Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, more

The Oscars are almost here, and Entertainment Weekly got a sneak peek at the stars rehearsing for Hollywood’s biggest night, including reunited original The Color Purple stars Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey.

EW was invited inside Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre on Saturday to watch a portion of the private rehearsals ahead of Sunday’s 97th Annual Academy Awards ceremony. Among the highlights was seeing Goldberg and Winfrey all smiles as they made a top-secret presentation. We also heard Gayle King popped by to say hello to her longtime bestie.

Both actresses were previously nominated for their roles in Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film based on Alice Walker’s novel of the same name, Goldberg for Best Actress and Winfrey for Best Supporting Actress (as was costar Margaret Avery). Although neither scored a win then, Goldberg went on to win Best Supporting Actress in 1991 for Ghost.

Among the other presenters we got to watch were Sterling K. Brown and Ana de Armas easing through their speeches for Best Live-Action Short, and the delightful pairing of Andrew Garfield and Goldie Hawn, rehearsing to hand out Best Animated Short and Best Animated Feature trophies. Garfield kept his arm around the Oscar-winning actress during their speech, as Hawn made sure they were doing things in the right order before the main event.

Also at the practice were Miley Cyrus, last year’s Best Supporting Actress winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Miles Teller, and two-time Best Actress winner Emma Stone. The La La Land and Poor Things star stumbled over her words during one part of her speech, joking, “This is gonna go great!”

See below for more photos from the rehearsal, ahead of Sunday’s ceremony, hosted by Conan O’Brien, on Sunday, beginning at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ABC and Hulu. Before then, make sure to catch up on all the 2025 nominees and EW’s predictions for who will take home the gold.

The 2025 Oscars air Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ABC and Hulu, with the official red carpet presentation beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.

Check out more from EW’s The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year’s best in TV.