Cillian Murphy has become the first Irish-born actor to win a Best Actor Oscar at the Academy Awards.
“I’m a very, very proud Irish man standing here tonight,” he says before noting that “for better or worse, we are living in Oppenheimer’s world”.
The Cork man is only the fourth Irish person to win an acting Oscar. He is the first born in the country to take best actor.
“Chris Nolan and Emma Thomas – it’s been the wildest, most exhilarating, most creatively satisfying journey you’ve taken me on over the last 20 years. I owe you more than I can say,” Murphy said to his director and producer from the stage.
Here are some of the other wins from Sunday night:
- Christopher Nolan wins best director for Oppenheimer. The film also wins the best picture award.
- The film won seven of the 13 awards it was nominated for including Robert Downey Jr’s best supporting actor win.
- Poor Things – produced by Dublin-based Element Pictures – converted four of its 11 nominations into wins, including a second best actress Oscar for lead Emma Stone.
- Da’Vine Joy Randolph wins best supporting actress for her role in The Holdovers.
Best reads
- Oscars 2024: Cillian Murphy wins best actor award, saying ‘I am a very proud Irishman standing here tonight’
- Cillian Murphy interview: ‘Moving home from London was the best thing we did’
- Oscars 2024: the complete list of winners
- Ranked: the 25 greatest films to lose out on best picture Oscar
- ‘It is dishonest’: Germany divided over Oscar-nominated Auschwitz film The Zone of Interest
That’s all the latest updates for now. We’ll have more reporting later, speaking to a director who worked with Cillian Murphy during his first acting role. Thanks for reading.
In a clip of the actor speaking after the awards ceremony, he said he was “in a little bit of a daze ... very overwhelmed, very humbled, very grateful and very proud to be Irish”.
“This has been a huge moment for me ... I’m very proud that this is a film that is provocative and that asks questions,” Murphy said.
Murphy’s working relationship with director Christopher Nolan was “special”, spanning 20 years and six films.
“I did a screen test for him when I was a kid and I thought that would be it, and it would be just enough to be in a room with Chris for a couple of hours, and here we are,” he said.
Murphy beat Colman Domingo for Rustin, Bradley Cooper for Maestro, Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers and Jeffrey Wright for American Fiction in the best actor category.
In his speech, he dedicated the win to “peacemakers”, saying: “We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or worse we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world, so I would really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere. Go raibh míle maith agaibh.”
President Michael D Higgins joined in on congratulating Murphy on his best actor win, and Element Pictures for their success with Poor Things.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin also congratulated Murphy, saying he was “absolutely thrilled and delighted” the actor won the Oscar for best performance. It was “a very proud day for Cork and Ireland” for an “outstanding film that will stand the test of time”, he said.
“We’re all incredibly proud, it’s lovely to be here with him and be part of the whole thing,” Ed Guiney, director of Element Pictures, told RTE’s Morning Ireland of being in California with Cillian Murphy for the Academy Awards.
“He said to me ‘it’s a bit like Italia 90 isn’t it?’… We can all really feel them from here, people are so supportive and positive,” Guiney said.
Element Pictures has another film coming out with Emma Stone later this year, he said, adding: “We’re powering forward and continuing to make things that hopefully audiences are interested in.”
Good morning, all. Jade Wilson here taking up the Live story from Conor Pope after a big night for the Irish at the Oscars.
After a bruising few weeks in the news over RTÉ controversies, Minister for Culture and Arts Catherine Martin was delighted to have something to cheer about this morning.
She sent a message of congratulations to Irish actor Cillian Murphy on winning the coveted title of best actor at the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday night, describing Murphy as “long a favourite of Irish audiences on stage and screen”.
The award for his title role in director Christopher Nolan’s film Oppenheimer was “the pinnacle of any actor’s career and a fitting recognition of the immense talent of Cillian Murphy”, the Minister said.
Murphy had “shown himself to be a master of his craft and has secured his place among the world’s greatest actors”, she said, adding: “This Oscar success is no more than he deserves and I wish him every success in all his future films.”
Ms Martin also congratulated the cast and crew of Poor Things, co-produced by Ireland’s Element Pictures, which secured 11 Oscar nominations and won four awards.
The Minister praised Irish producers Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, as well as Irish cinematographer Robbie Ryan.
The wins made 2023 a “hugely successful year for Irish film” and the Minister hoped Cillian Murphy’s Oscar for best actor would be “a starting point for more success and acclaim for the large pool of talent existing in the Irish film industry”.
