The long-awaited 96th annual Academy Awards took place on March 10th, continuing this year’s exceptional award season. 2023 in film made history with the popularity of the Barbenheimer phenomenon, which made the Oscars one of the most anticipated events of 2024. The ceremony brought together some of beloved A-listers and ensured that it would be one to remember forever.
Roll out the red carpet!
This year, the traditional red carpet replaced last year’s beige carpet. Once again, celebrities arrived early to show off their stunning outfits. Among the attendees, we could see the cast of Barbie, Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, Poor Things, Anatomy of a Fall, or The Color Purple. Other celebrities like Zendaya, Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Yeoh, or Lupita Nyong’o also showed up, some to present.
[Read about last year’s ceremony here.]
Barbenheimer domination
The performers undoubtedly stole the spotlight from the winners. Top of the leaderboard was Ryan Gosling’s I’m Just Ken – the actor performed Ken’s popular song from Barbie, causing a lot of swooning and giggling in the audience. At one point, he also interacted with his La La Land co-star, Emma Stone. The performance became a highlight of the night, and Billie Eilish’s performance of What Was I Made For? only added to the Barbie fever.
This was not Ryan Gosling’s first time on the Oscar stage. Earlier, the actor was joined by Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer) to celebrate the stunt community in Hollywood. The two stars made fun of the rivarly between Barbie and Oppenheimer in their speech.
The host, Jimmy Kimmel, also entertained the guests. And then, there was John Cena, who might’ve showed a bit too much…
And the Oscar goes to…
The ceremony was particularly special this year – the Oscars decided to bring back the Fab 5 format from 2009, when five former winners came on stage to present the Best Actress award.
Cillian Murphy, who took home his Best Actor award, was given the statue by former winners Brendan Fraser, Nicolas Cage, Ben Kingsley, Forest Whitaker, and Matthew McConaughey. The Best Actress award went to Emma Stone, who was welcomed on stage by winners Sally Field, Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Yeoh, and Jessica Lange. The presenters gave a short speech about every actor in the category, making it an extraordinary night for each nominee. The same format applied to Best Supporting Actress, won by Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers), and Best Supporting Actor, won by Robert Downey Jr (Oppenheimer).
Here are some other winners:
Best Original Song – What Was I Made For?, Billie Eilish and FINNEAS
Best Animated Feature – The Boy and the Heron, Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki
Best International Feature Film – The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer
Best Director – Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
And just like that, 2024 award season is nearing its end. Let’s see what the Oscars bring in 2025!
[Cover photo: Freepik]