New Oscar Trivia. Courtesy of the 87th Academy Awards
Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at 10:00AM What does a fresh list of winners bring? Why... New TRIVIA of course!
Do you think Patty Arquette has seen SAVAGE GRACE?
picture birdman director alejandro gonzález iñárritu, birdman actress julianne moore, still alice actor eddie redmayne, theory of everything supporting actress patricia arquette, boyhood supporting actor j.k. simmons, whiplash original screenplay birdman adapted screenplay imitation game foreign film ida animated feature big hero 6 documentary feature citizenfour cinematography birdman editing whiplash production design grand budapest hotel costume design grand budapest hotel makeup and hair grand budapest hotel visual effects interstellar score grand budapest hotel song "glory" selma sound mixing whiplash sound editing american sniper live action short the phone call documentary short crisis hotline animated short feast ...I forgot to ask all of you how you did on your predictions? I did decent but not spectacular 18/24 (but i heard from a few readers who said I helped them win their office pool so there's that) but the short film categories messing me up as usual grrrr
After the jump, there's lots of trivia brought on by the 87th batch. If you have a really good one I forgot, I can always update the post so please to enjoy and comment...
• Poland was once tied for "The Most Nominated Country Never To Have Won the Foreign Language Film Oscar". Now they must give up that title since Ida triumphed Sunday night on Poland's 10th try. Israel which also has ten nominations, now regains the title all to itself. Ida is the first black and white film to win in the category since the 1960s. A Man and a Woman (1966) was partially in black and white and before that, of course, black and white was fairly common.
• All four acting winners played Academics which is a first (thanks to Luiserghio in the comments for that one!)
• Julianne Moore is only the second woman in her fifties to ever win Best Actress. The first was Shirley Booth for Come Back Little Sheba (1952). They were both 54 years old when it happened.
• Julianne Moore is the 10th oldest woman to win Best Actress, Booth the 9th (as she was closer to 55). The most common exact age to win Best Actress is 29 years old (8 women). 33 is the second most common age (6 women). 70% of best actress statues are won between the ages of 26 and 41
• Eddie Redmayne is the 8th youngest Best Actor winner at 33. Just a couple of months older than Daniel Day Lewis was for My Left Foot (the 7th youngest) which was also, coincidentally, a biopic about a disabled best-selling writer. There is no most common age to win Best Actor. It's fairly evenly spread out with 70% of best actor statues are won between the ages of 36 and 53.
• This is the first time ever that the Best Actress & Best Actor winners are a pair that previously played mother and son.
Julianne Moore & Eddie Redmayne in Savage Grace (lucky Hugh Dancy is between them)
...though they are definitely not the first Best Actress and Best Actor pair to have had a sex scene together ;)
• Boyhood is the only presumed early frontrunner that I can recall to win only 1 Oscar (anyone else?). Other early leaders in the past couple of decades that ran out of steam in the last leg of the race -- Bugsy (2 Oscars), Brokeback Mountain (3 Oscars), Lincoln (2 Oscars), The Aviator (5 Oscars), Saving Private Ryan (5 Oscars) and The Social Network (3 Oscars) -- all did better on Oscar night.
• Birdman is the first comedy to win the Oscar for Best Picture without first winning Best Comedy at the Globes (Grand Budapest Hotel won) since Annie Hall (1977) which lost to The Goodbye Girl. The only other time it happened was The Sting (1973) which the Golden Globes did not even nominate. (Note: This stat does not include movies before the Golden Globes began in the 1950s)
• Birdman is only the tenth movie ever (since the Editing Oscar was invented) to win Best Picture without having an Editing nomination. It used to happen more frequently but the last time was Ordinary People (1980).
• Alejandro González Iñárritu is the 5th consecutive director to win who was born outside of the US (after Cuaron, Lee, Hazanavicius, Hooper) and the second consecutive Mexican. So the US directors really need to make a comeback. The last director from the United States to win was California born Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker who, funnily enough, if she had lost it would have been to her ex-husband who is also not from the US (James Cameron is Canadian) which would have made AGI the 7th consecutive.
