Oscar Trivia: First Time Lucky
Thursday, January 14, 2016 at 10:45PM 
Refresh your screen periodically for updates as this post will evolve
If you missed the Oscar nominations this morning you can check out the full list at our Official Nomination Index Page. The individual Oscar charts will take some time to update but should go up throughout the day. But while we're all gathered let's have so fun checking off some trivia and stats. This post is dedicated to the first timers in Oscar's club.
Feel free to contribute "firsts" in the comments!
First Time Lucky
Mad Max Fury Road is the first live action sequel ever nominated for Best Picture whose original wasn't nominated. In fact the entire Mad Max franchise had received zero nominations up until this morning. Mad Max is only the second sequel ever nominated for Best Picture whose original wasn't up for the same prize. The only other example is Toy Story 3 (the first Toy Story did receive a special Oscar though, before the creation of the Animated Feature Category)
First Time Nominees
Acting: Bryan Cranston, Brie Larson, Alicia Vikander, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rachel McAdams, Tom Hardy, and two acting legends, film goddess Charlotte Rampling and stage giant Mark Rylance (whose shelves have all fallen from the weight of various trophies... but he doesn't work in movies much.)
Directing: Adam McKay, Lenny Abrahamson, Thomas McCarthy... and George Miller, believe it or not. Yes, he is an Oscar winner and previous nominee but in different categories (and two of three previous Oscar trips were for talking animal pictures, LOL, the super classic Babe and the animated winner Happy Feet). As of today he's now been nominated in five separate categories: Best Director (MMFR), Best Picture (MMFR & Babe), Best Original Screenplay (Lorenzo's Oil), Best Adapted Screenplay (Babe), and Best Animated Feature (Happy Feet).
Pop Star: Lady Gaga follows up her Oscar Sound of Music medley performance with an actual Oscar nomination for songwriting for "Til It Happens To You". Oscar voters seem happy with her which is weird because they've shunned her predecessor Madonna remarkably oftenn in this category with movie songs that becamse big hits like Into the Groove, This Used to Be My Playground, Live to Tell, etcetera.
Other hit songwriters on their first nods include Sam Smith and James Napier for "Writing's on the Wall" from Spectre. And "Earned It" from 50 Shades of Grey from The Weeknd, whose star went supernova recently. The LA Times on his rise to fame.
First Time? Not Exactly but It's Still Cool
The Muse reports that Antony Hegarty (of Antony & The Johnsons fame) is the first trans person to receive an Oscar nomination. Antony is nominated for co-writing the "Manta Ray" the Original Song nominee from the documentary Facing Extinction. But this isn't strictly true. First time in modern era when people are quite aware of such things.
Coincidentally, the only previous example of a trans Oscar nominee also comes from the music categories. Angela Morley (born Wally Stott) was nominated in the music categories twice in the 1970s for The Little Prince (1974) and The Slipper in the Rose (1976). (Lana Wachowski, Hollywood's most famous trans filmmaker, has yet to be Oscar nominated -- the Matrix (1999) which she co-directed with her brother Andy, was nominated for and won four Oscars but none of them went to the Wachowskis.)
First For Your Country
Colombia and Jordan are enjoying their first Foreign Language Film nominations for Embrace of the Serpent and Theeb respectably. Also though I haven't fact-checked I believe Chile is enjoying it's first animated short film nomination with Bear Story.
FINALLY...
The First Mean Girl Oscar Nominee
Queen Bee Regina George it is. Rachel McAdams is up for Spotlight. Tina Fey has won Globes & Emmys, Lizzy Caplan has been nominated for an Emmy. Will their be a second Mean Girls Oscar nominee at some point? If so who you think it'll be?
Reader Comments (40)
I've always believed in Regina, this is so fetch!
lindsay Lohan is somewhere crying in a room right now
Can we say that Amy Poehler is the other Mean Girls nom for 'Inside Out', or is that stretching it a bit too far?
I can see Tina or Amy getting nominated in the future. I once thought Lindsay Lohan will have a major comeback culminating with an Oscar triumph but seems highly unlikely now.
Rami, it's a shame what happened to Lindsay... I still believe she is a very talented actress.... I often wonder if she would have gotten the brie Larson in Room type of rolls had she stayed sober and out of trouble...sigh:(
I feel like Amanda Seyfried might be the next nominee if she makes the right choices.
The Weeknd is another pop star nominated for the first time- one whose star is definitely shining brighter than Gaga's right now
As for the next mean girl to get nominated, I would bet on Lizzy Caplan. She seems to have the most momentum. Seyfried is getting put in the "hot girl" roles in comedies so I feel her chances are slipping. Fey might get in for writing or directing though. And does anyone feel that McAdams should have been nominated already? Right after Mean Girls came Notebook, Wedding Crashers, and Red Eye. I can't believe it took 10 years for her first nomination.
That being said, which of your first acting nominations do you think will get nominated again? and who is here for the first and only time?
I was the one who pointed out Angela Morley to the person who wrote the article on The Muse (and had already tweeted about it) and I called Angela Morley's work on Watership Down 'seminal', so a commenter got mad at me for using a gendered word to describe her achievement. Oh, Jezebel.
I wouldn't count Amanda Seyfried out of things yet, but comedy and musicals aren't nominated as often as dramas. Same goes for Tina and Amy - more chance as writers.
Rachel McAdams picked great directors to work with, but always seemed to get some lousy luck with the parts that followed. Woody Allen - "Midnight in Paris" great movie - shame he decided to make her role into such a total bitch. Lots of other examples in her filmography.
Let's hope her luck has changed.
Samuel beat me to it, but The Weeknd was also among the nominees today, though it seems most media outlets have missed that fact? I keep seeing so much about Gaga and nothing about him.
The only other one that stands a chance at a nomination would be Amanda Seyfried. All she needs is a few more Les Mis-esque films. Tina and Amy have a shot I suppose, but I see that happening more in writing. I suppose Lizzy Caplan has a shot if she just happens to be in the right movie.
I also, in the past, thought Lindsay would have a real career comeback and be nominated for an Oscar. But those days are long gone. That docu-series killed any thoughts of that I had.
I think it will be Lindsay, she will rise from her ashes in her old days & give a Sally Kirkland "Anna" performances... she is THAT TALENTED (and sad) I believe ...
Amanda Seyfried all the way!
Hopefully Tina and Amy soon also.
It is so fetch to be able to call Rachel McAdams and Charlotte Rampling as Oscar nominees.
By the way, the Flavorwire article contains a huge mistake. It wasn't Mickey Rooney who attacked Brokeback Mountain.
It was Tony Curtis.
As far as records go, I'm sure this is the most screen time altogether the nominated supporting actresses have ever had. You could say there are two Best Actress categories this year, with all 5 supporting ones appearing in way over 50% of the duration of their respective movies.
I believe it's also a first time for a Brazilian animated feature. (:
I truly wonder where all of the deep faith in Lohan is as an actress. Yes, she was a charming actress as a child, but has never had a strong performance as an adult, and yet the adulations seem to insinuate we lost a Meryl Streep to child star syndrome. I agree her life has been a tabloid tragedy and that's unfortunate, but I just don't think she was able to act as an adult-her recent performances have been truly bad, and a lot of child stars don't have what it takes when they grow up and have to play adults. I don't want to be cruel to the poor girl (she's become such an easy pop culture punching bag), but the faith here in her feels odd.
Now I want a Best Original Song Oscar for Madonna more than anything else.
I don't think screen time is always an indicatio of a 'lead' , Winslet has a lot of screen time in Steve Jobs but she is definitely supporting , the film is never about her. McAdams is borderline as she is part of an ensemble. Maybe the oscars need the Emmy equivalent of a 'guest actor/actress' category to get true supporting turns recognised (I half-kid with this suggestion)
I love Madonna. Lady Gaga has this thing about her, though - she can actually sing.
First time Brazil got an animation nod!
Yavor, ouch. That's about right though.
