Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” has taken the top award at this year’s Golden Globe Awards. The period-set film, which charts the creation of the atomic bomb by J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), won the Best Picture, Drama award at the Golden Globes on Sunday night. The night’s leading category, which historically sets the stage for the Academy Awards’ Best Picture frontrunners, closed out the ceremony.
“Oppenheimer” was up against a stacked assortment of nominees, including “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Maestro,” “Past Lives,” and “Zone of Interest” in the Best Picture, Drama category; fellow buzzy films “Barbie,” “Poor Things,” and “May December” were recognized in the Best Picture, Musical or Comedy category.
“Oppenheimer” had the second most Golden Globes nominations with eight nods, with “Barbie” landing nine nominations. In addition to Best Picture, Drama, “Oppenheimer” was nominated for Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Score, and the new category of Cinematic Box Office Achievement, with actors Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and Robert Downey Jr. recognized.
In addition to the Golden Globes wins, “Oppenheimer” has already won big at the New York Film Critics Circle and National Board of Review. IndieWire’s Anne Thompson predicts “Oppenheimer” is positioned to dominate the 2024 Oscars, with actor Murphy telling Thompson that it was “truly mind-blowing” to watch writer-director Nolan create the film.
“It was a staggering piece of work,” Murphy said. “It was truly mind-blowing how he managed to condense this history-making time of the 20th century and put it into a movie and then to compress this man’s life, but at the same time make it feel entertaining and compelling.”
Murphy continued of Nolan’s vision, “Chris has a side of being a true artist. But he has an engineering brain, and a mathematical one. He’s always worked like that. You could see that in the temporal structure of his films and how he plays with narrative and how he’s so interested in science. That’s a rare combination to have the engineering, mathematical mind alongside a genius, creative mind. […] I’ve learned a lot from him. I apply myself in terms of that focus, and that rigor and that dedication, and that commitment. We’re both not interested in the ancillary nature of the industry. We’re both interested in the work.”
