2024-03-12 18:22:11
Oppenheimer’s historical biographical drama about the development of the atomic bomb won seven Oscars on Monday night, including a statuette for best picture. Cillian Murphy won Best Actor for his role as theoretical physicist Robert Oppenheimer, whose weapon helped end World War II.
The creator of Oppenheimer, British filmmaker Christopher Nolan, also rejoiced at the 96th Oscars. He takes home the award for directing. “We made a movie about the man who created the atomic bomb. And thanks to him, we live in Oppenheimer’s world today, willy-nilly,” said actor Cillian Murphy. “That’s why I would like to dedicate the prize to all those who strive for peace,” he added.
The three-hour historical drama about science and politics was one of the biggest hits of last year. It earned critical acclaim and at the same time grossed $954 million worldwide, equivalent to over 22 billion crowns.
According to the AP, it is unprecedented for a big-budget film to see such crowds to receive all the major Oscars. All the more so because in the last decade similar results were achieved at the box office by superhero films.
The last comparably popular Oscar title was The King’s Speech in 2010. Oppenheimer’s success in this regard gives Hollywood hope that traditional cinema is not dead yet, notes the New York Times.
In the history of the Oscars, there have only been two more commercially successful awarded films: Titanic from the end of the last millennium and the final part of the trilogy The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King from the beginning of the millennium.
Christopher Nolan accepts the Oscar for directing Oppenheimer. | Photo: ČTK / AP
Oppenheimer is also the first title that earned Christopher Nolan the most prestigious Hollywood statuette. At the same time, the 53-year-old British filmmaker was already signed to the thriller Memento, the award-winning trio of Batman films, the sci-fi Interstellar and the wartime Dunkirk.
When accepting the award on Monday morning, he noted that the film industry is only a hundred years old and is still evolving.
“Imagine what it would be like to be there when painting has only existed for a hundred years, when theater has only been performed for a hundred years. And none of us knows where this amazing path will lead next. The awareness that I have become a meaningful part of it, for means a lot to me,” thanked Christopher Nolan.
Downey is looking forward to it
Emma Stone became the best actress. In Yorgos Lanthimos’s surreal gothic comedy Poor People, she played a young Victorian woman who is brought back to the living by a mad scientist. The 35-year-old American won the Oscar for the second time, the first in 2016 was won by the musical La La Land. “I’m beside myself with joy,” she said on stage.
According to the AP agency, winning the second statuette puts her in the position of perhaps the most famous actress of her generation. Only 13 stars have won the same award twice or more, from Katharine Hepburn and Ingrid Bergman to contemporaries Frances McDormand and Meryl Streep.
Emma Stone accepts the Oscar for her performance in Poor People. | Photo: Reuters
Best Actress was one of the most watched categories this year. Lily Gladstone from the Indian murder film Killers of the Blooming Moon also had a chance to succeed. Had she succeeded, she would have become the first Native American to reach the statue. “Lily, this award is for you too,” Emma Stone bowed to her from the stage.
The slayers of the blooming moon are among the biggest losers. The film had ten nominations, but did not convert a single one. Director Martin Scorsese has already experienced such a situation twice, specifically with the dramas The Irishman and Gangs of New York.
The supporting actors this year include Robert Downey Jr., who played Atomic Energy Commission member Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
Both were successful at the Oscars for the first time. The 58-year-old Downey was already nominated in 1993, but then his career stagnated due to drug use. “I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the academy, in that order,” joked the actor, who resurrected his status in the new millennium through superhero movies. In his acceptance speech, he also paid tribute to his wife Susan. He said she rescued him as a pet from a shelter and “brought me back to the living with her love”.
In Winter Break, Da’Vine Joy Randolph played a school cook who is in no mood to celebrate Christmas because her son was killed in the American war in Vietnam. “I tried to be different for so long that I realized I had to be myself,” she said on stage. “Thank you for seeing me exactly as I wished,” she added.
A compilation of important moments from this year’s Oscars:
The 95th Academy Awards: The Cut | Video: Associated Press
Pink Gosling
The winners were decided by more than ten thousand members of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. For the last time, they looked back at a year that will go down in Hollywood history with the long strike of screenwriters and actors, as well as the unprecedented commercial success of two hits – Oppenheimer and Barbie. Together, they grossed 2.4 billion dollars, which translates to about 55.5 billion crowns, and thanks to them, last summer was full of pop culture.
However, Barbie will take home the only Oscar from Monday’s ceremony. It was taken over by singer Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell for best song, the closing piano ballad What Was I Made For. They sang it live during the ceremony. Finneas sat at the piano, Billie Eilish stood next to him and sang at the microphone. The young couple already have their second Oscar, the first one they won for the song from the Bond movie No time to die. The singer is only 22 years old.
Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell performed the winning song live. | Photo: Reuters
Dressed in pink, with pink gloves and black glasses, Ryan Gosling sang a song from Barbie called I’m Just Ken, surrounded by dancers in black. He was accompanied on electric guitar by Slash, known from the band Guns N’ Roses.
But this year’s Oscar ceremony also had more serious moments. When the Holocaust drama Zone of Interest received the award for best foreign language film, its director Jonathan Glazer took the opportunity to comment on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He compared the dehumanization of people at that time to what is happening today in the Gaza Strip.
“We are meeting here at a time when, because of people proving the wrongness of their Jewishness and an occupation that denies the memory of the Holocaust, we have reached a conflict that has harmed so many innocent people. Whether victims of the attack on October 7, or the ongoing attack on Gaza. All these victims they’re just as dehumanized. How do you deal with that?” asked the director, who is of Jewish descent.
Several celebrities, including singer Billie Eilish or actors Mahershala Ali and Mark Ruffalo, wore red lapel pins with a visual symbol of peace.
There were also protests outside Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre, where the ceremony was held. Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists blocked traffic and shouted slogans such as “While you watch, the bombs keep falling”.
Ukrainian success
Hollywood also recalled the second ongoing war, the Russian war in Ukraine.
The film received the award for best documentary 20 days in Mariupol. Filmed by Mstyslav Chernov, a Ukrainian reporter for the Associated Press, it presents evidence to indict Russia for war crimes and barbarism against Ukrainians.
“This is the first Oscar in Ukrainian history,” Chernov said. “It’s a great honor for me. But at the same time, I’m probably the first director on this stage to tell you that he wishes he hadn’t made this movie. If I could trade it for Russia never attacking Ukraine, I wouldn’t hesitate to second. I would be very happy if I could dedicate this award to Russia for never occupying our cities, for not killing tens of thousands of my fellow citizens, for releasing all the hostages. But unfortunately, that’s not the case,” said the filmmaker, who had something to do with his crew to make it out of Russian-attacked Mariupol alive.
The award for best animated film went to The Boy and the Heron by Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki. The 83-year-old creator came out of retirement for him. He succeeded the second time. This year, however, he did not arrive in person, just like when his Journey to Fantasy received the Oscar in 2003.
The Oscar for screenplay goes to the courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall, written by director Justine Triet with Arthur Harari. “I think this will help me get over my mid-life crisis,” Justine Triet joked. The staff on the red carpet was represented, among other things, by the dog Messi.
The crew of the film Anatomy of a Fall was represented at the Oscars by, among other things, the dog Messi. | Photo: ČTK / AP
American director Wes Anderson won his first statuette for the medium-length film The Amazing Story of Henry Sugar based on the Roald Dahl book. It was released by Netflix. The author did not come for the award because tomorrow he starts shooting another film in Germany, the New York Times wrote.
The gala evening was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel for the fourth time. In his opening speech, he joked about the nominees, for example when he noted that the creators of Barbie won with this doll like no one else, when they managed to make a feminist icon out of a plastic toy that no one liked anymore. “Before this movie, I was more likely to convince my wife to buy our daughter a box of Marlboros than a barbie,” Kimmel noted.
Winners of the Oscars 2024
The best movie
Oppenheimer
The best actor
Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer
Best actress
Emma Stone – Poor people
Direction
Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
Supporting actor
Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer
Supporting actress
Da’Vine Joy Randolph – Winter Break
Adaptation
American Fiction
Screenplay
Anatomy of a fall
Animated film
The boy and the heron
Short animated film
War is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko
Foreign film
Zone of interest
Documentary film
20 days in Mariupol
Short documentary film
The last repair shop for musical instruments
Soundtrack
Oppenheimer
The best song
What Was I Made For? – Barbie
Sound
Zone of interest
Expedition
Poor people
Short feature film
The Amazing Story of Henry Sugar
Camera
Oppenheimer
Makeup
Poor people
Costumes
Poor people
Tricks
Godzilla Minus One
Shear
Oppenheimer
The presenter complained that many of last year’s films were too long, led by Killers of the Blooming Moon. The three-and-a-half-hour opus by director Martin Scorsese tells the story of how white Americans murdered Osage Indians in the early 20th century for oil revenue. “The movie is so long, you could drive down to Oklahoma and solve the murders in that time,” Kimmel said.
Later in the show, he read a devastating review of his latest Oscar-winning performance as a host, then revealed that it was former President Donald Trump’s words. Jimmy Kimmel then verbally sent him behind bars in the year when Americans will elect a new head of state.