The Oscars this year did not disappoint, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel for the fourth time the awards were full of surprises and eventful happenings.
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer led the night, winning seven awards, including Best Picture, with the prize handed out by Al Pacino, and Best Actor for Cillian Murphy.
Nolan also won the award for Best Director, as well as seeing his film, on the creation of the atomic bomb and the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, being prized for its cinematography, editing and score.
The epic film led Robert Downey Jr. to win his first Oscar as Best Supporting Actor in the role of Lewis Strauss.
The night did not start well for him, with Kimmel joking about the actor’s past drug problems during the opening speech.
The host said: “This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr.’s long and illustrious career… well one of the highest points” as the cameras then moved to the actor’s reaction, who tapped the tip of his nose, leading Kimmel to say: “Was that too on the nose or was that a drug motion you made?”
He then proceeded to make another inappropriate comment asking the MCU star if he had a speech in his pocket, or if it was just his “very rectangular penis”.
This was not the only comment that led to an awkward reaction from actors at the event, Kimmel also made a joke about Poor Things, which won prizes for makeup and hairstyling and production design and costume design, presented by a naked John Cena, who walked on stage wearing only Birkenstocks.
John Cena 96th Annual Academy Awards- 10 Mar 2024
Kimmel joked about the number of explicit scenes in the movie, “Those were all the parts of Poor Things that we’re allowed to show on TV,” he said, leaving actress, Emma Stone, with an unimpressed face and allegedly saying “pr**k”.
Emma Stone won the Oscar for Best Actress in her performance of Bella Baxter, in the fantasy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, where she has an adult body with a child’s brain implanted.
This was the second Oscar for Stone who has already won other awards for her performance in the movie, including a Golden Globe.
In her speech she revealed that she had to get her Louis Vuitton gown fixed after it ripped during Ryan Gosling’s I’m just Ken performance.
The Barbie actor began the performance while sitting in the audience and then moved to the stage where Mark Ronson, songwriter, joined him.
All the Kens from the film sang and danced with him, sharing the mic with audience members including his La La Land co-star Emma Stone, who sang along.
Gosling also presented an award with Emily Blunt and did not miss on joking about ‘Barbenheimer’ – the phenomenon of Barbie and Oppenheimer being released on the same date.
“I’m just happy we can finally put this Barbenheimer rivalry behind us,” said Gosling.
The actor was not the only one performing a Barbie song, Billie Eilish sang What Was I Made For?, which also won the award for best original song.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph took home the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for playing Mary Lamb in The Holdovers, a comedy-drama directed by Alexander Payne.
After the award show ended, the most exclusive celebrities made their way to various after-parties to celebrate their wins – or mourn their losses.
