — for every Entity threatening the end of civilization in 'Dead Reckoning,' there's a M3GAN 2.0 ready to come to our aid with an eye roll. 'Tron: Ares' looks to split the difference: Mean-looking skyscraper-sized machines face off against Jared Leto. Never mind. You didn't watch these movies for the plots anyway. Besides the welcome return of a cameoing Jeff Bridges from the 1982 Atari-era landmark, the new movie brings on Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross doing a proper industrial-rock score under their old moniker Nine Inch Nails, a soundtrack they've called 'grittier' compared with their other stuff like 'Challengers.' That's reason enough to go, head-bobbing your way through lightcycle race sequences to the groove. A summer movie smuggled into the fall? Fine, we'll need a few of those, especially as the awards drumbeat gets deafening. — Joshua Rothkopf Do you remember comedies? Do you remember the experience of going to a movie theater and laughing with a room full of complete strangers? Do you remember Aziz Ansari? 'Parks and Recreation,' yes. But also the charming rom-com Netflix series 'Master of None,' the one that Ansari starred in and co-created, often writing and directing as well. It's been a minute. Ansari was set to make his feature film directorial debut in 2022, but production was halted and never resumed due to a complaint of inappropriate behavior lodged against Bill Murray. Now we finally have Ansari's first feature, a comedy about a guardian angel (Keanu Reeves) swapping the lives of a struggling gig worker (Ansari) and his wealthy boss (Seth Rogen). Think of it as 'Trading Places' with a dash of Wim Wenders. It could be sublime. It could be a train wreck. But it's an original story from a multi-hyphenate who was viewed, not that long ago, as a major talent. I'm interested. — Glenn Whipp At their boldest, movies can demand a reckoning, a reconsideration. Iran's Jafar Panahi swept into Cannes with this sad and furious political thriller, about the lingering aftermath of a torture master's abuses, taking the Palme d'Or in an almost cosmic reversal of fortunes for a filmmaker who has often suffered in prison or under house arrest, his art forbidden. 'It Was Just an Accident' has revealed more to me in thinking about it, especially about the precarity of everyday manners. Without ruining it, the closest comparison is to something like 'Death and the Maiden.' When the tables are turned, is revenge itself a moral dead end? Based on an especially tough-minded piece of writing, this is a film that will get you contemplating pettiness and righteousness both. There's no fall movie season without the Palme winner and last year's 'Anora' went all the way. — Joshua Rothkopf There is still something astonishing that Greek-born filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos has become as commercially successful and awards-friendly as he has, given that his work tends to be abstract, allegorical and at times willfully off-putting. Nothing if not unpredictable, Lanthimos now offers up a remake of the 2003 South Korean film 'Save the Green Planet!' in which a pair of activists kidnap a pharmaceutical executive they believe to be a space alien, with Jesse Plemons as one of the plotters and Emma Stone as their target. Lanthimos' work often combines dark comedy and an unexpected romantic streak with a potent political charge and his latest film looks to tap into the volatile energy of conspiracy theories and radical anti-corporate sentiments. Stone, who won an Oscar for her performance in Lanthimos' 'Poor Things,' continues to use her Hollywood star power to champion challenging filmmakers. This is their fifth film together. — Mark Olsen The cynical take would be: This is a naked attempt at the same commercial success as music-themed dramas like 'A Complete Unknown' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' But Bruce Springsteen and the raw, stripped-down recordings of his 1982 'Nebraska' album seem earnestly in opposition to such artless gamesmanship. Adapted and directed by Scott Cooper, the film stars Jeremy Allen White (perfectly suited for a post-'The Bear' step into movie stardom), along with Jeremy Strong as Springsteen's faithful manager Jon Landau and additional supporting turns from Paul Walter Hauser, Stephen Graham, Gaby Hoffmann, Odessa Young and Marc Maron. A soulful, searching '70s-style character study on the making of a now-classic '80s album with some of the most exciting performers of 2025 is both slightly counterintuitive and something that makes total sense. — Mark Olsen That title seems to have lost a comma since Cannes, but who cares? Director Lynne Ramsay has no patience for grammatical formalities and her latest burns with the punk ferocity of her finest film, 2002's 'Morvern Callar.' Ramsay has found a fellow traveler in Jennifer Lawrence, who, these days post-'Causeway,' is reinventing herself in a focused, fearless register. It's impossible to watch 'Die My Love' and not be hypnotized by its swampy psychodrama: the violent postpartum death throes of a marriage that has little reason to continue. Lawrence and her co-star, Robert Pattinson, play a city couple who move to Montana only half-believing in their own future together. Ramsay teases out something delicate and distracted in both of them. You'll hear about these sex scenes. There's more to the movie than that. — Joshua Rothkopf In November 1945, two dozen high-ranking officials of the Nazi Party were charged with crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. At their center was Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler's second-in-command. Not surprisingly, Göring is a central character in the upcoming James Vanderbilt film 'Nuremberg.' Based on Jack El-Hai's 2013 book 'The Nazi and the Psychiatrist,' 'Nuremberg' focuses on the relationship between Göring, played by Russell Crowe, and Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek), the psychiatrist tasked with determining if Göring and the other Nuremberg defendants were capable of standing trial. Though in hindsight Göring's conviction seems inevitable, many of the Allied leaders had initially preferred summary execution to prevent the Nazis from gaining any kind of sympathy. Bombastic, unrepentant, with a ribald sense of humor and a defense that leaned heavily into his desire to make Germany great again, Göring came out swinging. It is difficult to imagine an actor better suited to this role than Crowe, just as Malek seems a perfect fit for Kelley, who never recovered from his discovery that the Nazis 'were no different from a group of intelligent executives anywhere.' — Mary McNamara Director Dan Trachtenberg rejuvenated the 'Predator' franchise with his 2022 prequel 'Prey,' a period piece that pitted a ferocious young Comanche warrior (Amber Midthunder) against a new iteration of the iconic alien hunter while also weaving in conflict with terrestrial interlopers. I've been ready for Trachtenberg's next offering from this world ever since. While 'Prey' was set during Earth's past, 'Predator: Badlands' moves the action to a remote planet in the future. There are no human protagonists needed to outmaneuver a deadly alien foe this time around. 'Badlands' centers a young Predator outcast (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) who encounters an android (Elle Fanning) created by the 'Alien' franchise's Weyland-Yutani Corp. while on his quest to hunt the deadliest of beasts. The idea of a Predator and a synthetic's odd-couple team-up was intriguing even before the visual of an alien warrior carrying half an android on his back grabbed this 'Star Wars' fan's attention. — Tracy Brown As the follow-up to their breakthrough collaboration on 'The Worst Person in the World,' Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier and actor Renate Reinsve return with 'Sentimental Value,' which won the second-place Grand Prix award when it premiered at Cannes earlier this year. In a richly layered study of family, legacy and nothing less than the purpose of art, Reinsve plays an emotionally fragile actor whose filmmaker father (a galvanizing Stellan Skarsgård) has written a part for her. After she refuses to even consider it, feeling that the baggage between them is too fraught, he moves on to casting an American ingenue (Elle Fanning), who may not be up to the demands of the role. (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas as Reinsve's sister is also something of the film's sneaky secret weapon.) Able to switch moods and tones with a stylish, skillful ease, Trier brings out the best in all the film's performers, mixing a knowing, bittersweet humor with deep insights. — Mark Olsen Did we dream it at Sundance? A classically proportioned drama about the building of the American West, mostly seen from the eyes of one logger, that approaches the quiet grandeur of a Terrence Malick movie? Nope, 'Train Dreams' is here and there's something