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    Inside the 2024 Oscars Party

    At the Governors Ball after the Oscars on Sunday evening, the writer-director Christopher Nolan and the producer Emma Thomas stepped off a raised dais after having their multiple Oscars engraved and were greeted by the party’s chef, Wolfgang Puck. In honor of the night’s biggest prizewinners, Puck was serving a selection of British food: Roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and fish and chips were presented to the couple, who were both delighted by a taste of home.Onstage at the ceremony, Thomas said she had dreamed her whole life about winning an Oscar. When Nolan was asked at the party if he had held the same dream, he exclaimed, “Absolutely.”The normally reserved Nolan said he had felt emotional up on that stage, even though he maintained his composure. “The people that know me know when I get emotional,” he said. “Just ask Emma.”Christopher Nolan with two of the seven statuettes awarded for “Oppenheimer” on Sunday.True to form, Thomas added, “If he didn’t leave right when he did he would have started ugly crying.”“And we will leave it there,” said Nolan, before he was whisked away to greet more well-wishers.America Ferrera was still vibrating from Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” performance and Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas O’Connell’s rendition of “What Was I Made For.” Both of those performances “were just simply stunning,” she said. “I think Ryan is so brilliant and really created something so unique and special with his performance.”Robert Downey Jr. with his best supporting actor Oscar, also for “Oppenheimer.”The Governors Ball, held at the Dolby Theater, is the official post-Oscars celebration.Simu Liu, who took part in the number, said: “It was an incredible, surreal moment to be onstage. And also, this came together extremely quickly.” When he got the call from the interlude’s choreographer, Mandy Moore, he said, he and his fellow performers Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans and Kingsley Ben-Adir hit the group chats, “and were like, ‘Oh my God, are you doing this? We have to do this.’”On the night, Liu added, “we were so nervous. Doing any sort of live TV is nerve-wracking, and then to do it in that room? There’s not many rooms that are more intimidating.”“There was such a moment of elation when we were done,” Liu said. “I think we pulled it off.”Da’vine Joy Randolph, left, who won for best supporting actress.The French director Justine Triet, with the Oscar for best original screenplay that she won with her husband, Arthur Harari.Anita Hill, for one, won’t forget the movie that inspired it anytime soon. Hill stopped Greta Gerwig on Gerwig’s way to find her husband, Noah Baumbach, to tell her how important “Barbie” was to her. Gerwig, embarrassed by the attention, said with a smile, “We are just making movies over here.”Yet Hill had more to say on the subject. “Clearly she has done an outstanding job and I hope that’ll be an indication to the industry to open up more opportunity to women and people of color,” she said, also mentioning the screenplay win for “American Fiction.” “There’s still not enough,” she said, “but I think this is an important time.”Sterling K. Brown, left, holds the statue that Cord Jefferson, right, won for best adapted screenplay.The party’s menu was overseen by the Austrian chef Wolfgang Puck.The four-time Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe.The celebration on Sunday was the 65th edition of the Governors Ball.According to the Academy, 1,500 guests were invited.Eugene Lee Yang, who voiced one of the characters in “Nimona,” a best animated feature nominee.Winners and nominees in each category, as well as presenters and other participants in the ceremony, get invited to the party.Billie Eilish with the only Oscar for “Barbie”: best original song, awarded to Eilish and Finneas O’Connell for “What Was I Made For?”Cillian Murphy, left, who won best actor for his performance in “Oppenheimer.”Charlotte Kemp Muhl, at the after party.The Swedish composer Ludwig Goransson, left, who won best original score for “Oppenheimer.” More

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    Our Favorite Photos From the Oscars Red Carpet

