The finale of the 2024 awards season premiered on March 10. This year, the Oscars included a naked John Cena presenting the Oscar for Best Costume Design and ending the night with 62 dancing Kens and Slash. Watchers were never quite sure what to expect while streaming the awards show.
There were a variety of showstopping hosts and reunions at the Oscars. One notable duo was the stars of “Twins,” Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. The stars discussed how they were brought together on stage for one apparent reason, which, according to Schwarzenegger, was that “We both tried to kill Batman.” They then taunted Michael Keaton, who portrayed the famous crimefighter in the 1980s. It was later praised on social media as one of the best moments in the awards ceremony.
Another presenting duo was Ryan Gosling from “Barbie” and Emily Blunt from “Oppenheimer,” who were nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress for their respective films. During their presentation, they fought against each other over “Barbenheimer,” arguing over which movie was the most successful of the rivalry. Then, in a beautiful gesture to the people who put their lives on the line to make the films audiences love, they gave a special presentation thanking the stunt teams of the film industry while also promoting their upcoming movie, “The Fall Guy.”
By far, the most talked-about presentation of the night was Cena’s presentation of the Best Costume Design award. Host Jimmy Kimmel came out onstage to discuss one of the most memorable moments in Oscars history: when a streaker appeared onstage during the 1974 ceremony during the presentation of Best Picture. At this moment, he queued Cena, who hid behind a piece of platform, appearing naked. He came on stage to present the Best Costume Design award while stating, “Costumes are very important.”
“Oppenheimer” was the night’s biggest winner, with seven wins out of 13 nominations. These wins included Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr., Best Director for Christopher Nolan, Best Actor for Cillian Murphy and Best Picture. Both Downey Jr. and Nolan were first-time winners at the Academy Awards.
Junior exercise science major Preston Adkins Is a longtime fan of the awards ceremony and an avid movie-watcher.
“This year’s Best Picture category had one of the best lineups I can remember in a long time,” Adkins said. “This year’s Supporting Actor/Actress awards were a runaway for both nominees, Da’vine Joy Randolph and Robert Downey Jr., all season. They have not missed a single major award they were nominated for, making them the most obvious winners of the night.”
While many of the night’s wins were more predictable than others, one of the night’s most significant awards was still up for grabs between actresses Lily Gladstone and Emma Stone. Gladstone made history by being the first Native American nominated for the Best Actress award. The two had been on each other’s tails all awards season, both winning a Golden Globe for their respective roles, while Stone won the British American Film and Television Award, or BAFTA, and Gladstone won the Screen Actors Guild, or SAG, Award.
“The actresses Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone had a much tighter race, with Stone receiving the coveted Best Leading Actress,” Adkins said. “This is the most debated moment of the night, with many saying Gladstone deserves the award. While I agree that Stone performed better, I was rooting for Gladstone to pick up the award, making history as the first Native American actress to win the award.”
For the presentation of Best Actress, five prominent past winners of the award came onstage to talk about each nominee, including last year’s winner, Michelle Yeoh, and Jennifer Lawrence, who won Best Actress in 2012. When it was announced that Stone had won the award, Stone was visibly shocked as she went on stage to accept it. It is a tradition at the Academy Awards that the previous award-winner presents it to the new winner. Still, Yeoh handed the award to Lawrence, who got to give it to her longtime friend Stone, and they both were in tears, excited about this win.
After being asked about this decision, Yeoh posted on Instagram that she was excited about Stone’s win and wanted to give Lawrence and Stone their special moment.
“I wanted to share that glorious moment of handing over Oscar to you together with your best friend Jennifer!!” Yeoh said via Instagram. “She reminded me of my Bae Jamie Lee Curtis… always there for each other!!”
While Gladstone did not take the award for Best Actress, one record was still broken that night, as singing-songwriting brother-sister duo Billie Eilish and FINNEAS walked away with another Best Original Song award for “What Was I Made For?” in “Barbie”. This makes Eilish the youngest two-time Oscar winner, at just the age of 22.
The night concluded with the long-awaited performance of “I’m Just Ken” by Gosling, which became one of the most iconic performances in Oscars history. This performance included a nod to Marilyn Monroe’s “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” performance, blown-up Barbie heads, an appearance by the movie’s other Kens, a sing-along, a “La La Land” reunion and a surprise appearance from Slash.
This performance had been months in the making. Choreographer Mandy Moore came on the team to help create the choreography for the showstopping number, and Gosling was involved in every second of planning. Gosling planned for the number to evolve as the song continued, adding more Kens running in from every part of the theater. Gerwig recommended turning the performance into a sing-along. Gosling insisted on sharing the moment with Gerwig and costars Margot Robbie and America Ferrera.
He even planned on going up to his “La La Land” costar, Stone, and having her sing with him, which Stone later mentioned resulted in her ripping her Louis Vuitton dress before going on stage to accept her Oscar win that night.
Gosling worked with a voice teacher in the months before the performance. Everyone involved in the act only had two in-person rehearsals at the Oscars stage before the actual ceremony itself, which ended with prominent Hollywood stars, directors, producers and executives on their feet, singing along to the iconic “Barbie” song.
The end of this year’s Oscars proved to be “Kenough” with its humor, heart and many showstopping moments throughout the night. The number of viewers rose to 19.5 million people across the globe to celebrate films and all the people who go into creating the movies of our generation.
