Emma Stone wins best actress for ‘Poor Things,’ quotes Taylor Swift in thanking her daughter
She might have missed the earlier categories “Poor Things” won, but Emma Stone made it to the stage in time to accept best actress. “My dress is broken. I think it happened during ‘I’m Just Ken,’ ” Stone says. “The women in this category … I’m in awe of you.”
She thanks director Yorgos Lanthimos for the character of Bella Baxter, “the gift of my life,” and also her daughter, Louise, who’s turning 3 in three days. “I love you bigger than the whole sky, my girl,” she says, invoking lyrics by Stone’s pal Taylor Swift. It’s a little bit of a surprise, given nominee Lily Gladstone’s Screen Actors Guild win, but Stone powers “Poor Things” to its great heights so not a complete shock.
Cillian Murphy, Christopher Nolan take Oscar victory laps for ‘Oppenheimer’
Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan ran roughshod over awards season, so why not Oscars, too? Murphy takes best actor and Christopher Nolan is named best director for “Oppenheimer,” running the historical epic’s awards total to six. “I’m a little overwhelmed,” Murphy says. “I’m a very proud Irishman standing here tonight. We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or for worse we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world. So I dedicate this to the peacemakers.”
Billie Eilish and brother Finneas O’Connell win second Oscar–best song for ‘Barbie’
Annnnnnd our dreams are dashed. “Oppenheimer” takes original score and, as expected, Billie Eilish and brother Finneas O’Connell win best song for “What Was I Made For?” “I had a nightmare about this last night,” Eilish says. “I just didn’t think this would happen.” (She must have been the only one.) Fun Oscar fact: At 22, Eilish is now the youngest person in Academy Awards history to win two honors.
Ryan Gosling rocks just Kenough with ‘I’m Just Ken’ performance
A pink and extremely bedazzled Gosling starts his energizing best sng nominee of “I’m Just Ken” singing to co-star Margot Robbie, and somehow it gets better from there: Wielding sunglasses and karate chops, Gosling goes full rock star with a whole bunch of Kens – including Simu Liu and, yes, guitarist Slash – and even lets Greta Gerwig and Emma Stone sing into his mic during an all-out spectacle. Yeah, Billie Eilish is still winning the Academy Award but we’re keeping the Ken hopes alive.
Emma Stone misses ‘Poor Things’ categories, bursts into tears in lobby
“Godzilla Minus One” wins for visual effects, “Oppenheimer” conquers the film editing category, but more importantly, we need to catch up with the backstage shenanigans – like “Poor Things” star Emma Stone leaving the auditorium just as her film started going on an Oscar tear. “Oh my God, oh my God, we won and I was not sitting down,” Stone exclaimed, running up to the lobby monitor after “Things” garnered its first win for makeup and hairstyling. Her eyes were tearful and her hand was on her head. “Sorry, we went to the bathroom and missed this. We can’t go in right now. They won’t let us, right?” But as “Poor Things” won the Oscar for production design, there were more screams of happiness as she jumped off the ground. Her husband Dave McCary brought her champagne in a wine glass as they celebra
By now Florence Pugh had joined the crew with Eva Longoria behind them, as Pugh laughed about a naked John Cena onstage. But Emma is beside herself. “I’m so (expletive) excited,” she shouted. She wiped away tears from her nose, red from crying before more joyful screams erupt after a win for costume design. Thankfully, another break came so Stone could grab her husband’s hand and sprint back into the auditorium.
Robert Downey Jr., come on down! ‘Oppenheimer’ star gets his Oscar
Downey, Marvel’s Iron Man, just won his first Oscar, for best supporting actor for “Oppenheimer.” As good as he was in Tropic Thunder, 2009 was the late Heath Ledger’s year for Dark Knight.
“I would like to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy, in that order,” Downey says, also shouting out his wife Susan. “She found me a snarling rescue pet and loved me back to life.”
Of “Oppenheimer,” he adds, “Here’s my little secret, I needed this job more than it needed me. It was fantastic and I stand here a better man because of it.” And one fun note for the Marvel movie fans: Downey, aka Tony Stark, was presented the Oscar by Sam Rockwell, who played Stark nemesis Justin Hammer in “Iron Man 2.”
‘The Zone of Interest’ gets Well Deserved Oscar
French courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall was the best international movie of last year but it didn’t make the Oscar cut because another film was entered into the Academy Awards by its home country.
But Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest winning the international film honor was a terrific choice: Jonathan Glazer’s hard-to-watch movie about a German family living next to a concentration camp impacts your heart, your mind and all your senses. It’s not comfortable but it is, in its own way, essential.
Billie Eilish pours on the emotion with ‘Barbie’ song ‘What Was I Made For?’
With brother Finneas O’Connell, Billie Eilish unleashes powerful emotions in rendering “What Was I Made For?” in the first of the live song performances. These two siblings better start thinking about where they’re putting the new statue their first Oscar and multiple Grammys.
‘Anatomy of a Fall,’ ‘American Fiction’ take Oscar screenplay prizes
Jimmy Kimmel is rolling out the dad jokes for the screenplay awards: “When is a screenplay old enough when you can say it’s adapted?” Oscar voters get it right with original screenplay, which goes to Justine Triet’s divine courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall.”
Another nice surprise! Cord Jefferson’s sharp satire “American Fiction” conquers powerhouses “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” for adapted screenplay. “I just feel so much joy being here, and I want so many other people to feel this joy,” says a humble Jefferson.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph–best supporting actress
Oscar night is starting off well, with Da’Vine Joy Randolph getting a supporting actress Oscar for her amazing performance in “The Holdovers.” “God is so good,” Randolph says in her speech. “I didn’t think I was supposed to be doing this as a career.” She started as an aspiring opera singer and her mom told her to go the theater department because “there’s something for you there,” but a tearful Randolph really hits home for us when she thanks those folks who’ve been in her corner: “For so long I’ve always wanted to be different, and now I realize I just need to be myself. I thank you for seeing me.”
Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue: ‘Barbie’ director Greta Gerwig, ‘Oppenheimer’ crew. and Messi’s Oscar appearance
Host Jimmy Kimmel opens the show with riff on “Barbie,” putting himself into the scene where Margot Robbie’s plastic doll tells the elderly women she’s “so beautiful.” Kimmel’s in-scene response: “I know. I was just thinking that. I’m so hungry, I haven’t eaten in three weeks.” The host then hits the stage, opening with a shot at superhero bomb “Madame Web” and a shoutout to “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig. “You’re clapping but you’re the ones who didn’t vote for her,” says Kimmel, a reference to her missing out on a best directing nomination.
Kimmel calling out “Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan’s lack of a smartphone, the pronunciation of Cillian Murphy’s name and Robert Downey Jr. on “one of the highest moments of his career–a riff on Downey’s well-publicized past drug issues.
But Downey takes it in stride, motioning to his nose in knowing fashion from the crowd. Kimmel replies, “Was it too on the nose or was that a drug motion you made?”
Messi Watch 2024: No Oscar dogs in sight yet but ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ folks grab some last-minute snacks
There’s no sign yet of Oscar dog ju jour Messi, but the rest of Team “Anatomy of a Fall” is posted up by the food table, where guests can snag cups of charcuterie and snack mix bags to bring inside the theater. Mid-conversation with Swann Arlaud (aka “Hot Lawyer”), Milo Machado-Graner asks a server for a mini burger.
But it does get confusing a little as folks go from recharging on a couch with chips to the nerves of showtime. Following her red carpet walk, Tamsin Egerton joined her husband, “Oppenheimer” star Josh Hartnett, as they got ready to leave the bar area and get their seats. However, they slowly starting walking out of the Dolby before they were stopped by an usher. A smiling Hartnett turned around and led his wife to the correct exit.
Ted Danson’s ‘Good Place’? His seat at the Academy Awards. For Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons, it’s cocktail hour
About a half hour before the show starts, the bar scene is still happening. Kirsten Dunst and her husband, “Killers of the Flower Moon” star Jesse Plemons, are sipping cocktails and smiling as they chat with Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the filmmaking duo behind last year’s best picture winner “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
Folks are beginning to file in to the theater. “The Good Place” star Ted Danson guided his wife Mary Steenburgen to their seats in the orchestra, followed a few minutes later by “Barbie” actor Simu Liu and his date, girlfriend Allison Hsu.
Brendan Fraser among those hitting up the Oscars’ exclusive bar
Things are starting to get busy inside the Dolby Theatre. “American Fiction” actress Erika Alexander and “Killers of the Flower Moon” star Brandon Fraser were among the first to arrive in the fancy (and very exclusive) downstairs bar, which is serving cocktails, salmon pizza, Kobe beef sliders and – mmm, mmm, MMMM – mini tacos. (Chef Wolfgang Puck was spotted wandering out from the kitchen in white Nike slippers and a big grin to hobnob as trays of his hors d’oeuvres passed around.) Arriving with his longtime partner Jeanne Moore, Fraser met Marlee Matlin and they had an animated discussion through a sign-language translator and took a selfie together. Then Fraser sauntered through a exit to the backstage area: Last year’s Oscar best actor winner is a presenter tonight.
Dominic Sessa was also seen enjoying a glass of white wine but it’s totally cool, though: Although he plays a teenager in “The Holdovers,” he’s of drinking age at 21.
Israel-Hamas war protesters, attendees with red lapel pins make their statements at the Academy Awards
Just as the Oscars red carpet was opening, protesters rallied for a Gaza cease-fire and snarled traffic near the Dolby Theatre, site of the Academy Awards. “No red carpet during genocide,” read one sign among dozens speaking out about the Israel-Hamas war. They waved Palestinian flags, set off red smoke bombs and chanted as a smaller group of demonstrators waved signs that read “Fear God.” They were demonstrating at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue, just about a block from the red carpet in Hollywood.
Political statements also are making their way into the Oscars themselves: Some attendees including Billie Eilish and Ramy Youssef are wearing red lapel pins to represent a call for increased humanitarian aid and the release of hostages.
Vanessa Hudgens seemingly reveals pregnancy on Oscars red carpet
It’s still early but there’s already some news coming from the carpet: Vanessa Hudgens, 35, revealed her apparent pregnancy ahead of Sunday’s telecast. The co-host of ABC’s red-carpet special, who’s expecting her first child with Seattle Mariners shortstop Cole Tucker, arrived and turned heads in a black gown as she held her belly. USA TODAY has reached out to Hudgens’ and Tucker’s representatives for comment, but in the meantime … congrats, yall!
Are you a fashionista? Red carpet coverage is coming
After trying to make the “champagne carpet” happen last year – like “fetch,” it didn’t – we’re back to red for the latest parade of A-listers in their Sunday best. (Keep an eye out for fashion maven/best actor nominee Colman Domingo: He tells a different story every carpet.) E!’s “Live From the Red Carpet” kicks off at 4 p.m. ET/1 PT while ABC starts its pre-show coverage at 6:30 ET/3:30 PT hosted by Disney favorites Vanessa Hudgens (“High School Musical” represent!) and Julianne Hough. And check out entertainment.usatoday.com for our own fashion galleries and expert analysis.
Contributing: Bryan Alexander, Marco della Cava, Amanda Lee Myers, Patrick Ryan and Jay Stahl
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oscars 2024: ‘Oppenheimer’ takes best picture, Emma Stone quotes Taylor Swift in win