    The 96th Academy Awards bowed on Sunday with a return to tradition: The red carpet was, well, red. A year after Hollywood’s stars made their way across a champagne-colored rug, and several months after work stoppages led by actors’ and writers’ unions came to an end, they were greeted once again by the familiar décor.And judging by the bright smiles captured by our photographer, Sinna Nasseri, who was on hand at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, those in attendance were in the mood to celebrate. The starry arrivals included cast and crew of the year’s most-talked-about films, from “Barbie” to “Oppenheimer” (the night’s big winner with seven Oscars) to “Poor Things.” A few of our favorite Oscars snaps are below for your scrolling pleasure. — REBECCA THOMASColman Domingo, joined by Steven Spielberg, was one of several first-time Oscar nominees. Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons arrive at the ceremony.On Oscar night, the arrivals are often as closely watched as the show.Paul Giamatti, a best actor nominee this year.Dominic Sessa, a star of “The Holdovers,” has his photo snapped.Jamie Lee Curtis greeted Yi Yan Fuei, a star of the documentary short “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó,” as her director and grandson Sean Wang looked on. Bradley Cooper with his mother, Gloria Campano, at left.Sandra Hüller. The best actress nominee had two films in contention for awards: “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest.”Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, hand in hand.At center, Milo Machado-Graner and Swann Arlaud, stars of “Anatomy of a Fall.”Emma Stone was honored for her performance in Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Poor Things.”Anya Taylor-Joy makes an arrival.Danielle Brooks, nominated for supporting actress in “The Color Purple,” has said she spent six months auditioning for the part of Sofia.Cillian Murphy, the star of “Oppenheimer,” and his wife, Yvonne McGuinness. The film won seven Oscars, including a best actor statue for Murphy.Billie Eilish became a two-time winner in the best original song category with her win for “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie.”Lily Gladstone, who has Blackfeet and Nez Percé heritage, made history with her best actress nomination for Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.”Ariana Grande makes a grand entrance.Greta Gerwig with her partner and “Barbie” collaborator, Noah Baumbach.Jeffrey Wright, at right, the Oscar-nominated star of “American Fiction,” strikes a pose.Martin Scorsese with his daughter Francesca Scorsese.Nicolas Cage hit the red carpet.Florence Pugh sparkled.Robert Downey Jr., the winner for best supporting actor for his role in the much-celebrated “Oppenheimer.” More

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    Billie Eilish (and ‘Barbie’) Win an Oscar for ‘What Was I Made For?’

    Billie Eilish’s tender, yearning ballad “What Was I Made For?” won for original song, ensuring that “Barbie” will leave the ceremony with at least one Oscar.The soundtrack for Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster film became a powerhouse unto itself, loaded with songs by A-list stars. “What Was I Made For?,” which Eilish wrote with her brother, Finneas O’Connell, won song of the year at the Grammys and was the favorite in this category at the Oscars. This is the siblings’ second original-song Oscar. They previously won for “No Time to Die” from the 2021 James Bond blockbuster.“I was not expecting this,” Eilish said in a speech. “I’m so grateful for this song and for this movie and the way that it made me feel. And this goes out to everyone who was affected by the movie and how incredible it is.”In a sign of the strength of the “Barbie” soundtrack, the winner’s stiffest Oscars competition may have been another song from the film, “I’m Just Ken,” Ryan Gosling’s doleful lamentation. Gosling, and a large ensemble that included some of the film’s Kens, performed the number on Sunday night.“Barbie,” which has grossed $1.4 billion at the box office worldwide, came into the evening with eight Oscar nominations but was a favorite only in the song category. More

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    Oscars 2024 Predictions: Who Will Win Best Picture, Actor and Actress?

    “Oppenheimer” is the best picture favorite, but the best actress race is full of suspense. Our expert predicts which films and artists will get trophies on Sunday.Best PictureOscar voters love biopics like “Oppenheimer.”Universal Pictures“American Fiction”“Anatomy of a Fall”“Barbie”“The Holdovers”“Killers of the Flower Moon”“Maestro”✓“Oppenheimer”“Past Lives”“Poor Things”“The Zone of Interest”Let’s be real: The best picture race is locked up for “Oppenheimer.” Christopher Nolan gave Oscar voters an IMAX-sized helping of their favorite genre — the great-man-of-history biopic — and after the movie made nearly a billion dollars worldwide, its path to the top Oscar was clear.Still, why not add some stakes to the situation? See whether you can sabotage the people in your Oscar pool by convincing them that a dark-horse candidate can topple Nolan’s mighty contender.Suggest, for example, that “The Holdovers” may mirror the little-film-that-could trajectory of “CODA” (though you’d better leave out that “The Holdovers” didn’t win the top prize at the Producers Guild Awards, as “CODA” so tellingly did). Note that the expansive international contingent of the academy could swing things toward “Anatomy of a Fall” (though if that were the case, we would have seen signs of it at last month’s BAFTA ceremony). Or mention that the path to best picture tends to go through the screenplay categories, and since “Oppenheimer” is in danger of losing a writing trophy to “American Fiction” or “Barbie,” maybe those movies are the real threats.Say anything you want! Have fun causing a little chaos. Just be sure to mark down “Oppenheimer” on your own ballot, because it’s winning.Best DirectorCillian Murphy, left, getting notes from his “Oppenheimer” director, Christopher Nolan.Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal PicturesJonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things”✓Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”Martin Scorsese, “Killers of the Flower Moon”Justine Triet, “Anatomy of a Fall”Though the 53-year-old Nolan has come to be regarded as the premier blockbuster director of his generation, one feat he still hasn’t managed is winning an Academy Award. That will finally change this weekend, completing a journey that started 15 years ago when the Oscars expanded the amount of best picture nominees after his film “The Dark Knight” was snubbed in the two top categories. Now, Nolan will win both.Best ActorMurphy has won major precursor awards for his performance. Universal PicturesBradley Cooper, “Maestro”Colman Domingo, “Rustin”Paul Giamatti, “The Holdovers”✓Cillian Murphy, “Oppenheimer”Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”Giamatti has a “he’s due” veteran narrative, and Cooper gave the sort of transformative performance that voters often flip for. But it’s the “Oppenheimer” star Murphy who is best positioned to take this Oscar for holding down the huge ensemble of the best picture front-runner. Contenders who have won the SAG and BAFTA awards, as Murphy has, don’t tend to falter at the finish line.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    10 Great Oscar Winners for Best Original Song

