Fantasy Cast: Which Former Acting Winners Should Present For Each Oscar Nominee?

By: Christopher James

Screw the MCU, this is the greatest crossover event in history.

In a quest to get to three hours, the Academy has attempted to shave off so many things that make the Oscars great, including eight categories. As Nathaniel eloquently noted, the Oscars are best when they embrace the excess, full of clips, montages and moments to celebrate the nominees and the art of moviemaking in general. One of the best examples of this came during the 2008 Oscars, hosted by Hugh Jackman. Yes, Jackman was a great host with multiple fantastic dance numbers, including a bit about how “he didn’t see The Reader” and declaring the musical is back. There was one other major thing that was incredible about that particular Oscar ceremony: the presentation of the acting awards. Murtada also looked back on this wonderful moment a couple years back as well. These Oscars were not afraid of taking their time. In addition to clips, a different winner from a previous year introduced each acting nominee. The producers for that year didn’t just pick former winner names out of a hat, they found some thematic connection between the nominee and the former winner, as if to say that everyone has a chance. It was an exciting way to accentuate the legacy of the Oscars, honor each nominee and make the event even more star studded than normal. 

Let's fantasize about that happening again...

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Oscar History: The Evolution of Acceptance of Openly Queer Actors

by Eurocheese

Stewart and DeBose at the world premieres of their movies in 2021

This year, we saw two openly queer women receive first time nominations in the Academy’s acting categories. Famously, the Academy rarely nominates openly LGBTQ performers while often honoring straight actors for playing queer roles, something that was considered “brave” until shockingly recently. But how have out queer performers fared in the past?

Let’s take a look at the previous nominees… 

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Best Supporting Actress - 'How'd she get nominated?'

The Best Supporting Actress Oscar Chart is fully updated with stats, trivia, a reader's poll, and "how'd they get nominated"? theorizing, so check it out. 

Film Bitch Awards ~ Oscar Parallel Categories Complete!

by Nathaniel R

The Oscar-adjacent portion of our annual Film Bitch Awards is complete (i.e. if Nathaniel had a ballot)... 

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Oscar Volley: It's a Best Supporting Actress lovefest!

Our Oscar Volley series continues with Cláudio Alves and Nick Taylor doing a deep dive on a category near and dear to their hearts...

NICK: First, quick introductions! What drew us to this category, you ask? The Supporting Actress category was one of my favorite fields to rummage through when I was initially exploring the Oscars. Tilda Swinton, Lupita Nyong’o, Sandy Dennis, Thelma Ritter, Mo’Nique, Dianne Wiest, Agnes Moorehead - all led me to new ideas about film and performance I hadn’t dreamed of before then. Watching talented actresses carve out whole worlds from the corners of their films became one of my favorite things to search for in movies.

I have a very specific memory of discovering the Supporting Actress Smackdown after watching Kramer vs Kramer for the first time only a few weeks after the podcast on 1979 dropped and listening to the discussion with rapt attention. And then the 1948 episode came out like, the next day! Gave me wild misconceptions on how fast things updated, lemme tell you...

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