This is a good omen for the Oscars. Outsiders Robert Downey Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph both won Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress at the Golden Globes, the SAG awards organized by the powerful actors’ union, and the Baftas, the British counterpart to the Oscars.
After devoting ten years of his life to the Marvel universe and the Iron Man costume, Robert Downey Jr. experiences his resurrection in Oppenheimer. The 58-year-old actor silences the critics – notably those he cited with amusement during the Critics Choice Awards ceremony – and finally unveils his subtlety and his talent in the incarnation of Lewis Strauss, an American politician who played a key role in the creation of the atomic bomb by opposing Oppenheimer. He sees atomic weapons as an opportunity to seal the supremacy of the United States against Russia. A position that Oppenheimer does not share. This disagreement will cause the main character to be ousted after a “security hearing” against J. Robert, accused of complicity with the Soviet Union due to his past contacts with the Communist Party of the United States.
To show the opposition between the two characters, Christopher Nolan chooses to show in color the scenes told from the point of view of Robert Oppenheimer and in black and white, those told by Lewis Strauss.
Robert Downey Jr. was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Chaplin in 1993 and for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Tropic Thunder in 2009. This year, his position as favorite for the Oscar for best supporting actor is all the more significant in view of the other strong contenders: Sterling K. Brown in American Fiction, Robert De Niro in Killers of the Flower Moon, Ryan Gosling in Barbie and Mark Ruffalo in Poor Creatures.
For her part, Da’Vine Joy Randolph takes the place of favorite for the Oscar for best supporting actress thanks to her remarkable performance as a poignant grieving cook in Winter Break. The bittersweet Christmas comedy has already been recognized with three Golden Globes this year, notably thanks to the performance of Da’Vine Joy Randolph who received the Golden Globes for Best Supporting Actress.
Regarding the excitement surrounding her for the Oscars, the actress says she doesn’t know how to react: “It’s very weird for me. I feel like a slightly awkward teenager. I don’t really know how to deal with it,” she told Entertainment Weekly. Da’Vine Joy Randolph assured that she doesn’t do this job for the rewards. “I do it to tell the stories of these women who probably wouldn’t have the opportunity to have their stories heard otherwise.”
Also read Oppenheimer, Anatomy of a fall: Le Figaro’s predictions before the Oscars
The actress was only revealed to the general public in 2019 thanks to her role as Lady Reed in Dolemite Is My Name with Eddie Murphy. Selected for the NAACP Image Awards, she will receive the award for Best Supporting Actress. Since 2021, she has played Detective Williams in the American series Only Murders in the Building alongside Selena Gomez and Steve Martin.
For her first Oscar nomination, Da’Vine Joy Randolph could therefore win against Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer, Danielle Brooks in The Color Purple, America Ferrera in Barbie and Jodie Foster in Unsinkable.