about its poise and intimacy that makes it feel, finally, like Netflix has a big awards winner, provided viewers can get beyond Joel Edgerton's bushy beard. The performance is taciturn and nonverbal; he's got a mouthpiece in Will Patton's folksy narration, but what Edgerton is doing is worth leaning in for, complex and fascinating. Co-written by Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, the team behind 'Jockey' and 'Sing Sing,' and adapted from Denis Johnson's 2011 novella, this gorgeous movie could put you in mind of a less frenetic era and also, via its piney fog-shrouded exteriors, of the country that still exists beyond all our noise. — Joshua Rothkopf An aging movie star reflects back on his life and career, contemplating what it was all for as he heads to Europe to receive a lifetime achievement award. The new 'Jay Kelly' stars George Clooney but is also in some ways about George Clooney — or at least the kind of existential crisis that only someone like George Clooney could truly understand. The latest film directed by Noah Baumbach, who co-wrote the screenplay with Emily Mortimer, 'Jay Kelly' may also be full of the filmmaker's own inner ruminations following the dismissive response to 2022's 'White Noise,' his previous film, and the overwhelming success of 'Barbie,' which he co-wrote with Greta Gerwig. The stacked cast of 'Jay Kelly' includes Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Riley Keough, Stacy Keach, Jim Broadbent, Mortimer and Gerwig. Baumbach's signature serio-comic touch, in which the humor lacerates as much as the drama, should be in full effect here. — Mark Olsen Seven years ago, a movie fan tweeted at director Edgar Wright to ask if he'd ever helm a remake. 'The Running Man,' Wright replied — and now he's done just that. Prescience has always been part of this action-thriller's hold on the imagination. Stephen King dreamed up the idea of a deadly TV competition in 1982, years before 'Survivor' brought the thrill of watching real-life desperation into our living rooms, and set his dystopian story in the then-distant future of 2025. Today, King's grim satire doesn't seem quite as far-fetched, so Wright's challenge will be making sure his update still packs a wallop. Glen Powell has stepped into Arnold Schwarzenegger's running shoes as a gritty, hardscrabble contestant who flees for his life, with Josh Brolin, Colman Domingo, Lee Pace, Michael Cera and Katy O'Brian rounding out the cast. Here's hoping this long-awaited project makes it across the finish line with panache. — Amy Nicholson It feels like I've been holding space for Part 2 of Jon M. Chu's musical extravaganza for as long as film star Cynthia Erivo stretched out that final 'aaaaaaaaaaahhh' battle cry in the showstopping 'Defying Gravity' number. Adapted from the long-running Broadway musical, the bifurcated epic is mostly set before 'The Wizard of Oz' and explores the origins of green-skinned Elphaba (Erivo) before she became known as the Wicked Witch of the West and her complex dynamic with rival-turned-friend Glinda (Ariana Grande). The first movie, which introduced the young women as students at Shiz University who developed an unlikely friendship after being forced to bunk together, ended with Elphaba learning about the dark realities of oppression within Oz's Emerald City and launching onto a path of resistance, quite literally, by taking flight on her getaway broomstick and fleeing the city. This second half will explore the diverging roads the two friends take as they become the adversaries we originally came to know through Dorothy and Co.. It's hard to say which will be more entertaining, the promotional tour or the actual movie. — Yvonne Villarreal
Refinery29
an hour ago
- Refinery29
Louis Vuitton Beauty Is Almost Here — & I Tried Everything First
Louis Vuitton has always been synonymous with fashion and travel accessories, and now, the iconic French maison is expanding its collection of luxury goods (including a fragrance range that launched in 2016) to bet big on makeup. Today marks a new chapter in the heritage brand's history with La Beauté Louis Vuitton, a debut collection of beauty products that combines signature LV house codes. And behind it all? Iconic makeup artist Dame Pat McGrath, as creative director. 