Being in the Academy press room, where the newly minted Oscar winners are brought for a round of questions, is always a challenge for us journos even though we are so used to multitasking.

While taking notes for our stories, posting updates on social media, and wolfing down a sandwich, the writers pay attention to the show being screened on monitors all over the room and also listen to the trophy-holding talents answering our questions.

When there are winners in the room, replying to questions, the sound of the monitors showing the action inside the Dolby Theatre is turned off. Each year, the Academy provides wireless headphones to the journos so they can, if they want, still listen to the show even as the Q&As are happening in front of us.

Or they can listen to the show proceedings and the Q&A at the same time. It’s truly a multitasking reporter challenge.

But some winners’ thought-provoking replies made me drop my headphones several times and just made me listen and jot down their compelling answers.

Mystlav Chernov

Mystlav Chernov, director of 20 Days in Mariupol, which won best documentary feature, and his team walked into the press room to applause. A gripping account of the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, 20 Days in Mariupol marked the first Oscar of Mystlav and The Associated Press, which produced the documentary with PBS’ Frontline.

Mystlav, whose gold statuette joins his numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service and journalism honors, said, “I just want to remind that yesterday was the anniversary of an attack on the maternity hospital in Mariupol.”

“It’s a significant moment, it’s a symbolic moment, and that moment became a symbol of the invasion of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the symbol of war crimes that they did there.”

“Right now, unfortunately, Ukraine and the topic of support in Ukraine became a bargaining chip for a lot of politicians in the world. I hope I remind everyone with our film that this is a humanitarian catastrophe and this is not a political question.”

“This is a humanitarian emergency and a matter of supporting the civilians who are being attacked and killed. It’s not my job to try to convince anyone of anything.”

“Our job is to provide as much context and information as possible and I hope that decisions will be made but according to this information that we are giving.”

On whether the awards season was a jarring experience, the filmmaker, journalist, and novelist stressed that the war in his homeland stayed on his mind.

“It has been almost three years since Mariupol was occupied, and all these years, it was never past for us,” he began.

“It was always every day we thought of the people of Mariupol and other cities that were occupied after that. And there were many neighborhoods, Bakhmut, Marinka, Avdiivka recently, Soledar, Popasna, countless villages.”

“So Mariupol for us never represented just Mariupol. It represented all of those cities that are being destroyed.”

“And every step of this journey, we kept reminding, and now we had an honor to be talking about Ukraine and about those cities that have been occupied, and an honor to be reminding the world about the importance of thinking of how to stop this invasion.”

“So, yeah, it’s been a privilege but it’s been a strange, painful experience at the same time. Because I’m standing here but my heart is in Ukraine. My heart is with all the people who are now suffering, losing their lives and homes, and fighting for their land.”

“Those who are in the jails, just locked. I don’t know how I can fix it. I don’t know whether I should try. But I hope that this win will elevate this story to more people and they will see us and will hear Ukrainians.”

Da’Vine Joy Randolph

While Da’Vine Joy Randolph was visibly overcome with emotion when she heard her name announced as the best supporting actress victor for Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, by the time she reached the press room, she was her usual composed and eloquent self.

On keeping her mental and emotional well-being in the tough entertainment field, and putting all the best supporting prizes she collected throughout the awards season in proper perspective, the Yale alumna said, “I think you’d be selling yourself short if you make it about the awards. It’s too hard of a career.”

“The beautiful and the hard thing about being an actor is that it requires you to have resilience, self-confidence, and belief in yourself when no one else does, when you are constantly getting no’s and you’re saying, nope, I’m going to keep going.”

“So, actually, in many ways, while it can challenge your mental health, it also can strengthen it because you have to fortify yourself in a way that some people never ever have to do. So, for that, I’m grateful.”

“I would also say, you just keep yourself grounded, surrounded by people who care and love you, and stay close to what’s real. And, again, I’m just very adamant about this – it would not be in your heart if you weren’t meant to do it.”

“And I know it can be challenging to wait that wait but when it happens, it’s a full circle moment, and you know it was worth it.”

Asked to elaborate on what she said in her acceptance speech, “For so long I’ve always wanted to be different, and now I realize I just need to be myself,” Da’Vine explained, “I knew I was always different.”

