Oscars 2024

The 2024 Oscars were a celebration of excellence in film, showcasing the talent and creativity of the industry’s brightest stars. From groundbreaking performances to innovative storytelling, the awards ceremony highlighted the diverse range of voices and perspectives shaping the cinematic landscape. As audiences around the world eagerly await the next wave of cinematic masterpieces, the Oscars stand as a testament to the enduring magic of the movies.

From https://www.nytimes.com/

Oscars 2024 Highlights: ‘Oppenheimer’ Wins Best Picture, and Emma Stone Wins Best Actress for ‘Poor Things’

“Oppenheimer” won seven Oscars, “Poor Things” four and “Barbie” only one, for best original song. The Israel-Hamas war was on the minds of many people inside and outside the ceremony.

  1. [object Object]
    “Oppenheimer” cast and crew
    Winner, best picture

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  2. [object Object]
    Emma Stone
    Winner, best actress

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  3. Cillian Murphy
    Winner, best actor

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  4. Christopher Nolan
    Winner, best director

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  5. In Memoriam

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  6. Finneas O’Connell and Billie Eilish
    Winner, best original song

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  7. Ryan Gosling

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  8. Becky G

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  9. Jon Batiste

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  10. Robert Downey Jr.
    Winner, best supporting actor

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  11. Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  12. Osage singers and dancers

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  13. John Cena
    Presenter, best costume design

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  14. Billie Eilish

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  15. Arthur Harari and Justine Triet
    Winner, original screenplay

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  16. Da’Vine Joy Randolph
    Winner, best supporting actress

    Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  17. Jimmy Kimmel

    Amir Hamja/The New York Time

Pinned

Reporter covering Hollywood

 

The big night for ‘Oppenheimer’ offered hope for traditional cinema.

“Oppenheimer” overwhelmed the competition at the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday, winning seven Oscars, including the one for best picture, and at long last cementing Christopher Nolan’s status as the foremost filmmaker of his generation.

Nolan, 53, a previous five-time nominee for directing or writing but never a winner, was named best director. “Oppenheimer” also won Oscars for actor (Cillian Murphy), supporting actor (Robert Downey Jr.), film editing (Jennifer Lame), cinematography (Hoyte van Hoytema) and score (Ludwig Göransson).

“Movies are just a little bit over 100 years old,” Nolan said in accepting the statuette for directing. “Imagine being there 100 years into painting or theater. We don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here. But to know that you think that I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me.”

By showering “Oppenheimer” with honors, Hollywood was awarding the film as much for its artistry as for its against-all-odds performance in theaters. In an era when superheroes, paint-by-numbers franchise sequels and movies based on toys have blotted out traditional filmmaking at the box office, “Oppenheimer,” a drama with nearly $1 billion in ticket sales, gave the film elite hope that traditional cinema has not been entirely lost.

“Oppenheimer” marked a shift for the Academy Awards. Call it the revenge of the studio movie. In recent years, Hollywood’s top prize has gone almost exclusively to independent movies like “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “CODA,” “Parasite” and “Moonlight.” “Oppenheimer,” made by Universal Pictures, is something of a throwback — an expensive film from an old-line studio.

Other highlights included:

  • Emma Stone won the Oscar for best actress for “Poor Things,” a twist on the Frankenstein story from Searchlight Pictures. “Lily, I share this with you,” Stone said from the stage, gesturing toward Lily Gladstone, the “Killers of the Flower Moon” actress who had been considered a strong contender to win the prize going into the ceremony. Gladstone was the first Native American acting nominee. Stone previously won in the category for “La La Land” in 2017.

  • “Poor Things” collected a quartet of Oscars overall, also winning for costumes, production design and makeup and hairstyling.

  • “Barbie” melted as an Oscar contender, converting only one of its eight nominations to a win: Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell collected the trophy for best song for their “What Was I Made For?” (At 22, Eilish is now the youngest person ever to have won two Oscars, having cruised to a best song victory in 2022 for “No Time to Die.”) But “Barbie” did provide one of the telecast’s most rousing live moments, when Ryan Gosling, who played Ken, performed one of the movie’s other nominated songs (“I’m Just Ken”) as an elaborate song-and-dance number replete with three dozen backup Kens, fireworks and a surprise appearance by Slash, the Guns N’ Roses guitarist.

  • Downey accepted the Oscar for best supporting actor, completing a remarkable career arc — from scene-stealing young actor in the 1980s, to out-of-work drug addict in the 1990s, to a superhero comeback in the 2000s and 2010s, to Academy Award glory for his performance in “Oppenheimer.” “I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the academy, in that order,” Downey joked in a short acceptance speech that also touched on his stylist.

  • Da’Vine Joy Randolph was named best supporting actress for playing a grieving mother and boarding school cook in “The Holdovers.” “For so long, I’ve always wanted to be different, and now I realize I only need to be myself,” Randolph said.

  • The Oscars for best sound and best international film went to “The Zone of Interest,” in which a well-off Nazi couple exult in their good fortune while living next door to the Auschwitz concentration camp. In his speech, Jonathan Glazer, the film’s director, decried “the victims of dehumanization,” both in Israel and Gaza. “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,” he said.

  • “20 Days in Mariupol,” Mstyslav Chernov’s account of the atrocities committed during the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, won the Oscar for best documentary feature. “I wish I’d never made this film,” he said in his speech. “I wish I’d been able to exchange this for Russia never attacking Ukraine.”

  • Justine Triet and Arthur Harari accepted the original screenplay Oscar for “Anatomy of a Fall,” a courtroom thriller about a woman accused of murder. Voters honored Cord Jefferson with the adapted screenplay Oscar for “American Fiction,” a satire about a writer who puts together a novel that turns on racial stereotypes.

  • Jimmy Kimmel, hosting the ceremony for the second year in a row, avoided politics in his monologue, opting instead to poke fun (gently) at nominated films. The closest he came to controversy was a crack about the omission of Greta Gerwig, the “Barbie” filmmaker, as a directing nominee. “I know you’re clapping, but you’re the ones who didn’t vote for her,” Kimmel said, as the camera cut to a smiling Gerwig. Toward the end of the show, he did joke about a social media post from former President Donald J. Trump, who criticized the job Kimmel was doing as a host.

    “Isn’t it past your jail time?” Kimmel said.

Jimmy Kimmel jabbed back at Donald Trump as his hosting duties wound down.

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Jimmy Kimmel wearing a light tuxedo jacket with a black bowtie.
“See if you can guess which former president just posted that?” Jimmy Kimmel said near the end of his Oscars hosting duties.Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Former President Donald J. Trump couldn’t help himself. And Jimmy Kimmel couldn’t resist either. So the Oscars wound to a close on a political note.

Kimmel used some of his final stage time as host to read, to millions of Americans watching at home, a post published on Truth Social by Trump. (And yes, he really did post it.)

Drawing out his phone onstage, Kimmel decided to share what he called “a review.”

“Has there ever been a worse host than Jimmy Kimmel at the Oscars,” Kimmel said, reading part of Trump’s post, which included a disparaging nickname for the ABC host George Stephanopoulos.

“His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be,” Kimmel continued. “Get rid of Kimmel and perhaps replace him with another washed up, but cheap, ABC ‘talent,’ George Slopanopoulos. He would make everybody on stage look bigger, stronger, and more glamorous.”

“Blah, blah, blah,” Kimmel said. “Make America great again.”

After asking the audience, “See if you can guess which former president just posted that?” Kimmel offered one final jab, expressing surprise that Trump had stayed up to watch the telecast.

“Isn’t it past your jail time?” he said.


 

‘My eyes see “Oppenheimer”’: Al Pacino’s awkward best picture announcement.

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Al Pacino, in a blue suit, clasps an envelope to his chest with both hands.
Al Pacino presented the winner for best picture to “Oppenheimer,” which won seven Oscars on Sunday.Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Al Pacino put a room full of Hollywood stars a little bit on edge to close out the 96th Academy Awards.

Rather than listing all 10 nominees while presenting the best picture Oscar, or offering a conventional “And the Oscar goes to,” Pacino simply said “Here it comes” before slowly opening the envelope.

“And my eyes see ‘Oppenheimer,’” Pacino said next, to tepid applause from an audience that seemed unsure whether that statement was the most important proclamation of the night.

“Yes, yes,” Pacino, 83, said of the movie that was considered the favorite to win best picture and finished with a night-best seven awards.

At that point, on came the music, and cheers rose from the crowd. The camera cut to Christopher Nolan, the film’s director, and Emma Thomas, one of its producers, as they stood up and made their way to the stage.

Did Jimmy Kimmel see it coming? Just minutes earlier, Kimmel, the host of the ceremony, made a joke about needing to tear up the envelope that said Emma Stone had won best actress for “Poor Things,” an allusion to the epic “Moonlight”/“La La Land” best picture mix-up of 2017.

After the ceremony, Bill Kramer, the chief executive of the academy, said he was pleased with Pacino’s performance. “Everything went beautifully,” Kramer said. “He was just having fun up there.”

Nicole Sperling contributed reporting.

Lily Gladstone, breakout star of the season, ends her awards season run.

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A woman in a long sleeveless column dress stands next to a tall Oscar statue.
Lily Gladstone arriving on Sunday.Credit…Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

Lily Gladstone, whose powerful performance in “Killers of the Flower Moon” fueled a rapid ascent to Hollywood stardom, ended a career-defining awards season run at the Oscars, where she was the first Native American person to be nominated for a competitive acting Academy Award.

She lost the award, for best actress, to Emma Stone for “Poor Things.”

Gladstone played a wealthy Osage woman whose family becomes a target of a murderous plot by white men to steal their oil rights. The actress quickly drew accolades following the premiere of Martin Scorsese’s three-and-a-half-hour historical epic at the Cannes Film Festival last May.

“You are the soul of ‘Killers of the Flower Moon,’” said the actress Jennifer Lawrence, as she introduced Gladstone as a nominee on Sunday.

Earlier this year, Gladstone, who has Blackfeet and Nez PercÊ heritage, became the first Indigenous person to win a Golden Globe for best actress, using her moment on the stage to share a snippet of Blackfeet language and remind the industry how far Hollywood had come in representing Native Americans onscreen.

“In this business Native actors used to speak their lines in English and then the sound mixers would run them backwards to accomplish Native languages on camera,” said Gladstone, 37, who also picked up best-actress wins from the Screen Actors Guild and the New York Film Critics Circle.

Other Indigenous performers have won Oscars. The folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie is considered the first, getting best original song for “Up Where We Belong” from “An Officer and a Gentleman” in 1983 (though her Indigenous Canadian heritage has recently been disputed), and Taika Waititi, who is of Maori descent, took home best adapted screenplay for “Jojo Rabbit” (2019). In the best actress category, Indigenous performers like Keisha Castle-Hughes (“Whale Rider,” 2003) and Yalitza Aparicio (“Roma,” 2018) have been in the running for the honor. But among Native Americans, Gladstone is the first to be nominated for that competitive prize. (Wes Studi, who is Cherokee American, received an honorary Oscar in 2019.)

“There’s a handful of people who love film that have been aware of my career for a while, but this has been like being shot out of a cannon,” Gladstone told The New York Times in a profile earlier this year.

In portraying Mollie Burkhart, a real-life figure who survived the Reign of Terror against the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma, Gladstone brought to life the complexities of a woman who was both charmed by the romantic interest of a brash white interloper — played by Leonardo DiCaprio — and deeply suspicious of him. With a performance that could be both emotionally reserved but gutting, Gladstone became the standout in a cast that included two longtime Hollywood fixtures, DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

Gladstone did not follow the typical path of an actor. Instead of moving to Los Angeles or New York to audition in her 20s, she stayed in Montana, touring schools with a one-woman show about the Native American boarding school system and building relationships with local filmmakers. Her career breakthrough came in the 2016 film “Certain Women.”

With “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Gladstone’s talents were given the heft of a big-budget film. She learned to speak Osage with a language teacher and dialect coach, and she consulted with Margie Burkhart, her character’s granddaughter, about her grandparents’ relationship. After Scorsese met in Oklahoma with descendants of the victims, the director worked to deepen the roles of the Osage characters in the script, giving Gladstone access to experts who could advise her on aspects of her performance.

As she has made the media rounds, Gladstone has spoken about the challenges in an industry with few opportunities for Native actors. A recent study found that out of roles in 1,600 films released from 2007 to 2022, speaking parts for Native actors amounted to less than one quarter of 1 percent.

“If I’ve kicked the door in,” Gladstone said in an interview with The New Yorker, “I’m just trying to stand here and leave it open for everybody else.”

 

Critic at large

 

OK, people. The 96th Oscars have come to an end. No violence was committed, just a closing shot of the dog from “Anatomy of a Fall” lifting his leg over Matt Damon’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star — to Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night,” at that. So the burns were merely sick-ish. Thanks for joining us, everybody. See you next year.

 

Culture reporter

Damon wasn’t in the house tonight and still couldn’t escape being made the butt of a Kimmel joke.

 

Critic at large

 

There’s also something refreshing about how much Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas, who produced “Oppenheimer,” mentioned, in their respective speeches, how much they’ve been dreaming about this moment, more or less. I mean, you can definitely feel it in the movie.

 

Movie critic

 

And there it is — “Oppenheimer” is this year’s best picture winner, and the highest-grossing winner in that category since “The King’s Speech” in 2011.

 

Critic at large

 

Al Pacino presents best picture, and he makes us all nervous with the casual way he declares “Oppenheimer” the winner.

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The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

A big night for ‘Oppenheimer’ ends with best picture.

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A crowd of people in evening wear stand on a stage. A woman in the center in a black dress speaks at a microphone.
Emma Thomas, center, one of the producers of “Oppenheimer,” speaking after the film won the Oscar for best picture.Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

“Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s hit drama about the man who helped create the atomic bomb, won best picture.

That victory capped a huge night for the film, which won seven Oscars total, including awards for director (Nolan), actor (Cillian Murphy) and supporting actor (Robert Downey Jr.).

Released last summer to glowing reviews and a worldwide box-office total nearing $1 billion, “Oppenheimer” was considered the front-runner even before awards season began. Though some presumed favorites can’t sustain their momentum over several months, “Oppenheimer” never faltered, earning top prizes from the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, BAFTAs and every major Hollywood guild along the way.

And why shouldn’t it have had a charmed run? When it comes to what awards-season voters typically respond to, “Oppenheimer” ticked so many boxes that it could have been designed in an Oscar-friendly Los Alamos lab: It’s a period drama about a great historical figure, set against World War II, directed by a major Hollywood auteur. The cherry on top is that audiences responded to it, too: It’s now the third highest-grossing film to win best picture, behind only “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.”

 

Best Picture
“Oppenheimer”
Wins for best picture.

 

Movie critic

 

Jimmy Kimmel makes a joke about tearing up the envelope “so there’s no confusion with best picture,” which is a joke about the last time Stone won best actress, for “La La Land” — and then that film was accidentally announced as best picture winner, instead of “Moonlight,” in some kind of envelope mix-up.

 

 

Critic at large

 

We can talk about how Lily Gladstone didn’t win and what it would have meant if she had won. But Emma Stone’s truly was the most inventive, surprising performance I saw last year.

 

Culture reporter

 

Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone, her competitor in the best actress race, have become friends, and Emma tells her, “I am in awe of you.”

 

Critic at large

Gladstone also appeared to be the first one to stand up and cheer when Stone’s name was called.

 

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

Extremely brutal shutout for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” but Martin Scorsese is used to it: His films “The Irishman” and “Gangs of New York” also went 0 for 10.

