2023's awards season has finally come to an end with the annual Academy Awards ceremony taking place last night, an event that takes huge pride in awarding the best achievements in motion pictures over the last 12 months.
To no surprise, it was Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' that was crowned as the big winner on the night, taking home an impressive 7 Academy Awards from 13 nominations, including the prestigious Best Picture honour.
The category domination from the blockbuster biopic came to no one's surprise as it has been sweeping more or less every pre-curser awarding body in the build-up to the Academy Awards. Before last night, the film had been honoured as the best of the year by the Golden Globes, the BAFTA's and the Critic's Choice.
Honours for both Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. for their respective roles in Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' were awarded, crowning the pair both as first-time Academy Award winners. Additionally, Murphy would become the first Irish-born actor to win the prestigious Best Actor Oscar.
The first award of the night fell into the hands of Da'Vine Joy Randolph for her supporting performance in Alexander Payne's 'The Holdovers'. The actress has been sweeping within the Best Supporting Actress category all awards season, so to see the 37-year-old up on stage, delivering an emotional speech from the heart came as no shock.
Shortly after, Yorgos Lanthimos' 'Poor Things' quickly took the lead with the most awards on the night, winning three Academy Awards in quick succession. The first of which came through the form of the Best Makeup & Hairstyling category, beating out Bradley Cooper's 'Maestro'. All before the film was announced victorious in Best Production Design and Best Costume Design.
An impressive start from Lanthimos' fantasy/comedy wouldn't last long as 'Oppenheimer' would soon begin to live up to it's reputation, taking home the awards for Best Original Score, Best Editing and a first Best Cinematography win for Hoyte van Hoytema. Along with Downey Jr's Best Supporting Actor win for his performance as Lewis Strauss, the film quickly took the lead.
Before Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell made history by becoming the youngest ever duo to fall into the possession of two Academy Awards (22 and 26) for their work in the Best Original Song category, the show was stolen by the song's competitor and the man performing it, Ryan Gosling.
Gosling's first and probably only ever live-action performance of 'I'm Just Ken' was certainly the most memorable aspect of the event, and a performance that is likely to go down as one of the most iconic moment of any Academy Awards ceremony.
Established filmmaker, Wes Anderson, finally became an Academy Award winner for his work on the short film 'The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar'. Whilst Anderson wasn't there in person to accept the award, his 39-minute adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic story of the same name was the 54-year-old's 8th nomination and first win.
No major surprises were announced across the two screenplay categories as Cord Jefferson took home the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his work on 'American Fiction', whereas Justine Triet and Arthur Harari were crowned victorious in the Best Original Screenplay category for their work on 'Anatomy of a Fall'.
One of the biggest and arguably most surprising moments of the night came through the form of Emma Stone's second Best Actress win for her monumental performance as Bella Baxter in 'Poor Things'. Before the ceremony, Lily Gladstone was predicted to take home the award for her role in Martin Scorsese's 'Killers Of The Flower Moon', but it would go on to be Stone that would receive her second Best Actress Oscar within the space of 7 years.
The 'Oppenheimer' awards season domination then inevitably came to an end as Christopher Nolan was announced by Steven Spielberg as this year's Best Director winner for his groundbreaking work on the blockbuster biopic. This was shortly followed by Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas rejoining the stage to accept the Academy Award for Best Picture, an event that almost everyone within the room could see coming.
Which movie do you think should have won Best Picture at the 96th Annual Academy Awards?
Final Tally
"Oppenheimer" (Universal): 7 out of 13
"Poor Things" (Searchlight): 4 out of 11
"Barbie" (Warner Bros.): 1 out of 8
"American Fiction" (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios): 1 out of 5
"Anatomy of a Fall" (Neon): 1 out of 5
"The Holdovers" (Focus Features): 1 out of 5
"The Zone of Interest" (A24): 2 out of 5
"The Boy and the Heron" (Netflix) 1 out of 1