“And so, therefore, I thought maybe I needed to conform to something else because when I looked at the (Oscars) show for many years as I was growing up, I didn’t necessarily see myself there.”

“Yet, that was the model of success. So I was on this journey of trying to figure out how I could mold myself to that because I thought that’s what success would mean.”

“And what I have begun to find in my journey is that in being myself, doing the work, staying focused, driven, and clear, I could do exactly the same thing while being myself.”

On the importance of paying it forward, the actress who began in musical theater, from West End to Broadway, answered, “It’s imperative because the people who’ve done it before me allowed me to be in this position now.”

“And so the type of work I do, my strive for authenticity, for quality allows there to be a new standard set where we can tell universal stories in Black and brown bodies, and it can be accepted and enjoyed among the masses.”

“It’s not just Black TV or Black movies or Black people but instead, a universal performance that can be enjoyed by all.”

About wearing her grandmother’s eyeglasses in The Holdovers (mentioned by Lupita Nyong’o who presented Da’Vine as a nominee in the show), where she plays a boarding school head cook, Da’Vine revealed, “It was crucial.”

“I knew that this was going to be a difficult role for me to take on and that it was going to require a lot of vulnerability from me. And I knew that she was just someone in my life who would allow me to get right back to the center.”

“And there were many women – I did a lot of research and did little subliminal messages, if you will, with hair-dos, details, and accessories beyond the glasses, giving homage to women from The Jeffersons, Phyllis Hyman, stuff like that.”

“So I included all of these women who made an impression on me and that meant a lot because it felt like a love letter back to Black women.”

Queried on how she encourages talents from underserved communities to stay the course, the Philadelphia native shared, “Due to being in underserved communities, the beautiful thing that erupts is your imagination and your creativity because you don’t have much.”

“And so you have this innate ability to create. That’s a gift and that’s something that will serve you. When you do have the resources, it’s easy.”

“Something I think what we as Black people are very good at is making a lot out of very little. I think that’s a superpower and something that we should applaud ourselves for and uplift ourselves so there’s nothing that’s never too little. It’s always just enough.”

Emma Thomas

Emma Thomas, who won best picture with her husband, Christopher Nolan (named best director) and Charles Roven, one of Oppenheimer’s seven honors, was hailed by best film editing winner Jennifer Lame as “a badass producer” making “complicated, beautiful films.”

Emma was asked about the importance of supporting women in the film industry. “I think everybody should be supporting women in the industry,” Emma emphasized. “I’m just saying.”

“We had the most incredible group of women working on this film. Eventually, I think we’ll get to the point where we have sort of 50/50 representation across the board.”

“We’re not quite there yet but we’re getting there. I think things are getting a lot better than they were. I’m very proud to have worked on a film that had so many fantastically talented women on it.”

“And really, the way that we do, bring more women in is to keep hiring and keep supporting. So, yeah, it’s an important thing.”

Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell

“Don’t do it for other people,” replied Billie Eilish when asked what she would advise young people who are aspiring to have a career in music. With their What Was I Made For (from Greta Gerwig’s Barbie) winning best song, it made Billie, 22, and her brother Finneas, 26, the youngest and second youngest, respectively, to bag two Oscars.

The duo cinched their first original song Oscar in 2022 for No Time to Die, Cary Joji Fukunaga’s Bond movie of the same name.

Bille continued, “Don’t do it for like numbers or some sort of specific like fame. That’s just really not ever something that I think anyone should be [doing it for].”

“Like, moving forward, I want everyone to be doing something that they feel passionate about, that they feel proud of, and that makes them feel like the best version of themselves. I would say that you got time.”

“I remember being 12 – believe it or not, and seeing this musical and sobbing my eyes out because I was like, damn, I’m a failure and I’m not going to have a career.”

“I was watching Matilda on Broadway and it was amazing, my God. And I was bawling in like the back nosebleeds and I said, I’m never going to amount to anything because I’m not in Matilda.”

Finneas quipped, “Over the hill.”

Billie added, “I would say, give yourself some time and do what you love. And I know that’s kind of easier said than done because some of us don’t even know what we love. But you will figure it out. You will find it.”