 

Movie critic

 

Among other things, Emma Stone’s dress burst, which really does feel like something that would happen in a bad dream.

 

Culture reporter

 

Emma Stone, walking to the stage to accept best actress, looked genuinely stunned.

 

Emma Stone wins her second Oscar for best actress, for ‘Poor Things.’

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A woman in a formal dress stands at a microphone with an Oscar as other women in formal dresses watch.
Emma Stone accepting the Oscar for best actress.Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Last year’s Oscar for best actress went to a universe-hopping laundromat owner who at one point appears to have hot dogs for fingers. Naturally, this year had to go even stranger.

The award went to Emma Stone for her performance in the Yorgos Lanthimos-directed “Poor Things” as Bella Baxter, once dead but resurrected by a mad scientist, who implanted the brain of her unborn child into her skull.

The result is a full-grown woman with the impulses of an infant, until she progresses into a child testing boundaries and searching for independence in a world where men are accustomed to dictating women’s lives.

Stone, who was visibly overwhelmed in her acceptance speech, shared a conversation she had with Lanthimos, who is a frequent collaborator.

“The other night I was panicking, as you can kind of see happens a lot, that maybe something like this could happen,” she said, “and Yorgos 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.”

The victory is Stone’s second for best actress: she won for her turn as a striving Hollywood performer in the 2016 musical “La La Land.”

In the fantastical, absurdist world of “Poor Things,” Stone’s Bella Baxter is charmingly blunt, brash and intent on being free to experiment. In one memorable scene at a restaurant in Portugal, Baxter launches into a wild and silly dance, inspiring her lover (played by Mark Ruffalo) to furiously try matching her vigor.

“She’s drinking up the world around her in such a unique and beautiful way that I just dream I could,” Stone, 35, said in an interview with The Times in November.

This past year was something of a crossroads for Stone’s career as she made a sharp turn away from the kind of mainstream roles that made her famous (“Easy A,” “The Help”). On TV, Stone starred alongside Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie in “The Curse,” a satire of a home renovation show filled with little absurdities that almost rival the duck-headed bulldog in “Poor Things.”

Baxter’s unusual character arc provided Stone a unique actor’s playground as her character learned how to walk and talk, discovered her sexuality, learned the deepest horrors of humanity, and sought to forge her own life as an adult.

“I felt like I kind of lived with her for a long time,” Stone told Vanity Fair. “Yorgos and I still talk about how we miss her now.”

A correction was made on

:

An earlier version of this article misstated the country where a scene in “Poor Things” took place. It was Portugal, not Spain.


When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at nytnews@nytimes.com.Learn more

Best Actress
Emma Stone
Wins best actress for “Poor Things.”

 

Critic at large

 

Michelle Yeoh, Jessica Lange, Sally Field, Charlize Theron and Jennifer Lawrence are presenting best actress, and the idea that Field, who just paid tribute to Emma Stone, watched “Poor Things” brings me no end of fascination.

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Five women in gowns stand on stage, each lit by a spotlight, to present the award for best actress.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

 

Culture reporter

Even in an A-list-filled room, that’s a lot of wattage on one stage.

Reporting from the Dolby Theater

 

Emma Stone, during the final commercial break before the best actress category is called, exited her seat and ran over to her director, Yorgos Lanthimos, for a long hug and a quick chat.

Oscars’ in memoriam segment honors Aleksei Navalny, among film greats.

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A quotation in white text on a black screen: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.”
A quote from Aleksei A. Navalny appeared on the screen during the in memoriam segment.Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

The in memoriam segment at the Academy Awards opened not with a Hollywood star, but with a clip of Aleksei A. Navalny from “Navalny,” the Oscar-winning 2022 documentary about the Russian opposition leader who died last month in a Russian prison.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing,” read a quote of Navalny’s on the screen.

Taking a moment to recognize those in the film industry who have died since the previous Oscars ceremony, the telecast also paid tribute to stars such as Harry Belafonte, the barrier-breaking performer and activist, and Chita Rivera, the Broadway star who also appeared in films, as well as filmmakers such as Norman Jewison, the lauded director behind “In the Heat of the Night,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Moonstruck.”

To accompany the tributes, the superstar tenor Andrea Bocelli sang “Time to Say Goodbye” — with a new orchestration by Hans Zimmer — alongside his son, Matteo Bocelli.

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Twelve dancers facing a large screen with Chita Rivera in a dress.
Chita Rivera, the Broadway star who also appeared in films, was honored in the Oscars’ in memoriam segment.Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Here are some of figures the Academy honored:

  • Alan Arkin, the acclaimed actor who won an Oscar for his role in “Little Miss Sunshine”

  • Andre Braugher, a film, TV and theater actor who had roles in Spike Lee and Edward Zwick films

  • Michael Gambon, the acclaimed Irish-born actor who played Albus Dumbledore in the “Harry Potter” movies

  • William Friedkin, director of the box office hits “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist”

  • Bo Goldman, the admired Hollywood screenwriter who took home Oscars for his work on “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Melvin and Howard”

  • Glenda Jackson, the two-time Oscar winner who turned to politics in her 50s

  • Piper Laurie, a respected actress with three Oscar nominations, including for her role in “Carrie”

  • Bill Lee, a jazz bassist and composer who scored the early films of his son Spike Lee

  • Richard Lewis, the acerbic stand-up comic who became a regular in movies and TV

  • Ryan O’Neal, who became an instant movie star in the 1970 hit film “Love Story”

  • Matthew Perry, the “Friends” star who had roles in movies such as “The Whole Nine Yards”

  • Paul Reubens, the comic actor behind Pee-wee Herman who had scores of movie and TV credits

  • Richard Roundtree, one of the first Black action heroes who was catapulted to fame in the movie “Shaft”

  • Ryuichi Sakamoto, one of Japan’s most prominent composers, who scored the films “The Last Emperor,” “The Sheltering Sky” and “The Revenant”

  • Tina Turner, the pop sensation who appeared in films such as “Tommy” and “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome”

  • Carl Weathers, a former pro linebacker, who played Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies

 

Culture reporter

 

Many social campaigns like #OscarsSoWhite changed the face of the academy, urging it to increase and diversify its membership. But Christopher Nolan may have single-handedly changed the awards just as much — it was after the furor over his “The Dark Knight” not being nominated that the organization decided to move to 10 best picture nominees, celebrating a much broader array of movies.

Cillian Murphy wins his first Oscar, best actor for ‘Oppenheimer.’

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Cillian Murphy won the Oscar for best actor for his role in “Oppenheimer.”Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Cillian Murphy won the Oscar for best actor for his portrayal in “Oppenheimer” of the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who developed the atomic bomb and was haunted by its impact.

“For better or for worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world,” Murphy said in his acceptance speech. “So I would really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.”

This is Murphy’s first Oscar win and his first nomination. He was a top contender at this year’s Academy Awards after winning a slew of other awards, including best actor at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, best leading actor at the BAFTA Film Awards and best actor in a drama at the Golden Globes.

“It’s been the wildest, most exhilarating, most powerfully satisfying journey you’ve taken me on over the last 20 years,” he said, thanking “Oppenheimer” producer Emma Thomas and director Christopher Nolan, who also won his first Oscar on Sunday night. “I owe you more than I can say.”

The contest for best actor had developed into a two-way race between Murphy and Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”), who won best actor at the Critics Choice Awards and best actor in a musical or comedy film at the Golden Globes.

Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”), Colman Domingo (“Rustin”) and Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”) were also nominated in the category.

 

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

‪It may be counterintuitive, but just like the last time the Oscars did their lengthy former-winner presenter bit, this show looks like it’s going to run much shorter than it usually does.

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Movie critic

 

Incredibly, this is Christopher Nolan’s first directing Oscar.

 

Culture reporter

 

Cillian Murphy shouts out his 20-year working relationship with the “Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan. It’s the sixth film they’ve worked on together, starting with “Batman Begins” in 2005.

 

Reporting from the Dolby Theater

 

Because best actress is seen as the one big race with some unpredictably to it, the academy switched its usual order and put director ahead of actress.

The Ukrainian director of ‘20 Days in Mariupol’ says he would rather have no Oscar and no war.

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A group of six people wearing black stand onstage to accept an award.
After “20 Days in Mariupol” won the Oscar for best documentary feature, the director Mstyslav Chernov said, “I wish I never made this film.”Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

The Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov used his acceptance speech for “20 Days in Mariupol,” which won the Oscar for best documentary feature on Sunday, to give an emotional denunciation of the continued invasion of his country by Russian forces.

“I’ll be the first director on this stage who will say, ‘I wish I never made this film,’” Chernov said.

The harrowing first-person account from Chernov, a video journalist for The Associated Press, captures the first days of the Russian invasion and the devastation and destruction the port city of Mariupol faced. “20 Days in Mariupol” is the first Ukrainian film to win an Oscar.

“I wish to be able to exchange this to Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities,” Chernov continued. “I wish to give it all the recognition to Russia not killing tens of thousands of my fellow Ukrainians. I wish for them to release all the hostages, all the soldiers who are protecting their lands, all the civilians who are now in their jails.”

Chernov and his crew raced to make it out of Mariupol alive. He said in his speech that he could not change history but wanted it to be remembered.

“We can make sure that the history record is set straight and that the truth will prevail and that the people of Mariupol and those who have given their lives will never be forgotten,” he said.

Many Ukrainians echoed this view on Monday as they celebrated on social media the news that the documentary had won an Oscar. They said seeing the documentary was crucial to truly understanding Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.

“The world saw the truth about Russia’s crimes,” said Andriy Yermak, the head of the presidential office of Ukraine. “Our film broke enemy propaganda.”

In a statement last week before the awards ceremony, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the “horrific and true story” told in the documentary was “crucial to counter Russian lies, to keep Ukraine in the spotlight.”

Christopher Nolan wins his first directing Oscar.

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Christopher Nolan won the Oscar for best director for “Oppenheimer.”Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Christopher Nolan won the directing Oscar for “Oppenheimer,” the expected outcome after he took home the Directors Guild of America’s prize and a Golden Globe for his biopic of the physicist who led the Manhattan Project. Before this year, the British-born Nolan had won no Oscars and been nominated for directing only once, for the 2017 film “Dunkirk.” One would-be contender in this category, the “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig, was denied a nomination.

Best Director
Christopher Nolan
Wins best director for “Oppenheimer.”

 

Reporter covering Hollywood

 

With three prizes to go, “Oppenheimer” is in the lead with five Oscars. Cillian Murphy, who played that film’s title role, collected the award for best actor, while Robert Downey Jr., who played a nemesis government official, was named best supporting actor. “Oppenheimer” also won for editing, cinematography and score. “Poor Things,” a twist on the Frankenstein story, has received three Oscars (costumes, production design and makeup and hairstyling). Voters honored “The Zone of Interest” with two — best sound (seen as a toss-up between it and “Oppenheimer”) and best international film.

 

Critic at large

 

Nicolas Cage, Ben Kingsley, Matthew McConaughey, Brendan Fraser and Forest Whitaker pay tribute to the best actor nominees. Cage mentions that the lazy-eye contact lens Paul Giamatti wore made him blind during the “Holdovers” shoot. “Would I have done that?” Cage asks. He would, he says. He, in fact, has done crazier.

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Five men in black suits and tuxedos stand on stage, each lit by a spotlight, to present the award for best actor.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times
Best Actor
Cillian Murphy
Wins best actor for “Oppenheimer.”

 

Culture reporter

 

We are in the home stretch, and yet it will still take a long time, Kimmel notes. He coins a new one, “getting Oppenhammered,” referencing all the audience members who are out at the bar.

 

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

‪Why did Wes Anderson miss the Oscars? A Netflix rep tells me he starts production on a new film tomorrow in Germany. ‬

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In Case You Missed It

 

Reporter covering Hollywood

 

“Barbie” finally got some Oscar love. Ryan Gosling, who played Ken in the movie, performed one of its two nominated songs (“I’m Just Ken”) as an elaborate song-and-dance number replete with three dozen backup Kens, fireworks and a surprise appearance by Slash, the Guns N’ Roses guitarist. Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell collected the trophy for best song for their own “Barbie” nominee, “What Was I Made For?” (At 22, Eilish is now the youngest person ever to have won two Oscars, having cruised to a best song victory in 2022 for “No Time to Die.”) Now, the ceremony is in its “in memoriam” segment.

 

Culture reporter

 

Alexei Navalny appears in a clip from “Navalny” at the start of the in memoriam segment.

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 9:50 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Here’s a sign of the times that I don’t like. We were just instructed to use a QR code to see the honorary Oscar nominees’ taped ceremony. Not even a recap for the live broadcast. No me gusta.

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 9:49 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

People, by my count, we’re in the home stretch. Four awards left, right?

Alissa Wilkinson

March 10, 2024, 9:49 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Movie critic

I think you’re right, but there’s still an “in memoriam” to come, too, I believe.

 

Reporting from the Dolby Theater

 

And with best original song, there was the one and most likely only Oscar win for the night for “Barbie.”

Kyle Buchanan

March 10, 2024, 9:43 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

With her second victory, the 22-year-old Billie Eilish becomes by far the youngest person ever to have won two Oscars. (And I suspect that record will hold for a very, very long time.)

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The musician Finneas O'Connell, wearing a black tuxedo, and the singer-songwriter Billie Eilish, wearing a black blazer, checkered skirt and tall white socks, accept the Oscar for best original song for "Barbie."
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 9:46 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

And she just thanked the friends she played Barbies with and the teacher who didn’t like her but, she says, was good at her job.

Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 9:47 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

She may have a future as a dramatic performer, too. In a surprise cameo last year, Eilish guest-starred as a cult leader on the Amazon Prime drama “Swarm.”

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 9:42 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

More bits have been thrown to Bradley Cooper’s mother, Gloria, tonight than to her son.

Matt Stevens

March 10, 2024, 9:42 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

‘What Was I Made For?’ wins Billie Eilish (and ‘Barbie’) an Oscar.

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In the foreground on a stage, a man in a navy blue tuxedo and a young woman in a plaid skirt, blazer and white knee-high socks are each holding an Oscar statue. Three others in formalwear look on from behind.
Billie Eilish, right, and Finneas O’Connell won the Oscar for best original song for “Barbie.”Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Billie Eilish’s tender, yearning ballad “What Was I Made For?” won for original song, ensuring that “Barbie” will leave the ceremony with at least one Oscar.

The soundtrack for Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster film became a powerhouse unto itself, loaded with songs by A-list stars. “What Was I Made For?,” which Eilish wrote with her brother, Finneas O’Connell, won song of the year at the Grammys and was the favorite in this category at the Oscars. This is the siblings’ second original-song Oscar. They previously won for “No Time to Die” from the 2021 James Bond blockbuster.

“I was not expecting this,” Eilish said in a speech. “I’m so grateful for this song and for this movie and the way that it made me feel. And this goes out to everyone who was affected by the movie and how incredible it is.”

In a sign of the strength of the “Barbie” soundtrack, the winner’s stiffest Oscars competition may have been another song from the film, “I’m Just Ken,” Ryan Gosling’s doleful lamentation. Gosling, and a large ensemble that included some of the film’s Kens, performed the number on Sunday night.

“Barbie,” which has grossed $1.4 billion at the box office worldwide, came into the evening with eight Oscar nominations but was a favorite only in the song category.

Q&A with Film and Style

Original Song
“What Was I Made For?” (“Barbie”)
Wins original song.
Original Score
“Oppenheimer”
Wins for original score.

Nicole Sperling

March 10, 2024, 9:37 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Reporting from the Dolby Theater

 

The crowd went berserk for “I’m Just Ken,” no one more than Greta Gerwig, who immediately hugged Mark Ronson when he came into the audience at the end of number. She and Margot Robbie knew the moves and danced along, and the academy urged the audience to get involved, telling them to turn on their phone flashlights and sing along to the final verse.

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Three men in black suits wearing black cowboy hats and striped pink ties hold their arms around one another. The actor Ryan Gosling, in a hot pink suit and gloves, stands in front of them and hugs attendees in the front row.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Esther Zuckerman

March 10, 2024, 9:35 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Ryan Gosling performs ‘Just Ken.’

  1. Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  2. Amir Hamja/The New York Times

  3. Amir Hamja/The New York Times

In one of the most anticipated and surely one of the most exuberant moments of Oscar night, Ryan Gosling took the stage to perform “I’m Just Ken,” the nominated song from “Barbie” by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt.

Wearing a sparkling pink suit and a cowboy hat, Gosling started out in the audience serenading his “Barbie” co-star Margot Robbie, who couldn’t contain her giggles. He then took the stage surrounded by an army of besuited Ken dancers, including fellow movie Kens Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa and Scott Evans. Mark Ronson joined him onstage but Slash of Guns N’ Roses did the true shredding, showing up midway through for a cameo. In a Ken-like demonstration of (minimal) strength he punched through a pink board with his hand, wearing a pink glove.

At one point, Gosling returned to the crowd leading a singalong that included Robbie, director Greta Gerwig, “Barbie” actress America Ferrera and Emma Stone. (Stone was not in “Barbie,” however, she sang with Gosling in “La La Land.”)

On the red carpet, Ronson promised an “absolutely bananas spectacle” in an interview with E!, and he delivered on that promise, complete with cut outs of Barbie heads and a “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” aesthetic.

“Doing any sort of live TV is nerve-racking, and then to do it in that room? There’s not many rooms that are more intimidating,” Simu Liu told The Times at the Governors Ball following the telecast. “Nerves were running high and there was such a moment of elation when we were done: ‘Yes!’ I think we pulled it off,” he said.

In another life, Gosling might have gone the pop star route. He got his start on “The All New Mickey Mouse Club,” the revival of the classic Disney variety show, which also launched the careers of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake. Before that, Gosling was a child dancer. His early routines, including one in which he wears “Hammer pants,” have received tens of millions of views online.

But instead of pursuing music celebrity, Gosling aimed to be an actor in “serious film,” as he once told The New York Times. He considered his past a hindrance. Agents dropped him. “It’s very hard coming from kids’ television to break the stigma,” he explained in 2011. “All you have is a VHS tape of you humping stuff on ‘The Mickey Mouse Club’ and wearing fake tanner and fighting imaginary sphinxes.” (That latter bit was a reference to his time on “Young Hercules.”)

But even as Gosling moved from child performer to feted movie star, he never truly gave up his song and dance chops. There was a detour in 2009 when he made an indie rock record with his friend Zach Shields as the duo Dead Man’s Bones, which featured the Silverlake Conservatory of Music Children’s Choir on their goth tracks.

And filmmakers have been eager to use his talents. He was nominated for best actor for crooning and tap dancing in the musical “La La Land” (2017). Even so, when that film’s song “City of Stars” was up for (and won) best original song, Gosling did not take the stage. Instead, executive producer and fellow cast member John Legend did the honors.

“Barbie,” however, got Gosling to commit to the bit. “I’m Just Ken” accompanies the dream ballet near the end of Greta Gerwig’s billion-dollar blockbuster in which Gosling’s Ken expresses his torment over playing second fiddle to Barbie (Margot Robbie) in Barbie Land. In addition to busting a move for the film, Gosling also sang on “Ken the EP,” which featured the original version of the tune and three additional ones, including “I’m Just Ken (Merry Kristmas Barbie).”

Kyle Buchanan contributed to this report.

 

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

Their song concluded, the Kens are jumping up and down. They are hooting and hollering. Now they are running through the aisles. It’s Ken-demonium in the theater.

 

Critic at large

 

Greta Gerwig is still standing gesturing at the stage in elated disbelief.

 

Culture reporter

 

The moment the people at my Oscar party, at least, were waiting for: “I’m Just Ken,” performed by Ryan Gosling, rising in hot pink from the audience and joined by many men (who are not yet shirtless, sob).

 

Culture reporter

Gosling looks like he’s having the time of his life.

 

Critic at large

This number doesn’t need shirtlessness because now it has Slash.

 

Culture reporter

And a helping hand from the songwriter and producer Mark Ronson, plus Gosling’s co-stars Simu Liu and Kingsley Ben-Adir.

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 9:36 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

It had a Busby Berkeley moment with the faces of vintage Barbies, and ends as a karaoke number for the audience with the lyrics flashing onscreen.

In Case You Missed It

 

Reporter covering Hollywood

 

“Barbie,” “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Maestro” have won nothing so far, despite having 25 nominations among them. Instead, “Oppenheimer” began to dominate as the ceremony rolled into its third hour, adding the Oscar for cinematography to wins earlier in the night for Robert Downey Jr.’s supporting performance and Jennifer Lame’s film editing. “The Zone of Interest” won the Oscar for best sound, while the documentary feature trophy went to “20 Days in Mariupol,” a searing account of the atrocities committed during the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “I wish I’d never made this film,” the director, Mstyslav Chernov, said in his speech. “I wish I’d been able to exchange this for Russia never attacking Ukraine.” The Oscar for live-action short went to an absent Wes Anderson for “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” on Netflix

Reporting from the Dolby Theater

 

Emma Stone leaped out of her seat to start that standing ovation for the win by “The Zone of Interest” in sound.

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The actress Emma Stone smiles widely and claps her hands. Two men in black suits stand to her left.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times
Sound
“The Zone of Interest”
Wins for sound.

Alissa Wilkinson

March 10, 2024, 9:27 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Movie critic

 

I don’t root for Oscar winners, on principle, but I do root for one thing: John Mulaney to host the Oscars.

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The comedian John Mulaney stands onstage in front of a microphone wearing an all-black suit with shiny black lapels.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

 

Reporting from the Dolby Theater

 

Margot Robbie, Greta Gerwig and America Ferrera have been moved into the front row, and the three of them are holding hands while they laugh at John Mulaney.

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

Jimmy Kimmel must have missed last year’s Champagne red carpet. He changed jackets mid-show to one in that color.

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The comedian Jimmy Kimmel stands in a circle center stage, wearing a white blazer and a black bowtie. His hands are clasped together.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Amir Hamja

March 10, 2024, 9:24 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Photographer at the Oscars

 

Annette Bening, Margot Robbie, Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone talk during a commercial break.

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A group of actors, including Margot Robbie, Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone, stand and chat during a commercial break.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Alissa Wilkinson

March 10, 2024, 9:20 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Movie critic

 

Wes Anderson wins his first Oscar, live-action short film, for “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” which is an adaptation of a Roald Dahl story starring Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s part of a four-short compilation for Netflix. Anderson wasn’t there to accept — I bet he’s holding out for his first feature win.

 

Critic at large

How’s that going to go for him? The magic of “Henry Sugar,” in part, is its concision. Strangely, “Asteroid City” is an “Oppenheimer” companion piece in a sense, and was treated like a novelty. Like, what’s a Wes Anderson best picture contender look like now?

A short film wins Wes Anderson his first Oscar.

Wes Anderson’s “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” won for live action short, giving the celebrated filmmaker his first Academy Award. The 39-minute film is adapted from a Roald Dahl short story and features Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ben Kingsley. Anderson, 54, who was not present at the ceremony to accept the award, has received four individual nominations. Two of his movies have been nominated for animated feature and one, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (2014), received a nod for best picture

Culture reporter

 

The “Oppenheimer” win for cinematography was expected, but I still want to shout out that “Barbie” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” had the same cinematographer, Rodrigo Prieto.

Live-Action Short
“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”
Wins for live-action short.

 

Movie critic

 

The “Oppenheimer” cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema comes out strong in favor of shooting on celluloid, and I tend to agree with him.

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A man stands in the center of attendees standing and applauding. Another man approaches for a hug.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times
Cinematography
“Oppenheimer”
Wins for cinematography.

Critic at large

 

The Oscars — the only place where a rousing speech denouncing a war and calling on a room to act against it can be followed by a tracking shot of tuxedoed beefcake line-flexing for the camera.

Alissa Wilkinson

March 10, 2024, 9:10 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Movie critic

 

“20 Days in Mariupol” wins for documentary feature, and that was mostly expected; it’s the first Ukrainian film to win an Oscar. The director Mstyslav Chernov, an Associated Press journalist, was caught in the crossfire in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol when the bombing started. He and his colleagues kept their cameras rolling. “I wish I’d never made this film,” he says in his speech. “I wish I’d been able to exchange this for Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities … never killing tens of thousands of my fellow Ukrainians … But I cannot change the history. I cannot change the past. But we all together … we can make sure that the history record is set straight and that the truth will prevail.”

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A group of six people wearing black stand onstage to accept an award.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 9:14 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

Probably the most harrowing film of the awards season? After meticulously documenting the staggering loss of life in the early days of the war (refuting Russian claims of “fake news” in real time), Chernov and his crew raced to make it out of Mariupol alive.

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 9:09 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Bit alert: Kate McKinnon and America Ferrera, presenting the documentary Oscars, did a bit about how McKinnon believes the “Jurassic Park” movies are real. Fererra says they’re not. McKinnon says, “Oh, America. Not you, too.” Then she asks if Jeff Goldblum is real. Ferrera says no to that, too. So to whom has McKinnon been sending her nudes? Cut to Spielberg, who points at himself.

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A woman in a black pant suit and a woman in a pink, sparkly dress stand on stage in front of a microphone.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 9:09 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

I laughed out loud! These are some really sophisticated bits for such a big show with such high stakes.

Documentary Feature
“20 Days in Mariupol”
Wins for documentary feature
Documentary Short
“The Last Repair Shop”
Wins for documentary short.

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 9:03 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Jimmy Kimmel’s sidekick, Guillermo, just handed out tequila while sitting next to Colman Domingo and Jeffrey Wright, and declared Charlize Theron his wife.

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A man in a tuxedo with a gold blazer holds a drink in his hand to cheers the attendees sitting in the front row.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times
In Case You Missed It

Brooks Barnes

March 10, 2024, 9:03 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Reporter covering Hollywood

 

Robert Downey Jr. accepted the Oscar for best supporting actor, completing a remarkable career arc — from scene-stealing young actor in the 1980s, to out-of-work drug addict in the 1990s, to Marvel superhero in the 2000s and 2010s, to Academy Award glory for his performance in “Oppenheimer.” “I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the academy, in that order,” Downey joked in a short acceptance speech that also touched on his stylist. An “Oppenheimer” colleague, Jennifer Lame, won the Oscar for film editing. So far, however, “Poor Things” has collected the most trophies, winning for costumes, production design and makeup and hairstyling. “Barbie” is 0-for-5.

Jonathan Abrams

March 10, 2024, 8:59 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Godzilla finally gets an Oscar.

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Masaki Takahashi, from left, Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya and Tatsuji Nojima accepting the Oscar for best visual effects.Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Godzilla is one of cinema’s longest running characters, terrifying people around the world in dozens of films over seven decades.

But the prehistoric monster had never been to the Oscars until now. “Godzilla Minus One,” the 37th film in the franchise, finally broke through, winning for best visual effects. The film, directed by Takashi Yamazaki, was a surprise success in theaters, grossing $98 million worldwide after its December release.

“The Creator,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” and “Napoleon” were also nominated in the category.

 

 

Culture reporter

 

The editing winner Jennifer Lame has range: Before she first teamed up with Christopher Nolan — on the action epic “Tenet” — she was the indie director Noah Baumbach’s go-to editor and also worked on the gnarly horror hit “Hereditary” for Ari Aster.

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A woman with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a strapless green dress that falls to her ankles, accepts an award.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

 

Movie critic

 

Jon Batiste is the central subject in “American Symphony,” which missed an expected documentary feature nomination, but he still gets his Oscars moment with “It Never Went Away,” the song from the film. The camerawork in this performance reminds me a bit of “American Symphony,” too.

Image

Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Melena Ryzik

Culture reporter

 

The win for “Oppenheimer” in editing bodes well for its best picture chances. Not that it needs any more boding.

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 8:53 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

The “Godzilla Minus One” team has been making the rounds during Oscar season with their little Godzillas, and they make cute accessories on the stage (though hard to juggle the statue and the reptile!).

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Reporting from the Dolby Theater

 

Scott Stuber, former head of film for Netflix, with his wife, model Molly Sims, chat up Warner Discovery chief executive David Zaslav. Greta Lee, adorned in black and white, is regaling the executives at Disney/Searchlight as they joke that after the early “Poor Things” wins, perhaps they will take it all.

Editing
“Oppenheimer”
Wins for editing.

Kyle Buchanan

March 10, 2024, 8:50 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

“Godzilla Minus One,” with its estimated budget of less than $15 million, is the lowest-budget film to win the visual effects Oscar since “Ex Machina.”

Visual Effects
“Godzilla Minus One”
Wins for visual effects.

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Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 8:48 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Wait, that room just gave the stars of “Twins” a standing ovation. Nostalgia is strong tonight.

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A tall man in a black tuxedo holds his arm around a man in a black suit.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 8:56 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

But the stars of “Twins” just formed two-thirds of a good “Batman”-villain bit thanks to Michael Keaton’s scowl and his Bruce Wayne-y ascot. Never mind that Keaton was never Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Batman.” It worked.

Alissa Wilkinson

March 10, 2024, 8:46 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Movie critic

 

Dissension hits the documentary category.

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A man with a camera walks through a burned-out area covered in fog.
A scene from the Ukraine war documentary “20 Days in Mariupol.”Credit…Mstyslav Chernov/Film Forum

The documentary category isn’t usually too controversial, but this year it was. All five nominees are international movies, and a Variety article noted complaints from filmmakers who felt that films like “American Symphony” and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” both directed by Americans and favored by Oscar prognosticators, were snubbed despite spending substantial resources on their campaigns. In truth, this batch of nominations is likely a reflection of the widening taste of the documentary branch, especially as the composition of the academy becomes more international.

Guy Trebay

March 10, 2024, 8:46 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

Robert Downey Jr. thanks his stylist. And stylists, in truth, have changed the Oscars game. In 1989, Downey wore a tuxedo with a green tie and sparkly cummerbund and looked like a wayward clog dancer.

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Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 8:45 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

I liked Downey’s speech for winning for “Oppenheimer” a lot more than I liked his speeches in “Oppenheimer.”

Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 8:47 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

He was being his charisma-dripping self. What movie stars (as distinguished from mere “actors”) do best!

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 8:45 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

Robert Downey Jr. says, “What we do is meaningful and the stuff we decide to make is important,” and then goes on to thank his publicist and his lawyer who spent years trying to get him insured. (Downey, who had longtime addiction issues, was considered an employment risk.)

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The actor Robert Downey Jr. stands in a circle in the center of the stage to accept the Oscar for best supporting actor.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Alexandra Eaton

March 10, 2024, 8:43 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Reporting from the Dolby Theater

 

In the press room, the director Justine Triet tells the media that at first she had wanted to use Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” as the infamous track that plays on loop during “Anatomy of a Fall,” but they were unable to secure the rights. So they used the steel drum rendition of “P.I.M.P.” instead. “I’m 45,” she said, “and when I was young I listened to 50 Cent a lot.”

Matt Stevens

March 10, 2024, 8:41 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Jonathan Glazer, the director of ‘The Zone of Interest,’ condemns ‘an occupation’ and violence in Israel and Gaza.

Image

A man in a suit and holding a paper stands at a microphone. Two men in tuxedos stand behind him, and near a group of three others.
The director Jonathan Glazer delivered the acceptance speech after “The Zone of Interest” won for best international feature.Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

The Israel-Hamas war was prominently addressed on the Oscars stage on Sunday in an acceptance speech for “The Zone of Interest,” which follows the domestic life of a Nazi commandant whose house is just outside the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The director Jonathan Glazer read from prepared remarks after the film won for best international feature, offering thanks to collaborators before turning to the conflict.

“All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present — not to say, ‘Look what they did then,’ rather, ‘Look what we do now.’ Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst. It shaped all of our past and present.”

Glazer, who is Jewish, said that he rejected “Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation, which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.”

He continued: “Whether the victims of October the seventh in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?”

“The Zone of Interest,” featuring Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel, was nominated for five Oscars, including best picture.

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Billie Eilish wearing a white shirt, black jacket and red pin.
Billie Eilish wore a red pin signifying a call for a cease-fire in Gaza.Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York Times

On the red carpet earlier in the evening, some attendees — including the singer Billie Eilish and the actor Ramy Youssef — wore red pins to signify their call for a cease-fire in the conflict. This year’s Golden Globes, Emmys and Grammys included few references to the war, with celebrities wary to weigh in.

James Wilson, a producer of “The Zone of Interest,” also addressed the war in one of his acceptance speeches at the BAFTA Film Awards last month. In his speech, he referred to the walls that people construct in their lives.

“Those walls aren’t new from before or during or since the Holocaust,” Wilson said at the BAFTAs. “And it seems stark right now that we should care about innocent people being killed in Gaza or Yemen in the same way we think about innocent people being killed in Mariupol or in Israel.”

 

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 8:40 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Robert Downey Jr.: “I’d like to thank my terrible childhood.”

Jonathan Abrams

March 10, 2024, 8:39 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Robert Downey Jr. Becomes the First ‘S.N.L.’ Cast Member to Win an Oscar.

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Robert Downey Jr. won the Oscar for best supporting actor at the 96th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Calif. on Sunday.Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Robert Downey Jr. won the Oscar for best supporting actor for his portrayal of Lewis Strauss, the reserved and calculating rival to the titular character in “Oppenheimer,” the Christopher Nolan blockbuster.

“I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy, in that order,” Downey joked in a nod to his once-turbulent career. He later added: “What we do is meaningful and the stuff that we decide to make is important.”

The win is Downey’s first Oscar after three previous nominations. He also won at the Golden Globes and at the BAFTAs for his work in “Oppenheimer.” The victory is also notable for another reason: it’s the first Oscar for a cast member of “Saturday Night Live,” which Downey joined in 1985-86.

Sterling K. Brown (“American Fiction”), Robert De Niro (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Ryan Gosling (“Barbie”) and Mark Ruffalo (“Poor Things”) were also nominated in the category.

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 8:38 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Ke Huy Quan, Sam Rockwell, Tim Robbins, Christoph Waltz and Mahershala Ali are presenting the supporting actor Oscar, and the nominee Robert De Niro is all but scowling (even when Robbins accidentally calls his “Flower Moon” performance Oscar-winning).

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Five men in black suits and tuxedos stand on stage, each lit by a spotlight, to present an award.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

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Best Supporting Actor
Robert Downey Jr.
Wins for best supporting actor.

Alissa Wilkinson

March 10, 2024, 8:37 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Movie critic

 

Christoph Waltz is somehow the most perfect and most hilarious person to pay tribute to Ryan Gosling’s Ken.

Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 8:40 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

Could almost hear a hint of his “Django Unchained” character in his line delivery. Did Tarantino do punch-up?

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 8:37 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

“There are actors, and then there are actors who don’t drop character until the DVD commentary,” Sam Rockwell says in introducing his buddy Robert Downey Jr. in the best supporting actor run-up.

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 8:35 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Jimmy Kimmel: “If this was an AMC theater, the show would just be starting right now.”

 

Critic at large

 

The presenters Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling just did a whole “Barbenheimer” bit, and I have to say, the producers appear to be trying to keep people watching. Blunt and Gosling went hard at each other over who won last summer and it was funny. She accused his abs of being C.G.I.! Who knows who’s watching, but a show is being put on.

Stephanie Goodman

March 10, 2024, 8:33 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Film editor

 

Jonathan Glazer’s speech went much further than the “Zone of Interest” winners have in previous ceremonies. He said: “Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked, an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people, whether the victims of October the seventh in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims, this dehumanization, how do we resist?”

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 8:29 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

Jonathan Glazer, winner for “The Zone of Interest,” set during the Holocaust, gives one of the first political speeches of the night, decrying “the victims of dehumanization,” both in Israel and Gaza. “How do we resist?”

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Three men take the stage to accept an award, two in tuxedos with black bowties and one in a black suit with a black tie.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Kyle Buchanan

March 10, 2024, 8:29 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

Glazer’s speech went over well inside the ceremony. I heard a lot of cheers. Notable, too, that this is a topic that most people have assiduously avoided while taking the awards-season stage this se

Movie critic

 

There’s been a lot of non-English-language work featured in this year’s Oscars. That’s always true of the international feature category, of course — just awarded to “The Zone of Interest” — but the documentary category is all international this year too, and as Kimmel pointed out, three of the 10 best picture nominees are largely or entirely in languages other than English. And there’s the best song nominee that was just performed, “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People),” with lyrics in the Osage language. The academy’s expansion into more international membership is a big part of the reason.

 

 

Culture reporter

 

The director Jonathan Glazer is known for his deliberate working pace. His last feature, “Under the Skin,” was released in 2014.

 

Culture reporter

 

Bad Bunny introduces the international film category in Spanish, and Dwayne Johnson responds by making a pun on his name (“you see, he’s not such a bad bunny”). The terrible name-puns are flying tonight.

International Feature
“The Zone of Interest”
Wins for international feature.

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 8:21 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

OK, did you all just catch that shot backstage of a be-gowned John Cena walking between fellow wrestlers Bad Bunny and the Rock and sheepishly, boyishly looking up at the Rock and shaking his hand? WWE pun alert: I wonder if he really does wish “You Can’t See Me” were true. It doesn’t matter. The naked-presenter bit was funny. Cena sold it.

 

In Case You Missed It

Brooks Barnes

March 10, 2024, 8:20 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Reporter covering Hollywood

 

“Poor Things,” a twist on the Frankenstein story, collected a trio of Oscars early in the ceremony’s second hour, winning for costumes, production design and makeup and hairstyling. (John Cena presented the costume category, appearing naked except for a well-placed envelope.) Will voter support for “Poor Things” extend to Emma Stone, a best actress nominee? That prize is scheduled for later in the ceremony, with Stone considered to be in a photo finish with Lily Gladstone, the “Killers of the Flower Moon” actress.

Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 8:16 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

That’s a lot of branches voting for “Poor Things.” Let’s make this a race, folks!

Nicole Sperling

March 10, 2024, 8:15 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Reporting from the Dolby Theater

 

Emma Stone in the lobby bar with Florence Pugh when a naked John Cena crosses the Oscar stage. Pugh turns around dramatically and says, “Who is he streaking for, everyone is out here?” Then when “Poor Things” wins for best costumes, Emma groans loudly, “We are missing every one of these,” visibly upset when they thank her specifically and she’s not in the auditorium to hear it.

 

Movie critic

 

Since we’re still awaiting the arrival of the much-heralded 75 shirtless Kens, I think we can safely say this is the Male Body Oscars.

Guy Trebay

March 10, 2024, 8:24 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

Oscar is emphatically giving male body, including the parade of phenomenally fit actors who are now universally the suit size of a runway model.

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Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 8:14 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

The costume designer for “Poor Things,” Holly Waddington, told me she got exactly one image as a directive from the filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos: a young designer’s take on “inflatable trousers.”

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A woman in floor-length blue dress with wing-like sleeves accepts an award. A man in a toga and a woman in a shimmery silver dress watch from behind her.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 8:12 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

John Cena appears, naked save for an envelope, to do some kind of streaker bit, that he thinks better of. “The male body is not supposed to be funny,” Cena says. “Mine is,” Kimmel replies. He’s announcing for costumes.

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The comedian Jimmy Kimmel, in a black tuxedo, looks on at the actor John Cena, who is naked and holding an envelope that reads "Costume Design" in front of his groin.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Alissa Wilkinson

March 10, 2024, 8:12 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Movie critic

Well, I … don’t think anyone will forget who won costume design at these Oscars.

Costume Design
“Poor Things”
Wins for costume design.

Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 8:09 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

A second early win for “Poor Things,” this time for production design.

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A man in a black suit and a woman in a green suit accept an award. Four presenters watch from behind them.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

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Critic at large

 

This makeup Oscar for “Poor Things” is a good one, not just for Willem Dafoe’s scone face but also for Kathryn Hunter’s full-body ink. My third favorite performance in that movie.

Production Design
“Poor Things”
Wins for production design.

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 8:07 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

“Poor Things” wins for best makeup and hair, which probably bodes well for its chances in the costume category, too.

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Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Alissa Wilkinson

March 10, 2024, 8:08 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Movie critic

And production design!

Makeup and Hairstyling
“Poor Things”
Wins for makeup and hairstyling.

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Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 8:03 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

With two well-liked but longshot best picture contenders already awarded in “Anatomy of a Fall” and “American Fiction,” are we headed for a wealth-spreading “Everybody gets a prize!” kind of year?

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 8:07 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

Stay tuned! I’m definitely not rooting for anything like a sweep.

Kyle Buchanan

March 10, 2024, 8:00 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

After the quiet, lovely Billie Eilish performance, the crowd that has stayed fairly rapt for the past hour makes a beeline to the lobby bars.

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 7:59 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

Billie Eilish and Finneas perform the heavy Oscar favorite “What Was I Made For?” — a performance that has to compete with their rendition on the Grammys, an award they also won. This show at least gets a reaction shot from Kate McKinnon.

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Finneas O'Connell plays the piano, to his right Billie Eilish sings. The two perform with an orchestra behind them, everything bathed in purple light.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Amir Hamja

March 10, 2024, 7:58 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Photographer at the Oscars

 

Colman Domingo and Danielle Brooks chat with Da’Vine Joy Randolph inside the Dolby Theater.

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A man and a woman wearing all black, with big smiles on their faces, lean down to talk to a woman with blonde hair in a blue dress.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

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Callie Holtermann

March 10, 2024, 7:58 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Vanessa Hudgens reveals her pregnancy on the red carpet.

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the profile of vanessa hudgens wearing all black, showing off her pregnant belly. her hands are on the side of her belly.
Ms. Hudgens was one of the two hosts, along with Julianne Hough, of ABC’s coverage of the Oscars red carpet.Credit…Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

The actress Vanessa Hudgens, one of the hosts of ABC’s Oscars pre-show, included a subtle pregnancy announcement in her coverage of the red carpet on Sunday evening.

“I clearly have a lot to be excited for,” she said at the beginning of the broadcast, positioning her hands on her stomach.

Ms. Hudgens, 35, wore a fitted black Vera Wang gown with long sleeves and a turtleneck. She did not explicitly discuss her pregnancy during the broadcast, instead keeping her attention on the stars she was interviewing.

A representative for Ms. Hudgens did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

This is the third consecutive year that Ms. Hudgens, who became a household name with her role in “High School Musical” in 2006, has hosted “The Oscars Red Carpet Show” on ABC.

Ms. Hudgens married Cole Tucker, a baseball player, in Mexico in December. (For that occasion, she also wore a streamlined Vera Wang gown.) This will be the couple’s first child.

During the broadcast, Ms. Hudgens traded off interviews with her co-host, Julianne Hough, and acknowledged that the ceremony was taking place on Indigenous land. Her interview subjects included Emma Stone, Simu Liu, Ariana Grande and America Ferrera.

When her coverage shift concluded, she held a microphone in one bejeweled hand and beamed into the camera. “That was a lot of fun,” she said.

In Case You Missed It

Brooks Barnes

March 10, 2024, 7:58 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Reporter covering Hollywood

 

An hour into the Oscars, no film had collected more than one award. Justine Triet and Arthur Harari accepted the original screenplay Oscar for “Anatomy of a Fall,” a courtroom thriller about a woman accused of murder. Voters honored Cord Jefferson with the adapted screenplay Oscar for “American Fiction,” a satire about a writer who puts together a novel that turns on racial stereotypes. “The Boy and the Heron” and “The Holdovers” won Oscars earlier in the telecast.

Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 7:57 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

Cord Jefferson wrote “American Fiction” at a career low point, having just had a television series scrapped at the last minute. He has said that when he discovered “Erasure,” the novel on which the film is based, it “felt like somebody had written a gift specifically for me.”

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Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 7:55 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

The first-time Oscar nominee Cord Jefferson takes the prize for best adapted screenplay to robust applause.

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A woman in a red dress turns to a man in a black suit and black, thick-rimmed glasses. All around them people stand and applaud.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Alissa Wilkinson

March 10, 2024, 7:56 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Movie critic

Jefferson uses the stage to call for more mid-budget movies. “A $200 million dollar movie is a risk, too,” he says.

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 8:05 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

I’m with you, Cord. More $10 million movies!

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 7:54 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

“Barbie” gets a big round of applause during the nominee announcement for adapted screenplay, but the winner is “American Fiction.”

Jason Zinoman

March 10, 2024, 7:53 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

How did Jimmy Kimmel do? Our critic has thoughts.

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Jimmy Kimmel is seen from a distance with audience members and camera operators in the foreground.
Jimmy Kimmel getting in a few digs. Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Jimmy Kimmel opened the Oscars with ingratiating self-deprecation (“Thank you for that partial standing ovation”) and closed with a nod to Hollywood as a union town. In between, he did just fine, delivering a broad, conversational set, full of safe roasts (a jab at Robert De Niro dating younger, a knock on the flop “Madame Web”), a crowd-pleasing cameo by a dog and a corny joke about Robert Downey Jr.’s pants. Nothing hilarious or daring. But it was a confident and clubby set, one you’d expect from a veteran host who had been there, done that.

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Marc Tracy

March 10, 2024, 7:52 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Cord Jefferson wins adapted screenplay award for ‘American Fiction.’

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A man in a tuxedo, wearing glasses, stands at a microphone holding up both arms, one arm holding an Oscar.
The screenwriter Cord Jefferson accepts the award for adapted screenplay.Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Cord Jefferson won the writing award for adapted screenplay for “American Fiction,” a mild surprise in a category believed to be bound for “Barbie” writers Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach after Gerwig’s surprise snub from a directing nomination. Jefferson’s adaptation of the Percival Everett novel “Erasure,” about a Black novelist confronting a career impasse, did win this award at the BAFTA and Critics Choice ceremonies. Jefferson also directed “American Fiction,” his debut.

Adapted Screenplay
“American Fiction”
Wins for adapted screenplay.

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 7:50 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

The screenplay categories are the ones I was most interested in — maybe the one spot where the winners could be unexpected. Justine Triet, writer-director of “Anatomy of a Fall,” an expected winner, said her award would help her through her midlife crisis.

