The Nepal Weekly 
March 12, 2024
Cillian Murphy has become the first Irish-born winner of the best actor award, as Oppenheimer swept the Oscars.
The film dominated proceedings, winning best picture, best director for Christopher Nolan, and best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr.
The event saw Oppenheimer win altogether seven prizes, while Poor Things bagged four – including best actress for Emma Stone – and The Zone of Interest scored two.
Downey Jr bagged best supporting actor for his portrayal of US government official Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer.
A somewhat disorientated-looking Al Pacino appeared to forget to introduce the 10 nominees for best picture, before going straight to announcing Oppenheimer as the winner of the night’s top prize.
Oppenheimer also won best editing, original score and cinematography. However, it lost several other technical categories, denying it a record-breaking number of wins.
Instead, the unusual steampunk drama Poor Things won best production design, costume design, make-up and hairstyling, as well as best actress for Emma Stone. The Yorgos Lanthimos film follows an infant whose brain has been implanted into the body of an adult woman, who then goes on an adventure of discovery across the world.
Best actress was the only major category that awards watchers had struggled to call – it had been seen as a dead heat between Stone and Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon.
But Martin Scorsese’s drama about a string of Osage murders in the 1920s ended empty handed despite being nominated in 10 categories at the ceremony.
Barbie, the highest-grossing film of 2023, grabbed only one of the eight prizes it was nominated for – best original song for What Was I Made For? by Billie Eilish.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph won best supporting actress for her portrayal of a school chef who is trying to cope with the death of her son in The Holdovers. The Zone of Interest won best sound and became the first British film ever to win best international feature.