Cillian Murphy

Cillian Murphy disclosed that he was “a kid” (well, he was young – in his 20s) when he first met Christopher Nolan. After watching Cillian in Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, Nolan screen-tested him to play the Caped Crusader in 2003. Cillian didn’t get the role but he landed the Dr. Jonathan Crane part instead in Batman Begins.

“It’s very, very special,” Cillian said about his collaborations with Christopher, culminating in playing the eponymous father of the atomic bomb in Oppenheimer. He made history as the first Irish-born actor to win the Academy’s best actor plum.

“We’ve been working together for 20 years. I think he is the perfect director. He is an extraordinary writer and producer.”

“He is extraordinary visually and an extraordinary director of actors. He presents this film like no one else does in the world.”

“And I just can’t believe my luck. I did a screen test for him when I was a kid and I thought that would be it. And it would be just enough to be in a room with Chris for a couple of hours and here we are. So I’m just so humbled and thankful.”

Emma Stone

When best actress winner Emma Stone strode in, she provided some levity when she answered about busting the back of her Louis Vuitton gown.

“Right when I came back, they sewed me back in, which was wonderful,” Emma explained with a smile. “I do think I busted it during his (Ryan Gosling’s) I’m Just Ken.

“I was so amazed by Ryan and what he was doing and that number just blew my mind. I was right there and I just was going for it, and, you know, things happen.”

On playing Bella Baxter in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, one of the most original parts in recent cinema – an adult woman’s body grafted with an infant’s brain – Emma enthused, “She is a character that is so, so important to me. The chance to play a person starting from scratch.”

“But in a total metaphorical, can’t-really-happen-in-real-life way, who’s gaining language and skills at a rapid pace every day. And getting to, sort of, chart that course and realize that she was just full of joy, curiosity, and true love of not just the good but the challenges in life.”

“Bella was fascinated by all of it. That was an amazing lesson to take with me and to try to get to live in the shoes of every day. So I really miss playing her ever since we wrapped filming which was a long time ago.”

“It was like two and a half years ago. I miss Bella. And I’m really grateful that we got to celebrate the film tonight and over these past few months.”

With her triumph in the 96^th Academy Awards, Emma joined a club of 26 other actresses who have won two or more acting Oscars for leading performances. Stone won best actress in 2019 for Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, where she appeared opposite Ryan.

Show highlights and sidelights

So what entertained the jaded journalists when there were no winners in the press room? Or even when we were throwing questions at the brand new Oscar winners, sometimes the show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel drew our attention.

Finneas O’Connell, when he was in the room with Bilie, got curious why the journos were chuckling at one point: “What’s happening during the show that you are all laughing at?”

For one, the bit about John Cena, naked save for a modesty garment, used by actors to cover their private parts in nude scenes, to um, commemorate the 50^th anniversary of streaker Robert Opel’s surprise dash onstage at the 1974 Oscars, had the writers laughing.

And the reporters were just as captivated as the star-studded audience at the Dolby Theatre by Ryan’s showstopping I’m Just Ken number which featured, according to Variety, a 40-piece orchestra, 62 dancing Kens (including a very game Simu Liu, who was, of course, in Barbie), 24 huge Barbie heads, and a surprise appearance by Guns N’ Roses’ Slash.

Ryan stole the show with this big production number of composer Mark Ronson’s nominated song which the actor conceived as his salute to Marilyn Monroe’s iconic Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend scene in Howard Hawks’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Bringing back a format, last featured in the 2009 Oscars, when past winners in acting categories introduced the year’s nominees, was a welcome idea.

Also a scene stealer was Messi, the border collie in the best picture nominee, Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, dapper in a bow tie. Messi applauding during the show went viral.

It turned out to be yet another example of Hollywood’s tradition of illusion and make-believe. Almost an hour before the show, Messi’s cameo was filmed, with a man crouched under the seat, holding up fake paws and doing the clapping motion.

Messi’s star turn on Oscars night didn’t end there. After the ceremony credits rolled, the seven-year-old dog was shown peeing on Matt Damon’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was a hilarious riff on host Jimmy’s faux feud with Matt.

It was also interesting to learn that in his rehearsal, best director presenter Steven Spielberg didn’t want to mention Christopher Nolan as the pretend winner because the legendary filmmaker didn’t want to jinx his friend’s chances of winning.

