by Nathaniel Rogers
How many films will be nominated for acting this year? That question reads odd on the surface as there are 4 acting categories with 5 slots each. So the answer is obviously 20?. Nope! Usually at least a few films will score multiple acting nods, so 20 different films just doesn't happen.
But what we want to talk about specifically today is double-nominations within a single category. That's very common, happening more than half the time. In 55 of Oscar's 93 years to date, at least one acting category offered up a double from a single film. Sometimes more than one of the four categories will offer up a double nomination. So what about this year...
Since co-lead same-gender films never campaign as such anymore, it's been 30 years since Thelma & Louise after which studios pretending that double leads drove off the cliff with those zeitgeist grabbing women -- so that leaves only the supporting categories to discuss in terms of doubles.
The conversation around a double nomination for 2021 began with Belfast which initially pundits felt could snag doubles in both Supporting Actress (Balfe & Dench) and Supporting Actor (Dornan & Hinds). For a time, fans hoped that Mass, with its unbelievable central quartet (all campaigning as supporting) would happen in some way. Nobody appears to be talking about Mass nominations (outside of Ann Dowd) or Judi Dench anymore but a double nomination in both supporting categories could theoretically still happen thanks to the men of Belfast and the women of West Side Story (Ariana DeBose & Rita Moreno).
But if you're ready to predict that... beware. It's actually been a long time since it's happened.
The last time that two separate categories had a double simultaneously was, you guessed it, 1991. That year Thelma & Louise scored twice in Best Actress while the gangster biopic Bugsy scored twice in supporting actor.
But both supporting categories haven't doubled up simultaneously for (gulp) 50 years. The last time was...
1971 when Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show, a true ensemble picture with no real leads, scored two nominations for supporting actress (Cloris Leachman and Ellen Burstyn) and two for supporting actor (Jeff Bridges and Ben Johnson). It won both of those categories with Leachman and Johnson taking home statues. So if Belfast and West Side Story both manage a double it will break a half-century drought!
OSCAR RECORDS SURROUNDING DOUBLE NOMINATIONS
Years when all 4 acting categories had double nominations
IT'S NEVER HAPPENED. And it never will now that films no longer campaign two leads of the same gender truthfully.
Years when 3 of the 4 acting categories had double nominations - it's happened just twice.
1959 - Suddenly Last Summer snagged a double in Best Actress, Imitation of Life in Supporting Actress, and Anatomy of a Murder in Best Supporting Actor
1983 - The Dresser received a double nomination in Best Actor, while Terms of Endearment had a double in two separate categories, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor
Years when 2 of the 4 acting categories had double nominations
1939 Supporting Acress: Gone with the Wind; Supporting Actor: Mr Smith Goes to Washington
1950 Best Actress AND Supporting Actress: All About Eve
1953 Best Actor: From Here To Eternity; Supporting Actor: Shane
1954 Supporting Actress: The High and the Mighty; Supporting Actor: On the Waterfront*
1956 Best Actor: Giant; Supporting Actress: The Bad Seed
1957 Supporting Actress AND Supporting Actor: Peyton Place
1959 - see above.
1961 Best Actor: Judgment at Nuremberg; Supporting Actor: The Hustler
1971 Supporting Actress AND Supporting Actor: The Last Picture Show
1972 Best Actor: Sleuth; Supporting Actor: The Godfather*
1976 Best Actor: Network; Supporting Actor: Rocky
1977 Best Actress: The Turning Point; Supporting Actor: Julia
1983 - see above
1991 Best Actress: Thelma & Louise; Supporting Actor: Bugsy
* In these cases it wasn't just doubling up but a triple nomination in that category
Another special case: In 1949 two films scored a double in Supporting Actress (Pinky & Come to the Stable) but no other categories doubled up, so it doesn't technically count for this list.
Year with the fewest amount of films nominated across all four acting categories
NINE FILMS IS THE ALL TIME LOW
1981 - Reds (4), On Golden Pond (3), Only When I Laugh (3), Absence of Malice (2), Arthur (2), Atlantic City (2), Ragtime (2), Chariots of Fire (1), French Lieutenant's Woman (1)
RUNNER UP (TEN FILMS ONLY) A TIE BETWEEN FIVE YEARS
1943 - For Whom the Bell Tolls (4), The Song of Bernadette (4), Casablanca (2), Madame Curie (2), The More the Merrier (2), Watch on the Rhine (2), The Constant Nymph (1), The Human Comedy (1), Sahara (1), and So Proudly We Hail (1)
1951 - A Streetcar Named Desire (4), Death of a Salesman (3), The African Queen (2), The Blue Veil (2), Detetive Story (2), A Place in the Sun (2), Quo Vadis (2), Bright Victory (1), Come Fill the Cup (1), and The Mating Season (1)
1976 - Network (5), Rocky (4), All the President's Men (2), Carrie (2), Taxi Driver (2), Cousin Cousine (1), Face to Face (1), Marathon Man (1), Seven Beauties (1), and Voyage of the Damned (1)
1977 - Julia (4), The Turning Point (4), The Goodbye Girl (3), Annie Hall (2), Equus (2), Close Encounters 1), Looking For Mr Goodbar (1), Saturday Night Fever (1), A Special Day (1), and Star Wars (1)
2013 - American Hustle (4), 12 Years a Slave (3), August Osage County (2), Blue Jasmine (2), Dallas Buyers Club (2), Nebraska (2), Wolf of Wall Street (2), Captain Phillips (1), Gravity (1), Philomena (1),
(11-15 films nominated for acting is the norm).
Year with the most films nominated across all four acting categories
2007 FEATURED AN INCREDIBLE 18 FILMS
Michael Clayton was the only film that year to receive more than one acting nomination so there were an incredible 18 films nominated for acting prizes that year. That amount of spreading of the wealth is extremely unusual!
RUNNER UP (17 FILMS)
1992 held that record for the 20th century with 17 films nominated for acting. The Crying Game, Howards End, and Unforgiven were the only films to score multiple acting nods that year and they each only received two.
We hope you enjoyed today's trivia. Are you hoping for a double nomination in any category this year?