Interesting Stats About The 87th Oscars
Thursday, January 15, 2015 at 7:12PM 
DuPont has something in common with those other sociopaths Lisbeth Salander and James BondDid you know...
• The tiny grossing Foxcatcher is now tied with two blockbusters Skyfall and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for "most nominations without a Best Picture nomination" in the modern Best Picture expanded era. The all time record holder if you include years with only 5 Best Picture nominees is They Shoot Horses Don't They from 1969 which received 9 nominations but not Best Picture. And that one is better than all of the actual Best Picture nominees from its year.
• Grand Budapest Hotel, a very atypical nominee in so many ways (comic, uber-stylized, filled with slapstick) is also the highest grosser currently. The Oscars went very small this year after a few years of big hits peppering their Best Picture lineup
• That there are 42 years between Robert Duvall's first nomination (The Godfather) and his new one in the same category (The Judge). That's not a record (Katharine Hepburn holds that one) but this one is: he's also now the oldest male acting nominee of all time at 84 years of age.
• Alejandro Inarittu is the first Mexican director to have received two Oscar nominations for directing. The all time most honored person of color in this very white category is not Inarittu but Ang Lee who has 3 nominations and 2 wins for directing. Both men have also been nominated (if not officially since the country is listed as the nominee) in the foreign film category.
• Selma's Best Picture nomination makes Ava DuVernay the 8th woman to direct a Picture that she wasn't nominated in Director for. Naturally that list has been growing rapidly with the Best Picture expansion. I think it's a good sign that change is coming though. The more women that are invited into the director's branch the more likely we are to eventually see balance.
If you fancy yourself an Oscar expert, add more details in the comments and we'll add the best ones to this list later tonight...
Reader Comments (94)
Here's one of my favorites. An All-Star Major League Baseball player made an appearance in a Best Picture nominee for the second year in a row. Last year it was Adam Dunn making an uncredited appearance in Dallas Buyers Club. This year it's Roger Clemens doing what he does best in Boyhood.
If in 2005, Reese Witherspoon and Keira Knightley were nominated for the first time, it happen again for both of them for the second time in 2015. Moreover, if Reese Witherspoon want to be nominated, she need films which have the title with the beginning letter "W".
Reese W was in three films that received at least one nomination: Wild, Gone Girl, Inherent Vice; Keira K in two: Imitation Game, Begin Again; Edward N in two: Budapest, Birdman;
I think the box office angle is fascinating. None of the best picture candidates cracked the top 50 in domestic box office. I'm pretty sure that's NEVER happened. They have time to move up, but ... by how much?
On the other hand, five of them (Selma, Birdman, Boyhood, Budapest and Whiplash) are all hugely impressive films. The British biopics are meh. Haven't seen American Sniper yet.
Person of color? Really? Please tell me what color is Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Brown? Is Ang Lee yellow? Could we say that Wes Anderson is pink? Morten Tyldum is definitively orange then.
C'mon!!!
Best Actor is the only category with no former winners in it, which hasn't happened in that category since 2006.
Jullianne Moore is the oldest woman nominated in Best Actor. Which makes her one of the youngest oldest nominees ever, and only beaten in last 20 years by her Kids are All Right costar Benning who was the oldest nominee in her category that year.
For all the talk of this being a bad year for women in Hollywood, I count six female producers (representing five films) on the best picture list. Is that the highest number ever?
Cathleen Sutherland for Boyhood
Nora Grossman for The Imitation Game
Oprah Winfrey and Dede Gardner for Selma
Lisa Bruce for The Theory of Everything
Helen Estabrook for Whiplash
As Nathaniel said, Change is coming. Too slowly, but still...
OK, here's the more statistically oriented version.
For most of Oscar history, at least one of the best picture nominees was in the top 10 in terms of box office. Usually it was higher. Often it was No. 1 for the year.
This began to go south in the early 2000s, particularly in 2004 and 2005, when the highest-grossing film among the best picture nominees (Aviator, Brokeback) ranked 22nd in terms of annual box office. It's part of the reason why the Academy broke with 60-year tradition and opened up best picture to more than five nominees.
That's the lowest, by the way, that the biggest hit among the best picture nominees has ranked in terms of annual box office: 22nd.
For this year, the biggest hit among the BP nominees (thus far) is "The Grand Budapest Hotel." It grossed $59 million domestically. That ranks 53rd the year.
53rd.
To get to 22nd, one of these films will have to gross $126.6 million. And I don't see it happening.