“It’s bad luck!” Steven reportedly exclaimed and went on to announce a late director’s name as the pretend winner instead.

By coincidence, Filipino American Vanessa Hudgens, who returned as the Oscars pre-show host, and her co-host Julian Hough, are both pregnant.

Other Fil-Ams who graced this year’s Oscars include actors Hailee Steinfeld, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Tia Carrere, Matthew Libatique, on his third best cinematography nomination for Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, and filmmaker PJ Raval. Matty wore a black brocade tuxedo by Beverly Hills-based Filipino designer, Oliver Tolentino.

But the red carpet scene stealers were the monster claw-heels on the shoes of the Godzilla Minus One crew. As if that wasn’t eye-catching enough, Masaki Takahashi, Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, and Tatsuji Nojima also showed off more striking accessories – Godzilla figurines in gold and black.

This crew went on to win the best visual effects award. Talk about scary fun good luck charms! – Rappler.com

The audience grew 4% from last year, when 18.8 million people watched the film industry’s highest honors.

Oppenheimer, the blockbuster biopic about the race to build the first atomic bomb, won seven awards on Sunday, March 10, including best picture.

On social media, the Oscars ranked as the No. 1 program on Sunday night, generating 28.5 million interactions, also roughly 4% above last year, ABC said.

The #Oscars hashtag was the top trending topic in the United States on X throughout the telecast, and the most-used hashtag on X worldwide on Sunday, the network added.

Jimmy Kimmel returned to host the ceremony, and the show earned generally positive reviews. The festivities started an hour earlier than usual, a move designed to capture more viewers. 

“It turns out that great wins, emotional speeches, Ryan Gosling singing, and John Cena getting naked are all you need to produce a great Academy Awards ceremony,” wrote Kevin Fallon of The Daily Beast. 

The show celebrated two of last year’s highest-grossing films, Oppenheimer and feminist doll adventure Barbie. It featured memorable musical numbers, including Gosling dressed in hot pink to perform “I’m Just Ken,” and comedy bits such as John Cena’s appearing naked to present best costume design. 

Viewership of many awards ceremonies has dropped in recent years as audiences have ditched traditional television for streaming and social media.

The highest-rated Academy Awards telecast was in 1998, when megahit Titanic swept the honors. More than 57 million people tuned in that year.

In 2021, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oscar ratings hit their low point with 10.5 million viewers. – Rappler.com

In this latest episode of Rappler Talk: Entertainment, Rappler entertainment editor Marguerite de Leon chats with Delos Reyes and the movie’s stars: Jasmine Curtis-Smith and JM de Guzman, on what it was like filming in the iconic “Pobla.”

Catch the interview here live on Monday, March 11, at 2 pm or check out Rappler on Facebook and YouTube. – Rappler.com

Play Video

Best Picture

Oppenheimer

Best Actor

Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer

Best Actress

Emma Stone, Poor Things

Best Director

Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

Best Supporting Actor

Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer

Best Supporting Actress

Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Best Adapted Screenplay

American Fiction

Best Original Screenplay

Anatomy of a Fall

Best Animated Feature Film

The Boy and the Heron

Best Animated Short

War is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko

Best International Feature

The Zone of Interest, United Kingdom

Best Documentary Feature

20 Days in Mariupol

Best Documentary Short

The Last Repair Shop

Best Original Score

Oppenheimer

Best Original Song

“What Was I Made For?,” Barbie

Best Sound

The Zone of Interest

Best Production Design

Poor Things

Best Live Action Short

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Best Cinematography

Oppenheimer

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Poor Things

Best Costume Design

Poor Things

Best Visual Effects

Godzilla Minus One

Best Film Editing

Oppenheimer

– Rappler.com

Must Read

‘Oppenheimer’ crowned best picture at the Oscars

The 35-year-old actress scored her first Oscar for 2016 musical La La Land.

In the Frankenstein-inspired Poor Things, Stone played Bella Baxter, a woman who is reanimated after suicide by a mad scientist (Willem Dafoe).

The movie chronicles Bella’s dramatic self-discovery and liberation – much of it through sex – first with a flamboyant lawyer played by Mark Ruffalo, then with a succession of clients in a Paris brothel. Bella grows increasingly independent as she journeys through a surreal version of 19th-century Europe.

