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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.

Read more:
Oppenheimer – the ‘destroyer of worlds’ who built the atomic bomb

Christopher Nolan receives the best director award
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Christopher Nolan receives the best director award

Robert Downey Jr receives the best supporting actor award for his role in Oppenheimer
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Robert Downey Jr receives the best supporting actor award for his role in Oppenheimer

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.”

Greta Gerwig, left, and Margot Robbie receive the Best Comedy Award for Barbie
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Greta Gerwig (L) and Margot Robbie receive the best comedy award for Barbie

Emily Blunt collects the award for best acting ensemble for Oppenheimer
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Emily Blunt collects the award for best acting ensemble for Oppenheimer

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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Sarah Snook, winner of the best actress in a drama series award for Succession, poses with Kieran Culkin winner of the best actor in a drama series for the same programme
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Sarah Snook, winner of the best actress in a drama series award for Succession, poses with Kieran Culkin, winner of the best actor in a drama series for the same programme

Emma Stone won best actress for her role in Poor Things
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Emma Stone won best actress for her role in Poor Things

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.

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Jessie J cancels tour dates ahead of second breast cancer surgery

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Jessie J cancels tour dates ahead of second breast cancer surgery

Jessie J has been forced to rearrange or cancel all upcoming tour dates as she will be having a second operation as part of her treatment for breast cancer.

The 37-year-old announced in June that she had been diagnosed with early breast cancer. She had her first operation later in the same month.

The singer, whose real name is Jessica Cornish, was due to tour the UK and Europe in October, before gigs in the US in November.

In a video posted on Instagram, she’s now told fans: “Unfortunately, I have to have a second surgery, nothing too serious, but it has to be done before the end of the year and unfortunately, that falls right in the middle of a tour that I had booked.”

The UK and Europe dates have been postponed until April next year while the US tour has been cancelled.

“So that is what it is, and I’m sorry,” the performer said. “I feel frustrated and sad, but also it is what it is, and I need to be better.

“I need to be healed, and I know this is the right decision to make. So I’m postponing the tour till next year.”

The star has asked fans to “please bear with us for the US tour”, adding that it’s “something that I want to do, but when the time is right”.

“You guys know how much I want to do all of it, but I just can’t,” she said. “And I have to be realistic.”

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Jessie J has battled numerous health issues, including being diagnosed with a heart condition when she was eight years old and suffering a minor stroke aged 18.

The singer-songwriter has had three number one songs in the UK singles chart, with Price Tag and Domino – both released in 2011 – and 2014’s Bang Bang, a collaboration with Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj.

She won the Critics’ Choice prize at the 2011 BRITs and bagged four Mobo awards in the same year.

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‘I’m shocked at how fragile I am still’: Cumberbatch and Colman on protecting their sanity from perils of social media

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'I'm shocked at how fragile I am still': Cumberbatch and Colman on protecting their sanity from perils of social media

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch says he’s shocked at how “fragile” he still is – despite years in the spotlight and success in the industry.

It might seem like the Doctor Strange star and The Crown actress Olivia Colman have it all when it comes to money and success – but they are also human like the rest of us.

The pair lead the cast of new satirical black comedy The Roses, which sees picture-perfect couple Ivy and Theo Rose – a rising star chef and ambitious architect – raise their two children in California, while chasing their own dreams.

‘I am shocked at how fragile I am’

But behind its dark humour and comic language, the film also looks at the realities of power imbalance, insecurity and wounded pride – in even the strongest of relationships.

And 49-year-old Cumberbatch – whose character faces a major setback in his career – tells Sky News that in real life the glare of social media only intensifies those type of situations.

“I am shocked at how fragile I am still.

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“I don’t go anywhere near it [social media] because of that.

“It’s like walking into a place where people want to marry you or kill you. Those extremes.

“I think we will get to a stage, a corporate culture that’s now manifested around it where people are obliged to do that in order to sell their lives, and therefore their brand and what they do for a living.”

Co-star Colman – who’s long-shunned the online world – agrees.

Cumberbatch and Colman in The Roses. Pic: Jaap Buitendijk/ Searchlight Pictures
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Cumberbatch and Colman in The Roses. Pic: Jaap Buitendijk/ Searchlight Pictures

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“I’m afraid I am very thin-skinned.

“I don’t look at any of it. My husband will look at a review and if it’s nice he’ll show me – but if it’s anything mean he knows to just go ‘don’t look – don’t look.’

“You just have to learn to be thicker-skinned.

“But actually, I think we need people who are sensitive and kind.”

‘Don’t do it… delete it all’

Colman – now 51, and whose leading role in The Favourite bagged her an Academy Award in 2019 – says no amount of experience and success can shield her from criticism.

“My advice to a young’un – sort of dipping their toe into the world of social media for the first time is absolutely don’t do it.

“Delete it all. If you want a happy life, don’t have any of it. I’ve never had it.”

The movie – directed by Meet The Parents’ Jay Roach with The Favourite screenwriter Tony McNamara – also calls into question the notion of success – asking, is it really possible to have it all?

Or is sacrifice inevitable when it comes to spinning the plates of a high-flying career, marriage and parenthood?

Cumberbatch admits “you can’t do it all without there being a cost”.

“You just have to weigh up what those balances are,” he adds.

Colman says “there are I suppose little sacrifices along the way” – from both sides of a relationship.

The comedy drama offers a fresh take on Warren Adler’s novel The War Of The Roses – and the 1989 hit film adaptation- starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.

Colman and Cumberbatch – both producers on the film – insist they weren’t daunted by that though.

“We wanted to find a project to do together, and we have utter respect for the iconic status of the film and book,” explains Cumberbatch.

“Hopefully this will have its own place in the culture – it’s very different, it’s not a remake – it’s a reimagined jumping-on point.”

“But beyond that, it’s very different,” adds Colman.

Former Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa and Barbie’s Kate McKinnon also form the cast.

The Roses is out in UK cinemas now.

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Top Boy and Eddington actor Micheal Ward granted bail as he appears in court on rape charges

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Top Boy and Eddington actor Micheal Ward granted bail as he appears in court on rape charges

BAFTA-winning actor Micheal Ward has been granted bail after appearing in court charged with two counts of rape.

The 27-year-old, who appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court this morning, is also accused of two counts of assault by penetration, and one count of sexual assault.

The offences relate to one woman and are reported to have taken place in January 2023.

Ward, who starred in the popular British series Top Boy and was awarded BAFTA‘s rising star honour in 2020, spoke to confirm his name, address and date of birth during a short court hearing.

He did not enter any pleas and was granted conditional bail until a further hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court on 25 September.

In a statement issued after the charges were announced last month, Ward denied them “entirely” and said he had co-operated with police throughout their investigation.

The actor’s film credits include Blue Story, The Old Guard and Empire of Light, as well as the current Hollywood Western Eddington.

He was also twice nominated for BAFTA’s best supporting actor prize.

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