• Batting 1000. All five of Iñárritu's films thus far have received at least one Oscar nomination from Amores Perros to Birdman and his sixth, The Revenant, seems as likely as anything to continue the streak. Especially with nomination magnet Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role. I *think* this 5/5 is a record...at least in contemporary cinema... but I'm not sure. Anyone? Other filmmakers/studios this season with perfect-ish Oscar records? Bennett Miller's narrative features have all been nominated for either Picture or Director (Capote, Foxcatcher, Moneyball). Laika, the animation studio, is also at 100% with their three features though they're still waiting for a first win. The Norwegian-Canadian Oscar winner Torril Kove has been nominated for all of her short films, Me and My Moulton being her third, though she lost this year's animated short contest to Feast.
• Milena Canonero, who won her 4th Oscar Sunday for Costume Design (Grand Budapest Hotel) at the age of 68 has the longest spread of nominations for any costume designer with 39 years between her first nomination (Barry Lyndon, she won) and her most recent (Grand Budapest Hotel, she won), yes even trumping Edith Head. Edith Head's stretch of Oscar nominations runs from 1948 (Emperor Waltz, she lost) through 1977 (Airport 77, she lost). This puts Canonero one Oscar ahead of contemporary cinema's reigning dueling queens Sandy Powell (3 wins / 10 noms) and Colleen Atwood (3 wins / 11 noms) and into the top three ever.
Oscar's All Time Favorite Costume Designers
1. Edith Head (8 wins / 35 nominations. Oscar record from 1948-1977)
2. Irene Sharaff (5 wins / 15 nominations *in this category*. Oscar record from 1951-1977)
3. Milena Canonero (4 wins / 9 nominations. Oscar record from 1975-2014)
It's worth noting that both Sharaff and Head had the advantage of working in a time frame when there were two costume categories (black and white & color).
• To quote Jessica Chastain... "Chivoooooooo" The Mexican DP Emmanuel Lubezki is the 4th cinematographer to win consecutive Oscars (Gravity/Birdman). The previous men were Leon Shamroy (Wilson / Leave Her to Heaven) and Winton Hoch (Joan of Arc / She Wore a Yellow Ribbon) in the 1940s and John Toll (Legends of the Fall / Braveheart ) in the 1990s
• Patricia Arquette is now unquestionably the most lauded member of the Arquette family, which has multiple generations of actors. She's the first Emmy, Globe, SAG & Oscar winner among them though it's worth noting that Rosanna, previously the most celebrated with her heyday in the 1980s, has Emmy & Globe nominations as well as a BAFTA win to match Patty's (mostly from different performances, unlike Patty whose prizes mostly came from Boyhood). No word yet on whether this acting dynasty will continue. Patricia, Rosanna, and David had a kid or two (Richmond and Alexis did not) so we'll see.
• The losses of How To Train Your Dragon 2 and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in animated feature and visual effects respectively, remind us that Oscar has never been crazy about sequels. The only two sequels that have won Best Picture are The Godfather Part 2 (1974) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).
• For the first time since the expansion of the Best Picture field every single Best Picture nominee went home with an Oscar. In the non-specialized categories (i.e. everything a traditional live action feature can be nominated for) which number 18 categories only two films without Best Picture nominations won anything: Interstellar & Still Alice. Since the expansion of the Best Picture race, it's been four or less. To date: 2013 (3 films - Blue Jasmine, Frozen, The Great Gatsby); 2012 (2 films - Skyfall, Anna Karenina); 2011 (4 films - The Iron Lady, Beginners, The Muppets, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo); 2010 (2 films - Alice in Wonderland, Wolfman); 2009 (3 films - Crazy Heart, Star Trek, The Young Victoria)
Reader Comments (50)
Re: Directors' records, I was going to point that Stephen Daldry has had all his movies nominated for BP, but then I read on IMDb that he apparently released a 5th film I'd never heard anything about called Trash (with Rooney Mara) in 2014, so that won't count!
It's been said I believe, but this is the first time since the expanded nominees for Best Picture that all nominees received at least one Oscar.
Sorry, I missed it after the jump.