Stone has said the role was her favorite of her career. The actress said the admired Bella’s curiosity and her appreciation for the good and the bad.

In La La Land, Stone sang and danced in her role as a struggling actress opposite Ryan Gosling in a movie that celebrated old Hollywood. 

She also was nominated for best supporting actress for 2014 film Birdman and 2018 drama The Favourite.

Known for her red hair and wide eyes, Stone had a breakthrough role in 2007’s raunchy comedy Superbad. She also has starred in The Help and The Amazing Spider-Man.

Poor Things was released by Searchlight Pictures, a unit of Walt Disney. – Rappler.com

Director Christopher Nolan’s film starred Irish actor Cillian Murphy as theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, leader of the US effort in the 1940s to create a weapon devastating enough to end World War Two.

Murphy won the best actor trophy, and Nolan was named best director. Emma Stone won best actress for Poor Things.

A three-hour historical drama about science and politics, Oppenheimer became an unlikely box office hit and grossed $953.8 million, in addition to widespread critical praise.

It was the first of Nolan’s films to win best picture. The director has previously won acclaim for The Dark Knight Batman trilogy, Inception, Memento and other movies. 

Oppenheimer triumphed over feminist doll adventure Barbie, a movie it had battled in a box office showdown dubbed “Barbenheimer.” Other best picture contenders included The Holdovers, a dramedy set in a New England boarding school, and the Holocaust tale The Zone of Interest.

In supporting actor categories, Robert Downey Jr. of Oppenheimer and The Holdovers star Da’Vine Joy Randolph claimed their first Academy Awards. 

Downey, who was nominated for an Oscar in 1993 before his career was derailed by drug use, won his honor for playing Oppenheimer’s professional nemesis.

“I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy, in that order,” Downey joked before he saluted his wife Susan, who he said found him as a “snarly rescue pet” and “loved him back to life.”

Randolph won the best supporting actress trophy for playing a grieving mother and cafeteria worker in the comedy set in a New England boarding school. She shed tears as she accepted her award.

“For so long, I always wanted to be different, and now I realize I just need to be myself,” she said. “I thank you for seeing me.”

British Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest was named best international feature. Director Jonathan Glazer addressed the Israel-Gaza conflict in his acceptance speech.

“Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza. All the victims of this dehumanization. How do we resist?” he said to cheers and applause. 

The Boy and the Heron, Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki’s semi-autobiographical film about grief, was named best animated feature.

Winners were chosen by the roughly 10,500 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Jimmy Kimmel compliments, takes jab at actors

Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, hosting the show for the fourth time, opened the ceremony by complimenting, and taking jabs at, many of the nominees and their films.

The comedian praised Barbie, the pink-drenched doll adventure, for remaking a “plastic doll nobody even liked anymore” into a feminist icon.

Before the film, there was “a better chance of getting my wife to buy our daughter a pack of Marlboro Reds” than a Barbie, Kimmel said on the broadcast, which was shown live on the US ABC network. 

Kimmel said many of this year’s movies were too long, particularly Martin Scorsese’s 3-1/2-hour epic “Killer of the Flower Moon” about the murders of members of the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma. 

“In the time it takes you to watch it, you could drive to Oklahoma and solve the murders,” Kimmel joked.

As the stars celebrated, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters angered by the Israel-Gaza conflict shouted and slowed traffic in the streets surrounding the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. “While you’re watching, bombs are dropping,” one sign read.

“The Oscars are happening down the road while people are being murdered, killed, bombed,” said 38-year-old business owner Zinab Nassrou.

At the awards venue, a handful of celebrities, including Mahershala Ali and singer Billie Eilish, wore red pins calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

Actor Mark Ruffalo praised the protesters as he entered the theater and raised a clenched fist. “We need peace,” he said.

Elsewhere on the carpet, stars strutted in strong silhouettes, sparkles and a splash of Barbie-inspired pink. – Rappler.com

The win caps a successful awards season for the 47-year-old Irish actor, who also picked up a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and a Screen Actors Guild award for his performance. It was his first Oscar nomination.

“We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb. For better or worse, we’re all living in Robert Oppenheimer’s world,” Murphy said in his acceptance speech. “So I’d like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.”

