Oscars 2024: Christopher Nolan Wins Best Director For Oppenheimer

At long last, Christopher Nolan has won himself the highest award in filmmaking. Sunday, both Nolan and Oppenheimer won big at the 96th Academy Awards, with the former winning the Oscar for Best Director. It’s his first Oscar win in the category, one for which he’s been nominated twice for. His previous nomination came with 2018’s Dunkirk. Nolan won Best Director over Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall), Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon), Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things), and Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest).

Nolan also happened to be a favorite for the hardware after winning most comparable awards throughout this awards season including a Golden Globe, BAFTA Award, and Critics’ Choice Award amongst many others.

Nolan’s Oppenheimer nomination was just one of 13 the film was nominated for. Other categories the film earned an Oscar nod in include Best Picture, Best Actor (Cillian Murphy), Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), Best Supporting Actress (Emily Blunt), Best Adapted Screenplay (Nolan), Best Cinematography (Hoyte van Hoytema), Best Costume Design (Ellen Mirojnick), Best Film Editing (Jennifer Lame), Best Makeup and Hairstyling (Luisa Abel), Best Original Score (Ludwig Göransson), Best Production Design (Ruth De Jong and Claire Kaufman), Best Sound (Willie D. Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo, and Kevin O’Connell). 

Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Emily Blunt as his wife, biologist and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer. Oscar® winner Matt Damon portrays General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Downey, Jr. plays Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan.

Oppenheimer is now streaming on Peacock and available wherever films are sold.