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Nicole Sperling

March 10, 2024, 7:50 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Reporting from the Dolby Theater

 

Just like “Barbie,” Anatomy of a Fall” was written by a couple during lockdown, making the rest of us schlubs who didn’t write an award-winning screenplay during the pandemic feel bad about ourselves.

Alissa Wilkinson

March 10, 2024, 7:49 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Movie critic

 

Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, accepting their best original screenplay award for “Anatomy of a Fall,” walk onto the stage to the steel drum version of 50 Cent’s “P.I.M.P.” that will forever be associated with their movie.

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Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 7:51 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

A recurring bit from earlier ceremonies this award season. The real winners are the band members.

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:51 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

It’s a version of the song that gets the audience to say, “If she doesn’t kill this guy, I will.”

Original Screenplay
“Anatomy of a Fall”
Wins for original screenplay.

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:45 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

We’re getting our second best picture nominee montage (for “Poor Things,” this time) and I’m old enough to say I miss a plain old clip. That’s how I knew I wanted to see these movies.

 

Amir Hamja

March 10, 2024, 7:43 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Photographer at the Oscars

 

Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone chat during a commercial break.

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The actresses Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone talk to each other during a commercial break while three men loom in the background. Lawrence wears an off-the-shoulder black and white polka dot gown; Stone wears a mint peplum dress.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 7:42 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

Hayao Miyazaki’s valedictory masterpiece, “The Boy and the Heron,” takes best animated feature, beating the American animation blockbusters “Elemental” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”

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In an animated scene set outside a house in the distance, a boy with a bandage on his head looks alarmed.
Credit…Gkids

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 7:43 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

Miyazaki apparently keeps his Oscars under glass in his museum in Tokyo — in a low-level room intended for children.

In Case You Missed It

Brooks Barnes

March 10, 2024, 7:41 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Reporter covering Hollywood

 

The 96th Academy Awards got off to a comfortable start with Jimmy Kimmel delivering a safe, shortish monologue that poked gentle fun at nominated films like “Killers of the Flower Moon” and the failure of voters to nominate Greta Gerwig, the “Barbie” filmmaker, as best director. The first Oscar went to Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who was named best supporting actress for playing a grieving mother and boarding school cook in “The Holdovers.” “For so long, I’ve always wanted to be different, and now I realize I only need to be myself,” Randolph said. Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron,” about a youth coping with his mother’s death and father’s remarriage, won the Oscar for animated film. Miyazaki, 83, previously won for “Spirited Away” in 2003.

Christopher Kuo

March 10, 2024, 7:41 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Hayao Miyazaki wins best animated feature.

Hayao Miyazaki, the heralded Japanese filmmaker, won the Oscar for best animated feature for “The Boy and the Heron,” an enigmatic, fantastical film that could be one of the director’s last projects.

He was not on hand to accept the award.

It’s possible Miyazaki, 83, could retire after this movie, although reports have suggested he is at work on another project. The director said in 2013 that he planned to retire, but continued to make other films.

Miyazaki has crafted influential and popular features through the animation house Studio Ghibli since he co-founded it in 1985. His 2001 feature, “Spirited Away,” won the Oscar for best animated feature, and in 2014, he received an honorary Oscar at the Academy’s Governors Awards. Sunday’s win was Miyazaki’s second victory in four nominations for animated feature.

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https://www.nytimes.com/

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 7:39 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 202https://www.nytimes.com/

Culture reporter

 

Sean Ono Lennon gets an Oscar for “War Is Over,” inspired by the music of his parents, John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

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Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:40 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

And he just asked the house to wish his mom a British Happy Mother’s Day, which they do.

Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 7:40 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

And the band even went quiet to let him do it! The power of Yoko.

Animated Feature
“The Boy and the Heron”
Wins for best animated feature.

Christopher Kuo

March 10, 2024, 7:38 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Jimmy Kimmel Opens with Quips and a Salute to Film Crews

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A man in black tuxedo stands at center stage with groups of people to his left and right. The audience stands to applaud.
Jimmy KimmelCredit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

On Sunday, Jimmy Kimmel returned to host his fourth Academy Awards, opening with a monologue that riffed on many of last year’s blockbuster movies, particularly “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie,” and poked fun at Hollywood’s biggest stars, including a string of jokes about Robert Downey Jr.’s past drug use.

After a traditional montage of nominated films, Kimmel was introduced to the audience in a video clip of him sitting at a bus stop beside Margot Robbie, the star of “Barbie.”

“You’re so beautiful,” Robbie told him in the clip. “I know,” he said. “I haven’t eaten in three weeks. I’m still hungry. I have to host the Oscars.”

He began his monologue by mentioning the monthslong strikes that paused most film and television production, and he saluted the actors and writers who pushed for a new deal with Hollywood studios.

“As a result, actors no longer have to worry about getting replaced by A.I.,” he said. “Thanks to this historic agreement, actors are now able to go back to worrying about being replaced by younger, more attractive people.”

Kimmel also cracked jokes about the “Anatomy of a Fall” dog Messi, the lengthy run time of “Killers of the Flower Moon” and the perceived snub of Greta Gerwig, who was not nominated for best director.

“I know you’re clapping but you’re the ones who didn’t vote for her,” he told the audience.

Here is a transcript of the full monologue:

Thank you for that partial standing ovation and welcome to the 96th Oscars, everybody. Look at these beautiful human actors. What honor it is to be here. Thank you for having me back. And congratulations to each and every one of you for making it to the Academy Awards and for making it on time.

The show, as you know, is starting an hour early this year. But don’t worry it will still end very, very late. In fact, we’re already five minutes over. And I am not joking. I’m not going to lie. It’s going to be a long night after what was a long year. It was a hard year, but it was also a great year for movies. Despite the fact that everything stopped, the people in this room somehow managed to come up with so many excellent films and so many memorable performances.

This night is full of enormous talent and untold potential, but so was “Madame Web.” So who knows? Are we off to a bumpy start? OK, this is a meaningful occasion for most of you. I know that. And I know that winning an Oscar is something you dreamed about since you were a kid. And now here we are, all dressed up celebrating the best of the best, beginning with the biggest movie of the year, “Barbie.” “Barbie” was a monster hit. What a thing. What an achievement to take a plastic doll nobody even liked anymore. I mean, my wife — before this movie, you’d have had a better chance of getting my wife to buy our daughter a pack of Marlboro Reds than a Barbie doll.

Now Barbie’s a feminist icon, thanks to Greta Gerwig, who many believe deserved to be nominated for best director. I know you’re clapping, but you’re the ones who didn’t vote for her, by the way. Don’t act like you had nothing to do with this. And I don’t want to leave out Margot Robbie. Margot put this giant hit together. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are here tonight. Look kids, it’s Barbie and Ken sitting just near each other. Ryan and Margot, I want you to know that even if neither one of you wins an Oscar tonight, you both already won something much more important: the genetic lottery. Ryan, you are so hot. Let’s go camping together and not tell our wives.

And then we have the other major box office winner this year, “Oppenheimer,” directed by the great Christopher Nolan. Also a very attractive man. And this is a very fascinating person. Christopher Nolan doesn’t have a smartphone, doesn’t use his email and he writes on a computer with no internet connection, which is a way of, a powerful way of saying “I will not allow my porn addiction to get in the way of my work.”

Christopher is joined by his longtime collaborator, Cillian Murphy, who is just wonderful. Cillian, interesting fact about his name. It’s pronounced Cillian when he does drama. When he does comedy, it’s Silly Anne. And congratulations to Silly Anne’s co-star Robert Downey Jr. This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr.’s long and illustrious career. Well, one of the highest points. But Robert has been — was that too on the nose or was that a drug motion you made? But look at him, I mean look at this guy. He’s so handsome, so talented. He’s won every award there is to win. Is that an acceptance speech in your pocket or do you just have a very rectangular penis?

Not even 20 years ago, things weren’t going that great for Robert. He played the villain and, correct me if I have this wrong, in a movie where Tim Allen turns into a dog. And if you ever decide to remake that film, I have just the guy to play Tim Allen. That is, where is he? Messi. Even though he’s a dog may have given the performance of the year in “Anatomy of a Fall.” Messi has an overdose scene. If you’ve seen it, you know it is incredible. Honestly, I haven’t seen a French actor eat vomit like that since Gérard Depardieu.

The second most nominated movie of the year is “Poor Things,” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Not only is Yorgos nominated for best director, his editor, whose name is also Yorgos, Yorgos Mavropsaridis, is nominated too. We have two Yorgos’s in the house tonight. Will they both win? Yorgos is as good as mine.

All right, let’s get 20 seconds for room tone. Emma Stone is an Oscar nominee for a fifth time. Right? Fifth time. Emma, you are so unbelievably great in “Poor Things.” Emma played an adult woman with the brain of a child, like the lady who gave the rebuttal to the State of the Union on Thursday, and you were just amazing.

There were so many great movies that held audiences captive this year. And I mean that literally — your movies were too long this year. The average length of the top 10 movies was 2 hours and 33 minutes. That’s up 30 minutes from three years ago. When I went to see “Killers of the Flower Moon,” I had my mail forwarded to the theater. “Killers of the Flower Moon” is so long in the time it takes you to watch it, you could drive to Oklahoma and solve the murders yourself.

The multitalented Brad, Bradley Cooper is here with us tonight with us. He’s got another best picture nominee, “Maestro.” Bradley, brought your mom to the show tonight. Hi, Mrs. Cooper. How are you? You’re doing good. Great. Bradley brings his mother to every award show. She was his date last year at the Oscars. She was not? OK, but the Tonys and the Soul Train Awards. It’s very sweet. But I guess the question is how many times can one bring his mom as his date before he is actually dating his mom? Are you working on a movie about Freud right now and not telling us?

Here’s some fun Oscar trivia: 48 years ago, Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster were nominated for “Taxi Driver” and they are both nominated again tonight, 1976 was the year and that’s pretty crazy. In 1976, Jodie Foster is young enough to be Robert De Niro’s daughter. Now, she’s 20 years too old to be his girlfriend. I also want to congratulate Robert’s co-star Lily Gladstone, who is the first Native American ever to be nominated for best actress and for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” And if you saw, you know that she was riveting. And did you know that before she got this movie, Lily was ready to quit acting and take a job at the Department of Agriculture tracking murder hornets, right? And now she’s nominated for an Oscar, which is so great for her, but also makes me worry that no one’s tracking these murder hornets.

Lily is in excellent company. We have many first time acting nominees tonight, including Emily Blunt, Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown, America Ferrera, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Sandra Hüller. For the first time ever, three foreign language films are up for best picture, and two of them star Sandra Hüller. Sandra, two movies. Sandra plays a woman on trial for murdering her husband in “Anatomy of a Fall” and a Nazi housewife living next to Auschwitz in “The Zone of Interest.” And while these are very heavy subjects for American moviegoers, in Sandra’s native Germany, they’re called rom-coms.

For the first time in more than two decades, we’re adding a new category to the Oscars. Not tonight, don’t worry. In the future, they will be adding an Oscar for achievement in casting, which, yeah, you better you better applaud for that. And that is great news for actors because now not only will you be able to watch someone else win an Oscar for a part you didn’t get, you’ll also be able to watch the person who didn’t think you were right for it win one, too. What a year, we’ve had. It was a tough year. Remember that kid from “The Fabelmans”? This is what he looks like now. Very good to have you here, Steven. Steven, are you nominated tonight or are you here because you have season tickets?

Steven and his wife, Kate Capshaw, donated a lot of money to help actors and writers who were out of work over the summer. We were on strike for a long time, 148 days. For five months, this group of writers, actors, directors, the people who actually make the films said, “We will not accept a deal.” Well, not the directors. You guys folded immediately. But the rest of us said we will not accept the deal without protections against artificial intelligence. And as a result, actors no longer have to worry about getting replaced by A.I. Thanks to this historic agreement, actors are now able to go back to worrying about being replaced by younger, more attractive people. And I think that’s great. And writers, could A.I. have written “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”? Yes, the answer is yes.

We learned a lot while we were out on those picket lines. This strike raised existential questions about our industry, like if a movie premieres at the Grove and there are no actors there to promote it, does Mario Lopez make a sound?

And now that the strike is over, now that Fran Drescher has returned to her volunteer work reading loudly to the hearing-impaired, we can be proud of the fact that this long and difficult work stoppage taught us that this very strange town of ours, as pretentious and superficial as it can be, at its heart, is a union town. It’s not a bunch of heavily Botoxed, Hailey Bieber-smoothie drinking, diabetes-prescription abusing, gluten-sensitive nepo babies with perpetually shivering Chihuahuas. This is a coalition of strong, hard working, mentally tough American laborers, women and men who would 100 percent, for sure die if we even had to touch the handle of a shovel.

The reason we were able to make a deal is because of the people who rallied beside us. So before we celebrate ourselves, let’s have a very well-deserved round of applause for people who work behind the scenes: the Teamsters, the truck drivers, the lighting crews, sound guys, all the people who refused to cross the picket lines. All the people who refused to cross the picket lines. There they are. If you’re wearing Sketchers to the Oscars, take a bow. Come on, guys. Take a bow, you deserve it. Thank you for standing with us. And also, we want you to know that in your upcoming negotiation, we will stand you, too. And also, I’m going to make sure this show goes really long tonight, so you get a ton of overtime. It’s golden time everybody, should we give out some Oscars?

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Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:36 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Jimmy just reminded Da’Vine that she didn’t name the publicist she so gushingly thanked. But when she turned to the camera to name her, we couldn’t hear what she said!

Animated Short
“War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko”
Wins for best animated short.

Sarah Bahr

March 10, 2024, 7:36 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Messi made it to the Oscars after all.

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A Border collie with its tongue out turns around in a seat at the ceremony.
Messi got a prime seat at the ceremony. Credit…Mike Blake/Reuters

After a weeklong odyssey of “Will he or won’t he?” in the lead-up to the Oscars, Messi, the black-and-white Border collie who plays Snoop in the French courtroom thriller “Anatomy of a Fall,” was spotted in a plush red seat in the Dolby Theater, a big black bow tie around his neck.

He showed up during the monologue of Jimmy Kimmel, the host of the 96th annual Academy Awards. Kimmel was reminding Robert Downey Jr., who was nominated for best supporting actor for “Oppenheimer,” about the time he played the villain in the 2006 comedy “The Shaggy Dog,” starring Tim Allen as the title character.

“If you ever decide to remake that film, I have just the guy to play Tim Allen,” Kimmel said, then asked, “Where is he?” as he looked around. “Messi, who even though he’s the dog, may have given the performance of the year in ‘Anatomy of the Fall.’”

Cue a camera pan to Messi with his soulful blue eyes. And a collective audience sigh of relief.

“I haven’t seen a French actor eat vomit like that since Gérard Depardieu,” Kimmel said.

Keep an eye out: With “Anatomy of a Fall” up for five awards — best picture, best actress for Sandra Hüller, best director for Justine Triet, best original screenplay and best film editing — this probably won’t be Messi’s last appearance of the night.

The ruff-est job in the theater on Sunday night? Whoever has to be Messi’s seatholder.

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Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:34 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

I’ll say that I could maybe live without the “you are my friend”-ness of them. But still — Oscar people: Keep the wedding-toast acting presentations.

Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 7:32 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

Spotted a tear on the cheek of Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s “Holdovers” co-star and a fellow graduate of Yale drama school.

Kyle Buchanan

March 10, 2024, 7:29 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

The virtue of the former-winner presenter setup is that it elicits such emotional reactions from the nominees that the eventual winners — in this case, Da’Vine Joy Randolph — are *ready* to deliver in their acceptance speeches.

Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 7:28 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

Da’vine Joy Randolph, a category favorite who swept the precursor awards, takes the first Oscar of the night.

ImageThe actress Da'Vine Joy Randolph accepts the award for best actress. She wears a light blue sparkled halter dress with fluffy, pom pom-like sleeves.

Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

Her “Holdovers” co-star Paul Giamatti escorts her onstage and she gets a standing ovation, before starting her speech by explaining that she didn’t think she’d be an actress. She sarted as a singer.

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Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:26 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Lupita just told us that the glasses Da’Vine Joy Randolph wears in the “The Holdovers” were her grandmother’s. And now she’s already tearing up before her name is called as the winner.

Matt Stevens

March 10, 2024, 7:26 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Da’Vine Joy Randolph wins best supporting actress, her first Oscar.

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A woman in a sparkling baby blue gown and feathery cape stands at a microphone on a stage. She is flanked my several women, all dressed in formal gowns.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph accepts the Oscar for best supporting actress.Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Da’Vine Joy Randolph won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her portrayal in “The Holdovers” of a warm, witty cafeteria matriarch grappling with how to endure the holiday season at a boarding school after the loss of her son.

It was Randolph’s first win at the Academy Awards on her first nomination. She was the favorite coming into the Oscars, having already won this year in the supporting actress category at the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Awards, the BAFTAs and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

”I didn’t think I was supposed to be doing this as a career,” she said in an emotional acceptance speech. “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.”

Danielle Brooks (“The Color Purple”), Emily Blunt (“Oppenheimer”), America Ferrera (“Barbie”) and Jodie Foster (“Nyad”) were also nominated in the category.

Best Supporting Actress
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
Wins best supporting actress for “The Holdovers.”

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:25 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Supporting actress time: The previous winners Jamie Lee Curtis, Lupita Nyong’o, Regina King, Mary Steenburgen and Rita Moreno are paying tribute to this year’s nominees.

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 7:25 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

The previous winners seem to be friends with the current nominees, and the emotion on both sides is evident. Da’Vine Joy Randolph is crying!

Reggie Ugwu

March 10, 2024, 7:24 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

Tonight’s best picture nominees are notably international, with three foreign-language films nominated for best picture. Since #OscarsSoWhite in 2016, the Academy membership has not only become more racially diverse, but much more global, the results of which are on display here.

The New York Times

March 10, 2024, 7:23 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

A writer has accused ‘The Holdovers’ of plagiarizing his script, according to a report.

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A man in a gray suit holds up an award with one hand while the other is around a man in a plaid jacket and blue sweater. Behind them is a backdrop that reads “National Board of Review.”
The “Holdovers” director Alexander Payne, right, and the screenwriter David Hemingson at the National Board of Review gala in January.Credit…Krista Schlueter for The New York Times

A screenwriter whose credits include “Luca” and “Paddington 2” has accused the creators of “The Holdovers” of plagiarizing his work in their screenplay, according to a Variety report.

Variety published its article on the plagiarism accusations on Saturday, a day before the Academy Awards, where “The Holdovers” is nominated for five Oscars, including original screenplay and best picture.

In its report, Variety cited an email from the screenwriter Simon Stephenson to an official at the Writers Guild of America, and a second email to the W.G.A. board. Stephenson argued that his screenplay “Frisco,” which he wrote in 2012, was copied to create “The Holdovers.” (“Frisco” has not been produced.)

Both screenplays tell the story of a grumpy man in his 50s forced to watch over a teenager, according to documents published with the Variety report. “The Holdovers” centers on a boarding-school teacher (Paul Giamatti), while “Frisco” follows a doctor.

A document published with the article outlines similarities, including scenes in which each main character was “summoned to boss” and a description of both main characters as “unorthodox.” Plagiarism claims are not unheard of in Hollywood, but proving them is a different matter.

The Variety report described multiple attempts by Stephenson to draw the Writers Guild of America into his dispute with the film’s director, Alexander Payne, and its writer, David Hemingson.

Stephenson argues that Payne “was sent and read my screenplay on two separate occasions prior to the offending film entering development,” according to an email cited in the Variety report, a claim bolstered in other correspondence obtained by Variety.

Stephenson declined to comment for the Variety story but confirmed the authenticity of the emails it cited. Payne and Hemingson also declined to comment to Variety, while the guild board did not respond.

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Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 7:22 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

Kimmel pays tribute to the union members who participated in the strikes last year and brings some of the crew onstage.

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:22 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

Not only that! He’s promised to make the show extra long so they get overtime!

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:20 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Kimmel: “Could A.I. have written ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’? The answer is yes.”

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:19 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Kimmel points out that the best actress nominee Sandra HĂźller is in two best picture nominees. (So, I would add, is Issa Rae.)

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 7:17 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

Kimmel with some Oscars trivia: Both Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster were nominated for Oscars 48 years ago, as they are tonight.

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Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:17 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Kimmel has settled into some Bob Hope corniness. So the dresses aren’t all that’s traditional so far this evening. But I’m laughing.

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:14 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Messi the dog, the arguable star of “Anatomy of a Fall,” has a seat.

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A Border collie with its tongue out turns around in a seat at the ceremony.
Credit…Mike Blake/Reuters

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:12 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

Jimmy Kimmel to Ryan Gosling: “Let’s go camping together and not tell our wives.”

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 7:10 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

“We’re already running five minutes over,” Kimmel notes.

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Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:09 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

They’re pre-wooing our host Jimmy Kimmel. “Thank you for that partial standing ovation,” he says.

Melena Ryzik

March 10, 2024, 7:09 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Culture reporter

 

The show opens with the traditional montage of nominated films, and then Jimmy Kimmel appears inserted in a scene from “Barbie.” “You’re so beautiful,” Margot Robbie tells him. “I know,” he replies.

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In a wide shot of the ceremony, the host, Jimmy Kimmel, stands in the center of the stage facing the audience.
Credit…Amir Hamja/The New York Times

Wesley Morris

March 10, 2024, 7:07 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Critic at large

 

OK, world. The red carpet credits have rolled. The 96th Academy Awards are on!

Guy Trebay

March 10, 2024, 6:58 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

It’s clear the memo went out to Oscars stylists. Keep it clean, tight and traditional.

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Jessica Testa

March 10, 2024, 6:56 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter

 

Florence Pugh has a very similar (strange) neckline to Emily Blunt’s aforementioned elevated straps. What does it mean? It’s like their dresses are jumping off their bodies.

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The actress Florence Pugh poses on the red carpet with short blonde hair wearing a silver floor-length gown.
Credit…Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

Jessica Testa

March 10, 2024, 6:55 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter

 

Instead of deep gold, which we see a lot on red carpets during awards season — as if the stars are manifesting their wins — attendees seem to be leaning toward champagne this year. Like Greta Gerwig, whose dress has a chainmail effect similar to America Ferrera’s.

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A man in a tuxedo holds hands with a woman in a sparkly silver floor-length gown.
Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York Times

Nicole Sperling

March 10, 2024, 6:54 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Reporting from the Dolby Theater

 

The subjects of Sean Wang’s short film “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó” are here in all their Oscar splendor. Should Wang’s film win for best documentary short, the grandmas (as Chang Li Hua, left, and Yi Yan Fuei have become known) intend to take the stage.

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Two older women wearing sunglasses are decked out in red and black suit sets and sitting in wheelchairs with their hands in the air. Two men in tuxedos stand behind them.
Credit…Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

Reporting from the Dolby Theater

David Alan Grier just walked onstage to give the nominees a last-minute pep talk, covering the usual ground: You already did the hard part, you were nominated; make your speeches memorable and don’t thank your publicists and agents.

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

Fashion Vulcan mind-meld: Diana Nyad and the actor John Krasinski, both wearing white tuxedos.

Style reporter

 

Apparently the “Wicked” cosplay we saw on Cynthia Erivo was not a coincidence. Anyone catch a glimpse of Ariana Grande walking in wearing a puffy taffy-pink ball gown?

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Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York Times

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

Just how many Oscars could ‘Oppenheimer’ win tonight?

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A man wearing a hat and smoking a pipe stands outside with the desert and a line of telephone poles behind him.
“Oppenheimer” is up for 13 Oscars, including best actor for Cillian Murphy.Credit…Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

It looks to be a big Oscar night for “Oppenheimer.” But how many prizes can Christopher Nolan’s hit drama win?

The film is nominated in 13 categories and six victories seem all but certain. “Oppenheimer” is considered the prohibitive favorite for the best picture and director Oscars, and should also prevail in the races for supporting actor (Robert Downey Jr.), cinematography, editing and score.

Two other races are tighter but still lean “Oppenheimer.” The film’s star, Cillian Murphy, has all the momentum in the lead actor category, though “The Holdovers” star Paul Giamatti is also racking up votes. In the sound category, “The Zone of Interest” could mount a late charge for its unnerving acoustic landscape, but Nolan’s film is considered the strong front-runner.

If “Oppenheimer” wins all of those races, it will be the most-awarded best-picture victor since “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008) also took eight Oscars. But can “Oppenheimer” earn even more?

At least four races seem out of reach, no matter how mighty the film’s Oscar sweep. “Oppenheimer” is a nonstarter in the production-design and costume categories (I project both those races will be between “Barbie” and “Poor Things”) as well as the hair-and-makeup race, which should come down to “Poor Things” and “Maestro.” Emily Blunt, nominated for her supporting performance in “Oppenheimer,” has no chance of unseating “The Holdovers” star Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who has taken every major prize this season.

The only additional Oscar that “Oppenheimer” can realistically contend for is in the adapted-screenplay category, which will be a tough three-way race between Nolan’s film, “Barbie” and the favorite, “American Fiction.” If “Oppenheimer” can pull off a victory there and win nine Oscars total, it will be the biggest Oscar success in two decades, since “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” (2003) won 11.

 

Editor covering the arts

 

Just a reminder that the Oscars start an hour earlier than usual this year: at 7 p.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. Pacific. The academy has said it wants to keep the show in prime-time hours.

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

Last year’s supporting actor winner, Ke Huy Quan, will be presenting that category alongside other former winners like Sam Rockwell and Christoph Waltz, and rehearsal already had him gobsmacked. “When I looked to my fellow winners, I couldn’t believe I get to be a part of this amazing group. Winning an Oscar is something you dreamed about, but you can’t imagine it would ever happen.”

Image

Credit…Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

Ryan Gosling is wearing a custom Gucci suit on the red carpet, one of three outfit changes he will make this evening — separate from his shirtless stage appearance with 75 other super-buff Kens.

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The actor Ryan Gosling poses on the red carpet wearing an all-black suit with a shiny trim on the blazer.
Credit…Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

Jessica Testa

Style reporter

Interestingly, Danielle Brooks is wearing the gown version. Their looks are both black, in very classic shapes, with shiny chainmail-esque trims on the chest.

Reporting from the Dolby Theater

 

Universal executives are not entering the ballroom with the swagger you would expect from the front-runners. Rather it’s nervous energy and a “fingers crossed” attitude that’s getting these “Oppenheimer” folks through the start of the show.

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

It’s been a tumultuous few months for Samy Burch, who’s Oscar-nominated with Alex Mechanik for co-writing “May December” but has had to deal with Warner Bros. yanking the release of “Coyote vs. Acme,” which she also wrote. “The day I found out that Warner Bros. wanted to do this in November, it was three hours before the actors strike ended, so we knew, ‘Oh my God, Charles [Melton] and Natalie [Portman] and Julianne [Moore] are going to be able to promote the movie and be at the premiere.’ So that felt like the highs and lows of an entire career in about six hours.”

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A woman with short brown hair and red lipstick, wearing a black dress, stands with a man wearing a black tuxedo and black and white polka dotted bowtie.
Credit…Kyle Buchanan for The New York Times

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Sinna Nasseri
Photographer on the Oscars red carpet

 

Here’s who we’ve spotted on the red carpet: Ramy Youssef; Nicolas Cage; Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade; Sandra HĂźller; and Paul Giamatti.

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The actor Ramy Youssef holds a camera with a blue strap and reviews a photo on the back screen.
Credit…Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

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Nicolas Cage stares straight ahead, awash in light by the camera's flash. He wears a tuxedo with a black bowtie.
Credit…Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

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Credit…Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

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A woman in the bottom left corner turns back to look at a woman in a black dress smiling at her.
Credit…Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

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The actor Paul Giamatti poses with his mouth agape. He wears a black tuxedo with a black bowtie, his goatee and mustache greyed and coiffed.
Credit…Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

Kyle Buchanan

March 10, 2024, 6:30 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

It will be a crowded stage when the acting winners are announced.

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A person speaks into a podium with an Oscar statue on it, onstage with a group of other people in tuxedos.
Tonight’s approach will resemble the one in 2009 when the announcement of the best actor winner, Sean Penn (“Milk”), was preceded by a raft of former victors.Credit…Gabriel Bouys/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Expect a crowded stage at tonight’s ceremony.

Before each of the acting winners is announced, five former winners of that category will introduce the current nominees.

For example, the supporting-actor category will be presented not just by last year’s winner, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” star Ke Huy Quan, but also by former winners Mahershala Ali, Sam Rockwell, Christoph Waltz and Tim Robbins. For the best-actress category, expect a crop of former winners that includes Michelle Yeoh, Charlize Theron and Jennifer Lawrence.

If this gambit sounds familiar, it’s because the Oscars first introduced it during the 2009 ceremony, where it was met with great acclaim. And though these tributes eliminate the “Oscar clips” that typically precede the nominees’ introductions, it should provide an emotional link between the former winners and the groups of contenders from whom they will welcome new members to their very exclusive club.

Jessica Testa

March 10, 2024, 6:23 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter

 

OK, I’ve had my first “hmm … interesting” sartorial moment of the night: the strange tank-top neckline of Emily Blunt’s champagne Schiaparelli gown. It juts off her body, floating unnaturally off her very tanned clavicle and shoulders.

 

Guy Trebay

March 10, 2024, 6:20 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

Can we talk about the elephant in the room? Are these the Ozempic Oscars?

Jessica Testa

March 10, 2024, 6:18 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter

 

Emma Stone reallocated the volume from her “Poor Things” sleeves into her minty Louis Vuitton peplum. The silk jacquard fabric was inspired by shells, she said in an E! interview. Is this a trend alert for Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus,” which Anya Taylor-Joy just described as the inspiration for her gown?

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The actress Emma Stone poses for the camera in a mint gown with an exaggerated peplum top.
Credit…Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

Sarah Bahr

March 10, 2024, 6:15 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Where is the dog from ‘Anatomy of a Fall’?

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Billie Eilish, in a yellow coat and flower-print head scarf, sits on the floor scratching a black-and-white dog’s chin.
Billie Eilish with Messi, the Border collie who plays the family dog, Snoop, in “Anatomy of a Fall,” at the Oscar nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton in Calif. last month.Credit…Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

Messi, the black-and-white Border collie who plays Snoop in the French courtroom thriller “Anatomy of a Fall,” has become the breakout star of awards season. After appearances at a press day for the film and at the academy nominees luncheon, where he wore a blue bow tie and snuggled with Billie Eilish, he’s achieved Jenny-the-donkey levels of popularity.

The internet, of course, has loved following his escapades — he even won a Palm Dog at the Cannes Film Festival last spring. But there was one group of people who weren’t happy with Messi’s recent show-stealing appearance at the nominees luncheon: The companies behind nominated films that are not named “Anatomy of a Fall.”

