New Oscar Records!
Monday, March 15, 2021 at 10:04AM Refresh your screen for updates as this post is in progress. It's always fun to look at new records or trivia after nominations. So let's go!
ACTING
• Anthony Hopkins is now the Oldest Best Actor nominee ever at 83 years of age and the first octogenarian ever nominated in leading actor. Previously the oldest nominee record in the category was held by Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story (1999) who was 78.
• Chadwick Boseman becomes the first black actor to be nominated posthumously.
• Maria Bakalova is the first Bulgarian actor ever nominated.
• Riz Ahmed is the first actor of Pakistani descent to ever be nominated as well as the first Muslim actor nominated in the lead category...
• With the nominations for Riz Ahmed and Steven Yeun this is the first time two Asian actors have ever competed against each other in a lead acting category. It happened once previously, also with men, in supporting actor (Pat Morita and Dr Haing S Ngor in 1984)
• This is only the second time three actors of Asian descent have been nominated in the same year (Youn Yuh-Jung, Riz Ahmed, Steven Yeun) have been nominated for an Oscar in the same year. The previous record was two in 2003 (with Ken Watanabe, Shohreh Agdashloo, Ben Kingsley)
• There are twenty slots for acting each year and this year 6 of those went to black actors, the most ever honored in a single year. The previous record was 5 of the 20 nominations which happened in both 2004 and 2006. (In each of those previous record-holding years, there were four men nominated and one woman. This year it's four men and two women.)
• With her fourth nomination, Viola Davis is now the most Oscar-nominated black woman of all time all by herself. She previously shared that distinction, at 3 nominations, with both Octavia Spencer and the costume designer Ruth E Carter.
• This is the first time three black actors have been nominated simultaneously in Best Supporting Actor. The previous record was two. (Two black actors had been nominated in the category thrice before: 1987, 2004, and 2006.)
• This is only the second time two black actress (Viola Davis and Andra Day) have been nominated simultaneously in Best Actress. It happened once before in 1972 when Cicely Tyson and Diana Ross were both nominated. In both cases one of the two women was playing Billie Holiday!
PICTURE / DIRECTING
• This is the first time an Asian woman (Chloe Zhao) has been nominated for Best Director.
• Chloe Zhao also makes history becoming the first woman to nab 4 nominations in a single year (Picture, Director, Screenplay, Editing) which has only been done by men previously.
• This is the first time a US born Asian-American (Lee Isaac Chung) has been nominated for Best Director. The previous Asian best director nomines have been Japanese, Taiwanese, South Korean or Chinese nationals. (M Night Shyamalan was the first Asian-American nominated but he was born in india.)
• This is the first time two women (Emerald Fennel and Chloe Zhao) have been nominated simultaneously in Best Director
• This is the first time a female director has been nominated for her directorial debut (Emerald Fennel)
• Judas and the Black Messiah is the first Best Picture nominee with an all black producing team.
• HAVEN'T VERIFIED THIS YET... but we believe this is the biggest tie ever for "second most nominated" movie. While Mank has ten nominations. There's a six way tie for second place with six nominations each.
OTHER
• This is the first time Pixar has scored two simultaneous nominations in Best Animated Feature
• Pete Docter now holds the solo record for most nominations in the Best Animated Feature category with 4 (via Soul). He was previously tied with three (with a whole slew of people).
Reader Comments (97)
Great list !
Regarding International Film :
We have two countries getting their first nominations in this category (Romania and Tunisia).
Bosnia&Herzegovina got their second, and Hong Kong their third.
WIth the exception of Denmark, I feel this is one of the lowest nominations tally ever. Which I'm glad!
Emmerald Fennel is also on the Crown. She plays Camilla Shand Parker Bowles.
Thanks Luke. Great statistics and three consecutive years of 10 Brits nominationed. That will be tough to ever beat!
Thinking about Viola's second nomination for a role based on an August Wilson play. I know that Sir Larry has her beat with 3 noms for roles from the same playwright, for Shakespeare roles on film. And Liz is tied with 2 noms for roles from Tennessee Williams plays. I feel like I must be missing someone obvious. Anyone else able to think of other actors nominated for multiple roles originating from the same playwright?
Travis - Olivier had 4 Shakespeare nominations - Henry V, Hamlet, Richard III, Othello
Good catch, thanks Amy!
