Secrets from 2025 Governor Awards: Honourees, attendees, absentees, and more

The 2025 Governor Awards celebrated another year of the best in cinema — artists and art alike.

Where legends of the medium were honoured for their life’s achievement at the glittering gala, with this year’s honourary Oscar recipients being Tom Cruise, Dolly Parton, Debbie Allen, and Wynn Thomas, other well known names also brought their own glamour to the night’s celebrations.

Variety’s chief awards editor Clayton Davis attended the show in its entirety and reported his envious discoveries from the inside — including those which were not telecast.

Here are the most titillating details from the publication’s report:

Notable attendees

Besides the red carpet soiree, notable celebrity attendees who may have missed the arrivals covered by the press photographers included filmmakers Noah Baumbach and Richard Linklater, Kate Winslet and her son, the screenwriter Joe Anders, Adam Sandler, and Colin Farrell.

According to Variety, “Rian Johnson was present with cast members from their respective films ‘Train Dreams’, ‘Nouvelle Vague’ and ‘Wake Up Dead Man’. ‘Wicked: For Good’ stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo also charmed the room, along with Ethan Hawke from ‘Blue Moon’ and Chloé Zhao from ‘Hamnet’.”

Notable absentees

Timothée Chalamet, Paul Mescal, and Rusell Crowe were reported to be among those notably not in attendance at the ceremony despite leading some of this year’s most acclaimed releases — Marty Supreme, Hamnet, and Nuremberg respectively.

The honourees

Tom Cruise received an Academy Honorary Award during the latest ceremony, which he celebrated by declaring in his long speech that “making films is not what I do, it is who I am.”

While veteran cinematographer Wynn Thomas brought the house down with his hilarious admission, “The local gangs looked down on me and called me a sissy. But that sissy grew up to work with some great filmmakers!”

Choreographer Debbie Allen and Dolly Parton were the other two honourees at this year’s Governor Awards, with the latter forced to miss the ceremony due to scheduling conflicts.

Sydney meets Tom

Variety’s awards editor reported that he had encouraged Sydney Sweeney to make Tom Cruise’s acquaintance, claiming that the young star “froze” when her senior counterpart had approached her.

When Davis told her to “go say hi”, Sweeney admitted, “I don’t even know what to say.”

Meet-up between young actors

Jacob Elordi, Austin Butler, and Josh O’Connor were among the industry’s young talents surrounded by cinema royalty at the event.

According to Davis, “Between greetings and photo ops, Austin Butler found himself playing unofficial usher. The ‘Elvis’ actor appeared to point ‘Wake Up Dead Man’ star Josh O’Connor to his seat before chatting with Jacob Elordi.”

The menu

Some of the world’s biggest stars were provided with a menu which included delicacies like “smoked salmon Oscar matzahs; aged Parmesan; beet and truffle mushroom hummus; avocado purée with house-made lavosh; steak frites with roasted filet mignon; Café de Paris butter; French fries; and roasted Brussels sprouts.”

While “espresso chocolate bonbon, raspberry linzer cookie, and caramelized lemon tart” made up the dessert selection.

To wash everything down, the Governor Awards provided its famous guests alcoholic “La Clarté de Haut-Brion 2021, Le Clarence de Haut-Brion 2015, and Champagne Lallier R.021.”