Well, that’s pretty much that although we suspect you’ve not heard the last of Cillian Murphy’s win just yet. But for now it’s a good night from us. Thanks for stopping by.
And the winners are ...
Best Picture
Oppenheimer
Actor in a Leading Role
Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer
Actress in a Leading Role
Emma Stone – Poor Things
Actor in a Supporting Role
Robert Downey Jr – Oppenheimer
Actress in a Supporting Role
Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers
Animated Short Film
War is Over! Inspired by the music of John & Yoko
Costume Design
Poor Things
Live Action Short Film
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Makeup and Hairstyling
Poor Things
Original Score
Oppenheimer
Adapted Screenplay
American Fiction – Cord Jefferson
Original Screenplay
Anatomy of a Fall – Justine Triet and Arthur Harari
Animated Feature Film
The Boy and the Heron
Cinematography
Oppenheimer
Directing
Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer
Documentary Feature Film
20 Days in Mariupol
Documentary Short Film
The Last Repair Shop
Film Editing
Oppenheimer
International Feature Film
The Zone of Interest
Original song
What Was I Made For? – Barbie
Production Design
Poor Things
Sound
The Zone of Interest
Visual Effects
Godzilla Minus One
Christopher Nolan, who won the best director Oscar for Oppenheimer, thanked his wife and producer of the film, Emma Thomas, along with Oscar winner Cillian Murphy.
Nolan said: “Thank you for those who have been there for me and believed in me my whole career.”
He also praised his brother Jonathan Nolan, creator of Westworld, before hailing Thomas for being the “producer of all our films and all our children”.
Nolan added: “I love you.
“To the Academy, just to say movies are just a little bit over 100 years old, I mean imagine being there 100 years into painting or theatre.
“We don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here. But to know that you think that I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me. Thank you very much.”
And Emma Stone wins the best actress award for Poor Things.
And the wins keep comping for Oppenheimer. Christopher Nolan is presented with his best director Oscar by Steven Spielberg.
He praises the cast and crew, saying they were led by the “incredible Cillian Murphy” and he thanks his wife and colleague Emma Thomas, “producer of all our films and all our children”.
And there it is. Cillian Murphy has become the first Irish-born actor to win a best actor Oscar at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles after picking up the golden statuette for his masterful performance as J Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, in the film Oppenheimer.
The honour puts a cap on a stellar award season from the Cork actor who has already had to find a place on his mantlepiece for the Golden Globe, the Bafta and a Screen Actors Guild award that he has won in recent weeks.
While Murphy was the odds-on favourite to win an Oscar, the nation – or at least that part of it that has stayed up until now – was still holding its breath as his name was called out to rapturous applause from the audience.
It is a long, long way far from his professional acting debut as a Disco Pig on the Cork stage but the actor was as humble and self-effacing as he has been throughout his career as he delivered his speech.
“I’m a little bit overwhelmed,” he began – and despite his award-collecting practice in recent months, he certainly looked it – but in the best possible way.
He thanked Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan, “every single crew member, every single cast member – you carried me through”. And he hailed his fellow nominees, saying: “I’m in awe of you guys.”
He thanked his parents, Brendan and Mary; “Yvonne McGuinness, my partner in life and art”, and “my two boys, Malachy and Aran, who are sitting up there – I love you so much”.
“I’m a very proud Irishman standing here tonight,” said Murphy. “We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or for worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world, so I would really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.”
And he finished with a simple “go raibh maith agat”.
No real surprise as Billie Eillish wins for What Was I Made For?
He might just be Ken but Ryan Gosling gave it socks when performing his signature tune just now. Resplendent in a shimmering suit with pink gloves he was accompanied by a team of Stetson-wearing also-Kens and – obviously – Slash. He brought his co-stars America Ferrara and Margot Robbie in on the act as well as director Greta Gerwig. He might not win the award but he certainly seems to be having the most craic of all the nominees.
In the meantime, the winner for live action short film is The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.
Oppenheimer has just picked up the cinematography award. Cillian Murphy is now five awards out from finding out if he will be the first man born in Cork – and indeed the first man born in Ireland – to win an Academy Award for leading actor.
And if you’re in need of a time check – or at least a where-are-we-now? check – we’re well over half way through and by my calculations there are nine of the 23 awards still to give out.
The award for documentary feature film goes to 20 Days in Mariupol – it is the first Oscar in Ukrainian history. “I wish I had never had to make this film,” director Mstyslav Chernov and ends with a shout of “Slava Ukraini”.
