"Oppenheimer" picked up an Oppen-haul at the 96th Academy Awards ceremony Sunday in Los Angeles, winning seven Oscars, including best picture and director Christopher Nolan.
Comparing film to painting, the visionary director noted the comparative infancy of the medium and said, "We don't know where it's going." He also thanked wife Emma Thomas, who shared the best picture trophy and has produced all of their films.
Cillian Murphy, noting the destructive forces unleashed by the character he played — J. Robert "Father of the Atomic Bomb" Oppenheimer — dedicated his best actor award "to the peacemakers everywhere."
The biggest surprise of the evening was a clearly surprised Emma Stone winning best actress for "Poor Things," her second Oscar (she previously one for "La La Land"). Lily Gladstone, in "Killers of the Flower Moon," had won many of the award precursors and had been favored to become the first Native American acting winner. Noting that her dress had just busted, Stone said, "The best part of making movies is all of us making [them] together."
As expected, four-time winner "Poor Things" — which takes place in a fantastical, wholly created world — was rewarded for its design elements, including its children's book-like sets. The first acting winner was also expected, when Da'Vine Joy Randolph completed her "The Holdovers" tour de triumph, taking home the supporting actress trophy. (If it seemed the other nominees in her category were unusually relaxed, it's probably because they knew they were not going to win.)
Things started to move in an "Oppenheimer" direction about 75 minutes into the evening, when supporting actor Robert Downey Jr. and editor Jennifer Lame won for the epic drama, and the film continued to pick up steam from there.
Presenters Emily Blunt ("Oppenheimer") and Ryan Gosling ("Barbie") gently sparred, paying tribute to the "Barbenheimer" meme that was born when both films opened on the same July weekend last year. But, as Blunt wryly noted, although "Barbie" won the box office (it was 2023′s biggest hit), "Oppenheimer" prevailed in the awards race. Sunday night, "Barbie" won just one award, for best song "What Was I Made For?" "Killers of the Flower Moon" went home empty-handed, winning none of the 10 categories in which it was nominated.
Some other Oscar observations:
Worst way to begin an Oscars monologue
"It's going to be a long night," said host Jimmy Kimmel, followed by "Is it a bumpy night already?" And, 28 minutes later, the evening's first award was finally presented.
Luck of the Irish
"I'm a very proud Irishman, standing up here tonight," Murphy said. Like Randolph, he won an acting Oscar for his very first nomination. (Speaking of Irishmen, Murphy joins three-time winner and retiree Daniel Day-Lewis in the best-actors-from-Ireland club. Lewis was born in London but has Irish citizenship.)
She gives a good speech
We learned as her award was being presented that Randolph wore her grandmother's glasses in "The Holdovers" and, in her speech, she said her mother was the one who suggested acting could be her destiny. Having won every pre-Oscar award and given a whole bunch of speeches, she went with gratitude for getting to be an actor. "I've always wanted to be different," she said as she accepted best supporting actress, but now, "I just want to be myself."
From hoosegow to Oscar
Supporting actor winner Downey thanked his "Oppenheimer" director Nolan and continued his string of droll, self-deprecatory speeches by paying tribute to his entertainment lawyer. The veteran actor, whose struggle with substance abuse has been well documented, said his lawyer spent years "trying to get me insured and bailing me out of the hoosegow."
Best song(s)
Credit where it's due: The best song category has long been an industry joke, with one terrible performance after another. But this year may have been the best in Oscar history for song nominees, with Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell's goosebump-inducing rendition of "What Was I Made For?" from "Barbie," a rousing "Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)" from "Killers of the Flower Moon," and Ryan Gosling (and fellow Ken actors) climaxing the song performances with a triumphant "I'm Just Ken" sing-along that even roped in Gosling's "La-La Land" co-star Emma Stone.
Rich things
The most eye-popping movie of the year did well in the early-evening craft categories, with "Poor Things" — set in a magical world that looks a bit like several places in Europe — winning for its production design, costumes and makeup.
One word is all it takes
Naked John Cena, who took the stage after a Kimmel bit that referenced the '70s incident when a (nude) streaker ran out on the Oscar stage during the ceremony, needed just one disgruntled word to get what may have been the evening's biggest laugh, at a point when we didn't know what award he was about to present: "Costumes."
Talking politics
Recent Oscars broadcasts have tended to avoid politics but Jonathan Glazer, the director of international feature winner "The Zone of Interest," turned his attention to current events in Gaza in his speech. He said "Zone," which takes place on the edge of a Holocaust concentration camp, is about "not what we did then but what we do now." The winners for the documentary feature "20 Days in Mariupol" also said they wished the film, which is set in the war in Ukraine, didn't have to exist. Kimmel also got in a jab at former President Donald Trump, who had criticized his hosting performance.
Red carpet champ
That would be Paul Giamatti. "The Holdovers" best actor nominee handled Laverne Cox's somewhat garbled questions beautifully, impressing the red carpet host with his use of the word "decorous," then enthusing to ABC host Julianne Hough about his "Holdovers" costars (including Randolph, whom he later escorted to the stage to pick up her Oscar) — all the while seeming every bit as calm and ready for fun as he claimed to be.