American Sniper could easily gross over 100 million.
Marion Cotillard is the second actress being nominated twice for roles in French, first one was Isabelle Adjani for Adele H (with some dialogues in English too) and Camille Claudel
KK will be the 12th time a nominee has been pregnant (that we know of) at the ceremony. 4 have won, 7 have lost. Blancett was two of the losses. There is no discernible pattern. Last time was Portman.
Bennett Miller joins a limited list of filmakers winning the award for direction in Cannes and nominated for the academy award in the same category (for the same film) : Robert Altman (The Player), Joel et Ethan Coen (Fargo), David Lynch (Mulholland Drive), Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel) and Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly). Fun fact : Foxcatcher is not nominated for best film, The Player, Mulholland Drive and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly were not either
Alejandro González Iñárritu is white. He is of Spanish descent. Only in the U.S. are Latin Americans considered a separate, homogenous, non-white race. Only the U.S. uses the term "Hispanic" - which, by the way, has nothing to do with race or skin tone.
Can't forget that this is Meryl Streep's 19th Oscar nomination. She break her own record for most acting noms, male or female. Legend!
Nathaniel, your mention of They Shoot Horses, Don't They? reminded me of this article I saw earlier about the biggest Best Picture blunders. Among those that were missed for noms Horses was number 1.
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/01/14/oscar-nominations-the-50-biggest-best-picture-blunders-from-1968-2009/
The last Clint Eastwood movie to gross more than $100 million was Gran Torino, which he starred in. Before that, it was Million Dollar Baby, which he co-starred in. None of the others since 2004 have broken 50.
Iraq War movies don't do well at the box office, either.
This one could be different. But I doubt it.
This year marks the first time since 2001-2002 when all best actress nominees were over the age of 30 (for a second year in a row).
Only four times since 1990 has the best picture nominee managed to secure the most nominations but missed film editing - The Color Purple, Bugsy, Howards End and Brokeback Mountain. All lost, which doesn't bode well for Birdman.
Five of the best picture nominees are one-word titles. Has this ever happened before?
This is the first time since 2003 when THREE or more of the actress nominees were nominated for films that got only acting nods.
Steve Carell becomes the first actor since Helen Hunt to be on a hit NBC show and to get an Oscar nomination for a leading role. Anniston failed.
Ida is a rarity. It's both a b/w movie nominated for cinematography and a foreign film up for cinematography.
BIRDMAN IS THE FIRST OSCAR NOMINEE IN A MAJOR ACTING CATEGORY, IN WHICH ACTORS TALK ABOUT OSCARS.
This year marks the first time since 2001-2002 when all best actress nominees were over the age of 30 (for a second year in a row).
Only four times since 1990 has the best picture nominee managed to secure the most nominations but missed film editing - The Color Purple, Bugsy, Howards End and Brokeback Mountain. All lost, which doesn't bode well for Birdman.
Five of the best picture nominees are one-word titles. Has this ever happened before?
This is the first time since 2003 when THREE or more of the actress nominees were nominated for films that got only acting nods.
Steve Carell becomes the first actor since Helen Hunt to be on a hit NBC show and to get an Oscar nomination for a leading role. Anniston failed.
Ida is a rarity. It's both a b/w movie nominated for cinematography and a foreign film up for cinematography.
BIRDMAN IS THE FIRST OSCAR NOMINEE IN A MAJOR ACTING CATEGORY SINCE CALIFORNIA SUITE, IN WHICH ACTORS TALK ABOUT OSCARS.
This year marks the first time since 2001-2002 when all best actress nominees were over the age of 30 (for a second year in a row).
Only four times since 1990 has the best picture nominee managed to secure the most nominations but missed film editing - The Color Purple, Bugsy, Howards End and Brokeback Mountain. All lost, which doesn't bode well for Birdman.
Five of the best picture nominees are one-word titles. Has this ever happened before?
This is the first time since 2003 when THREE or more of the actress nominees were nominated for films that got only acting nods.
Steve Carell becomes the first actor since Helen Hunt to be on a hit NBC show and to get an Oscar nomination for a leading role. Anniston failed.
Ida is a rarity. It's both a b/w movie nominated for cinematography and a foreign film up for cinematography.
BIRDMAN IS THE FIRST OSCAR NOMINEE IN A MAJOR ACTING CATEGORY SINCE CALIFORNIA SUITE, IN WHICH ACTORS TALK ABOUT OSCARS.
I posted this on one of the other articles, but I figured it was appropriate here as well.