We’re sucking diesel now so we are. The winner of the award for best visual effects is Godzilla Minus One.
So, getting back to the naked John Cena. He presented the award in the nip in a nod to the 50th anniversary of the previous “craziest moment” in Oscars’ history when a naked man ran on stage.
David Niven was introducing Elizabeth Taylor, when the streaker, later identified as US photographer and gallery owner Robert Opel, ran out from behind the stage – with the 1974 crowd responding with laughter and cheers.
Kimmel said: “Can you imagine if a nude man ran across the stage, wouldn’t that be crazy?”
Cena then appeared behind the stage, saying: “I changed my mind, I don’t want to do the streaker bit any more.”
Kimmel encouraged him to do the comedy skit, saying: “We’re doing it.”
Responding, Cena said: “I just don’t feel right about it, it’s an elegant event, you know honestly you should feel shame right now for suggesting such a tasteless idea.”
“It’s supposed to be funny,” Kimmel said while Cena added: “The male body is not a joke.”
Tim Robbins just called Robert De Niro’s performance in Killers of the Flower Moon “Oscar winning” when he meant to say “Oscar nominated” ... But in actual fact the winner is Robert Downey Jr who is honoured at the third time of asking having been previously been nominated for Tropic Thunder in 2009 (best supporting actor) and for Chaplin in 1993.
In his acceptance speech he thanks his “terrible childhood and the Academy, in that order” as well as his “veterinarian ... sorry ... wife, Susan Downey. She found me a snarling refuge pet and loved me back to life. That’s why I’m here.”
Downey Jr’s “little secret”, he said, was that “I needed this job more than it needed me ... I stand here before you a better man because of it.”
And he also thanked his agent, who “spent half of his career trying to get me insured”. The Oscar follows wins for Downey Jr at the Baftas, Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice awards.
Only fair to give a nod to our friends across the Irish Sea who have won the best international film for the first time with Zone of Interest. It is also – I think – the first British film not in the English language to win a statuette. Director Jonathan Glazer says it was an “honour” to win. “All our choices were made to confront us in the present – our film shows where dehumanisation leads at its worst,” he says as he references the war in the Middle East, and “all the victims of this dehumanisation.”
Holly Waddington who won for best costume design for Poor Things seemed shook to say the least.
“I’ve forgotten what I was meant to say,” she said before thanking her fellow nominees.
She said Poor Things was a rare opportunity that allowed her to be “free and artistic” and for that she was very grateful.
It is worth pointing out that the award was presented by a naked man. That man was wrestler John Cena who told the audience “costumes are very important”.
Quite.
There will be more dancing in the aisles of the Lighthouse after Poor Things won two more statuettes, winning for production design and costume design. Three Academy Awards to its name is not too shabby.
Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell are the first to sing. What Was I Made For? is one of two songs from Barbie to be nominated and not the most over-wrought. That honour surely goes to I’m just Ken.
Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things – produced by our very own Element Pictures – is up for a stunning 11 awards. It has just won for makeup and hair styling. There’ll be dancing in the aisles of the Lighthouse Cinema where a special screening of the Oscars is taking place for the Irish-based team.
But back to the awards. The winner of the Adapted Screenplay category is American Fiction.
Collecting the prize, Cord Jefferson said: “This means the world to me. I’ve been talking a lot about how many people passed on this movie when discussing it and I’m worried that sounds vindictive but it’s more a plea to recognise there are many people out there who want the opportunity I was given.
“I understand this is a risk-averse industry but 200 million dollar movies are also a risk.
“Instead of making one 200 million dollar try making 20 to 10 million dollar movies or 50 four million dollar movies.”
Addressing his collaborators on the film, he said: “Thank you for trusting a 40-year-old black guy who has never directed anything before.”
It was a nice speech but we were kind of hoping it would descend into a Golden Cleric moment there for a few seconds.
So where are we now? We’re only just beginning, really. And speaking of the beginning it was pleasingly zippy even if it did start five minutes late following pro-Palestine protests outside.
It opened with host Jimmy Kimmel superimposed into a scene from the box office juggernaut Barbie. In the bus stop scene from the film, Margot Robbie’s Barbie turns to him and says “You’re so beautiful”. Kimmel replies: “I know I was just thinking that, I haven’t eaten in three weeks. I’m so hungry, I have to go host the Oscars.”
Then, as if by magic, he appeared on stage at the Dolby Theatre and thanked everyone for what he said was a “partial standing ovation. And for making it on time, the show is starting an hour earlier this year but don’t worry, it will still start very, very late.”
