New Facts & Trivia from the 89th Oscars

Before we begin, a quick note that we shouldn't have to share but we do because the rest of the universe has conspired against the proper way of doing things. When we refer to an Oscar ceremony year we are talking about the year of the films honored, not the random month of the following year in which the ceremony is held. What we just witnessed was the 2016 Oscars. We don't know who will even be nominated for the 2017 Oscars yet though we'll make some early bird predictions on April 1st as we do.

Anyway... FACTS. TRIVIA. FUN.

• La La Land's loss was shocking but its performance at the Oscars was not completely without precedent. Two other films in Oscar's 89 years have won the rare combo of Best Actress and Best Director without winning Best Picture. That would be Cabaret (1972, also the single film to win the most Oscars without winning Best Picture) and 7th Heaven (1927) in the very first year of the Oscars. That silent film is an unusual case though as Janet Gaynor won Best Actress for three roles including Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and Street Angel (Oscar quickly changed the rules so nominations could only be for one picture.) 

• Arrival (8 nominations) is the first non-war film Best Picture nominee to win Sound Editing only...

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The New Norm of the Picture / Director Split

Chris here. Now that the Oscar closing shock has worn off (oh, wait it still hasn’t) let’s take a second to discuss the growing frequency of the Best Picture / Director split. This is now the fourth time in five years two different films have taken home the two biggest prizes - with 25% of all instances occurring in the past decade. Has a Best Picture / Director split become an Oscar new normal?

But the recent prevalence of the split might be more symptomatic of an Academy more bent on spreading the wealth. In fact, La La Land ties Fury Road as the most awarded film since Gravity - also rewarded on the Director side of the equation... 

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Last Minute Drama: Oscar Nomination Rescinded

It wouldn't be the Oscars without drama. Or in this case, draaaaaa-maaaa. The day before the Oscars -- yes, the day before the Oscars -- the Academy rescinded a nomination. Greg P Russell had received his 17th nomination (he's never won) for his sound mixing on 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi but that nomination is no more. The decision was announced yesterday in light of information about phone calls to branch members. Telephone as well as email lobbying is against the rules. The other members of that particular sound team have retained their nominations so there are still 5 nominated films in the category.

Sing along at Greg's house "Alone...Yet Not Alone...♫ " 

For those who recall. The song "Alone Yet Not Alone" from the movie of the same name was the last rescinded nomination just 3 Oscar seasons ago for something similar, emails to branch members. While this is unfortunate, especially considering Russell's long history without a win and big contributions to blockbuster cinema (past nominations include Spider-Man, Transformers, and Skyfall), how do AMPAS members not know not to do this by now?

1 Day to Oscar: First Time Nominees

by Murtada

With one day to Oscar, let’s salute 2016’s class of first time nominees in the four acting categories. So many great actors never get nominated, and many just get that one nomination. So it must so exciting for these lucky 7: Isabelle Huppert, Ruth Negga, Naomie Harris, Mahershala Ali, Lucas Hedges, Dev Patel and Andrew Garfield.

They range in age from 20 (Hedges) to 63 (Huppert). As befitting that range there are newcomers, legends and everything in between amongst them...

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Double Winners & Chart Updates

No Oscar Trivia today. Unless you count all the stuff that's on the Oscar pages. The major category charts have been updated with our popular "how'd they get nominated?" speculation, chosen preferred Oscar clips, and other sorts of trivia. Every acting chart plus Picture and Director are update! Woooo

Thoughts? Comments? Feelings? Nonsense? Opinions? Do share. (Note: The final predictions full article will go up tomorrow but you can see a sneak peek of the predictions on the chart index.)

Okay fine, fine. You have to have your daily trivia don't you? As if the charts aren't enough! You're so greedy, sometimes, I swear. After the jump the six double winning actors who are two for two in that they won both times they were nominated, never losing an official Oscar race. (Obviously they lost out on nominations over the years but that's a different thing and everyone does. Even Streep)

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