Gwyneth Paltrow stayed home in hair and makeup during the 2024 Oscars, but made sure not to miss the chance to see her longtime Marvel co-star Robert Downey Jr. win his first Academy Award. Paltrow shared a video on her Instagram story of being delighted that Downey won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar thanks to her acclaimed role in Christopher Nolan's „Oppenheimer.” She watched the moment on her laptop. As they say in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: „Whatever it takes.”
Paltrow is an Oscar winner who won the Best Actress trophy at the 1999 Academy Awards for her role in „Shakespeare in Love.” He's been friends with Downey for more than a decade after they both played Tony Stark and Pepper Potts in 2008's „Iron Man,” which kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They went on to headline two more standalone „Iron Man” films and appeared side-by-side in everything from „Spider-Man: Homecoming” to „Avengers: Infinity War” and several other Marvel films.
„Oppenheimer” earned Downey his third career Oscar nomination. He was previously nominated for Best Actor (“Chaplin”) and Best Supporting Actor (“Traffic Thunder”). His win capped off an awards season sweep this year, with wins for Best Supporting Actor not only at the Oscars but also at the Golden Globes, Critics' Choice Awards, SAG Awards and BAFTA Film Awards.
„I want to thank my terrible childhood and the Academy — in that order,” Downey joked at the start of his Oscar acceptance speech, before throwing in another joke. „I want to thank my vet – I want to thank my wife Susan Downey there. She saw me as a whiny rescue pet and you loved me back to life. That's why I'm here,” he said.
Downey also thanked his „Oppenheimer” collaborators, including director Nolan, producer Emma Thomas and his co-stars and fellow Oscar nominees Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt.
„Here's my little secret. I needed this job more than I needed it. Chris knows that. Emma made sure I surrounded myself with a great cast and crew like Emily and Cillian. It was amazing. I stand here in front of you a better person because of it,” Downey continued. . „What we do is meaningful, and the things we decide to do matter.”
Both Paltrow and Downey last appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2019's “Avengers: Endgame,” which marked the death of Downey's Iron Man. In a Q&A with fans on Instagram last year, Paltrow said her time with Marvel was over because „why do you need Pepper Potts without Iron Man?”
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in December that he would not ask Downey to return to the MCU in order to protect Tony Stark's emotional ending. „We've all worked so hard over the years to get it, and we would never want to magically undo it in any way,” he said.
After teaming up with Christopher Nolan for „Oppenheimer,” Downey next teamed up with Park Chan-wook for the HBO limited series „The Sympathizer.” The drama premieres April 14 on HBO.
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