Stars head to Oscars with 'Oppenheimer' poised for glory

Hollywood A-listers are set to party with Barbie and lavish awards on Christopher Nolan's atomic blockbuster Oppenheimer on Sunday (Monday in UAE) at the Oscars, the biggest night in showbiz.

Stars will hit the famous red carpet at the Dolby Theatre before the gala hosted by late night funnyman Jimmy Kimmel.

Nolan's drama about the inventor of the nuclear age, half of last summer's massive "Barbenheimer" phenomenon, is the firm favourite to win the prize for best picture and much more.

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With an overdue director, stellar cast, commercial and critical success, and urgent subject matter, "there is no justifiable reason to predict anything else," said Hollywood Reporter awards columnist Scott Feinberg.

Variety awards editor Clayton Davis said Oppenheimer is the "biggest lock" to win best picture since the final Lord of the Rings film two decades ago.

It is tipped to take golden statuettes for best director, supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr., and technical prizes from cinematography and editing to sound and score.

The film has a strong chance at best actor honours for Cillian Murphy, who is locked in a tight race with Paul Giamatti of The Holdovers, and could claim best adapted screenplay too.

"It just had everything, the scale, the scope, the importance," said one Oscars voter, who asked to remain anonymous as Academy members are instructed not to discuss their ballots.

"This is the year for Oppenheimer," the voter told AFP.

Elsewhere, the competition for best actress promises to be a nail-biter.

Emma Stone, who previously won an Academy Award for La La Land, gives a stunning, daring performance in the surreal, Frankenstein-esque Poor Things.

But Lily Gladstone of Killers of the Flower Moon has not just the clout of her director Martin Scorsese, but the weight of history behind her.

She is seeking to become the first Native American to win an acting Oscar.

"Gladstone holds her own against Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, these towering actors" in Scorsese's historical crime epic, said the anonymous voter.

Should the two frontrunners cancel one another out, Sandra Hueller of Anatomy of a Fall could be "the underdog," the voter added.

The French courtroom thriller is the frontrunner for best original screenplay.

And what about Barbie, released on the same weekend last summer as Oppenheimer, prompting a bizarre and highly meme-able double bill that collectively grossed $2.4 billion worldwide?

The surreal feminist comedy is likely to earn technical prizes including costume design, and boasts the two frontrunners for best original song.

Both Billie Eilish's What Was I Made For? and the movie's showstopping I'm Just Ken will be performed during the Oscars gala.

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