New Oscar Records!

Refresh your screen for updates as this post is in progress. It's always fun to look at new records or trivia after nominations. So let's go! 

 ACTING

• Anthony Hopkins is now the Oldest Best Actor nominee ever at 83 years of age and the first octogenarian ever nominated in leading actor. Previously the oldest nominee record in the category was held by Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story (1999) who was 78.

• Chadwick Boseman becomes the first black actor to be nominated posthumously.

• Maria Bakalova is the first Bulgarian actor ever nominated.

• Riz Ahmed is the first actor of Pakistani descent to ever be nominated as well as the first Muslim actor nominated in the lead category...

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2 days til Oscar nominations - The rarity of father/daughter Oscar noms

by Nathaniel R

The final Oscar nomination predictions are up if you're just joining us. But if you've already discussed those, here's another discussion prompt with two as the magical number. Looking through the Oscar probabilities we don't have many familial pairs in the acting category competition this time like siblings or father/sons or mother/child etcetera.  What we do have is not one but three pairs of onscreen father & daughter teams, one only spiritually but it counts:

• Anthony Hopkins & Olivia Colman - The Father
• Sacha Baron Cohen & Maria Bakalova - Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
• Tom Hanks & Helena Zengel - News of the World

How often are father/daughter onscreen teams nominated? Turns out quite rarely...

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The Most Confusing Acting Categories of the Past

by Eurocheese

NINE women have received mainstream precursor support this year for Best Supporting Actress. Somethings gotta give.

If anyone you know is telling you they know exactly what will happen when the nominees for Supporting Actress are announced on Monday, you should also ask them for a set of winning lottery numbers. You want to know how many actresses have scored the complete quartet of Golden Globe, SAG, Critics Choice and BAFTA nominations in Supporting this season? That would be zero. Maria Bakalova showed up at all four awards for a raunchy comedy, arguably the least Oscary of all genres, but even she landed in lead at the Globes. I honestly have no idea who’s getting in or who’s winning the category… and I love the confusion.

For everyone trying to put together their predictions for nomination morning, let’s look at how some other bizarre precursors shook out, choosing one year to represent each of the four categories. Maybe this will give us a clue as to the current Best Supporting Actress race...

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Lunchtime Poll: What were the 5 best "Best Picture" vintages?

by Nathaniel R

2003 & 2000. what a typical Oscar vintage looks like in terms of spread of quality.

It's 5 days until Oscar nominations are announced so let's have fun with the classic number 5... AKA the ideal size of an awards category. Most Oscar categories have varied in size at one time or another but for the bulk of the 93 year Oscar history five has been the preferred category size for the Academy. For fun let's name the best Best Picture quintets of all time (so only years 1944-2008 are eligible).

The average Best Picture lineup across many decades looks a lot like 2000 and 2003 pictures above, in that they're composed of the following: 2 perfect classics, 1 movie that's quite good, 1 respectable if unexciting choice, and 1 dud stinking up the room.

In short, it's quite difficult to pick the best vintage overall. Here are five BEST PIC shortlists I personally have a lot of affection for for various reasons...

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DGA Nominees: Chung, Fennell, Fincher, Sorkin, and Zhao

by Nathaniel R

The Director's Guild of America have announced their nominations for the 2020 film year. And it's a doozy. For the first time ever two women have been nominated in the top category. It's worth noting that the DGA has nominated more women for their top prize over the years than Oscar has but they've never nominated two simultaneously in their top category.  The nominees and some comments and awards season stats are after the jump...

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