By Movie Geeks | March 11, 2024

The Oscars and awards season has officially ended for another year.

Christopher Nolan’s OPPENHEIMER was, as expected, the night’s big winner at the 96th Oscars ceremony. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin, the film was produced by Emma Thomas p.g.a. (Dunkirk, Inception), for Atlas Entertainment by Charles Roven p.g.a. (The Dark Knight trilogy, American Hustle), and Christopher Nolan p.g.a.

OPPENHEIMER was the year’s most-nominated film, with 13 total nominations, taking home 7 wins for Picture, Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography – Hoyte van Hoytema, Best Score – composer Ludwig Göransson and Best Film Editing – Jennifer Lame.

POOR THINGS won 4 Oscars.

The ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and aired live on ABC.

The classiest part of the evening was the return of the “Fab Five” format which features five former winners presenting each of the acting categories.

Last year’s winners – Michelle Yeoh, Brendan Fraser, Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan – were joined by the likes of Nicolas Cage, Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlize Theron, Rita Moreno, Lupita Nyong’o, Mahershala Ali, and Christoph Waltz. Three of this year’s four acting winners were first-time Oscar winners: Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, while Emma Stone became a two-time Oscar winner.

There wasn’t a dry eye at the Dolby Theatre when Paul Giamatti escorted his co-star to the stage.

When asked how important is it to constantly pay it forward, Randolph told reporters backstage:

“It’s imperative because the people who’ve done it before me allowed me to be in this position now. And so the type of work I do, my strive for authenticity, for quality allows there to be a new standard set where we can tell universal stories in black and brown bodies, and it can be accepted and enjoyed amongst the masses. It’s not just black TV or black movies or black people, but instead a universal performance that can be enjoyed by all.”

Listen to the rest of the backstage interviews from Stone and Murphy. RDJ did not go to the pressroom after his win.

This was Stone’s second nomination and win in this category and her fifth overall, including her
nomination for Best Picture. She won an Oscar for her leading role in La La Land (2016) and was nominated for her supporting roles in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) and The Favourite (2018).

To embody the father of the atomic bomb, Christopher Nolan cast an actor who has appeared in five of his films (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, Dunkirk), but until now, never in a lead role: Cillian Murphy. This was his first nomination and Oscar win.

WHAT WAS I MADE FOR? from Barbie; Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell was awarded Best Original Song. Eilish became the youngest person to win more than one Academy Award.

But the happiest highlight of the night was “I’m Just Ken” performed by Ryan Gosling, Mark Ronson, Slash & The Kens from the movie BARBIE.

As expected, Christopher Nolan was awarded Best Director for bringing to the screen his most ambitious work to date, OPPENHEIMER.

Nolan’s films, including Tenet, Dunkirk, Interstellar, Inception and The Dark Knight trilogy, have earned more than $5 billion at the global box office and have been awarded 11 Oscars and 36 nominations, including two Best Picture nominations.

As usual the final Oscar of the night was Best Picture. Announced by Oscar winner Al Pacino, the gold went to the remarkable OPPENHEIMER.

As to the most memorable moment in making the film, the producers told the press backstage:

Christopher Nolan: You first.

Emma Thomas: I’m going first? All right.
A.​(Emma Thomas) Gosh, there were so many. One of the things I love about my job is that, you know, and our jobs is that we get to live with a film from the very, very beginning to the very end, and there were so many memorable moments along the way, whether it be, you know, those sort of moments in prep where Cillian agrees to play Oppenheimer, or where you start shooting, and you get to see Los Alamos as built and imagined by our incredible production designer, Ruth De Jong. I think probably for me, I will never forget the moment where I first saw the film, the first cut of the film, and I think it was the moment where I truly understood that this really worked, and I felt very good about, you know, the fact that it told a story that I felt was going to move audiences. You never quite know until you get to that point, and I think for me that was the moment where — that I’ll always remember the sort of the feeling at the end of that screening of sort of relief and excitement.

A.​(Charles Roven) There’s a couple of moments in particular for me. The first time I drove over to Chris and Emma’s house to read the first draft that Chris wrote, and what he had done when he — with the character of Oppenheimer wrote him in the first person, which I had never read a screenplay before that had the character talking in the first person. But it was actually the thing that, I think, makes the movie so special is how you relate to Oppenheimer through all of his journey from, you know, trying to figure out how to deal with the bomb to all of his character journey as well. So that was a very, very important and meaningful and memorable experience. The second was, you know, seeing the first cut of the movie. It was really profound.

A.​(Christopher Nolan) I think for me it was really the — actually, the first hair and makeup tests. There was something about seeing Cillian put that hat on and Robert Downey Jr. with his head shaved back and Emily Blunt in old-age makeup. We did all that on the first test. We shot it on the very first black-and-white IMAX film that had ever been made, and we projected it on an IMAX screen over at the Citywalk at Universal, and that was a very special moment, special to realize what the actors were going to do, and that the thing was going to work, and to see that technical side of things that Hoyte was bringing to the table with photography. It was remarkable and that will always stay with me.

Along with director Wes Anderson winning his first Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” one of the greatest victories of the night was the GODZILLA MINUS ONE Oscar win for Best Visual Effects.

