LOS ANGELES — Protest and politics intruded on an election-year Academy Awards on Sunday, the place demonstrations for Gaza raged exterior the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, and early awards went to “Poor Issues,” “The Zone of Curiosity” and “The Boy and the Heron.”
Protests over Israel’s warfare in Gaza snarled visitors across the Academy Awards on Sunday, slowing stars’ arrival on the pink carpet and turning the Oscar highlight towards the ongoing battle. Some protesters shouted “Disgrace!” at these making an attempt to achieve the Dolby Theatre.
Jonathan Glazer, the British filmmaker whose chilling Auschwitz drama “The Zone of Curiosity” gained finest worldwide movie, drew connections between the dehumanization depicted in his movie and at this time.
“Proper now, we stand right here as males who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to battle for thus many harmless individuals, whether or not the victims of October the seventh in Israel, or the the continuing assault on Gaza, all of the victims, this humanization, how can we resist?”
The warfare in Gaza was on the minds of many attendees, as was the warfare in Ukraine. A yr after “Navalny” gained the identical award, Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” a harrowing chronicle of the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, gained finest documentary. The win, a primary for The Related Press and PBS’ “Frontline,” got here because the warfare in Ukraine handed the two-year mark with no indicators of abating.
Mstyslav Chernov, the Ukrainian filmmaker and AP journalist whose hometown was bombed the day he discovered of his Oscar nomination, spoke forcefully about Russia’s invasion.
“That is the primary Oscar in Ukrainian historical past,” stated Chernov. “And I am honored. However most likely I would be the first director on this stage to say I want I had by no means made this movie.”
“Oppenheimer,” the blockbuster biopic, was broadly anticipated to overpower all competitors — together with its release-date companion, “Barbie” — at an Oscars that would flip into a coronation for Christopher Nolan.
However it took greater than 90 minutes into the present for “Oppenheimer” to win an award. As a substitute, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Frankenstein-riff “Poor Issues” ran away with three prizes for its luxurious craft, together with awards for manufacturing design, make-up and hairstyling and costume design.
Robert Downey Jr. gained finest supporting actor on the Academy Awards, notching his first Oscar and handing the 58-year-old actor a crowning second in an up-and-down profession.
Downey’s illustrious second act culminated Sunday with a win for his supporting flip in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” Downey Jr., 58, had been nominated twice earlier than (for “Chaplin” and “Tropic Thunder”).
“I’d wish to thank my horrible childhood and the academy, in that order,” stated Downey, the son of filmmaker Robert Downey Sr.
Jimmy Kimmel, internet hosting the ABC telecast for the fourth time, opened the 96th Academy Awards with an monologue that drew a couple of chilly seems to be (from Robert Downey Jr., Sandra Hüller and Messi, the canine from best-picture nominee “Anatomy of a Fall”). However Kimmel, emphasizing Hollywood as “a union city” following 2023’s actor and author strikes, drew a standing ovation for bringing out teamsters and behind-the-scenes staff — who at the moment are getting into their very own labor negotiations.
The night time’s first award was one in every of its most predictable: Da’Vine Pleasure Randolph for finest supporting actress, for her efficiency in Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers.” An emotional Randolph was accompanied to the stage by her “Holdovers” co-star Paul Giamatti.
“For thus lengthy I’ve at all times needed to be completely different,” stated Randolph. “And now I understand I simply have to be myself.”
Although Randolph’s win was broadly anticipated, an upset shortly adopted. Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” gained for finest animated function, a shock over the marginally favored “Spider-Man: Throughout the Spider-Verse.” Miyazaki, the 83-year-old Japanese anime grasp who got here out of retirement to make “The Boy and the Heron,” didn’t attend the ceremony. He additionally didn’t attend the 2003 Oscars when his “Spirited Away” gained the identical award.
Finest unique screenplay went to “Anatomy of a Fall,” which, like “Barbie,” was penned by a pair: director Justine Triet and Arthur Harari. “This may assist me by way of my midlife disaster, I believe,” stated Triet.
In tailored screenplay, the place “Barbie” was nominated — and the place some suspected Greta Gerwig would win after being neglected for director — the Oscar went to Twine Jefferson, who wrote and directed his function movie debut “American Fiction.” He pleaded for executives to take dangers on younger filmmakers like himself.
“As a substitute of constructing a $200 million film, strive making 20 $10 million motion pictures,” stated Jefferson, beforehand an award-winning TV author.
The Oscars kicked off an hour early, as a consequence of daylight saving time. However except for the time shift, this yr’s present went for tried-and-true Academy Awards traditions. Kimmel is again as host. Previous winners flocked again as presenters. And an enormous studio epic was poised for a significant awards haul.
But Hollywood additionally has loads of its personal storm clouds to concern itself with.
The 2023 film yr was outlined by a protracted strike over the way forward for an business that’s reckoning with the onset of streaming, synthetic intelligence and shifting moviegoer tastes which have examined even probably the most bankable manufacturers. The academy, whereas additionally broadly nominating movies like “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Poor Issues,” embraced each “Oppenheimer,” the lead nominee with 13 nods, and Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” the yr’s greatest hit with greater than $1.4 billion in ticket gross sales and eight nominations.
With the forecasted “Oppenheimer” romp, the night time’s greatest drama is in one of the best actress class. Emma Stone (“Poor Issues”) and Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) are almost even-odds to win. Whereas an Oscar for Stone, who gained for her efficiency “La La Land,” can be her second statuette, an win for Gladstone would make Academy Awards historical past. No Native American has ever gained a aggressive Oscar.
Whereas “Barbie” bested (and helped elevate) “Oppenheimer” on the field workplace, it seems possible it would take a again seat to Nolan’s movie on the Oscars. Gerwig was notably neglected for finest director, sparking an outcry that some, even Hillary Clinton, stated mimicked the patriarchy parodied within the movie.
Traditionally, having massive motion pictures within the combine for the Oscars’ prime awards has been good for broadcast rankings. The Academy Awards’ largest viewers ever got here when James Cameron’s “Titanic” swept the 1998 Oscars.
Final yr’s ceremony, the place a really completely different best-picture contender in “Every thing All over the place All at As soon as” triumphed, was watched by 18.7 million individuals, up 12% from the yr prior. ABC and the academy are hoping to proceed the upward development after a nadir in 2021, when 9.85 million watched a pandemic-diminished telecast relocated to Los Angeles’ Union Station.
AP’s Ryan Pearson and Krysta Fauria contributed to this report.