Robert Redford's first five films as a director had at least one nomination each.
Somehow it didn't occur to me to make predictions this year. Weird.
First superhero movie to win best picture: Birdman or (The Level of Ironic Distance Needed to Get a Superhero Flick to the Podium)
A post-Oscar night prediction:
The "Birdman can't win because it wasn't nominated in Editing!!1!" camp will, for next year, convert into a chorus of "___ can't win because it didn't get an Editing nomination... Birdman managed it but that was a special case because it was meant to have few edits, amirite?!"
Our community loves to take Oscar trends and make them as absolute as possible.
I got 17 because I foolishly continued to bank on BOYHOOD, but... "but the short film categories messing me up as usual grrrr" Well, the live action short and documentary short were two I correctly predicted here on the blog. So, just sayin'... :)
Trash hasn't been released in the US, but looks unlikely to be anything of a major player.
Love the trivia. The Oscar coverage the last couple of days has been wonderful.
I got 21/24 categories right. I couldn't believe it!
Wow actors will be scrambling to work with Inarritu and Miller considering their track record for directing actors to Oscar nominations. Ditto David O Russell and Fincher, for that matter.
I got 22/24, a personal record! Only missed Big Hero 6, and went with GBH for Original Screenplay. Got all the shorts right, to my own surprise.
I did terribly (15/24), although I got all the shorts right! Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor all screwed me over as I thought Boyhood would triumph. Couldn't believe Keaton lost despite the Birdman dominance. Oh well... On to next year!
Mel: Actors will be scrambling to work with these directors because they are scrambling for work. LOL There are fewer films being made each year, therefore fewer roles and more and more actors on the hunt. That is part of why so many are turning to television which is exploding with content.
I went 20/24 with my predictions!
The only other person who can equal AGI that I can find is Redford, though Lee Unkrich almost surely will.
(I haven't double checked this, I'm at work) This is the second year in a row that 3/4 of the acting winners are first-time nominees. Since 2004, all but three of the supporting actress winners (Anne, Melissa, and Penelope - which were previousy nominated once as leads) have been first time nominees - and if you take it all the way to 1999, you only have to add Renee (previously nominated twice as lead) and Cate (previously nominated once as lead) to the list of previous nominees... that's about 2/3, not a shocking stat, but still.. you're right, they do love their shiny new things.
I got 19 correctly. Really didn't expect Boyhood to flop like it did.
This was impressive!
Boyhood really lost steam so I lost the office pool :(
P.S. Is there any gif of the scene we all think about when we think about Savage Grace? It would be so appropriate.
"Birdman is the first comedy to win the Oscar for Best Picture without first winning Best Comedy at the Globes (Grand Budapest Hotel won) since Annie Hall (1977) which lost to The Goodbye Girl. The only other time it happened was The Sting (1973) which the Golden Globes did not even nominate."
Except that CRASH won the Oscar for BP without a corresponding BP Comedy Globe nomination.
;)
All the actors winners played academics. I am sure that is a first.
Not really trivia, but is it me or does Patricia Arquette look like Meryl Streep's little sister, even more than she looks like her real Arquette siblings? Especially her coloring, her Oscar dress, and black glasses?
So what was the last comedy to win BP regardless of other awards? I'm wracking my brain.
Anyone curious enough to figure out the overall longest streak for a director having an Oscar nomination for his/her (but who am I kidding) film? So far I found Steven Spielberg got nominations for 9 consecutive films, spanning more than a decade, from Hook to Catch Me if You Can. Is his the record, or is it more common in the old days?
Pam, I believe it's Shakespeare In Love.
Love the trivia.
I was also 18/24, mostly because I bet on Boyhood for Director & Picture. It's really a shame Linklater went home empty-handed for that achievement. (And not just for my pool--I won in an admittedly non-cinephile group.)
I went 17/24, which is my lowest in years. I was too wrapped up in Boyhood emotionally to let it go in Best Picture or Editing, and too wrapped up in Keaton to let him go in Actor. But I like voting with my heart.