Meryl is now the first actor (maybe person too) to be nominated in every single type of year in a decade (0 - 9). She was nominated in 1990 (Postcards from the Edge), 1981 & 2011 (The French Lieutenant's Woman & The Iron Lady), 1982 & 2002 (Sophie's Choice & Adaptation), 1983 & 2013 (Silkwood & August: Osage County), 2014 (Into the Woods), 1985 & 1995 (Out of Africa & The Bridges of Madison County), 2006 (The Devil Wears Prada), 1987 (Ironweed), 1978, 1988, 1998, & 2008 (The Deer Hunter, A Cry in the Dark, One True Thing, Doubt), and 1979 & 2009 (Kramer vs. Kramer & Julie & Julia). A completely random piece of trivia but it's a silver lining to her (slightly undeserved) nomination.
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? is totally forgotten which is A CRIME considering the era we are living.
Person of color is a horrendous expression.
Zooey: There is an important scene at the Oscar ceremony in 'A Star is Born,' which won nominations for Actress (Judy Garland) and Actor (James Mason). There are probably others given the Academy's love for actors playing actors.
I agree that "person of color" is an awkward expression, but at least it gives us some way of talking about the way that institutions in the US (and elsewhere) privilege the experiences and contributions of white people. The point is very valid that directors who are of Asian, African or indigenous descent (the latter including many people who identify as Latino or mestizo) are rarely recognized for their work.
Eh, might as well repost this from earlier:
-Bradley Cooper's 3rd and 4th nominations came today within a span of two years. He's in the record books now (and his next one will start getting waves of Amy Adams-esque "When will they win?" fatigue, surely.)
-Meryl Streep's 19th. All-time record for acting.
-Selma joins the ranks of A Serious Man, The Blind White Side and Extremely Arch and Incredibly Trite as BP nominees in the expanded field with only two nods each.
-4 out of the 8 BP nominees are biopics
-Producer Dede Gardner's 3rd BP nod in 4 years.
-29 years later, Oprah Winfrey earns her 2nd nomination.
-Clint Eastwood's 11th nomination.
-Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner 4th and 5th nominations in BP, respectively.
-Former co-stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Jennifer Aniston joins the growing ranks of actors honored at the trifecta of GG/SAG/BFCA but not Oscar.
-Mr. Turner becomes Mike Leigh's second most nominated film with 4, behind Secrets & Lies' 5 nominations back in '96. Mr. Turner also got all the exact same nominations as Anna Karenina two years ago, including Jacqueline Durran for Costumes as well.
-Marion Cotillard, Reese Witherspoon and Keira Knightley's second nominations, finally.
-Cotillard's nomination is officially the first nomination for a Dardenne Bros movie despite a much acclaimed filmography and many submissions into the Foreign Language Film category.
-12 years later, this is Julianne Moore's 5th nomination.
-Ethan Hawke's 4th nomination and now he pairs his two screenplay nods with two supporting actor nods.
-Edward Norton's first nomination since 1998.
-Alejandro González Iñárritu now holds the rare distinction of having all five of his consecutive first films be nominated for an Oscar. From Amores Perros to Birdman, they've all received at least one nomination.
-Paul Thomas Anderson's 6th nomination. He now has two in each writing category to go along with his two extra ones for TWBB, which makes 6 total.
-Despite extensive critical praise and notable presence as American auteurs, these are Wes Anderson and Richard Linklater's first BP nominations.
-Scott Rudin's 7th nomination, a modern record for a non-partnered producer.
-Duvall's 7th nomination as well. At 84, he is also by far this year's older acting nominee. In that same category, Ethan Hawke is the youngest nominee, at 44.
-At 26, Emma Stone is this year's youngest acting nominee overall.
-23 years later, Laura Dern is nominated for her 2nd Oscar.
-After A Cat in Paris/Chico and Rita in 2011 and Ernest & Celestine/The Wind Rises in 2013, this is the third time two foreign non-British animated films have been nominated together.
-Laika is now 3/3 in getting Animated Feature nominations.
-All three of Bennet Miller's non-documentary fiction films have now received either Director or Picture nominations.
-Costume Designer nods:
Milena Canonero's 9th (all for different directors + in every decade since the '70s)
Colleen Atwood's 11th (in 20 years)
Anna B. Sheppard's 3rd (despite extensive filmography)
Jacqueline Durran's 4th (all for British projects)
Mark Bridges' 2nd (despite extensive filmography)
-Unbroken is Roger Deakins' 12th nomination in 20 years. Also 3rd consecutive from 2012.
