LOS ANGELES (AP) — The grim three-hour biopic “Oppenheimer,” which became an unlikely $1 billion box office sensation, has won best picture at the 96th Academy Awards, which also served as Christopher Nolan's coronation. Awarded.
After years of overtaking perhaps Hollywood's most big-screen writers, the Oscars, including Best Actor for Cillian Murphy, Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr., and Best Director for Nolan made up for lost time by winning seven awards for the blockbuster biopic.
In anointing “Oppenheimer,” the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences took an action it hadn't done in more than a decade. The idea was to give top prizes to widely seen, big-budget studio films. In a film industry where capes, dinosaurs and Tom Cruise are often the requirements for such box office success, “Oppenheimer” is a complex, fission-filled drama about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic nucleus. It attracted a large number of movie fans to the theater. bomb.
“For better or worse, we all live in Robert Oppenheimer's world, and I want to dedicate this to the peacemakers,” Murphy said in his acceptance speech.
“Oppenheimer,'' a film that takes seriously concerns about humanity's capacity for mass destruction, goes beyond its partner in cultural phenomena “Barbie,'' foreshadowing an era in which catastrophes, whether man-made or not, are widespread. It also emerged as a suitable movie. Sunday's Oscar ceremony, held at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, unfolded against the backdrop of wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and with a potentially important US election looming.
The star of the Academy Awards was Emma Stone, who won Best Actress for her role as Vera Baxter in Poor Things.
In what was considered the most exciting category of the night, Stone defeated Killers of the Flower Moon's Lily Gladstone. Gladstone would have become the first Native American to win an Academy Award.
Rather, Oscar voters couldn't resist Stone's over-the-top performance in “Poor Man.” Her win for Stone marks her second Best Actress Oscar win after 2019's La La Land, and confirms that Stone, 35, is arguably the preeminent big screen actress of her generation. Ta. The list of women who have won Best Actress more than once includes Katharine Hepburn, Frances McDormand, Ingrid Bergman and Bette Davis.
“Oh, this is really overwhelming,” Stone said.
Nolan has previously appeared in numerous Oscar-winning films, including “Inception,'' “Dunkirk,'' and “The Dark Knight.'' But Sunday's Best Director win marked the 53-year-old filmmaker's first Academy Award.
In his acceptance speech, director Nolan said that the history of film is just over 100 years old.
“We don't know where this incredible journey will go from here,” Nolan said. “But to think that I'm such an important part of it means the world to me.”
Protests and politics infiltrated Sunday's election-year Academy Awards ceremony, with demonstrations for Gaza intensifying outside the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, and films such as “Oppenheimer'', “Zone of Interest'' and “Zone of Interest'' 20 Days in Mariupol” received the award.
Sunday's broadcast, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, featured a spectacular singing and dancing performance of Ryan Gosling's Barbie hit song “I'm Just Ken,” assisted by Slash's guitar. There was a lot of content. A sea of Kens swarmed the stage.
As expected, the hit biopic “Oppenheimer” took the top spot. Although it wasn't the complete victory some had hoped for, “Oppenheimer'' bested all competition, including its opening day companion “Barbie,'' and the cinematography, editing, music, and -Won an award for supporting role by Downey Jr.
Downey has been nominated twice (for “Chaplin'' and “Tropic Thunder'') and won his first Oscar, marking the second act of a checkered career.
Downey, the son of film director Robert Downey Sr., said, “I want to thank the Academy for my tragic childhood and for that order.”
“Barbie,” last year's biggest box office hit with more than $1.4 billion in ticket sales, didn't learn it won until nearly three hours after the ceremony began. Billie Eilish and Finneas' “What Was I Made For?” won song of the year (sorry, Ken). This is their second Oscar win, two years after winning for the James Bond theme song “No Time to Die.”
