The 96th Academy Awards aired Sunday evening and brought all things glitz, glamour, and some incredibly exciting reunions!
During the annual awards ceremony at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, Oscars producers upped the ante by taking the previously announced list of presenters and pairing them together to recreate iconic pairings and collaborations from throughout film history.
While the night started with co-stars from an unreleased film, Furiousa: A Mad Mad Saga's Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, things only got better as nostalgic pairings like Twins' Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito and Beetlejuice's Michael Keaton and Catherine O'Hara hit the stage to present.
ET has rounded up a list of all the co-stars who took to the stage during the show to bring nostalgia and hilarity.
Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth
If you're wracking your brain trying to figure out which movie you've seen these two in together, here's a hint: you haven't... yet. The 40-year-old Australian actor and 27-year-old Peaky Blinders actress are slated to appear alongside side each other in the new film, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which will release on May 24, 2024.
Hemsworth and Taylor-Joy took the stage early in the Academy Awards broadcast to present statues to the winners of the Best Animated Short Film and Best Animated Feature Film. The first award went to War Is Over: Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko while the second went to Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron.
Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer
For Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay, the Oscars pulled together the Thunder Force co-stars to hand off the Oscar to Justine Triet for Anatomy of a Fall and Cord Jefferson for American Fiction, respectively. For a full and updated list of the Academy Award winners, click here.
The actresses -- who have been friends for more than two decades -- kept it on-script but hilarious -- of course -- during their bit, bantering back and forth over a miscommunication regarding a line in their script about Chip 'n Dale. While Spencer thought McCarthy was talking about the male dancers (Chippendales), McCarthy was referencing the Disney characters.
Catherine O'Hara and Michael Keaton
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice... Be-- grateful the Academy Awards reunited these two! O'Hara, 70, and Keaton, 72, starred alongside each other in the original Beetlejuice film in 1988 and again recently for the long-awaited sequel. The pair, who presented Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Best Production Design, joked during their bit that without these vital players in the film world, actors would never look presentable.
The categories were apt for the duo who were recently hard at work on Beetlejuice 2, which also stars returning actor Winona Ryder and newcomer Jenna Ortega -- who joins the cast as the daughter of Ryder's character, Lydia Deetz.
During a recent interview with ET's Cassie DiLaura, Keaton said that after 30 years with no news about a sequel, he had all but given up on the idea of giving the audience more Beetlejuice.
"It took a while to get there," Keaton recently told ET. "I didn't really think we were gonna do it and didn't want to do it, various times [in the] last few years, but it was more fun than the other one."
Beetlejuice 2 releases on Sept. 6, 2024.
Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling
While they may have appeared on stage under the guise of putting the "Barbenheimer" rivalry to rest, it was nothing but nonstop punches between Gosling and Blunt -- who honored stunt actors in a nod to their upcoming film The Fall Guy. In just a few minutes on stage, the Barbie star and Oppenheimer actress managed to get in some of the funniest jabs of the night over their respective wins and accolades.
"I'm just happy that we can finally put this Barbenheimer rivalry behind us," said Gosling.
"And the way this awards season turned out -- wasn't that much of a rivalry," said Blunt, referencing Oppenheimer's decisive wins at the SAG Awards and other major events during the season. That witty response was countered by an equally droll rebuttal.
"It's true, you guys are doing very well, congratulations," Gosling said. "But you know, I think I kind of figured out why they called it Barbenheimer and they didn't call it Oppenbarbie -- well, I think you guys are at the tail end of that cause you were riding Barbie’s coattails all summer."
"Thanks for Ken-plaining that to me, Mr, 'I need to paint my abs on to get nominated--'" Blunt replied before being abruptly cut off by Gosling putting his hands over the mic, adding, "She's kidding."
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito
36 years after Twins released in theaters, Devito and Schwarnezegger hit the stage at the Dolby Theater to present the awards for Best Visual Effects and Best Editing. The former co-stars did not just get right into the nominations, though, as they took a beat to joke about why they were chosen to present together.
"Arnold and I are presenting together tonight for a very obvious reason," said DeVito.
"We both tried to kill Batman," Schwarzenegger joked in response before launching into an anti-Batman rant, even pulling Michael Keaton -- the Batman for DeVito's film -- into the gag.
America Ferrera and Kate McKinnon
These Barbies presented two Oscars! During Sunday evening's broadcast, the Barbie stars pulled off a bit ahead of handing out the awards for Best Documentary Short and Best Documentary. The Ugly Betty star, 39, and Saturday Night Live alum, 40, joked with each other about the categories.
At one point, the pair went off into a tangent about
Jurassic Park
, which McKinnon pretended to think was a real documentary and not a fictional story.
"The dinosaurs weren't real," Ferrera said, prompting her co-star to respond, "Oh America, not you too."
"But Jeff Goldblum is real, right?" asked McKinnon.
"No," said Ferrera, which inspired a clearly worried McKinnon to ask, "then to whom have I been sending my tasteful nudes?" as the camera flashed to Steven Spielberg, pointing to himself.
On Saturday, just before the Oscars rehearsal, Ferrera used her Instagram page to inform fans that while they may be best known for working together in the Greta Gerwig blockbuster, she and McKinnon have really been in each other's lives for decades.
"From meeting at a High School summer acting program to being in Barbie and now at the Oscars together, I always feel so lucky to be in the presence of the legend Kate McKinnon! It’s so special to have longtime friends on the journey with you! We’re at the Oscars baby!" the Dumb Money actress shared in a post.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo
What else can be said about these wickedly talented ladies? With more than eight months to go until their highly-anticipated adaptation of Wicked releases in theaters, Erivo and Grande presented the Oscars for Best Original Song and Best Score.
Before welcoming Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell to the stage for their win, they even got in a few quick references to not only their own movie, but the original source material, i.e. The Wizard of Oz.
"A great film score can even leave a handprint on our hearts forever," Grande said, referencing a lyic from the song "For Good" from the Broadway musical."It can ignite wonder and astonishment, make us feel sadness and longing, and can even transport us to new worlds."
"Somewhere over the rainbow where the dreams that you dare to dream really do control," Erivo responded.
"How wickedly subtle of you," retorted the "7 Rings" singer.
Wicked: Part 1 releases in theaters on Nov. 27.
The 2024 Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, airs live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 10, at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET on ABC. Follow along at ETonline.com for full Oscars coverage, including red carpet arrivals, the complete winners list and more.
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