Congratulations, you’ve won an Oscar! Your next mission, should you choose to accept it: Stay golden.
It’s not as easy as it seems — just ask Jean Dujardin. Twelve years ago, the French actor beat Brad Pitt and George Clooney in the Best Actor category for The Artist. Other than a brief appearance in The Wolf of Wall Street, he hasn’t been heard from on this side of the Atlantic. Adrien Brody gave us one of the most memorable Oscar moments of all time in 2003 when he kissed Halle Berry after winning Best Actor; his leading roles since have been few and far between.
And remember Three Six Mafia? They won Best Original Song in 2006 for “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp”; turns out it’s even harder to maintain a hot hip-hop career. (Let’s not even start with the winners from the ‘90s. Oh, Cuba Gooding Jr.)
This year’s winners will face much scrutiny as well. Though Robert Downey Jr. has been above the title for decades, Oppenheimer was a firm reminder that his talents go way beyond Iron Man. Now he must carry the momentum to an eclectic new project. Da’Vine Joy Randolph, meanwhile, is no longer known as a semi-obscure supporting actress from series’ like Only Murders in the Building. What will she do now that she’s in the spotlight?
Let’s study up on all those Hollywood trade announcements and look at the calendar. Here’s a rundown of all the big winners from the 96th annual Academy Awards and their upcoming projects.
Best Actor
Winner: Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
Up Next: 28 Years Later
What We Know: After reaching the top of his field, Murphy is going back to where it all started. He’s onboard as an executive producer to the just-announced sequel to the 2002 apocalyptic masterpiece 28 Day Later about a virus-inducing societal collapse. Though Murphy hasn’t yet officially signed on to reprise his character — a bicycle courier hero who wakes up from a coma to discover the zombie chaos — he said in February that he’s “available.” Fellow Oscar winner Danny Boyle will return to direct.
Best Actress
Winner: Emma Stone, Poor Things
Up Next: Kinds of Kindness
What We Know: Poor Things and good things happen when Stone teams with director Yorgos Lanthimos, so she’s giving it two more go-rounds. Kinds of Kindness, already shot and rumored to premiere this May at the Cannes Film Festival, is a contemporary three-part anthology that also stars Jesse Plemons, Margaret Qualley and Willem Dafoe in multiple roles. Stone is also in talks to be in his remake of the South Korean fantasy comedy Save the Green Planet, which centers on a guy who captures and tortures a businessman whom he believes to be part of an alien invasion.
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer
Up next: The Sympathizer
What We Know: Ask for a new project and ye shall receive! In HBO’s new seven-episode spy series (premiering April 14), Downey Jr. is the master of disguise as he takes on several characters — each meant to represent various aspects of the American establishment. (Think an up-and-coming California congressman, a CIA operative and a Hollywood film director.) The main story focuses on a spy for North Vietnam (Hoa Xuande) who becomes embedded in L.A.’s refugee community in the 1970s.
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers
Up Next: Shadow Force, Bride Hard
What We Know: Well, season 2 of The Idol is out. But Randolph does have two projects listed on her IMDB profile. The action thriller Shadow Force follows a husband and wife (Kerry Washington and Omar Sy) who hit the road with their son to avoid being killed. For Bride Hard, Rebel Wilson plays a secret agent maid-of-honor who jumps into action when her best friend’s wedding is taken hostage. Randolph’s roles are unknown in both movies, but now that she’s swept the awards season, here’s hoping she gets to play a lead ASAP.
Best Director
Winner: Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer
Up Next: TBA
What We Know: Unlike some writer-director auteurs, Nolan works at a fairly steady clip with 12 movies in 20-ish years. And while he hasn’t announced his next film yet, if you ask him — and many outlets have! — he knows what he wants. “Ideas come from everywhere,” he told Variety in December. “I’m open to anything. But I have to feel like I own it completely. It has to go through my fingers on a keyboard and come out through my eyes alone.” A few weeks later, he confirmed to Time, “I’m drawn to working at a large scale.” But he did love Past Lives!
Best Original Song
Winner: Billie Eilish, “What Was I Made For” (with her brother, Finneas O’Connell)
Up Next: New album, title TBA
What We Know: Since the release of her debut album, 2021’s Happier Than Ever, Eilish has achieved the ultimate side hustle cowriting and singing gorgeous ballads for hit movies — and she just picked up her second Oscar to show for it. (All at the age of 22, mind you!) Now it’s back to business. The superstar took to Instagram on February 11 to share a series of photos in which she’s wearing a star-printed ski mask and jacket with the caption, “my album is mastered.” Note she didn’t divulge any other details, including its name and its release.
Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall
Up Next: TBA
What We Know: A virtual unknown outside rarified European cinephile circles a year ago is now an in-demand screenwriter and director with a taste for the off-kilter. So it makes perfect sense that, per an interview with French magazine L’OBs, she has been offered to direct an adaptation of Daniel Clowes’ thriller of a graphic novel, Monica, with Cate Blanchett in the title role. That said, she admits she “didn’t follow through, at least not yet” on the offer.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Cord Jefferson, American Fiction
Up Next: Just Cause