After a number of companies complained to the academy that Messi’s appearance had given “Anatomy of a Fall” an unfair advantage during the Oscars voting window, a source connected to the film told The Hollywood Reporter that Messi would not return to Los Angeles for Sunday’s ceremony. (Representatives for the academy did not comment.)

There is precedent for animal cameos at the Oscars: Uggie, the Parson Russell terrier who starred opposite Jean Dujardin in “The Artist,” was onstage when the film won best picture in 2012. And Jenny the donkey (actually an impostor) from “The Banshees of Inisherin” shared the stage with host Jimmy Kimmel for a bit last year.

It’s a shame Messi won’t be there because the news comes at a time when we’ve learned a valuable piece of intel: Messi can skateboard.

But don’t give up hope yet: There may be still a chance for a last-minute appearance.

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Jessica Testa

March 10, 2024, 6:10 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter

 

We’re starting to see some big textural moments in these gowns. Cynthia Erivo is wearing ruffled leather in emerald green by Louis Vuitton. (Is that an Elphaba reference?) Anya Taylor-Joy is wearing beaded and feathered scales by Dior, a gown she said was inspired by a 1949-50 original Christian Dior design. (She called her Tiffany necklace “spiky.”)

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A woman poses for the camera in a forest green dress with ballooning cap sleeves and two long rows of ruffles draped down to the floor.
Credit…Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

Jessica Testa

March 10, 2024, 6:01 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter

 

Billie Eilish, also nominated for “Barbie,” is going full schoolgirl/librarian in a Chanel blazer and tweed skirt — a departure from the men’s wear she’s been embracing on the red carpet this season. What I find more interesting about this look, though, is her very simple and traditional makeup. She’s gone more pink than punk, and is that a blowout I see? We are far from the neon-green-roots Billie of last year.

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The singer-songwriter Billie Eilish poses for the camera, her hair flipped mid-air over her shoulder. She wears a black blazer and black and white plaid skirt with a matching purse.
Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York Times

Kyle Buchanan

March 10, 2024, 6:00 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

Ramy Youssef is pleased that his “Poor Things” accent has been well-received. “One of the best compliments is people thinking I was British,” he said. “There’s a disappointment that comes with that, obviously, when people find out you’re from New Jersey.”

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The actor Ramy Youssef poses with a half-smile wearing an all-black suit with a red button on his lapel.
Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York Times

Video

 

 

0:01/0:17

1 00:00:00,000 —> 00:00:03,350 “One of the best compliments I’ve gotten is people 2 00:00:03,350 —> 00:00:04,230 thinking that I was British.” 3 00:00:04,230 —> 00:00:05,110 “Yeah.” 4 00:00:05,110 —> 00:00:06,770 “Who were not familiar with work I’d done before, 5 00:00:06,770 —> 00:00:09,440 and then seeing the film and going, wait, oh 6 00:00:09,440 —> 00:00:10,503 he’s from New Jersey? 7 00:00:10,503 —> 00:00:12,420 It was a disappointment that comes with that, 8 00:00:12,420 —> 00:00:14,712 obviously, when people find out you’re from New Jersey. 9 00:00:14,712 —> 00:00:17,194 But it’s a compliment acting-wise.”

“One of the best compliments I’ve gotten is people

 

 

 

CreditCredit…Alexandra Eaton/The New York Times

Guy Trebay

March 10, 2024, 5:57 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

What is black and white and red all over? The Oscars. Nice that the Academy returned to a red carpet that is actually red. Last year’s Champagne carpet washed everyone out.

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Jessica Testa

March 10, 2024, 5:55 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter

 

We have a “Barbie” pink spotting. America Ferrera, nominated for best supporting actress, has arrived in a sweetly sequined pink gown by Atelier Versace. She’s the first but can’t be the last! Although part of me wondered if the cast had grown sick of the color after that mega-pink multi-month press tour.

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The actress America Ferrera poses on the red carpet in front of a wave of pink flowers. She wears a form-fitting, floor length, shimmery pink gown.
Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York Times

Kyle Buchanan

March 10, 2024, 5:52 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

Rita Moreno will be presenting best supporting actress with four other former winners. “I was doing rehearsal yesterday and I have to tell you, I was really moved!” she said. “Doing that was so special. I was reading it and my eyes were watering.” The Oscars are not old hat for her. “I’m just thrilled to be here. I mean, I’m 92, for God’s sake.”

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A woman in a black dress covered in folded ruffles, poses with her arms outstretched, placing a hand on the human-sized gold Oscar with her long black gloves.
Credit…Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

Video

 

 

0:01/0:11

1 00:00:00,000 —> 00:00:02,780 You know, I’m just thrilled to be here. 2 00:00:02,780 —> 00:00:04,920 I mean, I’m 92 for God’s sake. 3 00:00:04,920 —> 00:00:06,210 This is amazing. 4 00:00:06,210 —> 00:00:12,080 I’m wearing this gorgeous gown by Badgley Mischka.

You know, I’m just thrilled to be here.

 

 

 

CreditCredit…Alexandra Eaton/The New York Times

Guy Trebay

March 10, 2024, 5:50 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

And the award for best Cary Grant successor goes to Matt Bomer in a purple Brunello Cucinelli dinner jacket so tautly tailored it looks as if he were stitched into it.

Kyle Buchanan

March 10, 2024, 5:48 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

The “Anatomy of a Fall” actors Swann Arlaud and Antoine Reinartz play courtroom foes, but on the Oscar red carpet, detente was reached as Reinartz fussed with Arlaud’s internet-famous gray locks. “Soft!” Reinartz said. This is Arlaud’s first Hollywood event for the film but he holds no hard feelings that Messi, the cast’s canine member, made it to Los Angeles weeks before he did. “He’s a really good dog,” Arlaud said.

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Matt Stevens

March 10, 2024, 5:45 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Will ‘Barbie,’ one of the year’s biggest films, win only one Oscar?

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A woman claps while dancing in a group of people with sparkly clothes and a colorful scene behind them.
“Barbie” is up for eight awards but is only the favorite for best original song.Credit…Warner Bros.

“Barbie,” the live-action adventure comedy based on the ubiquitous Mattel doll, became a cultural phenomenon last summer, grossing $1.4 billion at the global box office as moviegoers everywhere donned pink. So while the Oscars have traditionally celebrated prestige films, Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster was undeniable, scoring eight Oscar nominations.

But “Barbie” fans, brace yourselves: One of the biggest films of the year may leave the Academy Awards on Sunday night with just one win.

The film has been recognized in a range of categories — from best picture to costume design, although Gerwig notably failed to receive a best director nomination — but it is favored only in the original song category.

Billie Eilish’s heart-wringing track “What Was I Made For?” won song of the year at the Grammys, and it is the front-runner in its Oscars category. Even if there’s an upset, it may come from another of the movie’s nominees, Ryan Gosling’s showstopper “I’m Just Ken.”

But apart from the original song category, prospects look somewhat dim in Barbie Land. It’s not unprecedented for films to earn many Oscar nominations and then go home empty-handed, or close to it. For instance, the 1985 adaptation of “The Color Purple” received 11 nominations without a win; the same was true for the 1977 drama set in the ballet world, “The Turning Point.” (A new “Color Purple” adaptation scored just one nomination this year.) And in 2003, Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York” scored 10 nominations but no trophies.

The best potential parallel to “Barbie” may be Bradley Cooper’s 2018 remake of “A Star Is Born,” which was nominated for eight Oscars and walked away with only best song.

Douglas MorinoMatt Stevens

March 10, 2024, 5:42 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Douglas Morino and 

Douglas Morino reported from Los Angeles, and Matt Stevens from New York.

 

Some attendees were delayed by protesters calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.

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Protesters wearing keffiyehs and holding Palestinian flags march down a street.
Protesters near the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles held signs saying “Stand With Palestine” on Sunday.Credit…Carlin Stiehl/Reuters

Some Oscar attendees were delayed arriving at the Dolby Theater on Sunday when demonstrators calling for a cease-fire in Gaza filled lanes of traffic a few blocks south of the theater, according to the Los Angeles police.

There were at least three protests about the Israel-Hamas war, said Capt. Kelly Muniz, a head of the Los Angeles Police Department’s media relations division. She said there were between 500 and 700 protesters at the largest demonstration, near the Cinerama Dome, a closed movie theater about a mile away from the Dolby Theater.

At that protest, Laura Delhauer, an independent filmmaker who held a cardboard sign that read “Free Palestine,” said she hoped to put pressure on the U.S. government to end the conflict.

“I’m heartbroken to know that our hard-earned tax dollars are going to pay for the murder of innocent civilians,” she said.

Delhauer and other protesters marched down Sunset Boulevard as car horns honked, a helicopter hovered overhead and Los Angeles police officers in riot gear watched nearby.

Captain Muniz said the Police Department had arrested one person for battery of a police officer in relation to the protests, which may have been connected to one another.

By 4:30 p.m. local time, Captain Muniz said that the size of the protests had diminished but that some demonstrators were still seeking to “get into the gated areas” near the Oscars. After protesters tried to breach a chain-link fence near the entrance to the Dolby Theater, police officers secured it with zip ties.

The largest protest was organized by groups including Film Workers for Palestine and SAG-AFTRA Members for Ceasefire.

“With people from across the globe watching the Academy Awards, this is a Hail Mary opportunity,” said Anthony Bryson, one of the organizers. He added: “What’s happening in Gaza needs to have attention drawn to it. We wanted to bring as much resistance and visibility as possible.”

Shortly after the protest began, a man dressed in a dark blue suit stood across the street holding both a United States flag and an Israeli flag. After a brief verbal altercation, protesters grabbed the Israeli flag and threw it into the street. The man walked away, surrounded by volunteer safety officers who had been brought in by protest organizers.

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Guy Trebay

March 10, 2024, 5:41 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

“I wanted to shine like a diamond,” said the nominee Colman Domingo in a custom double-breasted tuxedo from Louis Vuitton with David Yurman jewelry (brooch alert: Domingo’s is pinned to his bow tie) and metal-tipped cowboy boots.

Jessica Testa

March 10, 2024, 5:39 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter

 

We reported earlier today that Artists4Ceasefire has asked many attendees tonight to wear red lapel pins — it looks like some actors, including Milo Machado-Graner and Swann Arlaud from “Anatomy of a Fall,” have opted for Palestinian flag pins.

Sinna Nasseri

March 10, 2024, 5:38 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Photographer on the Oscars red carpet

 

Eugene Lee Yang; Jehnny Beth, Swann Arlaud and Milo Machado-Graner from “Anatomy of a Fall”; Wim Wenders

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A man with cropped jet black hair poses in a billowing red gown and cropped red suit jacket. The outfit takes up the entire frame.
Credit…Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

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A young woman with slicked back hair and red lipstick stands left, next to her is a man with spiky gray hair and his hand draped over her shoulder. To the right is a young man with tousled brown hair who sticks his tongue out. All three wear all black.
Credit…Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

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A man with gray hair and round blue glasses stands with his hands up in front of his torso, his mouth ajar. He wears a black suit with a khaki pocketed vest underneath, a black shirt underneath that, and a thick white collar up the neck under all of the layers.
Credit…Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

Jessica Testa

March 10, 2024, 5:36 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter

 

It’s interesting that the directors Celine Song (“Past Lives”) and Justine Triet (“Anatomy of a Fall”) are both wearing suits, though with slightly different approaches — Song’s suit has a skirt and navy color-blocking, while Triet’s has sparkling pinstripes. A little subversion, a little modernity, but still within the Oscars’ super-trad framework.

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Guy Trebay

March 10, 2024, 5:35 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

Jewelry alert: The “Barbie” actor Simu Liu is squarely on trend in, yes, a black Fendi tuxedo over a silver-black T-shirt, but cinched with one of the jeweled brooches that are the new must-have accessory for men.

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A man in a black suit smiles for the camera. His suit blazer closes with a silver broach across the body on his right side.
Credit…Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

Sarah Bahr

March 10, 2024, 5:30 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

And the Oscars carpet color goes … back to red.

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Workers roll out the red carpet during preparations for the 96th Academy Awards.
Preparations take place in advance of the Oscars, which will be held on Sunday in Los Angeles.Credit…Noel West for The New York Times

After a red carpet reveal last year that upended the foundations of Hollywood’s staid tradition — it was champagne-colored — the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed on Wednesday that, this year, it would be returning to the traditional red for Sunday’s ceremony.

Last year’s departure from tradition was prompted by the introduction of an orange — sorry, sienna — tent over the carpet that offered the couture-clad arrivals shelter from a forecast rainstorm, which Lisa Love, a red-carpet creative consultant for the Oscars, told The New York Times necessitated the color change to prevent a color clash.

After initially considering a chocolate brown carpet, she said, they settled on the champagne color, which, next to the sienna tent, “was inspired by watching the sunset on a white-sand beach at the ‘golden hour’ with a glass of champagne in hand, evoking calm and peacefulness,” she told The Times. (A spokeswoman for the academy declined to comment.)

Ms. Love acknowledged in the interview that the 50,000-square-foot rug, which was very much giving “Shoes-off house!” vibes, might be a challenge to keep clean.

“It will probably get dirty — maybe it wasn’t the best choice,” Ms. Love said at the time. “We’ll see!” (Heavy rain indeed arrived, and online commentators also questioned the decision.)

Guy Trebay

March 10, 2024, 5:27 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

European fashion houses have been falling over themselves to dress Dominic Sessa of “The Holdovers,” a newbie movie actor who may single-handedly bring ’70s sideburns back. Yet whom did he elect to wear for the Oscars but that most home-grown of design-world titans — Tom Ford?

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Kyle Buchanan

March 10, 2024, 5:20 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

“J.L.C. in the house!” Last year’s supporting actress winner, Jamie Lee Curtis, just flew in from Providence, R.I., where she’s shooting the next James L. Brooks film. “It’s an unexpected moment in your life if you have your name called,” she said. “Look, it’s an awards show, but it’s a moment in a creative life that maybe you dreamed of, maybe you didn’t. But whoever has their name called will then forever have that hinge moment forever, like what happened for me. It’s been transformative.”

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The actress Jamie Lee Curtis poses for the camera with a big smile and her right hand on her wrist. She wears a black long-sleeved gown and a thick gold tube bracelet.
Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York Times

Video

 

 

0:01/0:23

1 00:00:00,000 —> 00:00:03,932 Well, it’s an unexpected 2 00:00:03,932 —> 00:00:09,190 moment in your life if you have your name called. 3 00:00:09,190 —> 00:00:11,781 It’s a moment in a creative life 4 00:00:11,781 —> 00:00:13,240 that maybe you dream about. 5 00:00:13,240 —> 00:00:14,030 Maybe you don’t. 6 00:00:14,030 —> 00:00:15,500 Maybe you think could happen, 7 00:00:15,500 —> 00:00:17,690 maybe you think, like me, would never happen, 8 00:00:17,690 —> 00:00:19,600 and then it does. 9 00:00:19,600 —> 00:00:23,466 And then you move forward from that moment.

Well, it’s an unexpected

 

 

 

CreditCredit…Alexandra Eaton/The New York Times

Callie Holtermann

March 10, 2024, 5:20 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Some on the red carpet plan to wear red pins in support of a cease-fire in Gaza.

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The members of the band boygenius, wearing white suits, stand in front of a black wall. They wear black ties, and each has pinned a single pink carnation to her lapel. Under the flowers are bright red, circular pins.
From left, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker of boygenius at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles last month.Credit…Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Some attendees of the Academy Awards on Sunday night plan to wear red pins calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, a notable exception to an awards season in which many Hollywood stars have been reluctant to draw attention to the conflict.

