Los Angeles, Mar 11 (IANS): Filmmaker Christopher Nolan took home his first Oscar after eight nominations across two decades as he was honoured with the Best Director award for his film ‘Oppenheimer’ starring Cillian Murphy at the 96th Academy Awards.

The honour was presented to Nolan, who was nominated alongside names such as Justine Triet for 'Anatomy of a Fall', Martin Scorsese for 'Killers of the Flower Moon', Yorgos Lanthimos for 'Poor Things' and Jonathan Glazer for 'The Zone of Interest'.

On accepting the honour, Nolan thanked his spectacular cast including Murohy, who played the "father of the atomic bomb" J. Robert Oppenheimer, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh and Robert Downey Jr.

He also thanked Kai Bird for handing over the book on which the film is based on.

Based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus, the film tells the story of the career of J. Robert Oppenheimer, predominantly focusing on his studies, his direction of the Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II, and his eventual fall from grace due to his 1954 security hearing.