But after an awards season that largely remained within the Hollywood bubble, geopolitics played a role. Protests against Israel's war in Gaza caused heavy traffic around the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, delaying stars' red carpet appearances and turning the Oscar spotlight on the ongoing conflict. Some demonstrators shouted, “Shame on you!” For those trying to win the prize.
British filmmaker Jonathan Glazer, whose chilling Auschwitz drama The Zone of Interest won the Best International Film Award, has drawn connections between the dehumanization depicted in his film and today. Ta.
“Right now, we need to understand that we are Jewish and that the occupation that has led to the conflict of so many innocent people, whether it be the victims of October 7th in Israel or the victims of the ongoing attack on Gaza. I stand here as someone who speaks out against the holocaust, which has been hijacked by all the victims, this dehumanization, how do we resist?”
The war in Gaza was on the minds of many attendees, as was the war in Ukraine. A year after Navalny won the award, Mstislav Chernov's 20 Days in Mariupol, a harrowing account of the early days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, won the award for best documentary. It's the first victory for Associated Press/PBS's “Frontline” and comes as the Ukraine war has gone on for more than two years with no signs of abating.
Mstislav Chernov, a Ukrainian film director and Associated Press reporter whose hometown was bombed the day he learned of his Oscar nomination, spoke forcefully about Russian aggression.
“This is the first Oscar in the history of Ukraine,” Chernov said. “And I'm honored. I'll probably be the first director on this stage to say I wish I hadn't made this movie. I wish I could trade this for Russia never attacking Ukraine.” ”
Early on, Yorgos Lanthimos' Frankenstein riff “Poor Things” ran away with three awards for its gorgeous production, including Best Production Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Best Costume Design.
Kimmel, who is hosting ABC for the fourth time, opened the ceremony with a monologue that drew cold stares (from Downey, Sandra Hüller and the dog Messi from Best Picture nominee “Anatomy of Fall”). . But Kimmel emphasized that Hollywood is a “union city” in the wake of the 2023 actors and writers strike, bringing out Teamsters and backstage workers (who are currently in their own labor negotiations). It received a standing ovation.
The first award of the night was one of the most expected. DaVine Joy Randolph won Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Alexander Payne's The Holdovers. An emotional Randolph was escorted on stage by her “Holdovers” co-star Paul Giamatti.
“For a long time, I always wanted to be different,” Randolph said. “And now I realize I need to be myself.”
Randolph's victory was widely expected, but the upset quickly occurred. Hayao Miyazaki's “The Boy and the Heron'' won Best Animated Feature, a surprise win over “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,'' which had a slight following. Mr. Miyazaki, the 83-year-old Japanese animation master who returned from retirement to create “The Boy and the Heron,'' did not attend the ceremony. He also did not attend the 2003 Oscar Awards, where Spirited Away won the same award.
The award for Best Original Screenplay went to “Anatomy of a Fall,'' written by husband-and-wife duo Justin Torrier and Arthur Harari, who also won the award for “Barbie.'' “I think this will help you get through your midlife crisis,” Torie said.
“Barbie'' was nominated for the Adapted Version, which was expected to go to Greta Gerwig, who was overlooked for Best Director, but the Oscar went to Cord Jefferson, who wrote and directed her feature film debut, “American Fiction.'' Ta. He implored management to take risks on young filmmakers like himself.
“Instead of making a $200 million movie, try making 20 $10 million movies,” said Jefferson, previously an award-winning television screenwriter.
Oscar awards mainly belonged to films that had their first theatrical release. The film received 19 nominations and was nominated for awards, but Netflix was a bit of a player. The only award went to a live-action short called “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,'' directed by Wes Anderson and based on the original story by Roald Dahl.
Although “Barbie” surpassed (and helped push) “Oppenheimer” at the box office, it fell behind Nolan's film at the Oscars. Gerwig was notably overlooked in the director's category, sparking backlash from some, including Hillary Clinton, who said the film mimicked the patriarchy parodied.
Associated Press Ryan Pearson and Krysta Fauria contributed to this report
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