Actor Oscars
Emma Stone prevails against strong competition
Emma Stone and Cillian Murphy with their Oscars.
© getty/[EXTRACTED]: PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images / 2024 Los Angeles Times
In a top year: Emma Stone beats Sandra Hülser, among others, at the Oscars. Cillian Murphy wins in the men’s race.
Cillian Murphy (47) for “Oppenheimer” and Emma Stone (35) for “Poor Things” is the Oscar winner for best leading actor and best actress.
Cillian Murphy prevailed against Bradley Cooper (49, “Maestro”), Colman Domingo (54, “Rustin”) Paul Giamatti (56, “The Holdovers”) and Jeffrey Wright (58, “American Fiction”). The Irishman deserves the prize because he once again holds Christopher Nolan’s (53) complex narrative together. Murphy, who plays the “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer, thanks “all the peacemakers” in the world in his speech.
Emma Stone wins her second Oscar as a leading actress after “La La Land” (2016). She was successful in a strong vintage. In addition to the winner, Lily Gladstone (37) was considered one of the favorites. A win for “Killers of the Flower Moon” would have made her the first Indigenous person to win an Oscar in an acting category.
Exceptional role beats diversity
Gladstone certainly deserved the Oscar, but had the misfortune of having to compete against Stone in an exceptional role. Ultimately, the jury members rightly did not make a statement for diversity, but instead opted for the better, more spectacular role. Emma Stone played a woman with the brain of a child who is rapidly developing. This is just classic Oscar material.
The German Sandra Hülser (45) also came away empty-handed. She also delivered an exceptional performance in “Anatomy of a Case” that would have been enough for an Oscar in many years. Carey Mulligan (38, “Maestro”) and Annette Bening (65, “Nyad”) filled out the category.