I only got 18/24, although I got several right that many people I know missed (both screenplays, editing, sound mixing, animated, score). Damn (among other things) two of the shorts, Interstellar, and the lack of a BP/BD split...
I suck, but I still won at my party. ;-)
All four acting winners played educators.
I surprised myself by going 19/24, which was better than last year. That was partly from overestimating the support for Boyhood (I gave it Director and Editing); partly from giving GBH Original Screenplay; partly from being wrong on Animated Feature (HTTYD2) and Animated Short (The Bigger Picture).
I was so happy that Ida won, since it's still my favouite picture of 2014.
(2014) Julianne Moore
(2000) Julia Roberts
(1996) Juliette Binoche
(1965) Julie Christie
(1964) Julie Andrews
"All the actors winners played academics. I am sure that is a first."
"All four acting winners played educators."
I like this. Teachers for the win!
Since people are talking about their predictions here, I'd like to point out that I was posting comments on TFE last summer stating that Arquette would steamroll through the season! You heard it here first.
Pam and brookesboy, wasn't The Artist a comedy?
peggy sue -- but i thought the scene we all think about was the gif I included? which scene are you talking about?
Nathaniel, regarding the costume design longest spread of nominations, what about the great Dorothy Jeakins? She had 12 different nominations between 1949 and 1988, so it's almost four decades and would be the second one after Milena Canonero! Her nominated works (including black & white and color) included so many well loved films as The Ten Commandments, The Sound of Music and The Way We Were, and she won three Oscars: one for Joan of Arc (shared with Barbara Karinska), another one for Samson and Delilah (shared with four other designers including the wonderful Edith Head) and her last one and the only one for herself, for "The Night of the Iguana".
@ Suzanne: Now that you mention it...guess who? ;-)
"I saw Whiplash last night and if JK doesn't win Best Supporting Actor for this (a slight case of category fraud), Sony Pictures Classics needs to go back to school..." (The Film Experience, reader comment, 9-27-14)
The one on the couch!!!
Paul, I actually remember that comment!
Sigourney Weaver is once again the only double nominee to still be oscarless? :-(
Naomi Watts Oscar trivia, "Birdman" is the first Best Picture Oscar Nominated/Winning movie on her filmography.
Her stakes will go up!
just saw "Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" it's as fun as the first, Maggie steals the show again this time with much more time on screen and a good twist.
More:
This makes five years in a row that the Best Picture winner either didn't win the most Oscars of the night, or tied with another film for most Oscars of the night. The last time a Best Picture winner won more than any other film that year was "The Hurt Locker" in 2009, with six.
Julianne Moore is the first Best Actress winner since Charlize Theron in 2003 to be her film's sole nomination.
This is the first time since "The Last King of Scotland" in 2006 that a film won Best Actor and nothing else.
The first time since 2005 that at least three of the acting winners came from films that won no other Oscars (in 2005, that was true of all four acting winners' films).
First year since 2008 that the same movie didn't win both Best Visual Effects and Best Cinematography.
"Birdman" is the first Best Picture winner since "Dances with Wolves" in 1990 to lose three acting nominations.
Is "Jonathan" a codename for a trivia machine?
Next year, Guillermo del Toro will probably be the third Mexican to win the Best Director Oscar for Crimson Peak.... Orale vato! Viva La Raza!!!!
"Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)" is now the longest title of any Best Picture winner...And the first with parentheses. (The parenthetical part is also pretty arrogant and meaningless, if you ask me, but that's beside the point...)
Steven I can't see Crimson Peak in Best Pic/Director lights but sure, why not :D
I was disappointed by the trailer.
It's important to point out that Mia dropped out of Carol to do Crimson Peak.
Todd Haynes never disappoints, del Toro has definitely under-performed in the past.
Time will tell of course. But everything about Carol screams Oscar. From the story to the actors, director, costume designer and so on.
jonathan -- love those, thanlks.
Alec Baldwin has played the husband of two best actress winners in a row.
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is also technically a sequel.
..... or is it counted as a reboot?
This is the second year in a row where the Best Actress winner's character is married to Alec Baldwin's (Cate Blanchett and Baldwin also play a married couple in Blue Jasmine)