Amy Madigan wins Oscar for best supporting actress in ‘Weapons,’ 40 years after last nomination

Amy Madigan won the Academy Award for best supporting actress Sunday for her role in the supernatural thriller “Weapons,” 40 years after her last nomination.

Madigan embodied the role of Gladys, giving a phenomenally creepy portrayal of the great-aunt of a young boy whose classmates go missing overnight. She won the Critics’ Choice Award and Actor Award in the same category.

The 75-year-old let out a deep cackle as she went on stage to accept the award.

“We’re kind of advised, ’Don’t say all these names, as nobody knows who the hell these people are,’” she said. “But you’re not rattling them off. They mean something to you; that you couldn’t be here without them."

The last time she was nominated for an Oscar was for her role in 1985 family drama “Twice in a Lifetime,” setting a record for the longest gap between nominations for an actress.

“Everybody’s asking me … ‘Well it’s been 40 years, what’s different about this time?’” Madigan said. “What’s different is this little gold guy.”

Her character is so integral to one of the movie’s biggest twists that she was kept out of the press tour and early marketing for the film so as to not give away any spoilers.

“Gladys has surprised me, she’s getting a lot of love back,” Madigan said in her acceptance speech at the Annual Actor Awards. “I didn’t know y’all wanted to hang out with her.”

Her character is “kind of inspiring in a strange way,” despite being the movie's villain, she said after her Oscar win.

If given the opportunity, she would love to reprise the role in an Aunt Gladys prequel, she said.

Some of Madigan’s most notable roles in her long career were in “Field of Dreams” and “Uncle Buck” in 1989. She has also acted in Broadway and off-Broadway productions.

“Opportunities (as an older actress) are less and you just hope that something finds you so you can find it,” she said in an interview with The New York Times. “And I don’t take it for granted, because you can go up and then you can go all the way down, as we know.”

Madigan thanked director and writer Zach Cregger for writing a “dream part” for her. While horror movies have traditionally been snubbed for awards, being treated like the “little kids table at Thanksgiving,” Madigan said she was heartened by the recognition for genre films like “Weapons” and “Sinners” this year.

She also gave a shoutout to the other nominees Teyana Taylor in “One Battle After Another,” Wunmi Mosaku in “Sinners,” and Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in “Sentimental Value.” The category did not have a clear favorite ahead of this year’s ceremony, with a crowded field of nominees splitting the biggest awards of the season.

For more coverage of the 2026 Oscars, visit https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards.

Amy Madigan arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Ed Harris and Amy Madigan arrive at the Oscars on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Zoe Saldaña, left, presents the award for best performance by an actress in a supporting role to Amy Madigan for "Weapons" on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Amy Madigan accepts the award for actress in a supporting role for "Weapons" during the Oscars on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Amy Madigan accepts the award for actress in a supporting role for "Weapons" during the Oscars on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Two people were killed after a Russian drone attacked a minibus in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, local officials said Saturday, in the latest barrage of civilian areas, a hallmark of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

Seven people were also wounded in the attack, regional head Oleksandr Prokudin said. Hours later Russia attacked another minibus in Kherson, wounding the driver, he said.

Meanwhile, along the northern border with Belarus, Ukraine recorded “rather unusual” activity on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram on Saturday. Without elaborating, he said activity was seen on the Belarusian side of the border and that Ukraine would act if matters escalated.

“We are closely documenting and keeping the situation under control. If necessary, we will react,” he said.

Belarus, a close ally of the Kremlin, has allowed Russia to use its territory as a staging ground to send troops into Ukraine and to host some of Moscow’s tactical nuclear weapons.

On Ukraine's Black Sea coast, a Russian strike damaged port infrastructure in the city of Odesa. No casualties were reported.

Ukrainian civilians have endured relentless air assaults since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than four years ago. U.S.-brokered talks between Moscow and Kyiv over the past year have brought no respite, with Russia rejecting Ukraine’s offer of a ceasefire, and in recent weeks the Iran war has diverted international attention from Ukraine’s plight.

Meanwhile, on the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line, Russia claimed Saturday it had taken control of the village of Myropillia in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region.

It was not possible to independently verify the battlefield claims, and Ukraine did not immediately comment.

In Russia, local officials in the Krasnodar region said that a fire that broke out Friday following a Ukrainian strike on an oil terminal in the Black Sea city of Tuapse was put out on Saturday.

Ukrainian drones have hit the oil refinery and export terminal in Tuapse on four occasions in just over two weeks, sparking fires that prompted local evacuations and sent up massive plumes of smoke.

Ukraine has escalated its long-distance strikes against Russian oil facilities in an effort to slash Moscow’s oil exports, a key source of funding for its grinding invasion of Ukraine. But the economic impact is so far unclear, as the rise in oil prices from the Iran war, and a related easing of U.S. sanctions, have helped replenish the Kremlin’s coffers.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

FILE - In this image taken from video released by Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev's Telegram channel, smoke rises after a drone attack on the oil refinery and terminal in Tuapse, Russia, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev Telegram channel via AP, File)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire a building following a Russian drone attack in Odesa region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire a building following a Russian drone attack in Odesa region, Ukraine, Saturday, May 2, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)