Oppenheimer dominates Critics Choice Awards with eight wins – but Cillian Murphy misses out

Hollywood blockbuster Oppenheimer has topped the Critics Choice Awards taking home eight gongs.

London-born filmmaker Christopher Nolan won the award for best director for his film about J Robert Oppenheimer, the so-called father of the atomic bomb.

The film also won best picture, while Robert Downey Jr won the award for best supporting actor for his role as Lewis Strauss, the former head of the US Atomic Energy Commission.

However, Irish actor Cillian Murphy, who played Oppenheimer, was snubbed in the best actor category, with the award going to The Holdovers star Paul Giamatti.

The 29th ceremony 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.

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Collecting his award for best director, 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.

“I thank you Kai for trusting me with your work and Marty, unfortunately he left us before I was able to show him the final script, but Kai your constant reassurances once you saw the film that he would have approved meant the world to me.”

Oppenheimer star Emily Blunt, who played the American physicist’s wife Katherine, also thanked Nolan for his “ability to connect with actors” as she collected the award for best ensemble on behalf of the cast.

“I love that we’re calling this an ensemble and we’re very grateful, but most of us were part-timers that gathered around this completely riveting fire of Cillian Murphy. Truly,” she said.

While Downey Jr read his own worst reviews from critics as he accepted the award for best supporting actor.

“I was thinking this morning, I just love critics… you know, they’ve given me such beautiful feedback, really just so many great moments, and some of it is so poetic. I just want to share some of their thoughts with you over the year.

“The first one is kind of like Haiku: ‘Sloppy, messy and lazy’. 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’.”

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He went on to thank his “Oppen-homies” who he worked alongside on the film, joking: “Every day of filming was like having my ego’s ass handed to me at the door, and I think it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.”

However, Cord Jefferson trumped Nolan’s Oppenheimer in the best adapted screenplay category for his directorial debut American Fiction based on the 2001 novel titled Erasure by Percival Everett.

A number of awards, including best comedy for Barbie, were not televised, however Critics Choice presenter Chelsea Handler encouraged Gerwig and Robbie to come on stage to collect the award – which was not part of the scheduled show.

The ceremony also saw best supporting actress go to Da’Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers, while Emma Stone won best actress for Poor Things.