'Working backstage for over 20 years at Louis Vuitton fashion shows, I am thrilled to now play such a key role in the launch of La Beauté Louis Vuitton, which is the result of extraordinary craftsmanship, creativity and innovation,' McGrath says via press release. The inaugural lineup includes lipstick, lip balm and a curated array of eyeshadow palettes, all conceived as cosmetics, yes, but also objets d'art to be kept, refilled and treasured for years to come. Let's start with LV Rouge lipstick. Available in 55 shades (a subtle nod to the Roman numerals LV) and two finishes (matte and satin), infused with lip-loving ingredients like shea butter and hyaluronic acid, plus waxes derived from rose, jasmine and mimosa flowers. Each lipstick bullet is stamped with the iconic LV monogram and features the signature monogram flower on the cap. Taking the sensorial experience to the next level, the lipsticks are scented with a custom floral fragrance developed by house perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud. As I swiped on the various shades, they felt like the equivalent of couture on my lips; the shades are dimensional and beautifully pigmented, and feel comfortable and effortless on my lips. Monogram Rouge, a muted warm red that almost wears like a neutral, feels as effortlessly chic as French girl beauty always — and rather deceptively — appears. It doesn't feel makeup-y or lipstick-y, but rather like a luxury accessory that brings your entire look to life. Next, there's LV Baume — the most luxurious lip balm I have ever tried. Available in 10 shades (including clear), the hydrating formula adds a sheer tint that brings lips to life. (My favourite of the bunch: Monogram Touch, a sheer chocolate brown that echoes the unmistakable initials on the iconic LV canvas.) Like the lipsticks, the balms are also gently scented with a subtle raspberry-mint fragrance and are easily refillable. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Louis Vuitton (@louisvuitton) Last, but not least, adorn your eyelids with the LV Ombres eyeshadow quads, which are available in eight distinct colour stories. Ranging from luminous beige to lipstick-inspired (and surprisingly wearable) burgundy, the silky, pigmented shadows are gentle on the eyes, thanks to moisturising ingredients like plant-derived squalane and camelina flower oil extract. Best of all, the quads take the guesswork out of picking shades that work together in a single eye look. (These gorgeous palettes are also refillable, but note that each petal-shaped pan is magnetised individually and requires a bit of finesse to swap in and out.) The full collection drops on 25th August, so be sure to set those alarms if you want to own a piece of luxury beauty history. (And when we say 'luxury', we mean it: LV Rouge and LV Baume retail for £120 each, and LV Ombres go for £190.) 'I've always said makeup is more than product: it's performance, obsession and emotion,' McGrath says. 'This new chapter is about pushing craftsmanship into a new realm.'
San Francisco Chronicle
3 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Eurovision, the world's largest live music event, to take place in Vienna next year
VIENNA (AP) — The Eurovision Song Contest 2026 will take place in Vienna. Austria's public broadcaster ORF, which will organize the world's largest live music event, announced the location Wednesday morning. Following Austrian singer JJ's victory with 'Wasted Love' in Basel this spring, the music competition will be held in May 2026 at the Wiener Stadthalle. 'After thorough examination and based on a unanimous jury assessment, ORF has concluded that Vienna's bid is the most attractive not only in terms of infrastructure and logistics, but also economically," ORF Director General Roland Weißmann said. Innsbruck also applied to host the event. It will be Vienna's third time as host, following 1967 and 2015. 'As mayor of Vienna, I am naturally delighted that Vienna has prevailed and will once again represent Austria next year. I am convinced that we will have a wonderful May together,' Mayor Michael Ludwig wrote on X. Eurovision's finale will take place May 16 after the semi-finals are held May 12 and 14, 2026. JJ, whose winning song combined operatic, multi-octave vocals with a techno twist, and who also sings at the Vienna State Opera, won the contest in May. JJ, whose full name is Johannes Pietsch, was Austria's third Eurovision winner, after Conchita Wurst in 2014 and Udo Jürgens in 1966. The song contest is always held in the country whose singer won the competition. The last Eurovision song contest, which has been uniting and dividing Europeans since 1956, was watched by 160 million viewers.
