Oscars 2024: Ryan Gosling rocks the emotional show, “Oppenheimer” wins 7 times

Simone Meier

Corina Molen

So 7 Oscars go to “Oppenheimer”, 4 to “Poor Things” and 2 to “The Zone of Interest”. For everyone else there was 1 – for example for “Barbie” and “The Holdovers” – or none as for “Killers of the Flower Moon”, the big loser of this Oscar evening.

Ready, done, the carpet on which the stars will parade into the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles tonight is finally no longer ‘champagne-colored’, i.e. beige and pale, like last year. They thought this was a good idea. The result looked like people being dismembered in the soundproof abdication room of a crematorium. Simply inappropriate. Now the red carpet is red again.

Vanessa Hudgens is the first to seize the opportunity to turn heads – by making no secret of her obvious baby bump. Smart.

There was already a lot of excitement the day before yesterday at the British Embassy in LA, where the diplomats thought it would be a fitting idea to have a ‘Saltburn’ celebration, as evidenced by the antler decorations. The question is how far they may have gone.

“Hey, Sandra, crazy cool,” says Steven Gätjen to Sandra Hülser, who has two films at the Oscars and is also nominated for best actress. She’s actually wearing a really crazy dress and looks like an eagle with a castle for her cleavage.

“We’re starting with the biggest movie of the year – ‘Barbie,’” says Jimmy Kimmel, honoring Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig in detail. He tells Ryan Gosling and Robbie, “Even if you don’t win, you’ve already won the genetic lottery, Ryan, you’re so handsome, let’s go camping together!”

“How many times can you take your mom on a date before you actually go out with your mom?” he asks Bradley Cooper, who is there with his mother. Robert Downey Jr. gets a drug joke and a penis joke. Regarding the scenes of a wedding in the Auschwitz horror ‘The Zone of Interest’, Kimmel says this may be disturbing to many, but in Germany this would be called a ‘rom-com’.

But more than the dirty jokes, he’s more interested in last year’s Hollywood strike. About solidarity and cohesion. We hear that Steven Spielberg and his wife donated a lot of money to unemployed colleagues during the strike.

The awards ceremony also starts with a sign of support and solidarity in the industry. The five nominees for Best Supporting Actress are presented by five former winners. And as expected, Da’Vine wins over Joy Randolph, introduced by Lupita Nyong’o, for her role in “The Holdovers.” With tears she says: “God is so good, God is so good!” And how she learned to finally be herself. Her film colleague Paul Giamatti also cries.

Things get very, very, very, very exciting with “Original Screenplay”. Will the super cool Frenchwoman Justine Triet win for “Anatomie d’une chute”? Yes! “Thank you so much, this will help me through my midlife crisis!” Everything was so glamorous tonight, unlike filming with two small children at the time: “There was no separation between work and diapers.”

Also very nice: that the adapted screenplay category goes to Cord Jefferson for ‘American Fiction’, a smart comedy about an African-American writer who refuses to write African-American books. Until he needs money and successfully pulls out all the cliché stops.

Amazing: An hour has already passed and “Oppenheimer” is still empty. For how long?

Billie Eilish and brother Finneas perform “What Was I Made for” from “Barbie,” the quiet, thoughtful song for which Eilish will likely win her second Oscar. On 22! Has this ever happened before? Makeup & hair goes to “Poor Things”. Logically. Willem Dafoe’s mask alone deserves an Oscar. The production design also goes to “Poor Things”. That also makes sense.

Still no one for “Oppenheimer”

Action actor John Cena comes on stage stark naked, which means he has the envelope for best costume – which also goes to “Poor Things” – for his sensitive area. It’s meant to recreate the 50th anniversary of the Oscar speedster who ran across the stage at the 46th Oscars. Of course he doesn’t do it in its entirety. Almost. And in Birkenstocks.

Meanwhile, “Oppenheimer’s” potential Oscar account is shrinking.

Jonathan Glazer wins the award for best international film with ‘The Zone of Interest’. He says his film is a statement against dehumanization, both historical and current. Against those of October 7 and those in Gaza. The Holocaust should not be used for the wrong political purposes, he says. His leading actress Sandra Hülser is crying. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations take place in front of the Dolby Theater. Police helicopters circle above the building.

At 1:39 the spell is broken: Robert Downey Jr. wins Best Supporting Actor, and with all the love for Ryan Ken Gosling, it would have been unfair if he didn’t win this one. “I would like to thank my terrible childhood and the academy, in that order.” He needed this job more than he needed, and now he’s a better person for it. And his wife Susan picked him up like an abandoned animal from the street and healed him. Ooooohhh.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, whose heights are spectacularly different, present the Oscar for special effects, a sweet duo. The quartet that wins with “Godzilla Minus One” is overjoyed and brings many little Godzillas to the stage.

The editorial goes to “Oppenheimer”. Shit. (No of course not.)

How is Roger Federer doing? Who can he actually sit next to? And why do the straps of Emily Blunt’s dress stick out so strangely?

America Ferrera and Kate McKinnon present documentaries. “’Jurassic Park,’ ‘Jurassic World,’” says McKinnon, leading to some witty banter with an extremely comical Spielberg. Ben Proudfoot wins his second Oscar for a short documentary film with “The Last Repair Shop”.

The award for ’20 Days in Mariupol’ is the first Oscar ever to go to Ukraine. Director Mstyslav Chernov says: «I wish I had never made this film, I wish I could exchange it for peace with Russia. But I can’t change history. I can’t change the past. But together with you, with some of the most talented people in the world, I can ensure that the truth prevails. Film creates memories. And memories shape history.”

It’s moving. Such as Yulia Navalnaya’s speech last year when she accepted the Oscar for the documentary ‘Navalny’.

Hoyte Van Hoytema is perhaps the best cameraman in the world. He has made such brilliantly good films as “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” or “Låt den rätte komma in”. He deserves the Oscar for ‘Oppenheimer’. Wes Anderson (who is not there) wins the short film category. It is his first Oscar. Astonishing.

How great that “The Zone of Interest” also wins Sound! Because the sound is something like the main character. You have to thank the Academy for “listening to our movie,” says one of the winning sound crew. The entire horror of Auschwitz is told in the sound.

And then comes Ken. Ryan Gosling is making the 2024 Oscars his event. Standing Kenation or something like that should be said about the commotion in the room: The “Barbie” women – Gerwig, Robbie, Ferrera – are panicking, Gosling is extremely pink, and there is also a perfect Ken ballet for “I’ m Just Ken,” and then guitarist Slash comes on stage. Nothing is possible anymore. Best Oscar show ever.

“Barbie” also wins best song, but as expected Billie Eilish and her brother. That was the only Oscar for “Barbie”. Cheeky.

Cillian Murphy. Who else? Earned. He goes on stage, lit up and with his hair not quite right anymore. And laughs! The man can laugh! “I am a very proud Irishman standing here today. We made a movie about the man who invented the atomic bomb – and for better or worse, we live in Oppenheimer’s world today. I dedicate my award to all peacemakers!” Steven Spielberg gives Christopher Nolan his first Oscar for Best Director.

And the Oscar for Best Actress goes to Emma Stone. Who comes on stage with a dress that is half open at the back. “I think it happened during ‘I’m Just Ken’.” It is her second Oscar after ‘La La Land’. This one deserves even more than the old one. But what the world expected was Emma Stone scoring a victory for Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the first Native American. Stone is visibly shaken, but no one can help her now.

Kimmel reads a fake review about his moderation. By Donald Trump. Very funny.

And then Al Pacino opens the last envelope and asks, “Will I see ‘Oppenheimer’?” Yes of course. Nolan’s wife, producer Emma Thomas, admits she has always dreamed of this moment. Now her dream has come true. Other dreams have shattered. That’s how it is. At the Oscars and in life. And those with the biggest budgets receive very minimal preference in both places.

And now? That was full circle! Slimmed down, a little shorter, a little more personal, with the best show ever. Not the least bit uncomfortable. You can do it again like this.