Robert Downey Jr.’s chances of winning the 2024 Oscar for Oppenheimer have received a great boost from his recent Screen Actors Guild Award victory. The celebrated actor starred as Lewis Strauss in the Christopher Nolan film, which has earned 13 nominations at the upcoming 96th Academy Awards that will take place on March 10, 2024. Downey Jr. also won the SAG Award alongside the outstanding cast of Oppenheimer for Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture, while Cillian Murphy took home the SAG Award for Best Actor.
The SAG Awards indicated several likely Oscar outcomes, including Cillian Murphy’s Best Actor win, Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s Best Supporting Actress win, and Lily Gladstone’s Best Actress win. Murphy could be outdone by Paul Giamtti’s exceptional performance in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers at the Academy Awards. Emma Stone should also not be counted out whatsoever for her performance in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, which is widely considered one of the best of her career. Robert Downey Jr., however, looks like a heavy favorite for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
RDJ’s SAG Awards Win Makes Winning An Oscar For Oppenheimer Much More Likely
Year | SAG Winner | Oscar Winner |
---|---|---|
2011 | Christian Bale | Christian Bale |
2012 | Christopher Plummer | Christopher Plummer |
2013 | Tommy Lee Jones | Christoph Waltz |
2014 | Jared Leto | Jared Leto |
2015 | J.K. Simmons | J.K. Simmons |
2016 | Idris Elba | Mark Rylance |
2017 | Mahershala Ali | Mahershala Ali |
2018 | Sam Rockwell | Sam Rockwell |
2019 | Mahershala Ali | Mahershala Ali |
2020 | Brad Pitt | Brad Pitt |
2021 | Daniel Kaluuya | Daniel Kaluuya |
2022 | Troy Kotsur | Troy Kotsur |
2023 | Ke Huy Quan | Ke Huy Quan |
2024 | Robert Downey Jr. | TBD |
Robert Downey Jr. has been the favorite to win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar since the start of awards season in early January 2024, but his SAG win all but guarantees his impending victory at the 96th Academy Awards. The winner of the Best Supporting Actor SAG Award in the past 7 years has gone on to take home the Oscar. Since 2010, 11 of the 13 winners of the Best Supporting Actor SAG Award have also won the Oscar in the same category.
The only two exceptions to this trend are in 2016 with Mark Rylance winning the Oscar and Idris Elba winning the SAG Actor and in 2013 with Christoph Waltz winning the Oscar and Tommy Lee Jones winning the SAG Actor. Based on this data, Robert Downey Jr. has a very good chance of taking home the well-deserved Oscar. Of course, nothing is guaranteed going up against the likes of Robert De Niro, Ryan Gosling, Sterling K. Brown, and Mark Ruffalo.
The Black Glove Isn’t An Imagination: Oppenheimer Plays Into Jean Tatlock’s Death Conspiracy
A momentary inclusion of a black-gloved hand during Jean’s pivotal scene in Oppenheimer suggests a real-life conspiracy theory surrounding her death.
Why Robert Downey Jr’s First Oscar Is So Deserved
Similar to the impact of Christopher Nolan’s potential Oscar wins for Best Director and Best Picture, Robert Downey Jr.’s Oscar win would culminate his entire body of work and his cultural impact despite the award recognizing his performance in Oppenheimer. As one of the best-known Hollywood actors in the world from his iconic role as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Downey Jr.’s Oscar win feels incredibly deserved considering all he has accomplished as an actor, even outside his outstanding performance as Lewiss Strauss. Remarkably, Downey Jr. and Christopher Nolan have never received an Oscar, but the SAG Awards success of Oppenheimer indicates that will soon change.
Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer is a film by Christopher Nolan, which follows the theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man behind the atomic bomb. Cillian Murphy will play the titular role, with the story based on the book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.
- Director
- Christopher Nolan
- Release Date
- July 21, 2023
- Studio(s)
- Syncopy Inc. , Atlas Entertainment
- Distributor(s)
- Universal Pictures
- Writers
- Christopher Nolan
- Cast
- Cillian Murphy , Emily Blunt , Matt Damon , Robert Downey Jr. , Rami Malek , Florence Pugh
- Runtime
- 150 Minutes
- Budget
- $100 Million