Hollywood (United States) (AFP) - The Oscars, Hollywood’s glitziest night of the year, got under way Sunday, with joint favorites “Anora” and “Conclave” seemingly poised for a showdown for the best picture prize.

“Wicked” stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo kicked off the show with a soaring medley honoring the land of Oz that brought the house down, including a rapturously received “Defying Gravity” from their nominated film.

Then it was time for host Conan O’Brien, who emerged from Demi Moore’s body in a riff on the body horror flick “The Substance” to begin his monologue.

“Welcome to the 97th Academy Awards,” he said. “It’s Hollywood’s biggest night, that starts at four in the afternoon.”

He took early aim at the controversy that has surrounded “Emilia Perez,” whose transgender star sank the film’s Oscar hopes when a series of offensive tweets were unearthed.

“Little fact for you: ‘Anora’ uses the F-word 479 times. That’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofia Gascon’s publicist,” he said.

The first prize of the evening – for best supporting actor – was no surprise, with Kieran Culkin getting the honor for “A Real Pain.”

“I’ve already lost whatever speech I prepared,” the perpetually flustered Culkin said.

“I have no idea how I got here. I’ve just been acting my whole life. It’s just been a part of what I do.

- ‘Anora’ or ‘Conclave’? -

If Culkin, who swept every award this season, was no surprise, the race for best picture is too close to call, with two wildly different films seen as frontrunners for best picture – “Conclave” and “Anora.”

Sean Baker’s “Anora” – about a New York stripper and escort who weds a wealthy Russian playboy, only to learn that her dream marriage is a nightmare illusion – won the Cannes festival’s Palme d’Or last May.

“Conclave” – a film about the secretive and cutthroat election of a new Catholic leader, lent an uncanny timeliness by the real-life Pope Francis’s health woes – appears to have won over many late voters.

The film starring Ralph Fiennes and Isabella Rossellini earned top honors from Britain’s BAFTAs, and the Hollywood actors’ SAG Award for best cast.

Baker took the Oscar for best original screenplay for “Anora,” while Peter Straughan won for best adapted screenplay for “Conclave.”

One Oscars voter told AFP they had voted for “Conclave” because “it’s just more of a traditional, classic ‘best picture’ film.”

- Oscar records -

The voter, anonymous because Academy members cannot reveal their picks, also expressed admiration for “The Brutalist,” a potential dark horse about a Hungarian Jewish architect making a new life in the United States after World War II.

Adrien Brody, who plays the titular gifted architect and Holocaust survivor, has been the presumed favorite to win the best actor Oscar for months.

Brody has won the prize previously, for 2002’s “The Pianist.” If he prevails again, he’d join an elite club of double winners including Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson.

But Timothee Chalamet – who earned wide admiration for his pitch-perfect performance as a sardonic young Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown” – won the Screen Actors Guild Award over Brody, and could prove a spoiler.

His lemon yellow suit on Sunday turned heads, the latest red carpet talking point in a season that has also seen him arrive late on a ride-share bike to one ceremony.

At just 29, he arguably has the most star power of any of this year’s nominees, and would beat Brody’s record as the category’s youngest-ever winner.

Brody is “still the safer pick,” said The Hollywood Reporter’s awards expert Scott Feinberg – assuming enough Academy voters made it through his film’s three-and-a-half-hour runtime.

- Oscar for Demi?-

There could be an even younger winner on the actress side, if a groundswell of support for “Anora” carries its star Mikey Madison, 25, to the Oscars stage.

But she will have to get past Demi Moore, the 1990s megastar who has enjoyed a sparkling career renaissance thanks to “The Substance.”

If the vote is split, Brazil’s Fernanda Torres could spring a surprise with “I’m Still Here,” about a family ripped apart by her country’s military dictatorship.

The ceremony itself is expected to be an emotional affair, honoring firefighters who battled blazes that killed 29 people and devastated Los Angeles in January.

As well as Grande and Erivo, producers have also enlisted Doja Cat and Lisa from the K-pop group Blackpink to perform.

For the first time, the gala will stream live on Hulu, as well as on US network ABC, and in more than 200 territories worldwide.