    Hear tracks by Billie Eilish, Keith Carradine, Isaac Hayes and more.Billie Eilish, a potential two-time Oscar winner. (We’ll find out Sunday night!)Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDear listeners,Happy Oscar week! The 96th Academy Awards are this Sunday, and you know which competition we’re most excited about here at The Amplifier: best original song. Today’s playlist is a brief but star-studded tour through the category’s history.First awarded at the seventh annual ceremony, best original song has long been a reflection of popular music’s evolving style — the rare honor that’s been won by both Irving Berlin and Eminem. As the two-time winner Elton John can attest, it can be a sure path to an EGOT. As the veteran songwriter Diane Warren, who has been nominated 15 times but never won, might tell you, it can also be maddening.Warren is nominated again this year for Becky G’s “The Fire Inside,” written for Eva Longoria’s directorial feature debut, “Flamin’ Hot,” but she’s got stiff competition from the year’s most commercially successful movie, “Barbie.” (Heard of it?) That film boasts the highest-profile contenders: Ryan Gosling’s theatrical showstopper “I’m Just Ken” (penned by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt) and Billie Eilish’s wispy, haunting ballad “What Was I Made For?,” which last month won the Grammy for song of the year.Jon Batiste’s “It Never Went Away” or Scott George’s “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” could always upset if the “Barbie” songs split the vote, but my money’s on Eilish. “I’m Just Ken” is fun, sure, but in my humble, grouchy opinion, it overstays its welcome and contributes to an overall flaw of the film, which is that the supposed villain is far and away the most charismatic character. (I’m going to go hide now.)Eilish’s song is arresting and finely crafted; with all due respect to Warren, I think it’s the most worthy winner. And if you need another reason to root for the 22-year-old musician, a victory would make Eilish the youngest person ever to win two best original song Oscars, since she already won for her 2021 Bond theme, “No Time to Die.” (Her 26-year-old brother, Finneas, with whom she co-wrote both songs, would become the second-youngest two-time winner.)Today’s playlist is a reminder of some past best original song winners and a testament to the category’s stylistic diversity. Is it the first mix to contain both Barbra Streisand’s “The Way We Were” and Three 6 Mafia’s “Hard Out Here for a Pimp”? It’s certainly the first Amplifier playlist to do so.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Oscar Nominees Luncheon 2024: Best Looks and the ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ Dog

    At the annual Oscar nominees luncheon, there is always a top dog that even a ballroom full of A-listers will clamor to meet. Last year, that honor went to the “Top Gun: Maverick” producer Tom Cruise, a star so huge that the other nominees began to orbit him, biding time until they could dart in to kiss the ring.The luncheon held Monday afternoon at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., initially seemed to lack that supernova presence, even though there were plenty of famous names including Robert Downey Jr., Emma Stone and Martin Scorsese. Still, they’ve all grown too used to each other to engage in much genuflection: When you treat an awards campaign like a full-time job, the other contenders might as well be your co-workers.From left, Emma Stone, Yorgos Lanthimos and Margot Robbie at the nominees luncheon on Monday in Beverly Hills.Sinna Nasseri for The New York TimesSterling K. Brown (“American Fiction”), left, with the producer Nicky Bentham and the director Misan Harriman of the nominated live-action short “The After.”Sinna Nasseri for The New York TimesMartin Scorsese, whose best director nomination for “Killers of the Flower Moon” is his 10th, the most for a living director.Sinna Nasseri for The New York TimesWas there anyone who could jump-start this starry but sleepy scene? I didn’t think so, until I saw supporting actress nominee America Ferrera turn to her left, look down and gasp.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    The Grammys Aim for a Big Tent, but Not Everyone Feels at Home

