1 day til the Oscars. All the Best Picture Nominees with Numbers in Their Titles

It's tomorrow you guys. AAAAAAAAAHHHH.  Since we've been doing silly number related lists most days during the countdown, here's one final numerology friendly list for you before the big night.

ALL THE BEST PICTURE NOMINEES WITH NUMBERS IN THE TITLE
In ascending numerical order. This list does not include titles that make you think of numbers but aren't actually numbers (the likes of Double Indemnity, High Noon, A Few Good Men, or that sort of thing)

one
THE DEFIANT ONES (1958)
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)
ONE HOUR WITH YOU (1932)
ONE NIGHT OF LOVE (1934)
ONE FOOT IN HEAVEN (1941)
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (1975)... 

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Podcast: Final Oscar Predictions

with Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl and special reccuring guest Nick Davis

 

With the Oscar on Sunday night, you'd better hurry and listen to this 65 minute podcast as it will self destruct in less than 72 hours. We kid, we kid. You'll still be able to make fun of our faulty crystal balls since we spend one hour making bold and not-so bold predictions as to who will win in 21 Oscar categories (minus the shorts). Hear us panic about how many Oscars Bohemian Rhapsody might win, and whether First Man might surprise with multiple wins, and will Roma really take the most statues?

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Oscar win predictions

4 days until Oscars. More trivia fun.

Four is today's magic number so let's share some Oscar trivia.

Makeup prosthetics for Christian Bale as Dick Cheney (photo from Aida Dombr instagram)

• IS ANYONE UP FOR A POSSIBLE FOURTH COMPETITIVE WIN THIS YEAR? 
Why yes, we're so glad you asked. In addition to the previously discussed costume designer Sandy Powell (The Favourite might make it four for that genius), Makeup artist Greg Cannom, who previously won Oscars for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Mrs Doubtfire and Bram Stoker's Dracula, might well win his fourth for giving Christian Bale that realistic looking Cheney bald cap and thick neck in Vice. If Cannom wins he becomes the second most awarded makeup artist of all time (after category king Rick Baker -- who appears to have retired? -- who took the Oscar an incredible 7 times). Now, technically, Cannom is already the second most awarded makeup artist but he's currently holding that honor in a tie with another three time winner Ve Neill (she won for Beetlejuice and Ed Wood, as well as Mrs Doubtfire alongside Cannom). Interestingly enough both Cannom and Ve Neill each won Makeup Guild awards this past weekend for Vice and A Star is Born respectively. 

• Katharine Hepburn is the only person to ever win 4 acting Oscars... 

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5 days til Oscar! The Sound of Music, Cuckoo's Nest and More...

The Sound of Music won exactly 5 Oscars, lost exactly 5 Oscars, and won in a year ending in the number 5Today's magic number is 5 and it's too overwhelming a number in Oscar lore for a list of trivia items since it's the 'traditional' size of Oscar shortlists in every Oscar category with the exception of Best Makeup and Hairstyling. We've harped on that one before but we consider it brazenly insulting that Oscar views those craftsmen as the bastard stepchildren of the industry since they've never been allowed more than 3 nominees despite literally every live action film using their services. Several categories have experimented with varying sizes of their nominated lists over the years (Best Picture under the current rules, being obviously the most prominent and inconsistent *sigh* but the number five can safely be called one of Oscar's favourite things...

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Interview: Screenwriter Deborah Davis on her 20 year passion project "The Favourite"

by Nathaniel R

Deborah Davis, first time screenwriter, is up for an Oscar this weekendDeborah Davis recently took home the BAFTA for her work on the screenplay to Yorgos Lanthimos's stunning tragicomedy and Best Picture hopeful The Favourite. Though Lanthimos has previously co-written his own features this time was attached to a project already in progress. Davis and cowriter Tony McNamara than retooled the screenplay to match Lanthimos's vision. The results were magic, as has long since become obvious.

Before the hardware started arriving we hopped on a cross Atlantic phone call with Deborah Davis briefly. We couldn't find much info about her at the time and were reeling from the realization that the dearth of info came from the fact that The Favourite was her very first movie. As it turns out she became a screenwriter specifically to tell this story. And what a story it is.

Our interview, edited for length and clarity follows...

NATHANIEL: I'm still gobsmacked that this is a first screenplay!

DEBORAH DAVIS: That’s correct, yes. By training I'm a lawyer, but I’ve done quite a lot of journalism. I started to research The Favourite 20 years ago, and I was actually convinced that this story about women in power and the female triangle would make a wonderful film, so I went and learned how to write a script...

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