Cover ‘Oppenheimer’ led the way for Oscar nods for its director Christopher Nolan, and stars Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt (Photo: Getty Images)
‘Oppenheimer’ led the way for Oscar nods for its director Christopher Nolan, and stars Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt (Photo: Getty Images)
1 / 1
The 96th Academy Awards nominations announcement was hosted by actors Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid from a still-dark Los Angeles on Tuesday morning
Oppenheimer—Christopher Nolan’s masterly portrait of the “father of the atomic bomb”—topped the Oscars nominations Tuesday, earning an impressive 13 nods including for best picture.
It was followed by Poor Things, a female-focused take on the Frankenstein myth, which earnt 11; and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon with 10.
But it was a somewhat disappointing morning for Barbie, the other half of last summer’s Barbenheimer box office phenomenon and 2023’s highest-grossing film directed by Greta Gerwig and produced by Margot Robbie who also played the title role.
Read more: Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ sets record for the biggest opening weekend for a film directed by a woman
The comedy had to settle for eight nods, including best supporting actress for America Ferrera, best supporting actor for Ryan Gosling, adapted screenplay, costume and production design—not bad for a satire based on a popular line of plastic dolls. But lower than many had predicted, and missing out on key nominations for Gerwig as director, and Robbie in the best actress category.
Oppenheimer, which came out in theatres on the same day as Barbie and grossed almost US$1 billion, led the way with nods for its director Nolan, and stars Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr and Emily Blunt.
Above Irish actor Cillian Murphy is nominated in the best actor category for his portrayal of J Robert Oppenheimer (Photo: courtesy of Universal Pictures)
Irish actor Cillian Murphy is nominated in the best actor category for his portrayal of J Robert Oppenheimer (Photo: courtesy of Universal Pictures)
1 / 1
The film, which is the clear favourite to win best picture at the 96th Academy Awards on March 10, 2024, also racked up nods in an array of technical categories.
Meanwhile, its unlikely twin Barbie surpassed the US$1 billion mark globally by early August last year—not even three weeks into its theatrical release, which made Gerwig the first solo female director to earn this distinction. (Prior to this milestone, she was already the highest grossing female director of all time.)
Gosling, who played Ken in Barbie, released a statement sharing his disappointment for his director and co-star on the project: “Against all odds with nothing but a couple of soulless, scantily clad, and thankfully crotchless dolls, (Gerwig and Robbie) made us laugh, they broke our hearts, they pushed the culture and they made history. Their work should be recognised along with the other very deserving nominees.”
However, this year’s Oscar nominations did make history in other ways. Lily Gladstone, the star of Killers of the Flower Moon, Scorsese’s three-and-a-half-hour true crime opus on murders ripping through the oil-rich Osage community in early 20th century Oklahoma, became the Oscars’ first Native American nominee for best actress.
She will now go head-to-head with Emma Stone, the star of Poor Things, which also earnt an acting nod for Mark Ruffalo, along with a swathe of technical nominations, from cinematography to costume design.
But there was disappointment for Killers of the Flower Moon leading man Leonardo DiCaprio, who failed to earn a best actor nomination, and the movie also missed out on best adapted screenplay.
Record year for women directors
It proved to be a record year for films led by female directors.
Three movies helmed by women—French courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie and Past Lives—were nominated for best picture, for the first time in more than nine decades of Academy Awards.
Only 19 films by female directors had previously ever been nominated for best picture.
As well as earning expected best picture and best actress (Sandra Huller) nominations, Anatomy of a Fall director Justine Triet secured a nod that had been widely predicted to go to Gerwig, and the French thriller also earnt recognition for editing and original screenplay.
Bradley Cooper earnt an impressive three individual nominations for acting in, producing and writing Maestro. The Leonard Bernstein biopic, which Cooper also directed, bagged seven nominations.
Other strong performers included Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, which is about a teacher, a cook and a student holed up in a boarding school over the festive season. It took five nominations, including acting nods for Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who are both now considered strong contenders in their respective categories.
And it was a good morning for American Fiction, a deft satire on race, publishing and Hollywood, which also had five nominations including for stars Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown.
The best picture category was rounded out by Past Lives, a Korean American production about love, friendship and how things change but stay the same, and bleak Nazi drama The Zone of Interest.
Additional reporting by Heidi Yeung.
All rights reserved ©2024 Agence France-Presse
