Oscar Trivia: Ranking the His & Hers Supporting Oscar Wins

Moreno & Chakiris winning for WEST SIDE STORYby Nathaniel R

Only 8 times in the 92 year history of the Academy Awards have both Supporting trophies gone to the same movie. We were thinking about this factoid recently given that 1957 is the topic of next week's Smackdown (get those votes in). 1957's Sayonara wins for Miyoki Umeshi and Red Buttons (who played newlyweds) marked the third instance of both supporting trophies going to the same movie in just a seven year span. Given that that specific type of Oscar pairing has only happened five times more in the next sixty-two years of history, it's clear that "his & hers" was definitely more of a 1950s voter mindset than it is now.

[Tangent: Lead 'His & Hers' statues happen with about the same frequency but are mostly bunched up in the late 70s for some reason]

Let's rank what came before with double supporting wins in a highly unscientific fusion of the performances...

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Showbiz History: Dutch Men, Dark Knights, and Queen Bitches

We need escapism now more than ever so on this July 18th let's looks back into history for easier things to think about then the here and now.

Verhoeven on the set of "Showgirls"

10 random things that happened on this day in showbiz history...

1938 Infamous Dutch auteur Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct, Showgirls) born on this day. Elle, his most recent feature, might be hard to top as late career provocations go but the 80 year-old master will certainly try with his next, Benedetta, a 17th century lesbian nuns drama starring Charlotte Rampling. The film is due in 2019.

1967 Mark Vincent Sinclair born in New York City. He later becomes Vin Diesel... 

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Open Thread. Best Amy Adams Performances?

by Nathaniel R

With Sharp Objects debuting tonight on HBO (Yes, we'll cover it here), let's talk Amy Adams. Why should film twitter have all the listing fun? Talk Film Society asked people to list their 3 favorite performances were and I was stunned how quickly I came to my definitive answer. 

• Junebug (2005)
• The Fighter (2010)
• Enchanted (2007)

You've got her full range displayed; endearing dramedic instincts, stealth pathos with deep soul beneath the exteriors of women who seem ordinary at first glance, her star charisma and comic invention are all over her best work.

And to make the question a bit more interesting. Is there a performance of hers other people love that you just don't? My vote there is for The Master (). I think she's terribly miscast and I couldn't ever figure out the draw of what she was doing or how people figured it was earned within the film -- especially for an actual Oscar nomination. Those are hard to come by ["for other people" - self-editing note]  But to each their own in opinion-land, right?

31 Days Until Oscar

Today's magic number is 31. Can you believe it took Christian Bale 31 movies to win Oscar's love?

He debuted in the Steven Spielberg film Empire of the Sun (1987) which was nominated for six Oscars so they knew of him straight from the get-go. But nothing seemed to do it -- not literary adaptations (Little Women, The Portrait of a Lady), neither relationship dramas (Metroland, Laurel Canyon), nor glam rock epics (Velvet Goldmine). Of course it didn't happen for superheroes or serial killers (Batman, American Psycho) but even war dramas (Empire of the Sun, Rescue Dawn) didn't do it. And then suddenly The Fighter (2010) did. He crushed his competition on the way to a win.

Sometimes not being nominated but being routinely excellent is a good way to build crazy momentum for a win. Which working actor do you think is heading straight to an Oscar win as soon as they're finally nominated?

Score!

Randomness: I was watching The Fighter out of the corner of my eyeballs again the other day. Guess whose scenes always demanded full eyes? Damn, but Amy Adams earned that Oscar nomination! I'm glad I medalled her. We now return you to your normally scheduled 2011 programming.