-Emmanuel Lubezki's hits lucky 7 as well, 4 of which have been for films by Mexican directors.
-Hans Zimmer's 10th nomination. His only win was exactly 20 years ago.
-Alexandre Desplat's 8th nomination in 8 years. All but one have been for BP nominees. This is the second time he's had three consecutive nominations, except this year it's a double.
-Torill Kove's 3rd nomination for Animated Short.
-Wim Wenders' 3rd nomination for Documentary Feature.
-Diane Warren's 7th nomination in Original Song. First nod was 27 years ago, last was 13 years ago.
-Visual Effects: First nomination for the X-Men series. First Middle Earth film to be snubbed, making it 5/6. First year since 2007 that there's not a BP nominee.
-Sounds Editing + Sound Mixing match up 4/5 except for The Hobbit in the former and Whiplash in the latter.
Person of color? Really?
Maybe "minority" is a better term for non-white persons.
1) "Person of color" is horrendous, why?
2) They Shoot Horses, Don't They? won one Oscar, for Best Supporting Actor. I do not wish Foxcatcher the same fate. Zero is fine.
3) Amy Adams is only the fifth Golden Globe/Comedy-Musical winner (Best Actress) since 1993 not to be nominated for the Oscar, joining the ranks of Sally Hawkins, Reneé Zellweger, Madonna and Nicole Kidman. Just as in those other cases, Adams was left out of the running by four ostensibly dramatic performances (at least the films are categorized that way). Having not seen Big Eyes, I couldn't say if it's overall more of a comedy (intentionally or not) than Gone Girl is.
Zooey-that's not true. Bette Davis talks about the Oscars quite frequently in The Star, as does Janet Gaynor in A Star is Born.
Five one-word titles would be a record, but from what I can tell this year doesn't really have five. Foxcatcher missed out, and Birdman has the subtitle "The Unexpected Virtues of Ignorance" that the Academy included so not sure if that disqualifies it. From what I can tell the record is four, set...last year (Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena)
Are Tony and Dan Gilroy the first writers to be nominated for Oscars for separate films? I know obviously the Coen Brothers and several other sets of siblings have been nominated for screenplays they worked on together, but I can't think of any others who have been nominated separately.
Also, there may be others, but as far as I can recall, Bennett Miller is now only the second director to have each of his first three features nominated for at least one of the top two prizes (Picture/Director). The first, if I'm not mistaken, was Stephen Daldry. And he had each of his first FOUR features nominated in at least one of the top two categories, so Miller still has one movie to go to tie that record (which may not even be a record).
In the US "person of color" is a fairly common phrase which, as far as I'm aware, isn't terribly controversial. NPR had an interesting article about the phrase and it's origins awhile back:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/03/30/295931070/the-journey-from-colored-to-minorities-to-people-of-color
John T: "...since California Suite..."
3rtful: But "minority" is not always an accurate description.
I agree about the bad use of the "person of color" expression. Human beings come in all sorts of skin colors and undertones. Even whites. There's Cate Blanchett and there's Mark Ruffalo. There's Nicole Kidman and there's Marlon brando. there's meryl and there's Kim Kardashian. There are swedish people and portuguese people. Finnish people and greek people. All europeans.
As far as latin americans are concerned, they come in all possible colors and ethinicities known to mankind. From México to the South of Chile and argentina you'll find everything. You cant categorize an entire continent. Europeans dont all look the same. Asians dont as well. Neither do africans. Look at an indian an at a chinese person. An native australian and a Japanese.
The term hispanic-north american invention that means absolutely nothing-should be more about cultural aspects of a certain people-that does NOT see themselves as all the same-than about ethinycity because you wont find one single "race" across all latin America.
And there's the extremely multi-cultural, multi-racial and portuguese speaking Brasil.......
^Obviously, that should read "the first writer siblings to be nominated for Oscars for separate films." Of course they are not the first writers to be nominated for separate films.
Joe - I so want Meryl to be nominated in 2018 now
Robert Duvall is now tied for the most nominations for Best Supporting Actor with Claude Rains, Walter Brennan, Arthur Kennedy, and Jack Nicholson (4-The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, A Civil Action, and The Judge)
Yet it's the preferred terminology of persons of colour themselves, these days.
Apologize for the grammar mistakes on the above post. Writing from my IPhone.
