by Nathaniel R
FLOW is first in two different ways!
With another year ending we can now look at new stats and trivia from the year that was and acknowledge records that weren't broken, too, but are of note. If you have anything to add to the list share it in the comments, please. Herewith some things to ponder in regards to Oscar trivia...
"FIRST" RECORDS. THE ONE KIND OF RECORD THAT CAN NEVER BE BROKEN.
• Flow became the first movie about a cat to win Best Animated Feature. We've had lizards, toys, humans, ogres, robots, dogs, foxes, rabbits, penguins, fish, wooden boys, and even rats as protagonists of winning films but never cats! Until now that is.
• Paul Tazewell became the first Black man to win in Best Costume Design for his work in Wicked. The only other black costume designer to win is Ruth E Carter who took the Oscar for Black Panther and its sequel. Tazewell could repeat her crazy statistic/achievement if he wins again next year for the Wicked sequel...
• Zoe Saldaña became the first actor of Dominican descent to be nominated for AND win an Oscar.
• Flow became the first Latvian film of any kind to be nominated for AND win an Oscar.
• I'm Still Here became the first Brazilian submission to win Best International Feature. One interesting caveat to this record is that the musical Black Orpheus (1959), which is is a Brazilian/French/Italian co-production, did win this category 65 years ago. Though it was set in Brazil and its male lead was Brazilian and the song score was from Brazilian composers, it was a French film for the purposes of the Oscars.
• Karla Sofia Gascon became the first out trans person to be nominated for acting with her Best Actress nomination for Emilia Pérez. One side note here is that she's not the first trans person to be nominated for acting: Elliot Page was also nominated in this same category for Juno (2007) but came out as a trans man thirteen years later.
• The 97th Academy Awards mark the first time that all four acting Oscars have gone to leading roles. Three of four has been fairly common in the last 20 years. I know that category Fraud has been around since the dawn of the Oscars but we only complain it this much because it's become such an increasingly shameless plague. Before the 2000s people would never have bought these egregious categorizations without grumbling or even mocking the star or campaign. Now they actually defend them if they're not shrugging their shoulders saying 'that's just how things are'. Actors, Campaign Teams, and Critics alike all greedily embrace this way to honor only stars and no one else. We are actually inching towards extinction for industry and media honors for supporting performances. I knew we would one day reach this endpoint -- the most obvious death knell for official supporting honors before this moment, was that time they put both leads from the same movie in the supporting category together (Judas and the Black Messiah) as if a movie about two people can have zero leads. I had hoped the death of supporting honors would be slower (since I love the art of character acting) and that I wouldn't live to see it. Ah well, at least this cant happen again for the "first" time.
NEW RECORDS THAT COULD THEORETICALLY BE BROKEN
• MOST OSCARS FOR ONE FILM
Sean Baker has received the most Oscars anyone has ever received for a single film. He won four statues in total (Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, and Editing) for his sex worker comedy Anora. An interesting aside to this is that he also now ties the record of Most Oscars in a Single Night (also 4) set by Walt Disney at the 27th Academy Awards. The difference between their records is that Disney won four categories for four different films: Best Documentary Feature and all three of the shorts categories!!!
• MOST SCREENTIME PERCENTAGE EVER FOR A "BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR" WINNER
Kieran Culkin now holds the dubious honor of most screen time within his movie's running time for a winner in this category. He's visible onscreen for 65% of A Real Pain (2024) which makes sense since the film begins and ends on his face, and the entire film is about him and even in the two scenes where he does not appear, he is the entire topic of conversation! The only previous supporting winner who is in more of their movie than Kieran is Supporting Actress winner Tatum O'Neal in the classic Father/Daughter duet Paper Moon (1973) -- one of my personal favourite movies of all time. She was also very obviously a Lead but at least she was a child which kinda sorta but not really excuses the demotion. Back in ye olden times Category Fraud was very common with child actors but not so much with adults who had the good sense to admit and be proud of their hard fought "lead" status.
I still maintain that if the star of a movie campaigns in supporting they should have to donate all of their salary (beyond the SAG minimum for a supporting role) to the Entertaiment Community Fund (previously called the Actors Fund) as penance. That fund helps struggling actors who don't have the benefit of well paid leading roles and easily leverageable celebrity status to pay their bills, feed their families, and keep a roof over their heads.
• LONGEST ACCEPTANCE SPEECH EVER
It took over 80 years but Greer Garson's dubious record of having given the longest acceptance speech in Oscar history for Best Actress in Mrs Miniver (1942) has finally been overthrown... by seven seconds! While there is no video of Garson's full speech as proof it was oft reporteed to be five minutes and 30 seconds. Adrien Brody incredibly went on for five minutes and 37 seconds (especially hilarious since he shushed the orchestra halfway through with an "I'll be brief"). This means Brody now holds two problematic all time Oscar records since he is also (still) the youngest man to have ever won Best Actor (he won at 29 when he won for The Pianist (2002). The latter is only problematic because Oscar history is filled with twenty-something women who won in the parallel category suggesting lots of gender disparity and age biases among filmmakers and Oscar voters as to who gets the juicy roles and who is rewarded for them when they do!
