If you missed 2024′s Oscars show, you lost out ― there were enough notable wins, surprises, and accidental presenting bluffs to raise even Hollywood’s most Botoxed brow.
So, we thought we’d list some of the snubs, shocks, and mistakes this year. Enjoy!
Al Pacino took the time-saver’s route to announcing Best Picture
Usually, presenters list off the other films nominated in the category before announcing the winner.
Not so with Al, who simply said, “Only one will take the award for Best Picture and I have to go to the envelope for that and I will. Here it comes... And my eyes see ‘Oppenheimer.’”
It’s sliiightly giving “anyway, here’s Wonderwall.”
Emma Stone was pretty amazed she won Best Actress
The actor scored her second Best Actress Oscar last night for her role in Poor Things, making her one of eight actors to have won in the category by the age of 35.
However, she seemed shocked by the win, not least because of her broken dress (which she thinks snapped during Ryan Gosling’s I’m Just Ken performance).
Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers lost out to Anatomy of a Fall for Best Original Screenplay
This was a surprise to some because Alexander Payne’s films have won that specific award before (both Sideways and The Descendants, written by Payne, have succeeded in the category).
That meant that although The Holdovers was written by David Hemingson, it being an Alexander Payne film made the film a favourite. However, Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall won.
The multilingual film is also only the third film written in a language other than English to win the category.
Barbie didn’t land Best Adapted Screenplay
After neither director Greta Gerwig nor producer and star Margot Robbie were nominated for Best Actress or Best Director, some thought the screenplay nomination was a compensatory nod to both powerhouses.
The film lost out in the category to the amazing American Fiction, meaning the film lost its shot at a major Oscar. However, it was well-represented in the 2024 nominations and won Best Original Song for Billie Eilish’s gorgeous What Was I Made For.
Killers of the Flower Moon landed zero awards
Martin Scorcese’s movie was up against titans like Oppenheimer, which dominated the night.
Despite being nominated ten times this year, it didn’t take home a single Oscar. Remarkably, it’s Scorcese’s third film to do this ― Gangs of New York and The Irishman faced an identical fate, with ten nominations and no wins.
Jimmy Kimmel shouted out “below-the-line” union workers
“We were able to make a deal because of the people who rallied beside us,” Kimmel said in his opening monologue. It was a nod to WGA and SAG/AFTRA members, whose strikes last year were the subjects of multiple headlines.
“Before we celebrate ourselves, let’s have a very well-deserved round of applause for the people who work behind the scenes: the Teamsters, the truck drivers, the lighting crew, sound, camera, gaffers, grips. That’s right. All the people who refused to cross the picket line,” he said, receiving a standing ovation.
Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s son won an Oscar
Sean Ono Lennon created the short animated film War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko, which won Best Animated Short last night.
At the end of his acceptance speech, Sean called out “Happy Mother’s Day, Yoko!” ― the Oscars awards show coincided with Mother’s Day in the UK.
John Cena streaked across the stage
John Cena presented the Oscar for Best Costume Design almost entirely in the nude, though he was wrapped in a curtain when giving the actual award.
The choice was a callback to a 1974 incident, in which a streaker named Robert Opel ran across the stage nude. Unlike John, he was not invited ― presenter David Niven said after his appearance, “Well, ladies and gentlemen, that was almost bound to happen.”