Amanda: It is true that people's skin comes in various shades. The point is, in the US and also in many Latin American countries laws and other social institutions make artificial distinctions between "white" and "nonwhite." The former category has evolved to include groups that were once considered "nonwhite" such as Italians, Jews, and the Irish. In the US, the Caribbean, Brazil, and plenty of other places the distinction is one of the legacies of the decimation of indigenous communite and the enslavement of Africans. It is better to refer to people who do not enjoy the privileges of being "white" in the United States as "people of color" because the word "nonwhite" indicates a kind of lack or insufficiency. As another person has said, the phrase is not terribly controversial and is preferred by current theorists of color including (if my memory serves me) David Eng and Sharon Patricia Holland.
Since we are on the subject of race, I wanted to mention that I once read a list of "things white people like" that included Wes Anderson movies. I thought that was silly at the time, but the 9 noms that 'Grand Budapest' received today (compared to 'Selma's 2) makes me reconsider.
Clearly instead of expanding the Best Picture category, they should've instead made a large scale effort to balance out the gender inequity in the voting process. For example, AMPAS could decide to ONLY admit women for the few years as members. Wouldn't that help?
Everyone, Person/people of color, or PoC, is an extremely common term in the United States to describe exactly what Nathaniel was looking to describe.
Steve, that "everyone" is not really addressed to everyone, right? ;-)
@Edwin: off the top of my head, the Shaffer brothers: Peter (Equus, Amadeus) and Anthony (Sleuth)
I live in Canada and I've never heard anyone use the expression "person of colour." I prefer the term visible minority as a better (but still not apt) description for non-whites.
I think someone was trying to make a point that americans like to call white latinos non-white, POC whatever for some reason (and I know it happens), even when the only minority they belong to (if POC is used for minorities in general, but I don't think so) is not being american.
oh, and the Mankiewicz brothers: Joseph (All About Eve, Letter To Three Wives and three other noms) and Herman (Citizen Kane, Pride of the Yankees)
and, coincidentally, Joseph directed Sleuth! circle of life....
An interesting dichotomy among the male acting categories:
Of the Actor nominees, only Bradley Cooper has been nominated before.
Of the Supporting Actor nominees, J.K. Simmons is the only first-time nominee.
Here is the director's race from another angle.
Out of 87 Best Director winners (there is some weirdness in the early years with multiple winners and condensed years), only 17 have been non US film industry based/identified.
9 wins were English (David Lean won twice and he was the first in 1957)
Miloš Forman (Chech) was the first non American, non English best director in 1975. Forman won again in 1984.
Bertolucci (Italian), 1 win.
Polanski (French/Polish). 1 win. This one is arguable because he was and would still be US based if it weren't for that pesky arrest warrant.
Peter Jackson (New Zealand). 1 win.
Ang Lee, 2 wins who is officially Taiwanese but whose filmography is very US based in nature so again, arguable.
Michel Hazanavicius (French) 1 win
Alfonso Cuarón (Mexican). 1 win.
Every single film has been in the English language or Silent.
Since 2010, every best director (4 total and all from different countries) winner has been non-US based.
When The Bachelor was trumpeting its first "Bachelor of Color." a woman friend of mine, who happens to be black and American remarked: "When did mayonnaise become a color."
Sofia (Lost in Translation) and Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom)
hey Paul Outlaw, u sure like to wink after comments u write to people, dont u? ;)
Isn't Ava DuVernay actually the ninth woman to direct a film nominated for best picture, but not receive a best director nomination, at least if you include Valerie Faris, co-director of Little Miss Sunshine (and why wouldn't you)?
I count:
1. 1986: Randa Haines missed out for Children of a Lesser God (David Lynch was nominated instead).
2. 1990: Penny Marshall wasn't picked for Awakenings (Stephen Frears & Barbet Schroeder were, however).
3. 1991: Barbra Streisand was passed over for Prince of Tides (Ridley Scott and John Singleton weren't.)
4. 2006: Valeria Faris and Jonathan Dayton failed to be nominated for Little Miss Sunshine (while Paul Greengrass didn't.)
5. 2009: Lone Scherfig's An Education was among the now-ten Best Picture nominees, but she didn't make the grade in Best Direction.
6. & 7. 2010: Lisa Cholodenko and Debra Granik weren't picked as the five best directors, while their films The Kids Are Alright and Winter's Bone fared better in a field of ten.
8. 2012: Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty was in the nine-strong Best Picture slate but she didn't end up in the directors' final five.
9. 2014.