Murphy, who lives in Ireland and keeps a low profile in Hollywood, had his biggest role to date playing a tortured, morally ambiguous Oppenheimer. He is also known for leading roles in films including 28 Days Later and crime show Peaky Blinders, and for appearances in other Christopher Nolan projects, including the Dark Knight Batman trilogy and Inception.

For a story underpinned by complex science, Murphy said in July that he “didn’t really waste too much time on the physics,” to prepare for the role, instead honing in on “the humanity and the emotion, and the complexity and the morality of the character.” 

Oppenheimer led this year’s Oscar nominations and has triumphed at other awards ceremonies including the Golden Globes. The movie – which, alongside Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, birthed the summer cinema phenomenon dubbed “Barbenheimer” – helped prop up a 2023 box office where well-established franchises fell flat. – Rappler.com

Here are some takeaways from the 96th Oscars ceremony:

Protesters on and off the carpet

As stars began arriving to walk the red carpet, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters angered by the Israel-Gaza conflict shouted and slowed traffic in the blocks surrounding the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. 

“While you’re watching, bombs are dropping,” one sign read.

On the red carpet, Oscar nominees, including Billie Eilish and Mark Ronson, wore red lapel pins calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

Actor Mark Ruffalo praised the protesters as he entered the theater and raised a clenched fist. “We need peace,” he said.

Kimmel celebrates strike victories

Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel’s opening monologue included the usual jabs at the Hollywood elite with a reference to best supporting actor nominee Robert Downey Jr.’s history of drug abuse and joking that Barbie co-stars Margot Robbie, who was snubbed for a best actress nomination, and Ryan Gosling, who is nominated for best supporting actor, had already won “the genetic lottery.”

He also celebrated the end of a difficult year in Hollywood, where strikes by actors and writers halted production of movies and television for months.

“Actors no longer have to worry about getting replaced by AI thanks to this historic agreement. Actors are now able to go back to worrying about being replaced by younger, more attractive people … 

“This long and difficult work stoppage taught us that this very strange town of ours, as pretentious and superficial as it can be, at its heart is a union town. It’s not just a bunch of heavily Botoxed, Hailey Bieber smoothie-drinking, diabetes prescription-abusing, gluten-sensitive nepo babies with perpetually shivering Chihuahuas. This is a coalition of strong, hard-working, mentally tough laborers, women and men who would 100% sure die if we even had to touch the handle of a shovel.”

Yoko Ono gets a mother’s day shout-out

Sean Ono Lennon, the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, asked the audience to wish his famous mother a happy Mother’s Day when he took the stage with the winners of the best animated short Oscar for a film he collaborated on, “War is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko.” 

“My mother turned 91 this February, and today is Mother’s Day in the UK,” Lennon said. “So would everyone please say ‘Happy Mother’s Day, Yoko?'”

The audience obliged.

John Cena re-enacts a legendary Oscar moment

At the Oscars ceremony 50 years ago, a man ran across the stage naked flashing a peace sign behind actor David Niven, a legendary piece of Academy Awards history that host Kimmel said he wanted to commemorate. 

To celebrate the anniversary, actor and wrestling star John Cena walked on stage wearing nothing but the envelope containing the name of the winner of the best costume Oscar.

“Costumes are so important,” Cena deadpanned. “Maybe the most important thing there is.”

Ukraine’s first Oscar

20 Days in Mariupol director Mstyslav Chernov delivered a powerful speech in accepting his award for best documentary feature, Ukraine’s first-ever Oscar. Chernov’s film documents his time as a video journalist covering the first three weeks of Russia’s siege of the Ukrainian city.

“Probably I will be the first director on this stage that will say I wish I never made this film,” he said. “I wish to be able to exchange this to Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities … but I cannot change history. Cannot change the past.

“But we all together, you, some of the most talented people in the world, we can make sure the history record is set straight and that the truth will prevail and that the people of Mariupol and those who have given their lives will never be forgotten. Because cinema forms memories. And memories form history.”

– Rappler.com

The movie centers on the commandant Rudolf Hoss and his family as they set up a life next to the Auschwitz death camp in occupied Poland, where more than 1.1 million people were murdered in the largest of the concentration camps and extermination centers built by the Nazis.

