96TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS

23 Mar - 29 Mar, 2024
Mag The Weekly
Awards

The curtains have finally closed on the Oscars! Oppenheimer was the big winner of the night, with seven awards including Best Picture and Best Director. Audience was all on their feet for Best Picture presenter Al Pacino, whose star power electrified the room. John Krasinski pulled wife Emily Blunt, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for the film, in for a sweet moment before everyone made their way to the stage.
Emma Stone won her second Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Bella Baxter in Poor Things. In her speech, she thanked the other women nominated in her category, as well as the cast and crew of the film. Stone also thanked her family, with a special mention of her daughter, "who is going to be 3 in three days, and has turned our lives technicolor," she said. "I love you bigger than the whole sky."
Cillian Murphy predictably won the Oscar for Best Actor for playing J. Robert Oppenheimer. It's his first Academy Award. "We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or worse, we're all living in Oppenheimer's world," Murphy said in his acceptance speech. "So I would like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere." He also said he was a "very proud Irishman standing here tonight."
Ryan Gosling might have lost the award for Best Supporting Actor, but he stole the show with his performance of I'm Just Ken from Barbie. Accompanied on guitar by producer and writer Mark Ronson, Gosling belted out the iconic song. He wore a pink suit and gloves in what appeared to be an homage to the 1953 Marilyn Monroe classic Gentleman Prefer Blondes. Actors who played other versions of Ken in Barbie, including Simu Liu and Kingsley Ben-Adir, joined Gosling on stage. Toward the end, he passed the mic to Barbie director Greta Gerwig as well as co-stars America Ferrera and Margot Robbie for a sing-along.
Before moving to the final award of the night, Jimmy Kimmel took a moment to read a review of his performance as the host – from former President Donald Trump. “Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars,” Trump had tweeted. "Isn't it past your jail time?" Kimmel shot back at Trump, who faces 91 criminal offenses in four criminal cases. As guests exited the theater, “ceasefire now” was chanted by crowds behind a large hedge barrier while everyone waited for their car-service pickups.