Billie Eilish has made history by becoming the youngest two-time Oscar recipient at 22. She won the award for best song for the ballad “What Was I Made For?” from the movie “Barbie”, which she co-wrote with her brother, Finneas O’Connell. The siblings had previously won the award for writing the theme song for the 2021 movie “No Time to Die”.
In contrast, the 83-year-old Japanese animation maestro Hayao Miyazaki became the oldest person to win the award for best-animated feature for his movie “The Boy and the Heron.” He had previously won the same award in 2002 for his film “Spirited Away.”
The 2024 Academy Awards ceremony, which celebrated the previous year’s best films, took place in a tumultuous moment for Hollywood. For much of that year, the major studios had been locked in labour disputes with the leading actors’ and writers’ unions. This standoff resulted in two costly strikes, which brought film production to a halt.
The main point of contention between the workers and the studios was how the streaming revolution had disrupted how talent profits from their work. The striking workers argued that the royalties they earn when their movies appear on streaming platforms such as Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple TV+ are not enough to sustain them. They compared it to what they earned from home entertainment platforms and cable licensing, which was much higher. This situation had left their livelihoods in peril.
‘Oppenheimer’ Reigns at Oscars With Seven Wins, Including Best Picture and Director
Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” a disturbing look at the start of the atomic era, swept the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday, taking seven awards, including best picture and best director.
The picture, which took on an extra significance during a moment of world strife, also received Oscars for Cillian Murphy’s troubled lead performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Robert Downey Jr.’s supporting role as a spiteful bureaucrat.
