Why Did Al Pacino Announce ‘Oppenheimer’ as Best Picture Like…That?
Al Pacino #AlPacino
Oppenheimer has won Best Picture at the 2024 Academy Awards, making it Christopher Nolan’s first win in the biggest Oscar category of the night.
The most bizarre aspect of this moment, however, was Al Pacino’s abrupt reading of the winner. After taking center stage, the Scarface star wasted no time to wrap up the night. Pacino didn’t even read the list of nominees before uttering, “My eyes see Oppenheimer.”
But let’s be honest—if anyone could get away with changing the classic line, “And the Oscar goes to…,” it would be Pacino, who won an Oscar in 1993 for Scent of a Woman. Audiences online were blown away by Pacino’s bizarre announcer technique. Hey, at least he got the winner right!
Following…whatever that was…the Oppenheimer team took to the stage to accept their win. “Oh my goodness,” producer Emma Thomas said, accepting the award. “I think any of us that make movies know that you kind of dream of this moment. You know you do, right? I could deny it, but I have been dreaming about this moment for so long. It seemed so unlikely that it would actually happen.”
Nolan’s epic, which follows J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and the creation—and fallout—of the atomic bomb, swept Sunday night’s 96th Oscars. On top of its Best Picture win, the historical movie also won Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Directing, Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Score.
Thomas shouted out her colleague (and husband) as well: “The reason this movie was the movie it was is Chris Nolan. He is singular, he is brilliant, and I’m so grateful for you.”
The award follows Everything Everywhere All at Once’s win in 2023, and marks Universal Studios’ first Best Picture win since Green Book in 2019.
Although Nolan has been nominated for eight Academy Awards for films like Dunkirk, Memento, and Inception, the director won his first set of statuettes tonight when he picked up Best Director and, now, Best Picture. All in all, Oppenheimer picked up seven awards at the 2024 Oscars.