Accepting the award, director Jonathan Glazer said the film, which explored the capacity for violence in all people and was shot entirely at Auschwitz, was relevant to the global conflicts happening today. 

“All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present, not to say look what they did then. Rather, look what we do now,” Glazer said. “Our film shows where dehumanization leads, at its worst.

“Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza. All the victims of this dehumanization. How do we resist?” he said to cheers and applause. 

Glazer earlier made Sexy Beast and Under the Skin.

The movie, based on a novel by the late Martin Amis, relies on sound, rather than on-screen violence, to convey the horror of the death camp, contrasted with the family’s seemingly ordinary lives.

The Zone of Interest, which also won the Grand Prix at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, is also nominated for best picture and best director Oscars.

Other nominees in the category were Perfect Days from Japan, Spain’s Society of the Snow, The Teacher’s Lounge from Germany, and Italy’s Io Capitano. – Rappler.com

Randolph portrayed a grieving mother and cafeteria worker in the comedy set in a New England boarding school. She shed tears as she accepted her first Oscar.

“For so long, I always wanted to be different, and now I realize I just need to be myself,” she said. “I thank you for seeing me.” 

Anatomy of a Fall won best original screenplay. The Boy and the Heron, Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki’s semi-autobiographical film about grief, was named best animated feature. 

Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, hosting the show for the fourth time, opened the ceremony by complimenting, and taking jabs at, many of the nominees and their films.

The comedian praised Barbie, the pink-drenched doll adventure, for making a “plastic doll nobody even liked anymore” into a feminist icon.

Before the film, there was “a better chance of getting my wife to buy our daughter a pack of Marlboro Reds” than a Barbie, Kimmel said on the broadcast, which was broadcast live on the US ABC network. 

Kimmel said many of this year’s movies were too long, particularly Martin Scorsese’s 3-1/2-hour Killer of the Flower Moon about the murders of members of the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma. 

“In the time it takes you to watch it, you could drive to Oklahoma and solve the murders,” Kimmel joked.

As the stars celebrated, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters angered by the Israel-Gaza conflict shouted and slowed traffic in the streets surrounding the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. “While you’re watching, bombs are dropping,” one sign read.

“The Oscars are happening down the road while people are being murdered, killed, bombed,” said 38-year-old business owner Zinab Nassrou.

At the awards venue, a handful of celebrities, including singer Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas, wore red pins calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

Actor Mark Ruffalo praised the protesters as he entered the theater and raised a clenched fist. “We need peace,” he said.

Oppenheimer, the three-hour atomic bomb drama directed by Christopher Nolan, led the field with 13 nominations. The movie was the frontrunner to win the prestigious best picture prize, capping its sweep of other major awards this year.

“If the best picture isn’t Oppenheimer, it will be one of the biggest upsets, if not the biggest upset, in the history of the Oscars,” said Scott Feinberg, executive editor for awards at The Hollywood Reporter.

After 2023 was marred by actors and writers strikes, the Oscars gave Hollywood a chance to celebrate two global hits. Oppenheimer and feminist doll adventure Barbie, another best picture nominee, brought in a combined $2.4 billion in a summer box office battle dubbed “Barbenheimer.”

Supporting actor nominee Ryan Gosling was set to sing the ’80s-style rock anthem “I’m Just Ken” from Barbie. Members of the Osage Nation were scheduled to perform the nominated “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon.

Cillian Murphy, the Irish actor who played physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer as he led the race to build the first atomic bomb, is considered the favorite for best actor. Murphy’s main competition, according to awards pundits, is The Holdovers star Paul Giamatti. 

Best actress may go to Lily Gladstone of Killers of the Flower Moon. If she prevails, Gladstone would be the first Native American actress to win an acting Oscar.

Gladstone’s rivals include previous Oscar winner Emma Stone, nominated this year for playing a woman revived from the dead in the dark and wacky comedy Poor Things.

The supporting actor race features Oppenheimer star Robert Downey Jr., who played the scientist’s professional nemesis, and Sterling K. Brown from American Fiction.

For Nolan, the night could bring his first directing Oscar, as well as the award for adapted screenplay. The director of The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception and other acclaimed films has never had a movie win best picture. – Rappler.com