The Academy loves power couples
Wednesday, February 14, 2024 at 6:00PM 
Though Margot Robbie isn't up for Best Actress, she's nominated in Best Picture with her husband, Tom Ackerley.
It's Valentine's Day, and love is in the air. To commemorate the occasion, let's consider this year's Academy Award nominations through the prism of romance, searching for couples among the contenders. Recognizing lovers together has been an Oscar tradition since the very start, from Lunt and Fontaine's matching Best Actor and Actress nomination in 1931 to last year's Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin. Even so, this season feels especially prone to honoring couples. I could find six of them while perusing the list, including in the Best Picture race. Though they're not represented in the star-studded acting categories, they still deserve acclaim and attention…
Margot Robbie & Tom Ackerley
Best Picture, BARBIE
Though she left nomination morning without a Best Actress nomination, the Barbie star is still up for gold thanks to her role as producer. In 2014, Robbie co-founded LuckyChap Entertainment with Ackerley, whom she'd marry two years later, and they've been producing projects together since then. You can find them thus credited in titles like I, Tonya, Birds of Prey, Promising Young Woman, the Maid miniseries, and Saltburn. That being said, they weren't among the recognized producers when Emerald Fennell's debut feature scored a Best Picture nomination. That marks Barbie as a first for both of them. Their forthcoming collaborations are Olivia Wilde's Naughty and a new Tank Girl adaptation.
Christopher Nolan & Emma Thomas
Best Picture, OPPENHEIMER
Unlike the Barbie producers, this isn't the first time Nolan and Thomas have shared an Oscar nomination. They've been up for gold before, thanks to Inception and Dunkirk, but have yet to secure a little golden man for their household. Though seldom discussed in overviews of her husband's oeuvre, Thomas is Nolan's most important professional partnership, having been responsible for the producing side of his projects since 1997's Doodblebug short, made within a college context where they first met. Beyond Nolan's directorial filmography, Thomas has been involved with the DC Extended Universe. However, the couple's split from Warner Bros after the Tenet release mishandling ended the relationship with the studio.
Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach
Best Adapted Screenplay, BARBIE
It's no use recapping these filmmakers' relationship history, especially when so much of it has been cause for gossip and tabloid fodder, not to mention the many metatextual readings on Baumbach's Marriage Story. As co-writers, they've been at it since 2012's Frances Ha, having also scripted Mistress America together. Though this is the first time they share an Oscar nod, the Hollywood power couple has attended the Academy Awards as nominees before. In 2019, Greta Gerwig was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay with Little Women, while Noah Baumbach contended for Best Original Screenplay with the aforementioned Marriage Story. They both lost that night, but their luck might be different with Barbie. We shall wait and see.
Justine Triet & Arthur Harari
Best Original Screenplay, ANATOMY OF A FALL
The first project where these French multi-hyphenate filmmakers worked together was Age of Panic, one of Triet's directorial efforts where Harari played one of the lead roles. Since that 2013 feature, their careers have grown, together and apart, as their personal relationship has deepened. In 2019, the pair co-wrote a screenplay for the first time, resulting in Triet's first foray into the Cannes official competition – Sibyl. Anatomy of a Fall continues that collaboration, its caustic considerations on marriage making it a curious exercise for two romantic-cum-creative partners. At The Film Experience, many of Triet's efforts have been celebrated, but Harari's solo works haven't been as discussed. I recommend his astonishing Onoda and The Goldman Case, for which he earned a César nomination. He also cameos in Anatomy of the Fall as a literary critic.
Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik
Best Original Screenplay, MAY DECEMBER
Throughout the season, Samy Burch has received plenty of screenwriting honors, but her husband, Alex Mechanik, hasn't always been so lucky. The couple came up with the story together, but since it was Burch who wrote the final screenplay, several organizations only considered her for prizes. Thankfully, the Academy recognizes story credits, so the pair is nominated together for Todd Haynes' uncomfortable vivisection of real-life narratives through melodrama devices. Before their turn to screenwriting, the two worked in casting departments, though Mechanik also has plenty of credits as an editor and short film director. Indeed, Burch wrote some of those shorts. Sadly, her follow-up to May December, Coyote v. Acme, is the center of Warner Bros' latest controversy and is unlikely to see the light of day. Justice for the Looney Tunes!
Jerusha Hess & Jared Hess
Best Animated Short Film, NINETY-FIVE SENSES
Though most of their careers have been dedicated to live-action comedy, Jerusha and Jared Hess couple are nominated for their first Oscar through an animated short. Their first and most famous collaboration was Napoleon Dynamite, back in 2004, when the pair shared writing credit but Jared took sole directing honors. The same happened with Nacho Libre and other such broad comedies. With her husband's assistance on the producing front, Jerusha Hess made her directorial debut with the delightful Austenland in 2013, with Ninety-Five Senses as her only other credit as director. Though relative novices to the art of animation, it's remarkable how much their nominated work explores different styles and the medium's never-ending possibilities, stretching the limits of control between literalism and abstraction.
Can any of these power couples snatch Oscar gold at the 96th Academy Awards? Who are you rooting for?
Reader Comments (3)
This is definitely an interesting fun fact about this year’s crop of nominees.
The only one I’d be rooting for is the May December team. What a great film that deserved so many more nominations than this sole one.
While I’m not rooting for Oppenheimer to win best picture, I will nonetheless be really happy for Nolan/Thomas to win. They have put out incredible films for 20 years now, some of my absolute favorites. I really wish I liked Oppenheimer more but I’m just going to pretend this is for their body of work.
It's pretty amazing what a true power couple Triet and Harari. I had no idea that he'd been nominated for Cesars for his own films. He also wasn't at the Globes, so I didn't even realize Triet had a co-writer (something that I think helps her campaign, since people are falling in love with her specifically).
I love when couples are nominated, especially in different categories. While this group is fun, it's always a bit more fun when it's major A-list actors. I loved 2021, when Javier and Penelope and Kristen and Jesse were nominated.
I'm very excited to see Nolan and Thomas take the stage!
Not to be that guy, but Robbie's beauty is legendary at this point, especially in contemporary cinema. But her husband is absolutely gorgeous and British. When Margot thanked Tom at the Aussie Film Awards, I melted. They will be the Prom King and Queen at this year's Oscars, even if Barbie has no chance to win best picture.