The Atomic Saga: Oppenheimer's Oscar Win

"Oppenheimer" completed its indomitable march towards Hollywood's most important prize, winning the Academy Award for best picture.

Christopher Nolan's masterpiece -- the story of the brilliant physicist who oversaw the invention of the atomic bomb, changing the world forever -- is a grand, old-fashioned blockbuster for grown-ups.

Shot on a $100 million budget, "Oppenheimer" spared no expense, and bucked the recent trend of smaller, indie movies winning the most prestigious Oscar.

A cast was assembled from Tinseltown's top A-list, a replica of 1940s Los Alamos was secretly constructed on a mountain in New Mexico, and the test of the first-ever nuclear bomb was recreated with vast quantities of real explosives.

The effect was spellbinding, for audiences and critics alike.

Released last July, "Oppenheimer" immediately drew rave reviews and shattered box office expectations.

It went on to collect nearly $1 billion around the world, and won a total of seven Academy Awards.

Nolan, the director behind ambitious blockbusters from "Inception" to "The Dark Knight," had recently finished making "Tenet" when he stumbled upon "American Prometheus," the 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer, having attained global fame as the "father of the bomb," soon came to bitterly regret the consequences of his invention, campaigning for nuclear disarmament and eventually having his reputation shattered due to his former Communist sympathies.

"His story offers no easy answers. But it offers some of the most fascinating and interesting paradoxes that I've ever encountered," said Nolan.

Cillian Murphy, a frequent and trusted collaborator from five previous Nolan films, was cast in the titular role, with Robert Downey Jr as his bitter, furtive rival, Lewis Strauss. The two men won best actor and best supporting actor, respectively.