Cillian Murphy was awarded the best actor at the 96th Academy Awards, honouring his role as the lead character in Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer, where he depicted the maker of the atomic bomb. He is the second Irish national, succeeding Daniel Day-Lewis, to be recognised as the best lead performer.
The film ‘Poor Things’, which was directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and produced by Dublin’s Element Pictures, managed to seize four awards from 11 nominations, bestowing Emma Stone with her second best actress Oscar. Oppenheimer, as anticipated, left a remarkable impression at the awards night, gathering seven awards including those for best picture and best director, securing Nolan the honour.
Cillian Murphy expressed his gratitude on stage towards his director and producer, Chris Nolan and Emma Thomas, acknowledging the thrilling and inspirational journey they had embarked upon over the two decades. He dedicated his victory to the peace propagators worldwide and acknowledged his roots being a proud Irishman.
Murphy, a native of Cork, is only the fourth Irish actor to receive an Oscar and the first to be born in the country and win the best actor category. With a legacy of laudable performances over thirty years, Murphy, who has always shied away from the spotlight, is now poised for overwhelming demand.
The evening’s grandest award, for best actress, was up in the air, with Lily Gladstone, acclaimed for her role in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, leading the pack. However, Stone exceeded expectations in the film Poor Things, and appeared genuinely taken aback when announced as the winner. In 2017, her performance in La La Land also secured her the same award. Stone’s standout portrayal of Bella Baxter, a woman resurrected after ending her own life, received high praise in the Venice Film Festival the previous year.
Stone admitted to nerves leading up to the award, stating, “Yorgos told me: ‘distance yourself’. And he was spot-on. This honour belongs to a group that bonded to create something greater than its individual parts. I feel extremely privileged to share this with every individual who infused their passion and genius into this movie.”
Robert Downey Jnr, who portrayed Robert Oppenheimer’s antagonist, had accumulated various awards in the lead up to the event. Predictably, he left clutching the best supporting actor award. His speech exuded the charm of a man who had long anticipated this honour. Downey, whose early career was derailed by substance abuse, expressed gratitude towards his tumultuous childhood and the academy, in that order. He humorously thanked his wife, Susan Downey, equating her to his vet for rescuing and rejuvenating him. Downey also let slip: ” I needed this job more than it needed me.”
Da’Vine Joy Randolph unsurprisingly won the award for supporting actress in The Holdovers. As customary for the category, she received the first award of the night and was already emotionally overwhelmed prior to her name being called out. She revealed, “I didn’t think this would be my profession.” Overwhelmed with gratitude, she confessed her self-doubt and her eventual realisation that she only needed to be herself, ending her speech with a heartfelt thank you for being seen.
The previous summer’s heated contention between Barbenheimer cinema creators saw a significant decrease during the Oscars’ evening. Even as Oppenheimer joyously swept up the majority of top honours, Barbie, under the direction of Greta Gerwig, only claimed one victory in the best original soundtrack category. Unforgettable was Billie Eilish’s rendition of the victorious melody, ‘What Was I Made For?’, which was performed early in the evening. Interestingly, a different song from the same movie received the grandest show.
Detailed reports mention a whopping 65 dancers supporting Ryan Gosling in his passionate and humorous delivery of ‘I’m Just Ken’ featuring a classic Broadway vibe. Eilish, initially gaining Oscar recognition as the first victor born in the third millennium with her 2022 win for ‘No Time to Die’, now holds two Oscars at just the age of 22. She jokingly recalled a previous nightmare about the event, expressing her surprise and deep gratitude to Gerwig for the song and its emotional resonance.
The film ‘Poor Things’ snagged various craft awards that could have been won by ‘Barbie’, including best production design, costume and make-up & hairstyling.
Discussions had been rife as to whether award winners would tackle the sensitive subject of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a topic largely unaddressed until then in the awards’ season. It was only British director Jonathan Glazer, recipient of the best international film for the Holocaust drama ‘The Zone of Interest’, who made a direct remarks. He passionately addressed how the historical memory of the Holocaust has been co-opted because of a territorial dispute affecting countless innocent lives, citing both the string of attacks in Israel on 7th October and the perpetual conflict in Gaza. His statement met with a warm if not resonating applause.
Several attendees including Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef and Billie Eilish, showed their advocacy for peace by donning red pins. Youssef, a star from ‘Poor Things’, publicly called for a quick and lasting ceasefire in Gaza whilst on the red carpet, prioritising the safety of all involved parties and the ultimate peace and justice for the Palestinian people.
The victory of ‘The Zone of Interest’ marked a historic first for the UK in a specific criteria, previously labelled ‘best foreign language film’. The film also somewhat surprisingly surpassed Oppenheimer for the highest sound honours, on account of its impressive and largely unseen depiction of Auschwitz.
The occasion was organised in a proficient manner but lacked the dazzle. With his third hosting stint in hand, Jimmy Kimmel, considered a safe option, had a variable performance with his one-liners. The jokes about Downey’s tumultuous history appeared to meet with mixed reactions from the actor. Kimmel’s standout moment was his reading of a Truth Social post from an unidentified critic at the finale of the event. Quoting from the post, “Is there a host worse than Jimmy Kimmel at the Oscars?” and “His commencement was average at best, trying too hard to be something he is not”. The unsurprising punchline asked the audience to guess the former president who made the post on Truth Social. “Thank you for tuning in, President Trump. Shouldn’t it be your prison time already?”
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