UPDATED with Best Picture win. Oppenheimer capped off a big night by winning three of the last four Oscars, including being named Best Picture.
The period blockbuster won seven statuettes in all, after coming in as the favorite of the field with 13 nominations. Released last July, the film managed the remarkable feat of grossing more than $950 million at the global box office despite a three-hour running time, long sections shot in black and white, and a script packed with dialogue about nuclear physics.
“Any of us who make movies know that you kind of dream of this moment,” producer Emma Thomas said in accepting the night’s final trophy. “But it seemed so unlikely that it would actually happen. And now I’m standing here, and everything’s kind of gone out of my head.”
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Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy captured Oscars for Best Director and Best Actor, respectively, lifting Oppenheimer‘s tally to six wins on the night.
“We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb and, for better or worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world,” Murphy said in accepting his trophy. “So, I would really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.” As the crowd applauded, he hoisted his Oscar above his head.
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Ludwig Goransson won Oppenheimer‘s fourth Oscar of the night for Best Original Score.
The two-time Oscar winner (the first was for Black Panther) acknowledged director Christopher Nolan in his acceptance speech. “It was your idea to have a violin in the score,” he said. “That allowed me to work and collaborate with my wonderful wife and acclaimed violinist, Serena Goransson.” The two recorded at night, he recalled. “The result of that was amazing and it really set a nice tone for the project.”
Original Score was one category presumed to be one of Oppenheimer’s field-leading 13 nominations to end up in the win column, given that Goransson’s award season run had already been headlined by Grammy and BAFTA honors.
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Hoyte van Hoytema won Oppenheimer‘s third Oscar of the night, capturing the statuette for Cinematography.
“To all the aspiring filmmakers out there, I would like to say: Please try shooting that incredible new hit thing called celluloid,” he said in accepting the trophy. “It’s much easier, they think, and it makes things look so much better.”
Van Hoytema had been nominated previously for Nolan’s Dunkirk.
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Oppenheimer won the Oscar for Best Editing, with Jennifer Lame acknowledged with her first win from her first career nomination.
Lame acknowledged husband-wife producing-directing duo Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan in her acceptance speech. She called Thomas a “bad-ass producer,” saying she makes “these complicated, beautiful films, and you’re unflappable and I’m in awe of you.
“Chris Nolan, you’re OK too,” she joked.
Turning more serious, she continued, “I was terrified, like I am right now, when I first got hired to work to work with you. It felt like you took a huge risk hiring me but you never made me feel that way. You instilled so much confidence in me and I looked forward to going to work every day.”
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Robert Downey Jr. got Oppenheimer on the Oscar-night board, taking home the award for Actor in a Supporting Role.
“I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy – in that order,” he deadpanned in the opening stretch of another charismatic acceptance speech.
Oppenheimer came into the ceremony as a favorite to capture an armful of statuettes, including in some of the top categories. The film received 13 nominations and has continued its momentum throughout awards season, following its long run to more than $950 million in global box office. In the first hour of the show, it was Poor Things ringing up three wins, taking the early lead.
Downey, though, had long ago emerged as a heavy favorite, cementing his chances with a widely hailed speech at January’s Golden Globe Awards. He earned some of the best reviews of his career for his performance as Lewis Strauss, the nemesis of Murphy’s titular character.
“Here’s my little secret: I needed this job more than it needed me,” Downey said. Director Christopher Nolan “knew it. [Producer Emma Thomas] made sure that she surrounded me with one of the great casts and crews of all time, Emily [Blunt], Cillian [Murphy], Matt Damon. It was fantastic and I stand here before you a better man because of it.”
“What we do is important and the stuff that we decide to make is important,” Downey went on before making a left turn and cracking, “So, back to my publicist …”
Downey acknowledged a number of members of his team, closing with a shoutout to Hansen, Jacobsen partner, Tom Hansen, who has been his entertainment lawyer for 40 years. Downey joked, alluding to his struggles with substance abuse and a reputation (since overcome) for erratic behavior that Hansen spent half of those years “trying to get me insured and bailing me out of the hoosegow,” a slang term for jail. “Thanks, bro!”
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