by Nathaniel R
the great Roger Deakins on set
Is 13 an unlucky number? Not particular with Oscar, no, but Roger Deakins is surely anxious to move beyond it. The 68 year old cinematographer is still hugely in demand and a regular Oscar competitor but he's currently sitting at 13 nominations and STILL has no statues to show for it. Will #14 prove lucky should he be nominated for Blade Runner 2049 this year (as is widely expected)? His nominated film list is just one beautiful astonishment after another: The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, Kundun, O Brother Where Art Thou?, The Man Who Wasn't There, No Country For Old Men, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Reader, True Grit, Skyfall, Prisoners, Unbroken, Sicario. His filmography also includes films like Thunderheart, The Secret Garden, Barton Fink, and Sid & Nancy. Will he win on March 4th or will someone else steal his thunder yet again at the last moment...
His chief competition this year might come from the fantasy The Shape of Water or the air, land, and sea war drama Dunkirk but we'll have to wait until nomination morning to know exactly who will compete for that particular statue.
The craft categories aren't as high profile and are thus rarely decided by "narrative" so being overdue for a statue doesn't carry much weight when the larger Academy is voting. In fact they don't see your name at all when they vote -- just your film title. For a craftsperon to win they have to have the right combo of "popular film," "attractive achievement within that film," the intangible feeling of "here's a good place to award said film" and maybe a little "perceived somehow to have weak competition" boost. Somehow Deakins has never quite managed that combo despite a resume that's shockingly overqualified for a shelf full of golden boys.
Most people who venture into double digit nominations have an Oscar to show for it but not everyone. I found one person, another cinematographer in fact, who corralled exactly 13 nominations in his career without a win. A man by the name of George J Folsey (Cinematographer).
Folsey's nominations were spread across 30 years from Reunion in Vienna (1933) through to The Balcony (1963) and with both that first and that last nomination it was the only honor the film received. It's extremely difficult to win a craft prize when your your film's only nod. He helped pioneer glamour lighting, softening lighting on the stars in closeups and was equally at home in glorious color or expressive B&W. Folsey's best shot at a win surely came from one of his double nominated years (the cinematography category used to be split into black & white and color fields). He was up for both prizes in 1944 for the drama The White Cliffs of Dover and the musical Meet Me in St Louis and managed the same double nomination trick again in 1954 for the drama Executive Suite and the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
Like Deakins (to date at least) he was never able to manage the winning combination. A real pity because how does Meet me in St Louis not win you Oscars ?!? Especially when its competitors weren't half as beautiful? Folsey was actually the first men honored with a lifetime achievement award from the American Society of Cinematographers though the award unfortunately came after his death.
More #13 trivia? Sure!
They received 13 nominations exactly in their careers but all of them won at least one trophy
PAUL S FOX (Set Decorator) 13 nominations and 3 wins
HENRY GRACE (Set Decorator) 13 nominations and 1 win
GEORGE JAMES HOPKINS (Set Decorator) 13 nominations and 4 wins
HUGH HUNT (Set Decorator) 13 nominations and 2 wins
STANLEY KUBRICK (Writer/Director/Producer) 13 nominations and 1 win
MICHEL LEGRAND (Composer) 13 nominations and 3 wins
ANDRE PREVIN (Composer) 13 nominations and 4 wins
Meryl Streep is the only actor to receive 13 nominations (her nearest rivals Jack Nicholson and Katharine Hepburn quitting with 12 each) but that happened a long time ago now (with Adaptation in 2002) and The Post, might prove to be her 21st nod, unless those SAG and BAFTA misses were telling.
Next to 13?
It's possible I missed someone though I try to be thorough in research. Next up to (maybe) join the rarified 13 nominations club is the costume designer SANDY POWELL. She's at 12 nominations (and 3 wins) but she is an outside possibility again this season for Todd Haynes's exquisitely crafted kids at the museum drama Wonderstruck.