Oscars 2024: The key moments from a slick ceremony as Oppenheimer dominates
The film about J Robert Oppenheimer was named best picture while Irish star Cillian Murphy won best actor and Christopher Nolan took the best director award.
Summer blockbuster Oppenheimer has dominated the Oscars as Ireland's Cillian Murphy won for best actor shortly before Christopher Nolan took home the award for best director.
Murphy's win followed Da’Vine Joy Randolph clinching the best supporting actress Oscar for The Holdovers, and his co-star Robert Downey Jr winning for best supporting actor.
Poor Things' Emma Stone rounded out the big four acting categories by taking best actress, pipping Lily Gladstone, widely-tipped for her role in Killers of the Flower Moon, to the post.
Out of 13 nominations, Oppenheimer won seven: best actor, best director, best supporting actor, best score, best cinematography, best editing, and best picture.
'I am a very proud Irishman standing here tonight,' Cillian Murphy said in his acceptance speech (Clip Courtesy A.M.P.A.S. © 2024)
The three-and-half hour event was not without its standout moments - here's a look at the key talking points from this year's 2024 Academy Awards.
Oppenheimer takes home seven awards from 13 nods
Christopher Nolan’s epic biopic swept the event.
The film about J Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist described as the father of the atomic bomb, was named best picture while Irish star Cillian Murphy won best actor and Nolan took the best director award.
Robert Downey Jr was named best supporting actor for his turn as Lewis Strauss, head of the Atomic Energy Commission.
The film was also celebrated for its editing, score and cinematography.
Collecting his directing trophy, Nolan thanked his wife and producer of the film, Emma Thomas, as well as Murphy.
A ceremony contextualised by war
The ceremony started five minutes late following pro-Palestinian protests outside the venue, before host Jimmy Kimmel kicked things off.
British director Jonathan Glazer accepted the award for best international feature film for The Zone of Interest and used his speech to reference the Israel-Gaza war, where over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed following Hamas' incursion into Israel where 1,200 died.
The Zone of Interest tells the story of the commander of Auschwitz and his family. They live in an elegant house on the borders of Auschwitz.
Glazer said: “All of our choices were made to confront us in the present. Not to say ‘Look what they did then, but look what we do now’.”
He added: “Our film shows where dehumanisation leads at its worst – it’s shaped all of our past and present.
“Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.
“Whether it’s the victims of October 7 in Israel or of the ongoing attack on Gaza, all are victims of this dehumanisation.”
UK talent wins big
Before Christopher Nolan added to the Britons' tally, the UK had already scored three early wins at the Oscars, all for technical achievement on the dark fantasy comedy Poor Things.
Veteran make-up specialist Mark Coulier was part of the team who won best make-up and hair for their work on the film, along with fellow UK colleagues Nadia Stacey and Josh Weston.
Shona Heath and James Price took the Academy Award for best production design on Poor Things, while Holly Waddington took best costume design.
There was another early Oscar for the UK when The Zone of Interest became the first ever British-produced film in the history of the Academy Awards to win best foreign language feature.
In Memoriam section opens with clip of Russia's Alexei Navalny
The In Memoriam section of the ceremony opened with a clip of Alexei Navalny from the Oscar-winning documentary Navalny.
Navalny, a critic of President Putin, was being held at a Siberian penal colony when he died on February 16, sparking worldwide uproar directed at the Kremlin.
Accompanied by a performance of Time To Say Goodbye, performed by Andrea Bocelli and his son Matteo, stars including Matthew Perry, Sir Michael Gambon, Harry Belafonte, Alan Arkin and Julian Sands were remembered.
Also featured were Andre Braugher, Tom Wilkinson, Glynis Johns, Jane Birkin, Ryan O’Neal, Robbie Robertson, Carl Weathers, Glenda Jackson, William Friedkin and Tina Turner.
John Cena presents an Academy Award while naked
The actor and wrestler, 46, stripped off to announce the costume design Oscar to Poor Things.
He held the envelope over his middle when he went on stage before host Jimmy Kimmel appeared to give him a piece of cloth to wrap around his body.
Meanwhile, wrestler-turned-actor John Cena momentarily stole the show when he presented the nominees for costume design while completely naked (Clip Courtesy A.M.P.A.S. © 2024)
Cena told the audience: “Costumes, they are so important.”
Kimmel had earlier revealed that it was a nod to the 50th anniversary of the previous “craziest moment” in Oscars’ history when a naked man ran on stage.
David Niven was introducing Elizabeth Taylor, when the streaker, later identified as US photographer and gallery owner Robert Opel, ran out from behind the stage – with the 1974 crowd responding with laughter and cheers.
Kimmel said: “Can you imagine if a nude man ran across the stage, wouldn’t that be crazy?”
Barbenheimer rivalry rears its head as Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt have on-stage spat
Taking to the stage, the Quiet Place actress suggested that Gosling’s hello was “rather frosty” as the pair greeted each other.
The Barbie actor replied: “Not at all, I’m just happy that we can finally put this Barbenheimer rivalry behind us.”
“That’s right, here’s Ken and Kitty just leaving all that fodder in the dust,” Blunt said.
“And the way this award season’s turned out, it wasn’t that much of a rivalry, so just let it go,” she added, earning a raucous laugh from the audience.
The La La Land star then claimed he had figured out why the phrase was “Barbenheimer”, rather than “Oppenbarbie” because “you guys were at the tail end of that because you were riding Barbie’s coat-tails all summer”.
The camera panned to laughing Barbie star Margot Robbie while Blunt said: “Thanks for Ken-splaining that to me, Mr I need to paint my abs on to get nominated, you don’t see Robert Downey doing that.”
The pair then briefly wrestled over the microphone before Gosling said: “This is insane Emily, this has got to stop, we’ve got to squash this.”
Ryan Gosling delights audience with live rendition of I'm Just Ken
Dressed head-to-toe in pink sparkles, Gosling began the tune by serenading co-star Margot Robbie - who could not hold in her giggles - before taking to the stage with Mark Ronson.
He was then lifted into the air surrounded by cutouts of Barbie’s head.
He concluded his performance by sharing the mic with Robbie, director Greta Gerwig and co-star America Ferrera, who passionately sang along.
Barbie's Billie Eilish thanks teacher who 'didn't like' her in best song acceptance speech
The 22-year-old picked up her second Oscar for Barbie track What Was I Made For?, alongside her brother Finneas O’Connell.
Eilish said: “I remember being 12, believe it or not, and seeing this musical and sobbing my eyes out and thinking ‘damn I’m a failure’. I was watching Matilda on Broadway, it was amazing.
“I was balling, (thinking) I am never going to amount to anything because I am not in Matilda. Just give yourself some time, do what you love and I know that is easier said than done, some of us don’t know what we love. You’ll figure it out.”
After thanking her teachers in her acceptance speech, Eilish gave advice to young people in the winners’ room, saying: “Don’t do it for other people, don’t do it for the numbers or for some sort of specific thing, that is not really ever something anyone should be looking for.
Take a look at the full list of winners from the 2024 Oscars here.
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