• MOST NOMINATIONS FOR A FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Back in January Emilia Perez's ridiculous 13 nomination haul shattered the record previously shared by Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000), and Roma (2018) with 10 nominations each.
NOT REALLY A RECORD YOU CAN TRACK WELL BUT INTERESTING
• LONGEST DROUGHT BETWEEN WINS IN BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
France, which used to reign in this category, and is still the most nominated country of all time, has not won the Oscar since Indochine (1992) 32 years ago which is a very long time considering their track record. Still you can't really track this record well since you can't see the future and don't know the next time any previously winning country will win again! The actual record (which again requires a country winning again a long time after a previous triumph) is currently held by Hungary with 34 years between Mephisto (1981) and Son of Saul (2015). Argentina is a very distant second with a 24 years gap between The Official Story (1985) and The Secret in their Eyes (2010). One caveat: If you view Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic (after the country was split into multiple countries) as one country --which is of course not fully accurate -- they would be in second place with 29 years between Closely Watched Trains (1967) and Kolya (1996).
In short if France wins again in three years time (but not sooner) they'll defeat Hungary's current dubious record!
NOT A RECORD BUT AN INTERESTING STAT
• DIANE WARREN IN "LOSER" TIE
Diane Warren, songwriter, has now tied sound mixer Greg P. Russell, for most Oscar nominations without ever winning ("the Journey" marked her 16th nod). That said she does have an Honorary Oscar which Russell doesn't.
• PALME D'OR INFLUENCE
Cannes Palme d'Or prize used to be the furthest thing from an Oscar influencer. Now the winners regularly become Best Picture nominees. Anora (2024) just became the third Palme winner to also take Best Picture. It has only happened twice before with Marty (1955) and Parasite (2019).
• LORD OF THE DUNES
As I predicted in an Oscar volley, Dune Part Two closely mirrored the Oscar fate of The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (also the middle picture of a genre trilogy) winning both Visual Effects and Sound. Given the also similar track record of the first part of each trilogy, Dune Messiah could well be on track to sweep the whole ceremony whenever it arrives. We shall see.
• ANORA STATS PREDECESSOR
Anora is the first Best Picture winner to win exactly 5 Oscars since The Artist (2011). In the 21st century, Best Picture winners have not been winning as many Oscars as they used to so 5 is a fairly large haul.
Most to least amount of Oscars won by Best Pictures in the 21st century (thus far)
Titles with an asterisk did NOT win the most Oscars in their year.
Underlined titles performed a clean sweep of their nominated categories
- Return of the King (2003) 11 wins
- Slumdog Millionaire (2008) 8 wins
- Oppenheimer (2023) 7 wins
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) - The Hurt Locker (2009) 6 wins
Chicago (2002) - Anora (2024) 5 wins
The Artist (2011)
Gladiator (2000) - Parasite (2019) 4 wins
The Shape of Water (2017)
Birdman (2014)
The King's Speech (2010)
No country for Old Men (2007)
The Departed (2006)
Million Dollar Baby* (2004)
A Beautiful Mind (2001) - Coda* (2021) 3 wins
Nomadland (2020)
Greenbook* (2018)
Moonlight* (2016)
Twelve Years a Slave* (2013)
Argo* (2012)
Crash (2005) - Spotlight* (2015) 2 wins
p.s. Bonus points to any reader who can find the nearest stat equivalent to Anora in Oscar history. It's a tough one (5 wins from only 6 nominations)
RECORDS, RELATED TO THE DISCUSSIONS ABOVE, THAT WE STILL AWAIT BEING BROKEN
• FIRSTS FROM BLACK ARTISTS
With Tazewell's Costume Design win one more Oscar category has been crossed off the list of potential "firsts" for black men as Hollywood continues to become more inclusive. But a Black man has yet to win in the following five categories: Cinematography, Director, Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design. If you include women and make the record, the broader "first black artist to win this category" the only categories that remain unwon are three: Cinematography, Director, and Editing.
• YOUNGEST BEST ACTOR WINNER
Adrien Brody maintains the record for the youngest man to ever win Best Actor -- he won at 29 for The Pianist (2002) but we do have to wonder how close Timothée Chalamet came this year to dethroning him. Chalamet is younger 29 at this particular moment so he can no longer be the one to dethrone Brody. It will happen eventually but not, we presume, for a very very long time.
• MOST COMPETITIVE WINS WHILST LOSING BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
• MOST OVERALL NOMINATIONS FOR A BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE NOMINEE THAT WON NOTHING
Theoretically either of these records (but not both obviously) could have been broken by Emilia Perez this season given its volatile awards run but with Emilia Perez's two wins (Supporting Actress, Original Song) both of these records still stand. The first record is still held by Mexico's Pans Labyrinth (2006) which won 3 Oscars but lost its main category and the second record is still a three way tie between France's The Umbrellas of Cherbrough (1964), Sweden's The Emigrants (1971) and France's Amelie (2001) which were all nominated in five categories but lost each one.