    The most awarded artists were diverse on Sunday night. How those winners received their honors, however, differed mightily.Sunday night at the 66th annual Grammy Awards, Jay-Z accepted the Dr. Dre global impact award, a sort of éminence grise prize. He’s previously won 24 Grammys, but he did not treat the moment like a homecoming.Instead, he used his speech to alternately nudge and excoriate the Recording Academy, the body that awards the Grammys, for its mistreatment and short-shrifting of Black artists: “We want y’all to get it right. At least get it close to right.” He mentioned his wife, Beyoncé, winner of the most Grammys ever, yet never a winner for album of the year. “Think about that,” he said, as he scrunched up his face with distaste.By this point, the room seemed to understand what was happening — Jay-Z was rinsing the Grammys on its own stage. Beyoncé, in the audience, appeared to be somewhere near tears. “When I get nervous,” Jay-Z said, “I tell the truth.” He reached out and grabbed the hand of his daughter Blue Ivy for support before urging those who have been overlooked and slighted to persevere “until they give you all those accolades you feel you deserve.”Jay-Z’s speech took a moment of acclaim and turned it into a moment for reflection, and maybe a lecture. Over the past few years, several Black artists have effectively been boycotting the Grammys by declining to submit their music for consideration, frustrated with how hip-hop and R&B are treated, particularly in the biggest all-genre categories.This year was no different — album, record and song of the year were won by white artists, though broadly speaking, the most awarded artists were diverse: three each for SZA, Killer Mike and Victoria Monét; four for Phoebe Bridgers (three of which came as part of boygenius) and two each for Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Miley Cyrus.How those artists received those honors, however, differed mightily.In their speeches, Monét and SZA emphasized how long and roundabout their paths to this moment had been. During her acceptance for best new artist, Monét called the prize the endpoint of “a 15-year pursuit.” She’s primarily been known for her songwriting, particularly her work with Ariana Grande. And while she’d released music independently through the 2010s, her 2023 album, “Jaguar II,” was her first major-label LP. “My roots have been growing underneath ground, unseen for so long,” she said. “And I feel like today, I’m sprouting.” More

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    Best and Worst Moments From the 2024 Grammys:

    Young women brought the drama, Jay-Z surprised with a barbed speech and heroes long absent from the show’s stage made welcome returns at the 66th annual awards.The most awards at the 66th annual Grammys went to Phoebe Bridgers, who picked up three with her band boygenius and one for a feature on a SZA song. SZA, who came into the night with the most nominations, was shut out of the biggest honors — for album (which went to Taylor Swift’s “Midnights”), record (Miley Cyrus’s “Flowers”) and song (Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?”) — but took home three trophies. Victoria Monét was named best new artist, and Swift’s album win broke a Grammy record for the category. The show was particularly joyous, slick and thoughtful, featuring several striking performances and a few raw acceptance speeches. All in all, it captured pop music as it actually is — centerless, and subject to change at any moment.Best Theatrical Pop Stars: Billie Eilish and Olivia RodrigoFrom left: Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo brought powerful vocals and a bit of theater to the Grammy stage. Photographs by Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesTwo of the night’s strongest performances came from young women using pianos to accompany the wispy, stratospheric upper reaches of their registers — and to comment on the tyranny of fragility and prettiness. The first was Billie Eilish, stunning the crowd to silence with a sparse, deeply felt reading of “What Was I Made For?,” her “Barbie” ballad that later picked up song of the year. The second was Olivia Rodrigo, who nailed the vertiginous high notes that punctuate her rock-operatic smash “Vampire,” and then riffed on the song’s theme as she smeared herself with spurting fake blood. Each performance, in its own way, felt like a rebuttal to the constricting standards to which so many young women are held. Eilish’s was about the pain of being perceived as an object; Rodrigo’s reimagined the same kind of pressure as a horror movie. Both understood the power of a little theatricality. LINDSAY ZOLADZBest Debut Grammy Performance: Joni MitchellJoni Mitchell won a Grammy for best folk album, then performed with a group of musicians.Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesJoni Mitchell, 80, has been singing her prismatic folk ballad “Both Sides Now” since she was 23, and yet every time she performs it, she seems to be interpreting its infinitely wise lyrics anew. The rendition she performed at the Grammys — her first-ever performance on the award show, which makes sense given how underestimated and slighted by the industry Mitchell has felt throughout most of her career — was at once elegiac and nimble, backed by a loose jazz arrangement that allowed her to riff on its familiar melody. Showing off a resonant tone and impressive range that she has worked diligently to strengthen since suffering an aneurysm in 2015, Mitchell’s performance was like a brief, magical visitation from a musical deity. ZOLADZBest Surprise Roast: Jay-ZJay-Z brought his daughter Blue Ivy Carter onstage during his acceptance speech at the Grammys.Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More