The Oscars' real people problem

by Cláudio Alves

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tired of the biopic domination of the acting Oscar categories. Admittedly, such distaste comes from my general dislike of prestige cinema's biographical genre, but the situation is truly glaring. This year, 45% of the nominated performances are of real people whose lives were dramatized on-screen, exercises in actorly mimicry, and direct emulation. It's not that these achievements aren't impressive or worthy of awards, but that they're over-represented a great deal. Most narrative films aren't dramatizations of actual events or the lives of celebrities no matter how much AMPAS' selection might make us think otherwise. It's a pity that other kinds of character construction tend to be underappreciated while biopic roles become frontrunners before anyone has even seen the movie…

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A brief history of posthumous Oscars

by Cláudio Alves

Before the Oscar nominations were announced, some pundits predicted as many as four posthumous nominations. Obviously, there's Chadwick's Boseman's Best Actor bid for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. His feverish take on August Wilson's Levee was indeed nominated and, at this point in the awards season, feels bound for victory. The other potential posthumous honors, those that didn't effectively happen, were Jack Fincher (Mank) in Best Original Screenplay, Chadwick Boseman again in Supporting Actor (Da 5 Bloods), and Michael Wolf Snyder (Nomadland) in Best Sound. With that in mind, it's easy to wonder how common it is for AMPAS to honor artists who have already passed.

For trivia purposes, here's a list of all posthumous Oscar nominations divided by category. Only competitive prizes were included, so no honorary awards...

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One Actor, One Character, Many Globes

by Cláudio Alves

This next Sunday, Sacha Baron Cohen is probably going to win at least one Golden Globe, whether for his Oscar-aiming turn in Trial of the Chicago 7 or his second go-around as Borat. I'm especially interested in that last potential victory since it would put him in a pretty exclusive club. To my knowledge, only one actor has managed to win more than one Globe for film by playing the same character multiple times. While franchises and sequels tend to dominate the box office, they don't generally score a lot of gold for their actors so it's notable when someone manages to buck the trend. Did they all deserve to? That's another story altogether.

By my count, 15 thespians have managed multiple nominations for the same character. Come discover who they are and what double victor Sacha Baron Cohen will join if he wins for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm… 

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Weekly Trivia

Hey folks. Michael Cusumano here. We had a great time at last week's trivia match and I though I would drop in and give you a sample. Last week we had rounds focused on Cate Blanchett and an audio round on Oscar nominated scores of the 2010's plus the general knowledge round we do every week. The round was one minute per question. Let me know how you would have done in the comments (No Googling. Duh.)

 Every winning team gets to choose a round topic for next week's match, and I'm pleased to report 5/21 champs TEAM PEACH chose LGBT Movies/characters/actors nominated for Oscars for this Thursday's game. 

So brush up on that topic if you want a chance at the crown!

To play in this week's game: The event is held every Thursday at 7:30 PM EST on Zoom and runs approximately 2 hours. It’s $5 per person payable through Venmo or PayPal. Send a team name along with the payment and I will reply with the ZOOM information. You can include your contact information in a comment along with the PayPal or Venmo payment or contact me one of these ways: 

Email: WhiskeyCatProd@gmail.com
Twitter: @TriviaWhiskey
Facebook: Whiskey Cat presents: Zoom Movie Trivia  

Hope to see you there this Thursday!

Linkmaids

• Variety The Venice Film Festival will commence (not cancelling) on September 2nd
• IndieWire does some myth-busting by looking back at an historic movie weekend in 1977, when both Smokey and the Bandit and Star Wars opened
• Variety on how Carole Lombard becamse the first Hollywood casualty of WW II

After the jump including the first drag queen Emmy nominee, fight challenge, Michel Piccoli RIP, no Bridesmaids sequel, trivia and Brokeback reminiscences with Oscar pundits, Diva, and more... 

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