The Film Experience

by Cláudio Alves

We've already posted about the records broken with this year's Oscar nominations, but one particular achievement remained unmentioned. With her double nominations for Nomadland – Best Picture and Best Actress – Frances McDormand became the first woman to earn an acting and a producing nomination for the same project. This comes after a decade when this feat became quite common for male performers. Historically, ever since the 1950s, when AMPAs started to list producers with Best Picture nods, instead of merely the studios' name, actors have been producing their movies and earning added honors for those efforts. It was in the late 1960s when someone finally scored the now common double citation from the Academy…

The first star to produce a Best Picture nominee they appeared in was Henry Fonda in 1957 for 12 Angry Men. Despite that, he was snubbed in the Best Actor category, which feels absurd when thinking about that movie's legacy and the quality of the performance. A decade later, Warren Beatty became the first person nominated for the acting/picture double via Bonnie and Clyde. That revolutionary picture was the first of many such events for Beatty who went on to receive the combination of Best Picture/Best Actor nods for three other movies, proving himself the undefeated champion of this particular Oscar stat. Despite this, he never won either a producing or acting trophy. To this day, his only Academy Award is for directing Reds (1981).

In terms of victors, Kevin Costner was the first to pull off a winning bid with 1990's Dances With Wolves. He won Best Picture but lost Best Actor to Jeremy Irons in Reversal of Fortune. Adding to that sweet deal, Costner also received a Best Director statuette for the western epic. Overall, the 1990s were a great decade for actors turned directors/producers, but only one other Hollywood mogul received the coveted double nomination in acting and picture. That was Clint Eastwood, who repeated Costner's feat with, coincidentally, another western, Unforgiven. He'd do the same feat 12 years later with Million Dollar Baby – nominated for Best Actor, winner of Best Picture, and Best Director.

As mentioned before, the 2010s were the decade where this curiosity became a trend. Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Denzel Washington, and Bradley Cooper all produced films they starred in and received double nominations for their work. The expanded Best Picture lineup made this easier, but it also feels like more and more movie stars are using their wealth and influence to produce cinema instead of depending on studio executives. Before conquering a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, Pitt was already a Best Picture champion thanks to his producing gig on 12 Years a Slave. Cooper, Matt Damon, and others have also earned Best Picture nominations for productions they didn't star in, adding to the growing movement of star turned producer.

Nonetheless, all these examples have been men. The fact that AMPAS continues to privilege male-centric stories contributes to the disparity; Reese Witherspoon, in particular, could have achieved the double nomination had Wild been more of a contender in the Best Picture race. Another person that could have featured in this list is Oprah Winfrey, who was nominated for producing Selma. Unfortunately, her stellar, though tiny, supporting turn in Ava DuVernay's flick never came close to the Oscar conversation. Frances McDormand is the first woman, then, and she might become the first person, ever, to win Best Picture and an Acting trophy for the same film. No man or woman has managed that yet.

Here's a list of all the Picture + Acting combos conquered by actors turned producers. All of them received nominations in the leading acting categories. No supporting players here: