Oppenheimer sweeps 2024 Oscars with seven wins
Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic Oppenheimer has triumphed at this year’s Oscars taking home seven awards including best picture, best actor and best director, the Guardian reports.
The drama, telling the story of the “father of the atomic bomb”, lost the box office battle to Barbie during last summer’s Barbenheimer showdown but has now won the awards war with Greta Gerwig’s Mattel comedy winning just one Oscar for best original song.
Cillian Murphy was named best actor for his performance, beating out Paul Giamatti and Jeffrey Wright, and Robert Downey Jr was named best supporting actor, up against Robert De Niro and Ryan Gosling.
Murphy, winning his first Oscar from his first nomination, is also the first ever Irish-born winner in his category. “I’m a little overwhelmed,” he said before dedicating his award “to the peacemakers everywhere”.
Downey Jr won his first Oscar after being nominated twice before for Chaplin and Tropic Thunder. “I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy in that order,” he said before later adding: “I needed this job more than it needed me.”
Nolan picked up his first best director Oscar, after being nominated previously for Dunkirk, beating out Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Glazer. When speaking about cinema in his speech he said: “We don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here but to know that you think I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me.”
The film also won for editing, cinematography and score.
Emma Stone pulled a surprise, beating out favourite Lily Gladstone to be named best actress for her role in Yorgos Lanthimos’s offbeat period comedy Poor Things. It’s the actor’s second best actress Oscar after previously winning for La La Land. “It’s not about me, it’s about a team that came together to make something greater than the sum of its parts,” she said during an emotional speech.
The film also picked up awards for production design, hairstyling and makeup and costume design.
Jonathan Glazer’s German and Polish-language Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest was named best international feature, the first ever British film to win in this category. The film also won for sound.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph won the best supporting actress Oscar for her role in 70s-set drama The Holdovers after winning every major precursor award on her way to the stage.
Barbie won just one award from its eight nominations, taking home the best original song Oscar for Billie Eilish’s What Was I Made For?. Eilish, winning with brother and collaborator Finneas, received a standing ovation earlier in the evening after performing the song on stage. The pair previously won for No Time to Die.