THE Oscars are back tonight – Sunday, March 15.
Conan O’ Brien is the host this year for what is sure to be an action packed, glam night.
Sinners received a record breaking 16 nominations.
One Battle After Another is nominated for 13 awards, Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value and Frankenstein have nine and Hamnet has eight.
Although we all want to see who wins each award, another great part of the awards ceremony are the acceptance speeches.
There have been some very memorable ones like Jennifer Lawrence’s fall up the stairs in 2013 or Angelina Jolie’s speech in 2000 in which she famously told the world: “I’m so in love with my Brother right now.”
One obtuse element of the acceptance speech has always been the length – what are the rules and how do the Oscars enforce them?
What is the 45 second rule at the Oscars?
The 45 second rule is a guideline enforced by the Oscars that speeches should be 45 seconds or under.
It is essentially in place to prevent super long speeches like the over 6 minute speech given by Greer Garson in 1943.
What happens if you go over the time?
The house band plays music to drown out speakers who exceed the limit.
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However, some winners have been allowed to go over time.
here are some famous speeches that have gone over the 45 second limit:
Adrien brody
In 2003, Brody accepted an Oscar for The Pianist.
When a Time’s Up sign flashed and music began, he told the house band: “One second, please. Cut it Out.”
This speech only lasted 3 minutes but Brody bested his own work in 2025.
He won for Best Actor in 2025 for The Brutalist and spoke for 5 minutes and 40 seconds after claiming he would be brief.
He won a Guinness World Record for the length of it.
Olivia Coleman
Coleman won for Best Actress at the 2019 and made an emotional speech that lasted approximately 1 minute and forty seconds.
After an emotional list of thank yous she let her audience know she was being told to finish: “Please wrap up, right okay!”
Tom Hanks
In 1994 Tom Hanks won an Oscar for his work in the film Philadelphia.
His speech was 3 minutes long and served as a poignant moment where he honoured people who lost their lives to AIDs.
Whilst extremely moving, it’s length made it a talking point on the need for brevity.
