'Oppenheimer' sweeps Oscars
Saturday March 16 2024
Jennifer Lame, with the Oscar for Best Film Editing for "Oppenheimer" and Cillian Murphy with the Best Actor Oscar for "Oppenheimer", pose at the Governors Ball following the Oscars show at the 96th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, US on March 10, 2024. PHOTO | REUTERS
Biographical film “Oppenheimer” (2023) that tells the story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb scooped seven accolades at the 2023 Academy Awards competition (the Oscars).
Cillian Murphy plays the role of Oppenheimer, who led the Manhattan Project that created an atomic bomb during World War II.
The biopic is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer that premiered on July 21, 2023 in the US.
Oppenheimer dominated proceedings winning the best picture award, Murphy taking the best actor award, with the best director going to Christopher Nolan, and the best supporting actor award went to Robert Downey Jr for his portrayal of US government official Lewis Strauss.
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“Oppenheimer” also won best cinematography, best film editing, and best original score.
The 96th Oscars were held on March 10 at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, US.
In his acceptance speech Murphy, said: “We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or for worse, we are all living in Oppenheimer’s world, so I’d like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.”
“I’d like to thank my terrible childhood, and the Academy, in that order,” Downey Jr joked.
“I needed this job more than it needed me,” he continued. “I stand here before you a better man because of it.”
Accepting the night’s top prize, Nolan said: “To the Academy — movies are just a little bit over 100 years old, we don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here. But to know that you think I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me.”
The other films that won big at the ceremony were Poor Things, which took four and The Zone of Interest winning two.
Poor Things took best actress for Emma Stone, best costume design, best makeup and hairstyling, and best production design.
The Zone of Interest won best sound, and best international feature film.
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Having been nominated for eight prizes, “Barbie,” the highest-grossing film of 2023, only took home the best original song award for “What was I made for?”by Billie Eilish.
Best documentary feature went to the Ukrainian film 20 Days In Mariupol, directed by Mstyslav Chernov.
In his acceptance speech Chernov, said: “I’m probably the first director on this stage to say I wish I would never have made this film. I wish to be able to exchange this [for] Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities.”
After nearly a decade covering international conflicts, including the Russia-Ukraine war, for The Associated Press, “20 Days In Mariupol” is Chernov’s first feature film. The film draws on Chernov’s daily news dispatches and personal footage of his own country at war. It offers a vivid, harrowing account of civilians caught in the siege, as well as a window into what it’s like to report from a conflict zone.
Chernov’s reporting in Mariupol earned the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. He was named 2016 Camera Operator of the Year and 2015 Young Talent of the Year by the UK’s Royal Television Society.