There was nothing that could stop the steamroller that was Oppenheimer from rolling through the 96th annual Academy Awards Sunday and picking up seven trophies out of its 11 nominations, including of course the big one, best picture.
The Oppenhomies, as they have taken to calling themselves during this awards season also picked up best director for Christopher Nolan, best actor for Cillian Murphy and best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr. and original score for Ludwig Goransson, all of which had been practically pre-ordained by prior guild and critics wins.
Yet the Barbenheimer phenomenon that took last summer’s box office by storm still had strong tailwinds at the Oscars. After his delightful on-stage sparring with Oppenheimer’s Emily Blunt, Barbie’s Ken Ryan Gosling practically lit the stage on fire with his vivid, anthemic performance of “I’m Just Ken,” complete with a dancing troupe of other Kens, costumed exactly as dancers were in Marilyn Monroe’s performance of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”
Like Marilyn, and like Barbie herself, Gosling was also garbed in hot pink. He involved key players from the film, director Greta Gerwig, producer and star Margot Robbie and co-star America Ferrera in his energetic, joyful sing-along – and also included his La La land co-star Emma Stone.
The live musical performance will certainly go down in Oscar history books, rivaled only recently by Eminem’s surprise performance of his Academy award-winning song “Lose Yourself” at the 2020 ceremony, nearly two decades after it had actually taken the trophy.
But it was Barbie’s other nominated song, “What Was I Made for?” movingly performed by Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell, that won the Oscar for best original song.
It was Barbie’s only trophy of the night after coming into the show with eight nominations. Also shut out, after 10 nods, was Killers of the Flower Moon, whose lead actress Lily Gladstone was widely expected to take the statuette which went to Poor Things’ Emma Stone.
A seemingly shocked Stone– although the tea leaves did tell of her potential win as best actress—took the stage to accept with a broken back zipper of her gown, saying she must have busted it open during “I’m Just Ken.”
Poor Things had a prosperous night on Sunday, also taking Oscars for costume design, makeup and hairstyling and production design.
It was a good night also for Cord Jefferson, the first-time filmmaker whose American Fiction scored five nominations, as he took home the trophy for best adapted screenplay. He pleaded for Hollywood to take more risks, include more underrepresented voices and instead of making one $200 million picture to make 10 $20 million pictures.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph was anointed the winner of best supporting actress for her role in The Holdovers to absolutely no one surprise and everyone’s joy, even bringing her co-star Paul Giamatti to tears.
Leaving nearly everyone in laughter, host Jimmy Kimmel closed out the ceremonies by reading a bad review of his hosting performance by former president Donald Trump. “I’m surprised you’re still up watching this,” Kimmel said. “Isn’t it past your jail time?”
Here is the full list of winners:
Best picture: “Oppenheimer”
Best director: Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
Best actress: Emma Stone, “Poor Things”
Best actor: Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”
Best supporting actress: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “The Holdovers”
Best supporting actor: Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer”
Best original screenplay: Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, “Anatomy of a Fall”
Best adapted screenplay: Cord Jefferson, “American Fiction”
Best animated feature: “The Boy and the Heron”
Best animated short: “War is Over! Inspired by the Music of John Lennon and Yoko Ono”
Best international feature: “The Zone of Interest” (United Kingdom)
Best documentary feature: “20 Days in Mariupol”
Best documentary short: “The Last Repair Shop”
Best live action short: “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”
Best score: Ludwig Göransson, “Oppenheimer”
Best original song: Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie”
Best sound: Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn, “The Zone of Interest”
Best production design: James Price, Shona Heath and Zsuzsa Mihalek, “Poor Things”
Best cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema, “Oppenheimer”
Best makeup and hairstyling: Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston, “Poor Things”
Best costume design: Holly Waddington, “Poor Things”
Best editing: Jennifer Lame, “Oppenheimer”
Best visual effects: Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima, “Godzilla Minus One”
