The 96th Academy Awards were presented on Sunday night in Los Angeles, where many of Hollywood’s biggest stars gathered to celebrate the year’s best in film.
Christopher Nolan’s sweeping epic about J. Robert Oppenheimer came into the night with the most Oscar nominations (13) and won seven, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor.
Cillian Murphy won Best Actor for his portrayal of Oppenheimer. It was his first Oscar.
Robert Downey Jr. won the first Academy Award of his 40-plus-year career, nabbing the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer.
“I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy, in that order,” Downey said before thanking his wife, Susan Downey.
The dark comedy “Poor Things” had 11 nods and four wins, including Emma Stone’s best actress award.
Ryan Gosling’s Oscar-nominated Barbie song “I’m Just Ken” didn’t win — the trophy went to the other Oscar-nominated Barbie song, “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell — but his live performance brought the house (er, Dolby Theatre) down.
With their original song win for the existential ballad “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie,” Eilish, 22, and O’Connell, 26, became respectively the youngest and second-youngest people ever to win a second Oscar. The sibling pop duo — who took home the Grammy for Song of the Year for the melancholic “Barbie” hit last month — scored their first Oscar two years ago for the James Bond theme song “No Time to Die.”
Gosling, in a bright pink suit and gloves, went through a spectacular performance modeled after Marilyn Monroe’s “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” with a group of top hat-wearing dancers. He interacted with movie director Greta Derwin, Margot Robbie, and Emma Stone before returning to the stage to stand with rocker Slash as he ripped through a guitar solo to end the set.
Other instances, like John Cena appearing nude in remembrance of the streaker at the Oscars 50 years ago and telling host Jimmy Kimmel that he no longer wanted to do it while standing obviously naked behind a set piece, or Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito appearing onstage to re-enact their movie “Twins”, the biggest event was Al Pacino announcing Best Picture.
Kimmel announced a big surprise for the presentation of the final award and introduced Al Pacino as the final presenter. Pacino came out and announced that he was there to present the award for Best Picture.
Instead of saying “And the nominees are,” where video clips announcing each of the ten films in contention for the award would play, Pacino went directly to opening the envelope.
He said, “Only one of these pictures will win the award, and I have to go to the envelope for that. Here goes,” to audience laughter.
Pacino next said, “My eyes see Oppenheimer,” and after a slight pause, the celebration began.
It was another case of the Academy singling out an older actor in a huge moment that went awry, after Warren Beatty and the wrong picture being announced in 2017.
It was a magical night that successfully celebrated the magic of Hollywood.
Here is a full list of the 2024 Academy Award Winners:
Best picture
“Oppenheimer”
Best actress
Emma Stone, “Poor Things”
Best director
Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
Best actor
Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”
Best original song
“What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie” (Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell)
Best original score
“Oppenheimer” (Ludwig Göransson)
Best sound
“The Zone of Interest”
Best live action short film
“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”
Best cinematography
“Oppenheimer” (Hoyte van Hoytema)
Best documentary
“20 Days in Mariupol”
Best documentary short film
“The Last Repair Shop”
Best film editing
“Oppenheimer”
Best visual effects
“Godzilla Minus One”
Best supporting actor
Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer”
Best international film
“The Zone of Interest” (United Kingdom)
Best costume design
“Poor Things”
Best production design
“Poor Things”
Best makeup and hairstyling
“Poor Things”
Best adapted screenplay
“American Fiction” (Cord Jefferson)
Best original screenplay
“Anatomy of a Fall” (Justine Triet and Arthur Harari)
Best animated film
“The Boy and the Heron”
Best animated short film
“WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko”
Best supporting actress
Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”
