LOS ANGELES — Welcome to the 96th Oscars. The Associated Press is bringing you the most memorable moments and notable quotes from Sunday’s Academy Awards.
___
Follow the 2024 Oscars live
See this year’s best red carpet looks
Find the full list of winners
Watch on the AP’s YouTube channel
___
The great equalizer after the Oscars? The car line.
Following the show, nominees like Lily Gladstone and previous winners including Nicolas Cage joined the rest of the crowd to wait for their cars. Some huddled by heaters that dotted the red carpet and recapped the night.
“Ticket 1221! You win a ride to wherever you’re going. Have a blast,” an announcer called out to a lucky group that headed to their waiting car. ___
Dressed in a big bowtie, Messi the dog got his own seat at the awards. “Even though he’s a dog, he may have given the performance of a year in ‘Anatomy of a Fall,’” host Jimmy Kimmel said in the opening monologue.
___
Emma Stone looked genuinely surprised when she won best actress for her starring role in “Poor Things.” On stage she revealed part of that surprise: a faulty zipper. “My dress is broken!” she exclaimed. “I’m pretty sure it happened during ‘I’m Just Ken.’”
Backstage after the show, Stone gave an update. “They sewed me back in,” she said.
Meanwhile, at least one person tripped on the red carpet, but nothing nearly as dramatic as Jennifer Lawrence’s history-making fall in 2013.
___
Bradley Cooper brought his mom to the Oscars, and Ryan Gosling brought his sister. With first-time Oscar winners Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, it’s hard to say who brought whom.
Stars — they have families, just like us!
___
Neon pink lights shone on Ryan Gosling as he performed “I’m Just Ken,” a huge 80s power ballad, in a glittering pink suit. Perhaps tired of the all-pink wardrobe required of her titular character, Margot Robbie laid the color to rest and instead went with a subdued brown Versace dress for the event.
Still, pink lives on! America Ferrara carried the torch by wearing a Barbie pink gown by Atelier Versace.
Wrapped in light pink taffeta, Ariana Grande presented an award in a statement look.
___
Neither Hayao Miyazaki or Wes Anderson were in attendance to claim their prize. The beloved filmmakers marked historic wins — Miyazaki for best animated film for “The Boy and the Heron,” and Anderson for “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” his first Oscar.
Studio Ghibli’s Kiyofumi Nakajima apologized backstage for Miyazaki and producer Toshio Suzuki missing the awards show. “Please forgive them. They’re kind of up in the age bracket,” he joked while delivering his statement through a translator. ___
“ Oppenheimer ” has won seven awards, including best picture, director and actor.
It was director Christopher Nolan’s first Oscar — and then second and third.
Meanwhile, “Barbie” only took the prize of one Oscar, which went to Billie Eilish and Finneas for best song.
___
About a mile from the red carpet, protesters shut down a section of Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard calling for an end to the violence in Rafah, a dense city on Gaza’s border with Egypt.
Meanwhile on the red carpet, Mark Ruffalo, Billie Eilish, Ramy Youssef, Ava DuVernay and others donned red pins in support for a cease-fire in Gaza. The bold design features a single hand holding a heart and was organized by the group Artists4Ceasefire.
“Our film shows where dehumanization leads, at its worst,” writer-director Jonathan Glazer said in accepting the Oscar for best international feature for “The Zone of Interest,” a film about the Holocaust. He spoke out against the war in Gaza.
___
The crew of “Godzilla Minus One” carried monster figurines and wore matching, spiked shoes. Meanwhile, “The Boy and the Heron” filmmakers brought plush versions of the characters. The film won best animated feature, but Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki weren’t at the Oscars to accept their statuette.
Elsewhere on the red carpet, “American Fiction” composer Laura Karpman, tossed Cadbury eggs to several lucky onlookers. Oscars, they’re full of surprises.
___
For more on this year’s Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards
