Preview:
- ‘Oppenheimer’ dominated the 96th annual Academy Awards with wins for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, while ‘Poor Things’ landed four Oscars, including Best Actress for Emma Stone.
- ‘Barbie,’ ‘The Zone of Interest,’ and ‘The Holdovers’ all nabbed awards as well, while ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ ‘Past Lives,’ and ‘Maestro’ were shut out.
- Jimmy Kimmel hosted a smooth, mostly well-paced show, with a naked John Cena and Messi the dog pulling off the most entertaining bits.
‘Oppenheimer’ hauled in seven Oscars at the 96th annual Academy Awards on Sunday night (March 10), including wins for Best Picture, Best Director (Christopher Nolan), Best Actor (Cillian Murphy), and Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), while ‘Poor Things’ waltzed away with four trophies, including Emma Stone’s second statuette for Best Actress.
Jimmy Kimmel once again hosted the broadcast, which began for the first time at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT – an hour earlier than usual – a shift that became grist for a handful of one-liners from the late-night comedian, who at point joked that so many viewers missed the first hour that the producers were going to restart the show.
If they had, viewers tuning in late would have gotten a chance to see an emotional acceptance speech from Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who notched the first prize of the evening, Best Supporting Actress, for her work in ‘The Holdovers.’ Randolph was one of several first-time nominees and winners, a list that included Cillian Murphy and ‘American Fiction’ screenwriter/director Cord Jefferson (winner for Best Adapted Screenplay), who admonished Hollywood, “Instead of making one $200 million movie, why not make 20 $10 million movies?”
Although Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell won Best Song for the ‘Barbie‘ tune “What Was I Made For?” – making them the youngest two-time Oscar winners ever after triumphing in 2022 for their James Bond theme song ‘No Time to Die‘ – ‘Barbie’ itself was shut out the rest of the night, along with other high-profile contenders like ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’ ‘Maestro,’ and ‘Past Lives.’ Perhaps the biggest shockers of the night were Stone’s win – since she was locked in a tight race with ‘Killers’ star Lily Gladstone – and the stunning Best Visual Effects win for ‘Godzilla Minus One,’ the surprise hit that notched the big green lizard’s first-ever Oscar.
In two of the evening’s more somber moments, a visibly nervous Jonathan Glazer – director of Best International Feature winner ‘The Zone of Interest’ – accepted his Oscar by noting that his film’s accounting of the Nazi horrors of the past was very much a reflection of the “dehumanization” of people in the present. The night’s other powerful moment came when ’20 Days at Mariupol’ – made in Ukraine literally as Russia’s horrific war against that country was underway – landed Best Documentary Feature. Director Mstyslav Chernov, almost overcome with emotion, said that while he was honored to accept Ukraine’s first Oscar, he “[wished] I would never make this film. I wish to be able to exchange this [for] Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities.”
Among the evening’s other highlights were the testimonials by five previous winners in each of the acting categories for each one of the night’s nominees, featuring a star-studded roster than ranged from Nicolas Cage to Jessica Lange; Ryan Gosling’s anthemic performance of ‘I’m Just Ken,’ featuring Slash on lead guitar; Messi the dog (from ‘Anatomy of a Fall’) “clapping” for Robert Downey Jr.’s long-anticipated win; John Cena coming out naked to present Best Costume Design in a nod to an infamous 1974 incident in which a streaker ran onstage; and one of Kimmel’s closing bits, in which he read an apparently real social media post lambasting his performance from a certain former president. “Isn’t it past your jail time?” the host quipped, one of just two politically-tinged jokes in an otherwise placid and (much to the producers’ relief) scandal-free ceremony.
Here Are The Winners:
BEST PICTURE
BEST DIRECTOR
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- ‘American Fiction’, Cord Jefferson – WINNER
- ‘Barbie’, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach
- ‘Oppenheimer’, Christopher Nolan
- ‘Poor Things’, Tony McNamara
- ‘The Zone of Interest’, Jonathan Glazer
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
CINEMATOGRAPHY
ORIGINAL SONG
COSTUME DESIGN
SOUND
- ‘The Creator’, Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic
- ‘Maestro’, Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic
- ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’, Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor
- ‘Oppenheimer’, Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O’Connell
- ‘The Zone of Interest’, Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn – WINNER
ORIGINAL SCORE
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
ANIMATED SHORT FILM
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM
DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
- ‘Io Capitano’ (Italy)
- ‘Perfect Days’ (Japan)
- ‘Society of the Snow’ (Spain)
- ‘The Teachers’ Lounge’ (Germany)
- ‘The Zone of Interest’ (United Kingdom) – WINNER
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
- ‘The Boy and the Heron’, Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki – WINNER
- ‘Elemental’, Peter Sohn and Denise Ream
- ‘Nimona’, Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary
- ‘Robot Dreams’, Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz
- ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
PRODUCTION DESIGN
- ‘Barbie’, production design: Sarah Greenwood; set decoration: Katie Spencer
- ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’, production design: Jack Fisk; set decoration: Adam Willis
- ‘Napoleon’, production design: Arthur Max; set decoration: Elli Griff
- ‘Oppenheimer’, production design: Ruth De Jong; set decoration: Claire Kaufman
- ‘Poor Things’, production design: James Price and Shona Heath; set decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek – WINNER
Film Editing
VISUAL EFFECTS
- ‘The Creator’, Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould
- ‘Godzilla Minus One’, Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima – WINNER
- ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’, Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek
- ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’, Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould
- ‘Napoleon’, Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould
Please check out red carpet arrival photos below: