96th Academy Award: ‘Oppenheimer’ dominates with 7 wins, ‘Poor Things’ gets 4 honours

Los Angeles, March 11 (IANS) Christopher Nolan’s film ‘Oppenheimer’ dominated the 96th Academy Awards as it took home seven trophies, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.

“We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or for worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world,” Murphy said while accepting the honour.

For Nolan, who took home the Best Director, the Oscar win is a first despite being nominated seven times previously for directing “Dunkirk”, as well as for his work on movies like “Memento” and “Inception”.

During his acceptance, he said: “Movies are just a little bit over 100-years-old.”

“I would imagine being 100 years into painting or theatre. We don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here, but to know that you think that I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me.”

Emma Stone earned her second best actress Oscar for “Poor Things”. She thanked her director Yorgo Lanthimos, with whom she has just made another movie, “Kinds of Kindness”, as well as the rest of the film’s team.

Da’vine Joy Randolph was feted Best Supporting actress for her role as a grieving cafetaria manager grappling with the death of her son in “The Holdovers”.

Robert Downey Jr. won the Best Supporting actor for the Cillian Murphy-starrer. He said: “Here’s my little secret: I needed this job more than it needed me.”

The actor, who struggled with drug addiction for much of the 1990s and early aughts before getting sober and launching his comeback, thanked Tom Hansen, his lawyer of 40 years, “half of which he spent trying to get me insured and bailing me out.”

Jonathan Glazer, director of the best international feature winner “The Zone of Interest”, a drama set in Auschwitz, spoke about violence in the Middle East and to draw parallels with the message of his searing look at the Holocaust.

“American Fiction”, a satire that explores race and art, won Best Adapted Screenplay, while “Anatomy of a Fall”, earned Best Original Screenplay.

“20 Days in Mariupol,” won Best Documentary, its director Mstyslav Chernov drew attention to the human costs of Russia’s invasion.

Billie Eilish shattered records, becoming the youngest two-time Oscar winner at the age of 22 after earning best song for her “Barbie” ballad “What Was I Made For?”

This year’s Academy Awards, honouring the best films of the previous year, arrived at a tumultuous moment for Hollywood, which didn’t have a whole lot to celebrate in 2023, reports variety.com.

The major studios spent much of that time locked in labour disputes with the leading actors and writers unions, which led to two costly strikes that ground film production to a standstill.

Much of the debate centered on how the streaming revolution that changed the way movies and shows are made and distributed has disrupted the way that talent profits from their work.

Jimmy Kimmel returned to host the Oscars for the fourth time. He started the ceremony with jokes about the Academy snub of “Barbie” filmmaker Greta Gerwig, the excessive lengths of many of the nominated films and Robert De Niro’s much younger girlfriend.

–IANS

dc/khz