Listen as WAMG contributor Gary Salem asked the winners a question about a streaming date, how the filmmakers wouldn’t be able to capitalize on the success and the award, and does it involve Legendary and Warner Bros:

“I understand there is a strategy or a plan for home video release in Japan right now. So
hopefully the rest of the world is not too long after to follow. With regards to Legendary and Warner Bros. as I understand it, that’s a Toho. But despite that, they did their best to extend our theatrical run as long as physically possible. So we’re very grateful for that. Having said that, of course, if Godzilla Minus One was still in theaters right now that would be amazing for all the viewers out there. But I don’t want to hope for too much. I’m already holding an Oscar right now.”

“If I could have been there, I (along with Steven Rales) would have said “Thank you” to: the family of Roald Dahl, the team at Netflix, Benedict and Ralph and Ben Kingsley and Dev and Richard and Bob and Adam and Jeremy and John and Jim and Rich and Jim and Polly and more.

And also I would have said: if i had not met Owen Wilson in a corridor at the University of Texas between classes when I was 18 years old, I would certainly not be receiving this award tonight — but unfortunately Steven and I are in Germany and we start shooting our new movie early tomorrow morning, so I did not actually receive the award or get a chance to say any of that.”

— Wes Anderson on winning his first Oscar for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

"If I could have been there, I (along with Steven Rales) would have said "Thank you" to: the family of Roald Dahl, the team at Netflix, Benedict and Ralph and Ben Kingsley and Dev and Richard and Bob and Adam and Jeremy and John and Jim and Rich and Jim and Polly and more.

And… pic.twitter.com/eem20sZGlh

— Netflix (@netflix) March 11, 2024

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Picture

American Fiction
Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers

Anatomy of a Fall
Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, Producers

Barbie
David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers

The Holdovers
Mark Johnson, Producer

Killers of the Flower Moon
Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, Producers

Maestro
Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers

WINNER: Oppenheimer
Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers

Past Lives
David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Producers

Poor Things
Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, Producers

The Zone of Interest
James Wilson, Producer

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Bradley Cooper in Maestro

Colman Domingo in Rustin

Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers

WINNER: Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer

Jeffrey Wright in American Fiction

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening in Nyad

Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon

Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall

Carey Mulligan in Maestro

WINNER: Emma Stone in Poor Things

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Sterling K. Brown in American Fiction

Robert De Niro in Killers of the Flower Moon

WINNER: Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer

Ryan Gosling in Barbie

Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer

Danielle Brooks in The Color Purple

America Ferrera in Barbie

Jodie Foster in Nyad

WINNER: Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers

Best Animated Feature Film

WINNER: The Boy and the Heron
Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki

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

Best Cinematography

El Conde
Edward Lachman

Killers of the Flower Moon
Rodrigo Prieto

Maestro
Matthew Libatique

WINNER: Oppenheimer
Hoyte van Hoytema

Poor Things
Robbie Ryan

Best Costume Design

Barbie
Jacqueline Durran

Killers of the Flower Moon
Jacqueline West

Napoleon
Janty Yates and Dave Crossman

Oppenheimer
Ellen Mirojnick

WINNER: Poor Things
Holly Waddington

Best Directing

Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet

Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Scorsese

WINNER: Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan

Poor Things
Yorgos Lanthimos

The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer

Best Documentary Feature Film

Bobi Wine: The People’s President
Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek

The Eternal Memory
Maite Alberdi

Four Daughters
Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha

To Kill a Tiger
Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim

WINNER: 20 Days in Mariupol
Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath

Best 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

WINNER: The Last Repair Shop
Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers

Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó
Sean Wang and Sam Davis

Best Film Editing

Anatomy of a Fall
Laurent Sénéchal

The Holdovers
Kevin Tent

Killers of the Flower Moon
Thelma Schoonmaker

WINNER: Oppenheimer
Jennifer Lame

Poor Things
Yorgos Mavropsaridis

Best International Feature Film

Io Capitano
Italy

Perfect Days
Japan

Society of the Snow
Spain

The Teachers’ Lounge
Germany

WINNER: The Zone of Interest
United Kingdom

Best 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

WINNER: Poor Things
Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston

Society of the Snow
Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé

Best Music (Original Score)

American Fiction
Laura Karpman

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
John Williams

Killers of the Flower Moon
Robbie Robertson

WINNER: Oppenheimer
Ludwig Göransson

Poor Things
Jerskin Fendrix

Best Music (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

WINNER: “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie
Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell

Best 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

WINNER: Poor Things
Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek

Best 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

WINNER: War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko
Dave Mullins and Brad Booker

Best 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

WINNER: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Wes Anderson and Steven Rales

Best 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

WINNER: The Zone of Interest
Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn

Best Visual Effects

The Creator
Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould

WINNER: Godzilla Minus One
Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima

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

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

WINNER: American Fiction
Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson

Barbie
Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach

Oppenheimer
Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan

Poor Things
Screenplay by Tony McNamara

The Zone of Interest
Written by Jonathan Glazer

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

WINNER: Anatomy of a Fall
Screenplay by Justine Triet and Arthur Harari

The Holdovers
Written by David Hemingson

Maestro
Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer

May December
Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik

Past Lives
Written by Celine Song

Contributed by Gary Salem and Michelle McCue