On Sunday, March 10th, the 96th Academy Awards went live on ABC. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the 2024 Oscars was a night of iconic looks, emotional moments, and the occasional cringe-worthy joke. Here we take a look at all the highlights of the night, including the response to the awards won. We also answer the question that’s on everyone’s minds: who won Barbenheimer?
The Academy Awards Ceremony
Before the awards got started, we were treated to red-carpet celebrity fashion, complete with interviews being conducted by a newly-pregnant Vanessa Hudgens and Julianne Hough. Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo gave a nod to their upcoming film, Wicked, by wearing pale pink and deep green. The show-stealer goes to twelve-year-old Porché Brinker, whose Cinderella-esque dress sparkled as she stood on stage for best Documentary Short Film, The Last Repair Shop.
Kimmel started off the ceremony with one of what would later become two (John Mulaney had to join in on the fun) jabs at Madame Web, a recent movie that was quickly reduced into a meme by the internet. He also acknowledged Barbie as “the movie of the year”, despite the fact that (spoiler alert!) Oppenheimer would go on to win seven Oscars (including Best Picture) while Barbie would win one (Original Song). But before we get into the highlights of the evening, let’s take a look at the awards won.
The Oscar Winners
- Actor in a Leading Role: Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer (First Oscar nomination and win)
- Actor in a Supporting Role: Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer (First Oscar win)
- Actress in a Leading Role: Emma Stone in Poor Things
- Actress in a Supporting Role: Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers (First Oscar nomination and win)
- Animated Feature Film: The Boy And The Heron
- Cinematography: Oppenheimer
- Costume Design: Poor Things
- Directing: Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer (First Oscar win)
- Documentary Feature Film: 20 Days in Mariupol (First Oscar win in Ukrainian history)
- Documentary Short Film: The Last Repair Shop
- Film Editing: Oppenheimer
- International Feature Film: The Zone of Interest
- Makeup and Hairstyling: Poor Things
- Music (Original Score): Oppenheimer
- Music (Original Song): What Was I Made For?
- Best Picture: Oppenheimer
- Production Design: Poor Things
- Animated Short Film: War is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko
- Live Action Short Film: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
- Sound: The Zone of Interest
- Visual Effects: Godzilla Minus One
- Writing (Adapted Screenplay): American Fiction
- Writing (Original Screenplay): Anatomy of a Fall
Twitter’s Reaction
However, it wouldn’t be the Oscars without some controversies. Twitter’s reaction to Emma Stone winning Actress in a Leading Role over Lily Gladstone was a mixed bag. While most praised Stone’s performance in Poor Things, others believed Gladstone deserved the award instead, especially since Poor Things walked away with four Oscars, while Killers of the Flower Moon didn’t win anything.
But perhaps the bigger buzz on Twitter was caused by John Cena presenting the award for Costume Design…completely naked. Or maybe it was the two Oscar winners that didn’t even show up to receive their awards, that being Hayao Miyasaki for The Boy and the Heron and Wes Anderson for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.
The showstopper performance of the night, however, has to go to Ryan Gosling joining his fellow Kens from Barbie for a live performance of I’m Just Ken. Gosling was also joined onstage by Slash, the lead guitarist of Guns N’ Roses. In fact, we were treated to live performances of all nominees for Best Original Song, including the winner, also from Barbie, What Was I Made For? by Billie Eilish.
The Takeways
Lots of history was made at this Oscars, which is always an exciting and progressive achievement for this awards ceremony. Billie Eilish is the first artist of this century to win both Song of the Year at the Grammys and Best Original Song at the Academy Awards. Cillian Murphy is the first Irish man to win Actor in a Leading Role. And most importantly, Anatomy of a Fall star Messi the Dog did indeed make it to the ceremony. Despite it being rumoured that he would not attend, the seven-year old border collie was there clapping with his fellow co-stars.
Overall, the 2024 Oscars were full of iconic moments. The ribbing between Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, and Michael Keaton, the emotional duet between Andrea Bocelli and his son during the In Memorium portion of the ceremony, and Al Pacino’s confusing but hilarious delivery of who won Best Picture are just a few. This Academy Awards proved to be another successful ceremony. It gave us all a night of glamourous goings-on and had us looking forward to more movies, more awards, and more memorable moments. And while Oppenheimer may have won more awards, I’d like to think Barbie won more hearts.
Read more about the 2024 Oscars here.
Check the buzz out yourself here!
Hazel
March 14, 2024 at 8:53 pm
Best coverage of the Oscars!