Wait, people are now debating if Rachel McAdams is lead or supporting? She is support. No question.
Technically, George Miller has been nominated in five categories, as his two screenplay nominations are split between original (Lorenzo's Oil) and adapted (Babe).
Gaga s probably really appealing to the older voters in The Academy with her Tony Bennett connection.
I know quite a few older people who like Lady Gaga. She has this in the bag.
Tina SO should have been nominated for her Mean Girls screenplay. I wish she'd write more films.
First time nominees to get nominated again, my bet is on Vikander, Larson and Hardy in the acting categories.
I like Gaga and it would be cool for Diane Warren to finally win, but for this song? No thanks.
I hope The Weeknd or that Manta Ray song win.
If Sam Smith wins... I swear to god. I already can't stand him lol. Adele totally paved the way for him and he's not even 1/4 as talented as she is.
Never meant to imply the 3 supporting actresses in the categories are leads, just that one COULD make an argument for each, which is unusual.
No one (so far) pointed it out, but there is a HUGE record that was broken this year: with the nominations for Bridge of Spies, Steven Spielberg surpassed William Wyler for the number of nominations obtained by feature films they directed, and became the leader of this chart. Right now, Spielberg amassed 130, versus 127 for Wyler (Martin Scorsese is a distand third with 80)
I love The Mantra song..
What a great year for Gaga!
Now, can everyone imagine what a night would be if she wins? Much better if she wins
and DiCaprio not! It would be a double victory for Gaga and Her Fans!
(It seems that [after a looooooooong crawling] this time DiCaprio will take home his golden statue - good for him! For Gaga, an unexpected - and deserved - nomination is already a prize!
Nothing to do with first times, but here's some interesting trivia: all of Alejandro González Iñárritu's last five movies have earned at least one acting nomination, totaling 10 acting nominations among the 5 films, or an average of 2 per movie.
That would make him the director with the best record of getting actors Oscar nominations recently if it weren't for David O. Russell, who has now amassed 12 acting nominations among his last 4 movies, or an average of 3 per movie.
Inarritu still has the leg up in terms of guiding different actors to nominations, though, since each of the 10 performances to earn Oscar nominations under his direction was given by a different actor. Russell's 12 nominations are split among 7 actors.
marco70go -- do you have a link to verification of this... or is this just something you figured out? that's a cool stat.
The only other mean girl who has the chops to get a nomination sometime in the future would have to be Seyfried. Lacy Chabert, oscar nominee? Um, no.
So happy for Jennifer Jason Leigh! It's her first Oscar nomination but certainly not her first Oscar worthy or winning performance. I never understood why she never got nominated. I read in an interview that she said she is not a careerist and doesn't push her agent/manager. More she lets the work come to her. And in another interview Robert Altman had said she is the exception of her generation because she lacks ego and takes risks. So there you go. Glad the Academy finally recognized her because she doesn't seem the self-promotion type which makes her even more likeable. Would love it if she won but if not I'm glad her name is out there again and maybe we will see more nominations in the future since she was overlooked before.
Jennifer Jason Leigh is any director's dream. She will work harder than anyone to give them what they want and to immerse herself into her characters. Her voice work in films such Miami Blues, Hudsucker Proxy, Dorothy Parker and Hateful Eight, to name a few, is unparalleled. So specific that it's easy to understand why some of her performances can be divisive. She will never go for the obvious choices and never wants the characters to be likable necessarily. No vanity. Whether or not she wins or Oscars embrace her, her body of work will always be undeniable and will live forever.
Lindsay this is Dakota. Dakota, Lindsay. Lindsay, Dakota.
Nathaniel.. there probably is a link of verification to it, but I don't know it. I myself did the math, using an Excel file. I can double check, though, won't take much time
Nathaniel, I did double check and yes, Spielberg reached 130 nominations this year.
Wyler has indeed 127.. OR 132, if we want to take into account the nominations for three movies where he is uncredited: Barbary Coast, The Cowboy and the Lady, and The Fighting Lady (I can send you the details by mail or on facebook if you want)