Kimmel made passing reference to the strikes that ground Hollywood to a halt, referring to what “a hard year” it had been for the industry. He also referenced Greta Gerwig’s snub for the best director prize. He told the audience that Barbie director Gerwig’s achievement was “taking a doll no-one loved any more” and turning the Mattel toy into a “feminist icon” Many people felt (Greta) should be nominated for best director,” he said.
Turning his attention to Robbie and her costar Ryan Gosling, he said: “If neither of you wins an Oscar tonight, I would like to say you won something much better, the genetic lottery.”
Returning to the subject of the strikes, and the “historic deal” struck on the use of artificial intelligence, he said: “Actors can now go back to worrying about being replaced by younger more attractive people.”
He continued: “As pretentious and superficial as it can be, this is a union town.”
He also invited a standing ovation for behind-the-scenes workers, who came out on stage as the crowd applauded. As the unions IATSE and Teamsters begin their negotiations, Kimmel said: “We will stand with you too. I’m going to make sure this show goes really long tonight to make sure you get a ton of overtime.”
The nominees for original screenplay are ...
- Anatomy of a Fall
- The Holdovers
- Maestro
- May December
- Past Lives
And the winner is Anatomy of a Fall.
The Oscar was presented to French filmmakers Justine Triet and Arthur Harari for courtroom drama.
On stage, Triet said: “Thank you so much, it will help me through my midlife crisis, I think this is a crazy year.”
She added that they came up with the idea when they were stuck in the house during the pandemic and changing their children’s nappies.
Harari also said the movie was made thanks to “total independence and freedom”.
The best Animated Feature Film nominees are:
- The Boy and the Heron
- Elemental
- Nimona
- Robot Dreams
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
And the winner is The Boy and the Heron.
And the first Oscar goes to ... Da’Vine Joy Randolph wins best supporting actress for her role in The Holdovers. No surprise there. She was pretty much everyone’s favourite for her role as the grieving mother and school kitchen manager Mary in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers. It is her first time to be nominated for an Oscar.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph said “God is so good” and thanked her mother for inspiring her to become an actor and not a singer. “For years I thought I wanted to be different, but I realise I need to be myself,” she said as she recalled being the only black girl in her class. She also thanked the women who helped and inspired her throughout her career.
Jimmy Kimmel is an old hand at hosting and hasn’t gone wrong so far although when he asked Robert Downey Jr if that was “an acceptance speech in your pocket, or a very rectangular penis” it did elicit some gentle groans.
There were far more raucous cheers when he gave a shout out to the unsung crews who keep Hollywood going. He also asked Ryan Gosling to go camping and reminded the audience that the show was already running five minutes over after the first five minutes.
The Oscars were due to start at 11pm Irish time. They are now due to start at 11.05pm as some people got held up in traffic. But don’t be worrying, we’re nearly there now.
And we’re off. And here is your host, Jimmy Kimmel.
Some of those nominated for Oscars including Billie Eilish and Ramy Youssef – and many others in attendance – have arrived wearing red pins in support of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“We’re all calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. We’re calling for the safety of everyone involved. We really want lasting justice and peace for the Palestinian people,” Youssef said. “We really just want to say, ‘let’s just stop killing children.’ There’s so much there to process and it feels like the easiest way to have the conversations that people want to have is when there isn’t an active bombing campaign happening.”
The pins are part of an effort launched by Artists4Ceasefire, group of individuals in the entertainment industry who penned an open letter to Joe Biden to demand a ceasefire.
“Beyond our pain and mourning for all of the people there and their loved ones around the world we are motivated by an unbending will to stand for our common humanity. We stand for freedom, justice, dignity and peace for all people – and a deep desire to stop more bloodshed,” the letter, signed by celebrities including Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Stewart, Mahershala Ali, Jennifer Lopez and Ava DuVernay reads.
Ahead of the red carpet kicking off, pro-Palestinian protester staged a demonstration in front of the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood calling for an urgent ceasefire.
All the best picture reviews in one place? We have you covered.