The pins represent the attendees’ alignment with Artists4Ceasefire, a group of celebrities and members of the entertainment industry who signed an open letter urging President Biden to call for a cease-fire. The nearly 400 signatories include Bradley Cooper and America Ferrera, who are both Oscar nominees this year, as well as Cate Blanchett, Drake, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.

“The pin symbolizes collective support for an immediate and permanent cease-fire, the release of all of the hostages and for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza,” Artists4Ceasefire said in a news release. “Compassion must prevail,” the release continued.

Guy Trebay

March 10, 2024, 5:19 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

An overlooked element of Oscars dressing is performers changing up their images so casting agents see them in a different light. Case in point: the leading-man message of Jeremy Allen White’s Saint Laurent tuxedo at the SAG Awards, a radical switch-up from the thirst-trap image of his recent Calvin Klein underwear campaign.

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Guy Trebay

March 10, 2024, 5:16 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

Something of an Old Hollywood theme emerging, as celebrities forgo the sort of costume-y getups best reserved for the Met gala in favor of classic glamour.

Kyle Buchanan

March 10, 2024, 5:13 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

The “Holdovers” star Dominic Sessa brought his sister Bella to the Oscars: “I asked my mom and she said, ‘I went to another thing with you, Bella needs to go.’ I was like, ‘Say less!’” As you can imagine, Bella was thrilled. “I saw his text message saying, do you want to go to the Oscars. My response was, hell yeah!”

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A young woman with long brown hair, wearing a black dress with a gold buckle across the chest, stands with her brother, a young actor with curly brown hair wearing a black tuxedo.
Credit…Kyle Buchanan for The New York Times

Video

 

 

0:01/0:32

“Was this a hotly disputed ticket within your family, this plus-one?” “So I asked my mom if she — you know, I was like: ‘All right, maybe you can come. Maybe Bella, my sister, can come.’ And she was like: ‘I went to another thing with you. Bella needs to go.’ And I was like, ‘Say less!’” “So I win. Yeah.” “So what it is like, when you’re like: ‘OK, I’ve got the invite. Now what?’” “I remember being, like, I saw his text message, like, ‘You want to go to the Oscars?’ And all my response was: ‘Hell yeah! Like, of course I want to go to the Oscars.’ And just, like, planning it just felt so unreal these last two weeks.”

“Was this a hotly disputed ticket within your family,

 

 

 

CreditCredit…Alexandra Eaton/The New York Times

Jessica Testa

March 10, 2024, 5:08 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter

 

I am slightly regretting not throwing in black with my gown color predictions — it seemed too obvious, and celebrities on the carpet have been gravitating more toward white, as neutrals go. Anyway, Sandra Hüller is here to prove me wrong! In Schiaparelli, it appears. (The sharp sleeves, black velvet and bedazzled lock give it away.)

 

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

The “Flamin’ Hot” director Eva Longoria “chooses nothing” she wears on the red carpet. “I’m a Barbie doll and they put things on me,” said the “Desperate Housewives” actress, reaching for assistance from her off-camera stylist for a brand check on her diamond necklace. For the record, it was Boucheron.

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The actress Eva Longoria poses in a black, form-fitting gown with an angular bodice. She wears a silver necklace of two semi-circles with a gem in between.
Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York Times

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Sinna Nasseri

March 10, 2024, 5:03 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Photographer on the Oscars red carpet

 

Chang Li Hua, left, and Yi Yan Fuei of the nominated documentary short “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó” arrive on the carpet.

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Two older women wearing sunglasses are decked out in red and black suit sets and sitting in wheelchairs with their hands in the air. Two men in tuxedos stand behind them.
Credit…Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

 

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

The “American Fiction” director Cord Jefferson is slaying in classic dinner jacket, white shirt, black tie and — super chic — a red carnation boutonniere.

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A woman in an orange halter gown poses with a man wearing a black tuxedo and thick black framed glasses. A human-sized gold Oscar looms in the background.
Credit…Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

 

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

At the Oscars, many hopefuls may take on the classic tuxedo.

Image

Credit…The New York Times

Winners and losers, orgies of gratitude, generous lashings of false humility — these are the things we expect from the Oscars. Beyond that, there are truly no certainties but one. There will be tuxedos.

Durable, serviceable, flexible, the tuxedo is a time-tested form of combat gear for night owls, the epitome of uniform dressing and yet, for some reason, a form of suit that gives people the willies. It’s prom drag, they think. Or that ill-fitting rental sack with a stale Mentos in the pocket. Lately, though, the perception of how to wear evening clothes is changing, never more obviously so than on the red carpet, where in a cavalcade of penguin suits, both traditional and innovative, celebrities and their stylists have been giving us a master class in dressing up.

At the recent Screen Actors Guild Awards, Bradley Cooper, Steven Yeun and Matt Bomer were close to impeccable wearing more or less regulation black tie, while others in the celebrity cohort made a point of showing how truly flexible this sartorial warhorse can be. The tuxedo was tweaked almost to the point of redefinition, with versions of it rendered single- or double-breasted, adorned with crisscross lapels and cropped like a bellhop’s bolero. There were tuxedos that night in bronze, brown, midnight blue, lipstick red, blush pink and, most memorably, ivory, as Jeremy Allen White bid to switch up his thirst-trap underwear-model image for something more suggestive of a leading man.

Dressed in a Saint Laurent tuxedo over an open shirt and with a diamond Schlumberger Bird on a Rock brooch pinned to his lapel, Mr. White evoked adjectives not often associated with millennial bros. Like a short-king avatar of Cary Grant, he was sophisticated, suave and — let’s just say it — debonair.

In the realm of replicating old time Hollywood glamour, Mr. White had plenty of competition that evening. And in light of the parade of elegantly tuxedo-clad celebrities like Tyler James Williams (baby blue double-breasted Amiri), Glen Powell (shawl-collar bronze Brioni), Ryan Gosling (dove gray Gucci) and Cillian Murphy (pinstriped Saint Laurent), it seemed clear what to expect on the Oscars red carpet.

That is, no wardrobe stunts. Those are better left to the glorified costume party that is the Met gala. The Oscars, after all, is Hollywood’s big date night, in that it has a certain instructive quality of use to any civilian preparing for a red-letter day.

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Jessica Testa

March 10, 2024, 5:00 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter

 

The E! host Laverne Cox is back for her third Oscars. She’s an avid collector of Thierry Mugler designs, and she’s wearing a vintage Mugler dress — that corset is silk lamé — from 1986, as well as earrings from 1987.

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The actress Laverne Cox poses for the camera with her arms outstretched, a silky black scarf snakes in the air. She wears a gown with a shiny bodice and black skirt.
Credit…Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for The New York Times

Guy Trebay

March 10, 2024, 4:54 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

As my colleague Kyle Buchanan suggests, almost as hotly anticipated as a gold statue tonight by Oscars attendees are the In-N-Out sliders that are an after-party staple. Celebrities have been starving themselves for months to fit these clothes.

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

“We made it!” said the “Past Lives” star John Magaro. What does tonight have in store for him? “I’m planning to eat about six In-N-Out burgers at Vanity Fair, popping out of my clothes, and sleeping all day tomorrow.”

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A man in a black suit with a silver chain necklace stands with his left hand across his chest, a watch with a black leather band shines on his wrist.
Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York Times

Guy Trebay

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

Celebrities can have as many as four different designer-sponsored outfits over the course of the evening, changing for the red carpet, for presentation or performance and at least once again for after-parties like the one Vanity Fair has been hosting since 1994.ADVER

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

Christine Vachon (who produced “Past Lives” with Pamela Koffler and David Hinojosa) is nominated for her first Oscar after a storied career shepherding films like “Carol,” “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” How’s it feel? “I know the cliche is no one ever does it for the awards,” she said, “but it’s nice when it happens!”

Video

I know it’s the cliché, Liz,
CreditCredit…Alexandra Eaton/The New York Times

 

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

Red, gold and white may be the red-carpet colors for women tonight. For men, expect a continuation of the recent runway trend back to classic tailoring — that is, tuxedos.

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A red gown and a champagne gown brush the floor of the red carpet.
Credit…Sinna Nasseri for The New York Times

 

Style reporter

 

In terms of predictions — because what are the Oscars without predictions? — here is what I think we’ll see tonight as the carpet revs up. The colors of the night will be red, gold and white. (Always.) Gowns will be tight and revealing; the shift toward “naked dressing” is real, and I’ll expect we’ll see some elegant versions of that. (Beyond the shirtless Kens!) And everyone will freak out over Zendaya.

Guy Trebay

March 10, 2024, 4:33 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

Over 75 shirtless Kens are expected onstage for Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” performance. Nakedness is also fashion

 

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

Will there be political protests at the ceremony?

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A person in a tuxedo speaks into a microphone at a podium with another person in a tuxedo standing next to him.
At the BAFTA Awards with “The Zone of Interest” director Jonathan Glazer, left, the producer James Wilson was one of the few winners this season to refer to Israel and Gaza in an acceptance speech.Credit…Kate Green/BAFTA, via Getty Images

At a divisive moment in the country, will the discord be reflected at the Oscars? The Los Angeles Police Department has said it is beefing up its presence outside the Dolby Theater in anticipation of possible protests over the Israel-Hamas war. But inside the ceremony? Kyle Buchanan, who covers awards season for The Times, wrote about what he expects to see:

After two years in which the war in Ukraine was acknowledged at nearly every awards show, the conflict between Israel and Hamas has gone unmentioned at most ceremonies. “It’s too fraught,” a studio executive told me after a small protest outside the Independent Spirit Awards. “People are worried about their careers.”

Cognitive dissonance is always required when global atrocities happen during a glamorous awards season. There’s even a best picture nominee about that kind of selective thinking: “The Zone of Interest,” in which a well-off Nazi couple exult in their good fortune while living next door to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Accepting one of three BAFTA awards for the film last month in London, the producer James Wilson acknowledged those blinders, becoming one of the few artists this season to mention the current situation directly.

“A friend wrote me after seeing the film the other day that he couldn’t stop thinking about the walls we construct in our lives which we choose not to look behind,” Wilson said in his speech. “Those walls aren’t new, from before or during or since the Holocaust, and it seems stark right now that we should care about innocent people being killed in Gaza or Yemen in the same way we think about innocent people being killed in Mariupol or in Israel. Thank you for recognizing a film that asks us to think in those spaces.”

I’m sure that executives at ABC, the network broadcasting the Oscars, would prefer that participants stay silent about these issues, fearing audience backlash or tune-out. But if “The Zone of Interest” wins the international-film Oscar, as most pundits believe it will, I wonder what we’ll hear.

Guy Trebay

March 10, 2024, 4:28 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

Style reporter and men’s wear critic

 

Haute couture and black tie will be the watchwords on this, the most sartorially conservative night on the red-carpet circuit. Stunt dressing discouraged. Break the internet another day.

 

Photographer on the Oscars red carpet

 

Dominic Sessa of “The Holdovers” arrives on the red carpet.

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A young man with curly brown hair in a suit stands with his mouth agape.
Credit…Sinna Nasseri for The New York TimesADVERTISEMENT

The Projectionist, at the Dolby Theater

 

The actor Mamoudou Athie is an animated good-luck charm, starring in Pixar’s “Elemental” and voicing a parrot in the English-language dub of “The Boy and the Heron.” Though he got to know the Pixar folks well — “These guys are geniuses” — Athie still hasn’t met the 83-year-old “Heron” director Hayao Miyazaki in person. When I mentioned that could happen tonight, he gasped: “Oh man. Oh man!” What would he say? “Um … thank you, sir!”

Video

 

 

0:01/0:22

1 00:00:00,000 —> 00:00:02,840 “Pixar is known for consistently — 2 00:00:02,840 —> 00:00:04,950 they won’t let you down in terms of quality. 3 00:00:04,950 —> 00:00:07,088 They, whether you like the movie or not, 4 00:00:07,088 —> 00:00:09,380 you are going to know that these people tried their very 5 00:00:09,380 —> 00:00:10,370 best.” 6 00:00:10,370 —> 00:00:12,177 “Have you gotten to meet Miyazaki?” 7 00:00:12,177 —> 00:00:13,161 “No, I haven’t.” 8 00:00:13,161 —> 00:00:14,717 “OK, well tonight, make that happen. 9 00:00:14,717 —> 00:00:16,300 I mean, I’m assuming he’s here, right?” 10 00:00:16,300 —> 00:00:16,930 “Oh, man. 11 00:00:16,930 —> 00:00:17,620 Oh, man.” 12 00:00:17,620 —> 00:00:19,287 “What are you going to do if you see him?” 13 00:00:19,287 —> 00:00:20,504 “I’ll just be like, ‘Thank you sir.’” 14 00:00:20,504 —> 00:00:22,272 [Laughter]

“Pixar is known for consistently —
CreditCredit…Alexandra Eaton/The New York Times

Sarah Bahr

March 10, 2024, 4:05 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Here’s what you can expect at the ceremony, including the presenters and the performances.

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A smiling Jimmy Kimmel in a dark suit and tie with a white shirt walks out of the red carpet area with a woman next to him and other people behind him.
Jimmy Kimmel is the host for the fourth time.Credit…Carlos Barria/Reuters

You may have heard that “Oppenheimer,” with a pack-leading 13 nominations, is a lock to win best picture. This is accurate. But even if we’re certain how the night will end, the getting there is the fun part. Here’s what to expect:

Who is hosting?

Jimmy Kimmel is back for a second consecutive year, his fourth time overall as host of the ceremony. That ties him with Whoopi Goldberg and Jack Lemmon, but puts him behind Johnny Carson (with five) and Billy Crystal (nine). And it’s still miles back from the record-holder, Bob Hope, with 19.

Who is presenting?

The “Field of Dreams” format is back! For the first time since the 2009 ceremony, five past winners in each acting category will introduce the five current nominees for each award, and then announce the winner together.

The academy never reveals which presenters will be announcing which awards before the ceremony, but all four of last year’s acting winners — Brendan Fraser (actor), Michelle Yeoh (actress), Ke Huy Quan (supporting actor) and Jamie Lee Curtis (supporting actress) — are in the presenter lineup.

Also set to take the Dolby stage on Sunday night: Mahershala Ali, Bad Bunny, Nicolas Cage, Chris Hemsworth, Dwayne Johnson, Michael Keaton, Jennifer Lawrence, Matthew McConaughey, Rita Moreno, Lupita Nyong’o, Octavia Spencer, Ramy Youssef and Zendaya.

Who will be performing?

All five of the best original song nominees will be represented: “I’m Just Ken” from “Barbie” (performed by Ryan Gosling and Mark Ronson); “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot” (performed by Becky G); “It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony” (performed by Jon Batiste); “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon” (performed by Scott George and the Osage Singers); and “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie” (performed by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell).

Sarah Bahr

March 10, 2024, 4:00 p.m. ETMarch 10, 2024

March 10, 2024

 

Here’s how to watch Sunday night’s ceremony.

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Two Oscar statues are wrapped in plastic in front of a gold curtain. In the background are blurred figures.
Preparations have long been underway for the ceremony.Credit…Noel West for The New York Times

Watching the Oscars doesn’t usually require an instruction manual.

But this year, to make sure you catch the goodness of Ryan Gosling performing “I’m Just Ken” — in what we can only hope will be a fake fur coat — there are two crucial steps you must take.

 

Kanwal Nijjar Sodhi

Kanwal Sodhi am The Creator Editor of ReviewFitHealth.com.

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