Oscar 2024: What to know about 'Barbie,' Cillian Murphy, Lily Gladstone nominations

The 2024 Oscar nominations are here, recognizing some of the best films of the year and all but shutting out others.

The 96th Academy Awards will highlight an impressive list of movies and performances, including leading film "Oppenheimer" with 13 nominations, fantastical dark comedy "Poor Things" with 11 nods and Martin Scorsese's Western crime epic "Killers of the Flower Moon" with 10, all battling in a stacked best picture category.

The list also includes first-time nominees and history makers, including Lily Gladstone, who became the first Native American person to receive a best actress Oscar nomination.

Meet the nominees and see what they told USA TODAY about their Oscar-nominated films and roles.

'I'm not going to be the last': Lily Gladstone is 'amazed' by historic Oscar nomination

'Barbie' is up for best picture, but Greta Gerwig snubbed for best director

Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig may have been snubbed for lead actress and best director at the Oscars, but the pop-culture phenomenon that is "Barbie" still walked away with nominations for best picture, best supporting actress for America Ferrera and best supporting actor for Ryan Gosling.

The director brought tenderness to Mattel's candy-coated summer comedy, which broke box office records. In a scene where Barbie (Margot Robbie) meets Ruth Handler (Rhea Perlman), the toy’s inventor, Gerwig's care shines through.

"There's this shot where Ruth hands Barbie a cup of tea, and the way we lined it up is the exact way that God is touching Adam on the Sistine Chapel," Gerwig told USA TODAY last summer. Rodrigo Prieto, the movie’s cinematographer, "was like: 'Throw it in! Barbie deserves it. Michelangelo, let’s go!'"

Margot Robbie never thought she'd have 'empathy for a doll.' Then she made 'Barbie.

Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo nab nominations for 'Poor Things'

The Oscar nods for fantastical dark comedy "Poor Things" include best actress nominee Emma Stone and best supporting actor nominee Mark Ruffalo.

Watching Stone navigate the physicality and language of her character Bella Baxter's evolution was "incredible," Ruffalo told USA TODAY in December.

"It's really a tour de force performance," he said. "It's like watching a tree grow: You don't see the tree growing, but one day it's giant, and that's what it was like for her with this. It was just so natural and it wasn't showy in any way, but extremely effective and astounding in its totality."

Emma Stone on how sex (and sweets) helped bring her curious 'Poor Things' character to life

Lily Gladstone first Native American person to be nominated for best actress Oscar

Gladstone made history as the first Native person to be nominated for a best actress Oscar.

For Gladstone, it was imperative that she not portray the film's protagonist Mollie Kyle as a victim, but as the "tremendous survivor" she was.

"I wanted to approach Mollie the way I would expect someone to approach playing my great-grandma Lily, with the same carefulness and love," Gladstone said. In the front of her script, she kept a photo of Mollie taken years after the atrocities: "After what she’s been through, she’s just sitting there with this peaceful, self-possessed smile. That was always my end point."

Lily Gladstone on Oscar-bound 'Killers of the Flower Moon': 'It's a moment for all of us'

Jeffrey Wright gets best actor nomination at Academy Awards

Jeffrey Wright earned a best actor nomination for his grumpy role in the acclaimed satire "American Fiction," playing what he lovingly calls an "equal-opportunity misanthrope."

He was drawn to its social commentary right from the first scene, where Wright's middle-aged academic Thelonious "Monk" Ellison riles up his mostly white literature students with a racial slur on the class whiteboard.

"We don't talk about race and identity and all of that stuff well in America," the actor told USA TODAY. "So, I was pleased to find this film was an opportunity to maybe elevate the dialogue or at least electrify the conversation in a way that might be useful."

Jeffrey Wright in 'American Fiction' aims to 'electrify' conversation on race, identity

Da'Vine Joy Randolph 'Holdovers' performance gets Oscar nomination

Fresh off her Golden Globes win, Da'Vine Joy Randolph has another reason to celebrate this awards season. Her role in "The Holdovers" received a nomination for best supporting actress.

Randolph called it "our little imperfect-perfect holiday movie."

"It's real and biting and sarcastic and rude, but holidays are triggering. They bring up a lot of suppressed emotions," Randolph told USA TODAY. "I love that Mary is honest, and in her feelings, and not in any way trying to mute it. She's just like, 'This is where I’m at.'"

Da'Vine Joy Randolph is the Oscar-worthy heart of 'Holdovers': 'I'm just getting started'

Christopher Nolan's directing, Cillian Murphy's performance in 'Oppenheimer' gets Oscar nominations

Christopher Nolan's hit "Oppenheimer" came away with the most nominations, receiving 13, including best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr. and best supporting actress for Emily Blunt.

Best actor nominee Cillian Murphy called the film Nolan's "magnum opus." And for Nolan, the director knew when he was staring at the cover of the book "American Prometheus" by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, from which "Oppenheimer" is adapted, who his leading man would be.

"I saw that photo (of Robert Oppenheimer) on the cover of the book, with that intense blue-eyed stare, and I thought, 'I know who can do this,' " Nolan said of Murphy in an interview with USA TODAY last summer. "I called him and said: 'This is the one. You'll take center stage and carry the audience with you.' "

'Oppenheimer': Christopher Nolan's new movie about nukes is 'the stuff of cinematic drama'

Danielle Brooks gets sole 'The Color Purple' nomination

Danielle Brooks stole the show in "The Color Purple," the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical.

Brooks, who first portrayed the character of Sofia on Broadway in 2015 and earned a Tony Award nomination, adds an Oscar nomination for the same role. The actress told USA TODAY about how getting married influenced her performance.

"The depth of who Sofia is has grown for me because I’ve just lived more," she said. "Having committed myself to someone, I understand the relationship between Harpo and Sofia more deeply: their desperation to keep their marriage intact and fight against the generational curses."

Danielle Brooks of 'Color Purple' can't stop talking like Oprah: 'I didn't even notice!'

Oscar nominations 2024: Martin Scorsese, Celine Song, more round out list

Other Oscar nominations including director Martin Scorsese for "Killers of the Flower Moon," screenwriter David Hemingson for "The Holdovers," director Celine Song for "Past Lives," best actress nominee Sandra Hüller and director Justine Triet for "Anatomy of a Fall." See all the nominees here.

The 2024 Oscar nominations were announced: Here's a look at who made the list

How to watch the Oscars

This year's Oscars ceremony airs live at 7 ET/4 PT March 10 on ABC.

Contributing: Patrick Ryan, Brian Truitt

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oscar 2024: What to know about the nominees