Oppenheimer has topped the Critics Choice Awards taking home eight gongs.
The Christopher Nolan epic scored the filmmaker a win for best director, alongside best picture and supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr, while star Cillian Murphy was snubbed in the best actor category, which went to The Holdovers star Paul Giamatti.
The 29th ceremony on Sunday also saw success for Greta Gerwig’s box office hit Barbie, which picked up six awards including best comedy, best original screenplay and best original song for British star Mark Ronson’s I’m Just Ken, sung by Ryan Gosling.
The TV categories saw Succession, Beef and The Bear dominate in the major awards, including a win for Australian actor Sarah Snook for Succession, while compatriot Elizabeth Debicki won best supporting actress in a drama series for her role as Diana, Princess of Wales in The Crown.
Taking to the stage to collect his gong for best director on Sunday, Nolan said: “To mangle a quote from Sir Isaac Newton, ‘If I appear tall it’s because I stand on the shoulders of giants’ – the particular giants I am standing on is Kai (Bird) and Marty (Sherwin) who wrote the incredible book American Prometheus and spent 25 years doing it.”
Oppenheimer star Emily Blunt also thanked Nolan for his “ability to connect with actors” as she collected the award for best ensemble on behalf of the cast.
Downey Jr read his own worst reviews from critics as he accepted the award for best supporting actor.
“The first one is kind of like Haiku: ‘Sloppy, messy and lazy’,” he told the audience in Santa Monica, California.
“The next one is more metaphoric: ‘Like Pee-Wee Herman emerging from a coma’. This was from a Brit: ‘A puzzling waste of talent’. And lastly, and this one lingered: ‘Amusing as a bed-locked fart’.”
A number of awards, including best comedy for Barbie, were not televised; however, Critics Choice presenter Chelsea Handler encouraged Gerwig and Robbie to take to the stage to collect their award, which was not part of the scheduled show.
Robbie said: “Thank you Chelsea, I love you so much. You know when everyone says ‘this is so unexpected’ – this was actually unexpected. This was not a part of the show, we are very grateful nonetheless.”
British music star Ronson said the award for best original song was as much actor Gosling’s, who “made the world fall in love with this song”.
Best supporting actress went to Da’Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers, while Emma Stone won best actress for Poor Things.
In the TV categories, Ali Wong and Steven Yeun from Netflix series Beef won best actress and actor in a limited series, while best supporting actress went to Maria Bello and the show also won the award for best limited series.
While best actor and actress in a drama series went to Succession’s Kieran Culkin and Sarah Snook, as well as the show winning best drama series.
The Bear also had a good showing at the awards ceremony, being named best comedy series alongside best actor and actress in a comedy series for Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri, as well as best supporting actor for Ebon Moss-Bachrach.
Elsewhere, Meryl Streep was named best supporting actress in a comedy series for her role in Only Murders In The Building and Elizabeth Debicki won best supporting actress in a drama series for her role as Diana, Princess of Wales in The Crown.
Praising co-star Khalid Abdalla, who played Dodi Fayed, she said: “If I did anything good in this show, you are half of it, you are a dear friend.”
The ceremony follows last week’s Golden Globes, and the Hollywood awards season continues with the Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday and culminates with the Academy Awards on March 11.