Marsha Mason also had nominations for film versions of two Neil Simon plays - Chapter Two and Only When I Laugh PLUS a Neil Simon original screenplay The Goodbye Girl (in case we need a tie-breaker)
Richter -
Colman and Kaluuya were both in a TV production of Watership Down in 2018
This is the second time an actor is nominated for original screenplay and best supporting actor for different movies, in the case of Sasha Baron Cohen. The first was Clooney with Good Night and Good Luck and Syriana.
Not sure how to check this but is Mulligan maybe the first person to be nominated for performances directed by two different women (and the only performer to be nominated for performances directed ONLY by women?)
Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) are the first Black Oscar nominees in the makeup and hairstyling category.
Richter Scale:
Air Force One: Gary Oldman and Glenn Close.
Hannibal: Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins.
@Mr Baxter: Took me awhile, but Meryl had to have 2 in that bunch: The Iron Lady (Phyllida Lloyd) & Julie & Julia (Nora Ephon).
Great and informative post! Thanks.
Didn't 2016 also have 5 black nominees?
Oh, found more:
Love, Marilyn: Viola Davis and Glenn Close.
AJ-
That's a great one!! I love that they read the entire title during the nomination announcement too!
I remember when Helen Mirren presented the Screenplay Oscar and read out the entire title when Borat 1 was nominated that year :-)
Thank you @Michael C. and @Feline Justice... here's the list updated (I put Hannibal with Dracula, since it's the same two actors). I'll keep looking, but let me know if you can think of any others...
Black Panther: Chadwick Boseman and Daniel Kaluuya
Marshall: Chadwick Boseman and Andra Day
Get Out: Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield
Les Misérables: Sacha Baron Cohen and Amanda Seyfried
Nine Lives: Glenn Close and Amanda Seyfried
Sorry to Bother You: LaKeith Stanfield and Steven Yeun
Bram Stoker’s Dracula/Hannibal: Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins
Get on Up: Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis
Paradise Road: Glenn Close and Frances McDormand
Watership Down (TV): Olivia Colman and Daniel Kaluuya
Air Force One: Gary Oldman and Glenn Close
The Crown: Vanessa Kirby and Olivia Colman
@whunk Of course!! Thanks for checking
@ Richter Scale
Olivia Colman and Leslie Odom, Jr.: Murder on the Orient Express
Riz Ahmed and Daniel Kaluuya: 10 Minute Tales: "The Three Kings" (TV series)
@Mr Baxter - Holly Hunter fits this also, with The Piano and Thirteen
@Amy Duh, of course! Bit of a brain fart there!
Wow, I'd forgotten Olvia Colman was in Murder on the Orient Express (thenagain, that cast is huge), thank you @Working stiff... added them and a few more I remembered...
Black Panther: Chadwick Boseman and Daniel Kaluuya
Marshall: Chadwick Boseman and Andra Day
Get Out: Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield
Les Misérables: Sacha Baron Cohen and Amanda Seyfried
Nine Lives: Glenn Close and Amanda Seyfried
Sorry to Bother You: LaKeith Stanfield and Steven Yeun
Bram Stoker’s Dracula/Hannibal: Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins
Get on Up: Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis
Paradise Road: Glenn Close and Frances McDormand
Watership Down (TV): Olivia Colman and Daniel Kaluuya
Air Force One: Gary Oldman and Glenn Close
The Crown: Vanessa Kirby and Olivia Colman
Murder on the Orient Express: Olivia Colman and Leslie Odom Jr.
10 Minute Tales - The Three Kings: Riz Ahmed and Daniel Kaluuya
Red Riding Hood : Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman
Widows: Viola Davis and Daniel Kaluuya
@Richter - we need a ruling on this but Wikipedia tells me Andra Day appeared in Marshall (starring Chadwick Boseman of course) as a nightclub singer, not a character. Not sure if that counts
If Glenn Close wins for Hillbilly Elegy can we retroactively change the official record to show that Glenn won for The Wife and Olivia won for The Father? I feel like that would appease a lot of people.
@Peter: For my money, if she appeared on camera, it counts.
I was going to say that Riz Ahmed was the first Riz nominated, but my research proved me wrong. Riz Ortolani was nominated for best song in the 1960s!
