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Though there were few real surprises on offer at this year’s Oscars – Oppenheimer, as expected, scooped the cream off the cake – there were still twists and turns. Emma Stone won the best actress award in a surprise win, and the form guide’s dark horse, Poor Things, shut out rival Barbie to take home a swag of awards.
Barbie still managed to dominate the telecast, if not the winners’ circle, with Mattel’s iconic pink colour splashed on the screen at every turn, and in much of the red carpet fashions. A Ken-ergetic performance from the film’s star, Ryan Gosling, was also one of the stand-out numbers of the ceremony. Oh Ken, you are Kenough.
Ryan Gosling performs the song “I’m Just Ken”.Credit: AP
Not so lucky were Australia’s nominees – screenwriter Tony McNamara (Poor Things), short-film producers Sara McFarlane (Red, White and Blue) and Nicky Bentham (The After); and Margot Robbie, who was nominated for best picture as a producer of Barbie. All went away empty-handed.
The night’s biggest upset came in its final moments, as Poor Things star Emma Stone beat Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) to the best actress Oscar.
Least surprising was the swag of awards won by Oppenheimer: a haul of seven from 13 nominations. In his acceptance speech, the film’s director Christopher Nolan said that despite the ubiquity of cinema, it was still an astonishingly young art form.
“Movies are just a little bit over 100 years old,” he said. “Imagine being there 100 years into [the art forms of] painting or theatre. We don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here. But to know that you think I am a meaningful part of it means the world to me.”
Jimmy Kimmel speaks on stage during the 96th Academy Awards.Credit: Getty
The show’s host, Jimmy Kimmel, acquitted himself well – eventually – bouncing from some ragged pre-written gags about Christopher Nolan and Robert Downey jnr, which landed poorly, to a more substantial and sincere acknowledgement of the industry’s below-the-line workers, who stood with striking writers and actors last year.
“We were able to make a deal because of the people who rallied beside us,” Kimmel said. “The people who work behind the scenes: the teamsters (drivers and location supervisors), the lighting crew, sound, camera, gaffers, grips. All the people who refused to cross the picket line.” The poignancy of the moment won him the night’s first standing ovation.