Oppenheimer dominates with 7 wins, Poor Things gets 4 honours at 96th Academy Awards

PTI

Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer dominated the 96th Academy Awards, as it took home seven trophies, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

“We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or for worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world,” Cillian Murphy said while accepting the honour at the 96th Oscars at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

For Nolan, who took home the Best Director, the Oscar win is a first despite being nominated seven times previously for directing Dunkirk, as well as for his work on movies like Memento and Inception.

During his acceptance, he said, “Movies are just a little bit over 100 years old. I would imagine being 100 years into painting or theatre.

We don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here, but to know that you think that I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me.” Emma Stone earned her second best actress Oscar for Poor Things.

Da’vine Joy Randolph was feted Best Supporting Actress for her role as a grieving cafeteria manager grappling with the death of her son in The Holdovers.

Robert Downey Jr won the Best Supporting actor for the Cillian Murphy-starrer. He said, “Here’s my little secret — I needed this job more than it needed me.”

The actor, who struggled with drug addiction for much of the 1990s before getting sober and launching his comeback, thanked Tom Hansen, his lawyer of 40 years, “half of which he spent trying to get me insured and bailing me out.”

Jonathan Glazer, director The Zone of Interest, which won the Best International Feature Film, a drama set in Auschwitz, spoke about violence in the Middle-East and to draw parallels with the message of his searing look at the Holocaust.

American Fiction, a satire that explores race and art, won Best Adapted Screenplay, while Anatomy of a Fall earned Best Original Screenplay.

The documentary 20 Days in Mariupol won Best Documentary. Its director Mstyslav Chernov drew attention to the human costs of Russia’s invasion.

Billie Eilish shattered records, becoming the youngest two-time Oscar winner at age 22 after earning best song for her Barbie ballad What Was I Made For?

This year’s Academy Awards, honouring the best films of the previous year, arrived at a tumultuous moment for Hollywood, which didn’t have a whole lot to celebrate in 2023.

Jimmy Kimmel returned to host the Oscars for the fourth time. He started the ceremony with jokes about the Academy snub of Barbie filmmaker Greta Gerwig, the excessive lengths of many of the nominated films and Robert De Niro’s much younger girlfriend. —IANS, & ANI

‘Isn’t it past your jail time?’

Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel took a moment during the live telecast, right before Al Pacino presented Best Picture, to read aloud the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump’s latest social media post. It bashed Kimmel as this year’s Oscars host. Kimmel fired back at Trump onstage by saying, “Blah, blah, blah ... Okay. Thank you for watching, I’m surprised you’re still — isn’t it past your jail time?”

THE WINNERS ARE…

Best Picture: Oppenheimer

Best Director: Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

Best Actor: Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)

Best Actress: Emma Stone (Poor Things)

Best Supporting Actor: Robert Downey Jr (Oppenheimer)

Best Supporting Actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

Best International Feature Film: The Zone of Interest (United Kingdom)

Best Original Screenplay: Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet and Arthur Harari)

Best Adapted Screenplay: American Fiction (Cord Jefferson)

Best Documentary Short Film: The Last Repair Shop

Best Documentary Feature: 20 Days in Mariupol

Best Cinematography: Hoyte Van Hoytema, (Oppenheimer)

Best Live Action Short Film: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Best Animated Short Film: War Is Over

Best Animated Film: The Boy and the Heron

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Poor Things (Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston)

Best Production Design: Poor Things (James Price, Shona Heath and Zsuzsa Mihalek)

Best Costume Design: Poor Things (Holly Waddington)

Best Visual Effects: Godzilla Minus One

Best Film Editing: Jennifer Lame (Oppenheimer)

Best Original Score: Ludwig Goransson (Oppenheimer)

Best Original Song: Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell (What Was I Made For?) — PTI

RAZZLE DAZZLE

Here are the best natural diamond moments on the 2024 Oscars red carpet…

Florence Pugh: Florence Pugh has been on a diamond kick. She walked the 2024 Oscars red carpet wearing a spectacular Bulgari Serpenti necklace.

Margot Robbie: Margo Robbie ditched the Barbie pink for the Oscars and opted for a chic black chainmail Versace gown accompanied by a Fred Leighton diamond cuff and a Fred Leighton diamond ring.

Greta Gerwig: Greta Gerwig looked ethereal in a champagne-coloured sequin gown paired with an extraordinary natural diamond necklace from Boucheron.

Emma Stone: Emma Stone looked radiant in a custom Louis Vuitton gown paired with an epic Louis Vuitton natural diamond choker featuring a 33-carat yellow diamond.

Charlize Theron: Charlize Theron wore unbelievable natural diamonds, all from Boucheron ranging from chokers to bangles to dangle earrings.

Hailee Steinfeld: Hailee Steinfeld looked radiant in yellow and white natural diamond earrings from Chopard and Elie Saab Couture.

Emily Blunt: Emily Blunt wore two Tiffany & Co. natural diamond necklaces stacked with her Schiaparelli gown.

Tiger loses

To Kill a Tiger, set in a village in Jharkhand, lost to 20 Days in Mariupol in the Best Documentary Feature category. Ukrainian filmmaker and war correspondent Mstyslav Chernov said, “This is the first Oscar in Ukrainian history, and I’m honoured. Probably I will be the first director on this stage to say I wish I’d never made this film.”

RRR trends again

Stars Jr NTR and Ram Charan’s exhilarating song Naatu Naatu and glimpse of RRR made it to the Academy Award stage once again. Soon after RRR was shown twice at the 96th Academy Awards, the official X handle of the film, shared the clip.

Nitin Desai honoured

Late Bollywood art director Nitin Chandrakant Desai was accorded an emotional tribute during the Oscars’ In Memoriam segment alongside Tina Turner, Matthew Perry and many others.

Red-pin protest

On the Oscars red carpet, a striking departure from the typical glitz and glamour unfolded, with notable celebrities such as singer Billie Eilish and actor Mark Ruffalo proudly donning red pins as a poignant call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Comedian and actor Ramy Youssef expressed a mixture of hope and disappointment, saying, “There’s a part of you that hopes it doesn’t have to get to pins... There’s a part of us that hoped we would already be at a cease-fire, and we’re not.”

Liza Koshy’s ‘oops moments’

Actress Liza Koshy surely knows how to turn heads even with ‘oops moments’ at award shows. Koshy walked the carpet in a red off-the-shoulder Marchesa gown and massive platform heels but she lost her balance on those heels collapsing completely onto the red carpet. However, she continued to pose even sitting down on the carpet.

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