Hollywood’s biggest night, the 96th Academy Awards (aka the Oscars) took place on March 10, 2024. ‘Oppenheimer’, Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic about a man who invented the first nuclear weapon came into the evening with 13 nominations, the most among all the other nominated films this year. It went home as the biggest winner too with 7 wins unsurprisingly, including the coveted best picture honour.
‘Oppenheimer’ has been the heavy favourite and clear frontrunner after a long awards season that began few months ago to celebrate the best of 2023 films. The film had swept all the top prizes from Golden Globes, BAFTA, Critics Choice, PGA, DGA, SAG and various other associations that handed out awards annually. Hence, the film winning best picture at the Oscars last evening was no surprise at all. I personally do not really enjoy the film. I find it too long and has too much talking. I wasn’t engaged to the story unfortunately. Preferred Christopher Nolan’s other past works more such as ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Inception’ and ‘Interstellar’.
As for the acting races, before the Oscars, the race was seemingly over for supporting actor and supporting actress categories. Robert Downey Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph made clean sweep respectively at all the major televised awards. As for lead actor, Cilian Murphy slowly raced to the front despite losing Critics Choice to Paul Giamatti. He has an advantage by starring in a likely best picture winner and ride on the movie’s momentum at the awards season. He ended up prevailing at the Oscars too. He is a good actor by the way.
As for the lead actress, it was all about the battle between the two ‘Stones’; Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone. Both won at Golden Globes, and then Emma won at Critics Choice and BAFTA, but then Lily won at SAG. Hence, the race is too tight to call leading up to the Oscars. In the end, Emma Stone won and that’s her second best actress win at the Oscars. That’s impressive! Her film ‘Poor Things’ also did surprisingly well at the Oscars by winning 4 awards (becoming the second film with most wins for the night…only behind ‘Oppenheimer’ with 7 wins). Now, it makes me want to watch ‘Poor Things’.
Japanese animated film ‘The Boy and the Heron’ won animated feature over ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’, another favourite in the category. On other hand, ‘Godzilla Minus One’ made history by becoming the first ever Godzilla film to win an Oscars (the film won best visual effects). I haven’t watch ‘Godzilla Minus One’ yet (I need to watch it!).
Here below are the full list of winners for the 96th Academy Awards:
Best Picture
“American Fiction,”
“Anatomy of a Fall,”
“Barbie,”
“The Holdovers,”
“Killers of the Flower Moon,”
“Maestro,”
“Oppenheimer,” (WINNER)
“Past Lives,”
“Poor Things,”
“The Zone of Interest,”
Best Director
Justine Triet — “Anatomy of a Fall”
Martin Scorsese — “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Christopher Nolan — “Oppenheimer” (WINNER)
Yorgos Lanthimos — “Poor Things”
Jonathan Glazer — “The Zone of Interest”
Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper — “Maestro”
Colman Domingo — “Rustin”
Paul Giamatti — “The Holdovers”
Cillian Murphy — “Oppenheimer” (WINNER)
Jeffrey Wright — “American Fiction”
Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening — “Nyad”
Lily Gladstone — “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Sandra Hüller — “Anatomy of a Fall”
Carey Mulligan — “Maestro”
Emma Stone — “Poor Things” (WINNER)
Actor in a Supporting Role
Sterling K. Brown — “American Fiction”
Robert De Niro – “Killers of the Flower Moon”
Robert Downey Jr. — “Oppenheimer” (WINNER)
Ryan Gosling — “Barbie”
Mark Ruffalo — “Poor Things”
Actress in a Supporting Role
Emily Blunt — “Oppenheimer”
Danielle Brooks — “The Color Purple”
America Ferrera – “Barbie”
Jodie Foster — “Nyad”
Da’Vine Joy Randolph — “The Holdovers” (WINNER)
Adapted Screenplay
“American Fiction,” written for the screen by Cord Jefferson (WINNER)
“Barbie,” written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach
“Oppenheimer,” written for the screen by Christopher Nolan
“Poor Things,” screenplay by Tony McNamara
“The Zone of Interest,” written by Jonathan Glazer
Original Screenplay
“Anatomy of a Fall,” screenplay by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari (WINNER)
“The Holdovers,” written by David Hemingson
“Maestro,” written by Bradley Cooper and Josh Singer
“May December,” screenplay by Samy Burch; story by Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik
“Past Lives,” written by Celine Song
Cinematography
“El Conde” – Edward Lachman
“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Rodrigo Prieto
“Maestro” – Matthew Libatique
“Oppenheimer” – Hoyte van Hoytema (WINNER)
“Poor Things” – Robbie Ryan
Original Song
“The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot,” music and lyric by Diane Warren
“I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie,” music and lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt
“It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony,” music and lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson
“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon,” music and lyric by Scott George
“What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie,” music and lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell (WINNER)
Costume Design
“Barbie” – Jacqueline Durran
“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Jacqueline West
“Napoleon” – Janty Yates and Dave Crossman
“Oppenheimer” – Ellen Mirojnick
“Poor Things” – Holly Waddington (WINNER)
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
“American Fiction” – Laura Karpman
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” John Williams
“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Robbie Robertson
“Oppenheimer” – Ludwig Göransson (WINNER)
“Poor Things” – Jerskin Fendrix
Live Action Short Film
“The After,” Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham
“Invincible,” Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron
“Knight of Fortune,” Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk
“Red, White and Blue,” Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane
“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” Wes Anderson and Steven Rales (WINNER)
Animated Short Film
“Letter to a Pig,” Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter
“Ninety-Five Senses,” Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess
“Our Uniform,” Yegane Moghaddam
“Pachyderme,” Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius
“War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko,” Dave Mullins and Brad Booker (WINNER)
Documentary Feature Film
“Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek
“The Eternal Memory”
“Four Daughters,” Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha
“To Kill a Tiger,” Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim
“20 Days in Mariupol,” Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath (WINNER)
Documentary Short Film
“The ABCs of Book Banning,” Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic
“The Barber of Little Rock,” John Hoffman and Christine Turner
“Island in Between,” S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien
“The Last Repair Shop,” Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers (WINNER)
“Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó,” Sean Wang and Sam Davis
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
“Golda,” Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue
“Maestro,” Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell
“Oppenheimer,” Luisa Abel
“Poor Things,” Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston (WINNER)
“Society of the Snow,” Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé
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
“Anatomy of a Fall” – Laurent Sénéchal
“The Holdovers” – Kevin Tent
“Killers of the Flower Moon” – Thelma Schoonmaker
“Oppenheimer” – Jennifer Lame (WINNER)
“Poor Things” – Yorgos Mavropsaridis
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
(Images in this post are from various online sources)
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