“Oppenheimer” capped its remarkable run through the Hollywood awards season Sunday by capturing seven Academy Awards at the 96th Oscars — including the trophy for best picture.
The story of atomic bomb mastermind J. Robert Oppenheimer took a leading 13 nominations into the evening and, besides winning the top prize, it came away with Oscars for best actor Cillian Murphy, best director Christopher Nolan and best supporting actor Robert Downey Jr.
The film also won for cinematography, film editing and best score.
“Oppenheimer” topped nine other competitors in the best picture category — “American Fiction,” “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Barbie,” “The Holdovers,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,”` “Maestro,” “Past Lives,” “Poor Things” and “The Zone of Interest.”
Best picture is the only one of the 23 Oscar categories with 10 nominees. All the others have five apiece.
Murphy, meanwhile, continued his own awards season success with his victory in the best actor category, besting Bradley Cooper in “Maestro,” Colman Domingo in “Rustin,” Paul Giamatti in “The Holdovers” and Jeffrey Wright in “American Fiction.”
Murphy had already won a Golden Globe for actor in a drama film and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his “Oppenheimer” role.
“We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb. And for better or for worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world,” Murphy said in accepting his first Oscar. “So I would really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.”
Nolan’s win in the director category came after seven previous Oscar nominations for directing, writing or producing.
“I have so many people to thank,” Nolan said. “The most incredible cast. … All (at) the top of their game led by the incredible Cillian Murphy. A crew, some of whom have been awarded tonight. I can’t say enough about the incredible crew that we got together on this film.”
Nolan’s win denied the award to Justine Triet for “Anatomy of a Fall,” Martin Scorsese for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Yorgos Lanthimos for “Poor Things” and Jonathan Glazer for “The Zone of Interest.”
Scorsese’s nomination marked the 10th of his career, moving him past Steven Spielberg for most by a living director. The late William Wyler had 12 nods, including three wins.
But “Killers” was shut out on Sunday, despite coming into the evening with 10 nominations — behind only “Oppenheimer” and “Poor Things,” which had 11 nods. Of Scorsese’s nine previous nods, he won just once, for 2006’s “The Departed.”
“Maestro,” Bradley Cooper’s biopic about composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, was another notable shutout Sunday.
Meanwhile, Emma Stone won the award for best actress — making it four Oscar victories Sunday for the Frankenstein-esque “Poor Things.”
The film also took awards for production design, hair and makeup, and costume design.
Stone’s win was her second as best actress. She also won best actress in 2017 for “La La Land.” She beat out Annette Bening in “Nyad,” Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Sandra Huller in “Anatomy of a Fall” and Carey Mulligan in “Maestro.”
“The other night I was panicking — as you can kind of see, it happens a lot — that maybe something like this could happen,” Stone said in her acceptance speech.
“And Yorgos (Lanthimos, the film’s Oscar-nominated director), said to me, `Please take yourself out of it.’ And he was right, because it’s not about me. It’s about a team that came together to make something greater than the sum of its parts.
“And that is the best part about making movies, ” she added. “It’s all of us together. And I am so deeply honored to share this with every cast member, with every crew member, with every single person who poured their love and their care and their brilliance into the making of this film.”
Downey, in capturing best supporting actor, added to his earlier hardware haul at the Golden Globes and SAG Awards.
With his third Oscar nomination and first win, he topped Sterling K. Brown of “American Fiction,” Robert De Niro in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Ryan Gosling in “Barbie” and Mark Ruffalo in “Poor Things.”
Downey was previously nominated for supporting actor in 2009 for “Tropic Thunder” and for best actor in 1993 for “Chaplin.”
“I’d like to thank my terrible childhood, and the Academy — in that order,” Downey joked.
Referring to his earlier troubles with drugs and run-ins with the law, Downey also said, “I would like to thank my veterinarian — I mean wife, Susan Downey, over there. She found me a snarling rescue pet, and you loved me back to life. That’s why I’m here. Thank you.”
Da’vine Joy Randolph captured the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in “The Holdovers,” playing a cafeteria manager mourning the death of her son.
She beat out Emily Blunt in “Oppenheimer,” Danielle Brooks in “The Color Purple,” America Ferrera in “Barbie” and Jodie Foster in “Nyad.”
“God is so good. God is so good,” an emotional Randolph said. “You know … I didn’t think I was supposed to be doing this as a career. I started off as a singer. And my mother said to me, `Go across that street to that theater department. There’s something for you there.’
“For so long I’ve always wanted to be different, and now I realize I just need to be myself. And I thank you. I thank you for seeing me.”
“Barbie” director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie were two of the most noteworthy snubs of Oscar season — failing to capture nods for best director and best actress, respectively, despite the box-office bonanza that “Barbie” reaped over the summer of 2023.
Gerwig did take a nomination for best adapted screenplay along with her co-writer, Noah Baumbach — but the team lost out to “American Fiction,” written for the screen by Cord Jefferson.
In fact, all the hype of “Barbenheimer” — the summer box-office 1-2 punch of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — only led to one award for the film about the iconic American toy doll.
At one point Sunday, as Blunt and Gosling shared the stage for a presentation, Blunt glanced at Gosling and joked about the films’ competition, saying, “And to the way this awards season worked out, it wasn’t much of a rivalry.”
“Barbie” did salvage a victory Sunday in the best original song category — “What Was I Made For?” with music and lyrics by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell.
Eilish became the youngest person to ever win two Oscars. She also won best original song in 2022 for “No Time to Die,” from the James Bond film of the same name.
In the original screenplay category Sunday, Triet and Arthur Harari won for “Anatomy of a Fall,” a French film about a woman trying to prove her innocence in the death of her husband.
In the earlier major awards shows this year, “Oppenheimer” was the dominant film, capturing five Golden Globes, three SAG Awards and eight Critics Choice Awards, as well as honors from the Producers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America.
Sunday’s ceremony from the Dolby Theatre was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, taking his fourth turn as emcee of Hollywood’s glitziest event.
Here is a complete list of the winners:
Best picture
“Oppenheimer”
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Cillian Murphy in “Oppenheimer”
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Robert Downey Jr. in “Oppenheimer”
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Emma Stone in “Poor Things”
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Da’Vine Joy Randolph in “The Holdovers”
Best animated feature film of the year
“The Boy and the Heron” / Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki
Achievement in cinematography
“Oppenheimer” / Hoyte van Hoytema
Achievement in costume design
“Poor Things” / Holly Waddington
Achievement in directing
“Oppenheimer” / Christopher Nolan
Best documentary feature film
“20 Days in Mariupol” / Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath
Best documentary short film
“The Last Repair Shop” / Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
Achievement in film editing
“Oppenheimer” / Jennifer Lame
Best international feature film
“The Zone of Interest” / United Kingdom
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
“Poor Things” / Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“Oppenheimer” / Ludwig Goransson
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie”/ Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
Achievement in production design
“Poor Things” / Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek
Best animated short film
“WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko” / Dave Mullins and Brad Booker
Best live action short film
“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” / Wes Anderson and Steven Rales
Achievement in sound
“The Zone of Interest” / Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn
Achievement in visual effects
“Godzilla Minus One” / Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima
Adapted screenplay
“American Fiction” / Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson
Original screenplay
“Anatomy of a Fall” / Screenplay – Justine Triet and Arthur Harari