What happened to this post? Some mistakes and still the informaiton about the necessity of 'refreshing' the page.
And this sounds strange: "This is only the second time three actors of Asian descent have been nominated in the same year (Youn Yuh-Jung, Riz Ahmed, Steven Yeun) have been nominated for an Oscar in the same year. The previous record was two in 2003 (with Ken Watanabe, Shohreh Agdashloo, Ben Kingsley)"
For third year in a row, four of the five BSActor roles are based (however loosely) on real people. (It's never been 5/5).
Is this the first time ever a movie got only Best International Film and Best Director noms?
5 black actors were also nominated in 2016 (Denzel, Viola, mahershala, octavia, and ruth negga) - not just 2004 and 2006
Actually - correction! 2016 had 6 black actors nominated, tying the record set today. (I forgot about naomie harris in moonlight)
@Nathaniel - I think this Anya Taylor-Joy thing is about an article from Variety which called her a “non-white” actress just because her parents, although white people with European ancestry, were from Argentina and Zambia.
First time ever that multiple acting nominees were also nominated in other categories:
Sacha Baron Cohen - writing
Frances McDormand - producing
Leslie Odom, Jr. - songwriting
First time as well that two women were nominated for producing, writing, & directing a movie - Chloe Zhao and Emeral Fennell.
@Antônio. Specifically, she was called "woman of colour" which makes funny the initial joke from Porteno.
@ Richter Scale
Emerald Fennell and Glenn Close were both in Albert Nobbs
Phoebe Waller Bridge was also a cast member in that film.
@ Owl
Emerald Fennell isn't nominated for an acting Oscar, which is Richter Scale's criteria for the list.
@ Working stiff
Oops. Mea maxima culpa. I didn't read the finer points.
But crazy to know that both Phoebe Waller Bridge and Emerald Fennell were supporting characters in that tiny film. I just learned it a few days ago. Two of the most in-demand creatives in the UK and Hollywood worked as actresses together.
Random: Three actresses from The Crown are nominated. In different categories. Two from the same cast.
Surprised there's no mention of Glenn Close getting her eighth nomination. Most nominations without a win. She'd tie Peter OToole if she looses. And she can't be that far behind Streep, Hepburn and Davis, right? Is she fourth now? Fifth? This gives Amy Adams more time to win before tying this record, haha.
I hope Riz or Steven can pull an upset in BA, and I hope Glenn wins for BSA (even though I hated the movie and to a lesser extent her performance) just to get over this overdue narrative. And yes, both BSA nominees in Judas are clearly category frauds and even if I did love that movie I can't help but think there's no stopping this fraud thing until the academy comes up with some ruling.
David Fincher has now directed 5 comedians to leading acting nominations, consecutively! Is that a record? (Pitt, Eisenberg, Mara, Pike, Oldman)
Charlie: At first I thought that Sidney Lumet did it in the '70s - and in a five-year run:
1973: Al Pacino (Serpico)
1974: Albert Finney (Murder on the Orient Express)
1975: Al Pacino (Dog Day Afternoon)
1976: Peter Finch, William Holden and Faye Dunaway (Network)
1977: Richard Burton (Equus)
But then there's his 1974 film Lovin' Molly, which didn't get any nominations. So, not quite. But still, directing seven leading performances to Oscar nominations across five years could be a record in itself.
Thank you Edward, that Lumet run is quite impressive !
@ Charlie & Edward L
Looks like Lumet’s streak is six leading nominations (and two wins) from consecutive films over four Oscar seasons. I don’t think anyone can top that, not even Wyler, Kazan or Cukor.
This year has the most first-time acting nominees - 12 - since 2009. And the eight previous nominees were ALL nominated in the last four years. Has this ever happened before?
Not sure if this is interesting to anyone else but I just noticed that all eight of the Best Picture nominees this year are in the 2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio. That's definitely the first time that's happened since the BP expansion, would bet it's the first time ever. Particularly ironic given that they were almost only watched on TV screens.
Hi there! Love the post and the comment section ;)
Nathaniel, regarding the directing record, "This is the first time a female director has been nominated for her directorial debut (Emerald Fennel)" - what about Greta Gerwig in 2018? ;)
Or were you considering her co-directing credit in 2008's "Nights and Weekends"?
Stay safe and keep up the great work!