Oppenheimer dominates Oscars nominations with 13 nods

Christopher Nolan’s epic Oppenheimer has swept the Oscar nominations, picking up 13 nods including best actor for Irish star Cillian Murphy.

Murphy, who plays atomic bomb creator J Robert Oppenheimer, was nominated for his first Academy Award, alongside British star Emily Blunt in the best actress category, while their co-star Robert Downey Jr also received a nod for supporting actor.

The drama was also recognised for best picture, while British filmmaker Nolan scored his second nod for best director.

He will go head-to-head with another British director, Jonathan Glazer, for his film The Zone Of Interest, about Rudolf Hoss, the commandant of Auschwitz, and his family who live next to the concentration camp.

The category also saw Justine Triet nominated for French courtroom drama Anatomy Of A Fall, Martin Scorsese being given a nod for western crime thriller Killers Of The Flower Moon, and Yorgos Lanthimos nominated for Poor Things.

However, Barbie’s director Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, who played the Mattel doll in the blockbuster hit, were overlooked in the director and best actress categories, respectively.

Leonardo DiCaprio also failed to get a nod for best actor for Killers Of The Flower Moon, about a Native American society thrust into peril when oil is discovered on their territory, and black comedy Saltburn, starring Barry Keoghan, did not secure one mention.

Gothic fairy tale comedy Poor Things scored 11 nods in total, including best picture, as well as nominations for Mark Ruffalo in the supporting actor category and best actress for star Emma Stone.

That prize sees British actress Carey Mulligan also in contention for her performance as Leonard Bernstein’s wife Felicia Montealegre in Maestro, alongside Sandra Huller for Anatomy Of A Fall, Annette Bening for Nyad and Lily Gladstone for Killers Of The Flower Moon.

Meanwhile, Blunt, who has been nominated for her performance as Oppenheimer’s wife in the supporting actress category, faces competition from US actress Da’Vine Joy Randolph, who has won a slew of precursor prizes for her turn as a cook in The Holdovers.

The category also features Danielle Brooks for The Color Purple, based on Alice Walker’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Jodie Foster for her performance in sports drama Nyad about the life of athlete Diana Nyad, and America Ferrera for Barbie.

Downey Jr has been nominated for his third Oscar – this time for Oppenheimer – for his supporting role as Lewis Strauss, the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.

Other nominees include Ryan Gosling for his performance as Ken in Barbie, Robert De Niro for his role as William Hale in Killers Of The Flower Moon and Sterling K Brown for playing Cliff Ellison in American Fiction.

American Fiction also scored a nod in the best actor category for US star Jeffrey Wright, for his performance as a frustrated novelist who writes a book that propels him into the centre of the hypocrisy he disdains.

He will compete against Paul Giamatti, who has won plaudits for his performance as a cranky prep school teacher forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a troubled student in drama The Holdovers.

Bradley Cooper also landed a nomination in the category for his Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro, which he also directed, alongside Colman Domingo for his performance as activist Bayard Rustin, adviser to Martin Luther King Jr.

Meanwhile, American Fiction also featured in the adapted screenplay category for first-time feature film director Cord Jefferson who adapted Percival Everett’s 2001 novel titled Erasure.

He will compete against Greta Gerwig and her husband and co-writer Noah Baumbach for box office juggernaut Barbie, alongside British screenwriter Tony McNamara for Poor Things, adapted from Scottish writer Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel.

British filmmaker Nolan also features in the category for his adaptation of Oppenheimer, alongside Glazer for The Zone Of Interest.

The best picture Oscar nominees are American Fiction, Anatomy Of A Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers Of The Flower Moon, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Poor Things and The Zone Of Interest.

Among the nominations for Oppenheimer and Poor Things were for makeup and hairstyling, production design, film editing, cinematography and costume design.

Both were also nominated for best original score alongside American Fiction, Indiana Jones And The Dial of Destiny and Killers Of The Flower Moon.

Meanwhile, in the best original song category, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt were nominated for I’m Just Ken from Barbie, alongside sibling song-writing duo Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell for What Was I Made For? from the same Margot Robbie-led hit film.

It comes after the pair won the Golden Globe for the song, and two years after their Oscar win in the same category for James Bond theme song No Time To Die.

Nominations for the 96th Oscars were announced on Tuesday by Atlanta star Zazie Beetz and The Boys actor Jack Quaid, ahead of the annual ceremony hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

The Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 10 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Published: 24/01/2024 by Radio NewsHub