2 days til Oscar. Offscreen Oscar pairs

by Nathaniel R

With just 2 days to go until Oscar let's talk famous couples who've both been Oscar blessed. This year we have loved the offscreen symmetry of A Star is Born's Sam Elliott finally having an Oscar nomination to match his beautiful wife's; Katharine Ross was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Graduate (1967) and now Elliott has a matching nomination in Supporting Actor just before their 25th wedding anniversary. They were married around the time Elliott started work on Mask (1985) and Ross started work on the Dynasty spinoff The Colbys (1985-1987). They co-starred together just last year (albeit briefly) when Ross played Elliott's character's ex-wife in The Hero (2017).

It's fairly rare for two members of a couple to win or be nominated for Oscars while they're together (lots of Hollywood relationships being short-lived) but the gold standard is surely Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward...

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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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Oscar Presenters and a 'Whoopi Goldberg as surprise host' conspiracy theory!

02/20/19 4:35 PM: THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH NEW NAMES AND NOTES

Remember when Oscar was threatening to dump Frances McDormand, Gary Oldman, Allison Janney and Sam Rockwell as presenters because they weren't "famous" enough even though they've all been popular actors in multiple hit movies and TV shows for at least two decades? Somehow the past two weeks of announcements in regards to who will prsent on Oscar night make that inane earlier compulsion even more ridiculous a significant percentage of the forthcoming presenters are NOT as famous than those four.

Nevertheless, trying to make sense of the current leadership of their Academy and their perpetually boneheaded decisions is obviously a fool's errand. That way lies madness as they simply do NOT know what they're doing. We're beginning to question whether they even understand simple concepts like "entertainment" and "fame" and maybe even "movies" at this point. The complete lists of performers and presenters announced (thus far) plus a wonderful if short-lived conspiracy theory that we wanted to believe in after the jump...

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Interview: The Emotionally Resonant Visual Effects Work in "Avengers: Infinity War"

It's our final Oscar nominee interview of the season! 

On a break from their post-production madness for Avengers: Endgame (opening in 66 days!) we spoke with co-directors Joe Russo and Anthony Russo and the visual effects team of MCU's colossal two-parter. Part one, better known as Avengers: Infinity War, is culmination of ten years of serial storytelling within the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is Oscar-nominated for Best Visual Effects. Given how strangely difficult it's proven for superhero films to win the Best Visual Effects Oscar --- only one has managed that competitively: Spider-Man 2 (2004) with Superman (1978) also getting a special achievement Oscar -- the odds are probably against Avengers: Infinity War, But, consider this: If Infinity War does win this Oscar no one will gripe that this team didn't deserve it. 

Hell, the 'snapture' alone warrants it! Now excuse the dust as this team tries to top themselves once more in Endgame. Since our interview was with multiple people we're presenting it in a series of quotes rather than a conversation. Hope you enjoy...

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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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