Oppenheimer review: Cillian Murphy gives a commanding performance
Poor Things review: Emma Stone is properly unsettling in this provocative feminist fable drenched in Victorian horror
Anatomy of a Fall: An unlikeable widow goes on trial in a fascinating, knotty courtroom thriller
The Zone of Interest review: We will be discussing Jonathan Glazer’s Auschwitz film for decades
Barbie review: Margot Robbie is explosive in Greta Gerwig’s lurid assault on senses
Killers of the Flower Moon review: Exquisitely mounted, impeccably finished and just a little worthy
Maestro: Carey Mulligan steals this Leonard Bernstein biopic from under Bradley Cooper’s controversial nose
Past Lives: Beautiful, slyly moving cinematic debut heralds a new star in the firmament
American Fiction review: Jeffrey Wright gives a knockout performance in this edgy, Oscar-nominated comedy
The Holdovers review: Paul Giamatti emerges as Cillian Murphy’s Oscars rival in a comedy set to become a Christmas classic
All told 18 Irish actors have been nominated a total of 31 times. Daniel Day Lewis has won three times, Barry Fitzgerald won once for Going My Way as has Brenda Fricker for her role in My Left Foot.
What we can say for sure is that – while the Irish have not exactly dominated the awards over the last 90 or so years – one of our own designed the statuette. Cedric Gibbons from Dublin designed the trophy in 1928.
Composer Victor Young was nominated 21 times and never won. He was even nominated twice in four awards at the same Oscars. He did win at the 22nd time of asking for Around the World in 80 Days, but he was dead by then and received the award posthumously.
Brenda Fricker winning for her role in My Last Foot all the way back in 1990.
There will obviously be some downtime before the awards actually start but we have you covered with all manner of trivia with which you can impress your friends and family – or just, you know, forget as soon as you have read it.
For instance, have you ever found yourself wondering why the Oscars are called the Oscars. No? Well we have the answer anyways. The statuettes are actually known as the Academy Awards of Merit although the nickname was formally adopted in 1939.
A biography of Bette Davis claimed she nicknamed the award after her first husband Harmon Oscar Nelson but a more plausible origin story suggests that an Academy executive secretary called Margaret Herrick said the statue looked like her “Uncle Oscar” when she first saw it in 1931.
We might use some of the downtime to look back at some of the more memorable moments in Oscars past ... and sure we might as well start with the Slap that was heard around the world.
Of all the madness that swirls around the Oscars, surely the swag bag is the most mental?
This year the goodies in the bags given out to the stariest of the stars who come out tonight is said to be worth around $150,000.
And what is in it?
There are three holidays, one in a Swiss chalet, another in an holistic wellness retreat near Hollywood and three nights in Saint Barts.
Then there are all manner of skincare products, liver pills as well as topical glutathione and micro-needling.
There are bite-sized gluten-free cashew cookies, sugar-free cherry gummies, a sagar sugar experience, tequila, gin and a collagen peptides drink mix.
There are also portable purse seats, blenders, an infrared grill and a clinical sleep consultation. Lower-cost swag includes a tuning fork and a Rubik’s Cube 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition, as well as a compendium of movie quotes, a children’s book of kindness and empathy, gratitude postcards fostering intergenerational connectedness, Mark Daley’s memoir of being unhappily fostered and Dr Stacie Stephenson’s self-help guide, Glow. And who gets the bags? The ceremony’s host, plus all 20 acting nominees, and the five contenders for best director.
We have some breaking news. The red carpet is back and the champagne one has been confined to the Hollywood Boulevard skip where it belongs.
The organisers have said the champagne supernova was always going to be a one off and was rolled out because red would have clashed with the tarpaulin they had to put up from to protect the stars from the weather which turned bad on the big night.
Phew.
Hello and welcome to The Irish Times’s live coverage of the Oscars. I’m Conor Pope and I will be with you for the next five or six hours after which we will all be either be celebrating wildly – or mildly at the very least – or perhaps crying into our gin.
No, there will be no gin.
And hopefully no crying.
There will be many questions answered with the main one from our perspective being will Cillian Murphy respect the wishes of the world’s bookies and become only the fourth Irish person in the history of the Academy Awards to win for an acting role?
We will also be watching closely to see if Element Pictures – who produced Poor Things – will be in their element by the end of the evening.
And, of course, there is the small matter of best picture, best director, best actress, best song as well as the dozens of other statuettes that will be handed out over the next five or so hours.
But before we find out what happens on the awards score there are other questions to be tackled including who wore what and why and – obviously – what colour will the red carpet be?
Now we know that you might be thinking this Live News story has clearly hit the gin (seriously, there will be no gin) too early as obviously the red carpet will be red but you’d be wrong.
Last year, in a break with a tradition as old as time, the organisers went with a champagne coloured red carpet. It was very confusing for everybody and we are only minutes away from finding out if the red carpet returns this year or if they will stick with a shade of washed out beige with which to usher in the stars.
Stand by please. Quiet on set.
