Oscar Trivia: Concerning double-acting nods. How many films could do that this year?

by Nathaniel Rogers

How many films will be nominated for acting this year? That question reads odd on the surface as there are 4 acting categories with 5 slots each. So the answer is obviously 20?. Nope! Usually at least a few films will score multiple acting nods, so 20 different films just doesn't happen.

But what we want to talk about specifically today is double-nominations within a single category. That's very common, happening more than half the time. In 55 of Oscar's 93 years to date, at least one acting category offered up a double from a single film. Sometimes more than one of the four categories will offer up a double nomination.  So what about this year...

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The silent wins of the Golden Globes

by Nathaniel R

No film truly dominated with Power of the Dog winning 3, and West Side Story 2

The Golden Globe ceremony did not air this year for only the second time in our lifetimes here at TFE. Some of you may recall the ceremony was cancelled once before due to the writers strike and the names were merely read out on television in a glorified press conference. This time, even less hoopla, given Hollywood turning their backs on the group and NBC refusing to telecast them this year. Neverthless they went ahead with their normal rounds of choosing nominees and winners. It's tough to expect that these prizes will mean anything more than, say, any winner lineup from a regional critics group, this year. Televised awards, with their red carpets and celebrity speeches and celebratory atmosphere are the only awards that receive enough mainstream attention to noticeably and consistently influence the Oscars, which always close "awards season".

Winners list and more commentary after the jump...

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A conversation with a secret SAG voter

by Nathaniel R

A special treat for you today, dear readers. Yesterday I spoke to a SAG voter I've known for awhile now about their ballot choices.  I can't reveal their identity, of course, since they're not allowed to speak publicly about their votes. But we can share that they are actively working in the industry, and they do read The Film Experience from time to time (hence how we are acquainted).

We hope this conversation offers some incites into what it's like to get a ton of screeners at the end of the year and have to make these choices for your ballot.

NATHANIEL: Hello! Thanks for agreeing to do this. I know you've been a member of the Screen Actors Guild for some years but is this your first time serving on the actual Nominating Committee?

SAG VOTER: Yes. I  got an email in the summer that I had been randomly selected and whether I could meet the requirements. I was excited to influence the awards in a small way. But honestly, I think I saw visions of advance screenings dancing in my head.

And, now you're probably just sitting at home watching screener after screener. So glamorous! 

I haven’t left my couch (thanks, COVID) and I could open a DVD store. (But of course, SAG legal team, I will not. I will destroy them all as required by law.)

Before the avalanche of screeners hit, what had you seen that you were already a fan of?

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Interview: Mike Faist on nihilistic teens, stardom, and "West Side Story"

by Nathaniel R

Mike Faist on his "transcendent" experience making West Side Story

The reinvention of West Side Story (2021) has been the subject of much conversation since it opened, from Spielberg's incredibly enduring career, to the health of the movie musical genre, to the complicated subject of its Oscar prospects since the 1961 picture was a sweeper. The one thing that's felt especially unanimous in the response, though, is the exciting work from a trio of Broadway breakouts making a very big leap into movie stardom: Tony nominees Ariana DeBose and Mike Faist and Tony winner David Alvarez (Bernardo). I had the pleasure of sitting down with our new Riff, Mike Faist a couple of weeks ago to discuss the movie and his career (well, sort of. Read on).

He was in great spirits, laughing frequently, and filled with praise for his co-stars. Coincidentally we had both just been back to a Broadway show for the first time since the shutdown. He describes theater as an important "communal empathy project" and West Side Story continues that tradition.

Faist is funny and thoughtful. He is also, as it turns out, self-deprecatingly aware of his caginess around certain topics, like, his future and stardom...

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West Side Story's Oscar journeys (then & now)

by Nathaniel R

3 of West Side Story's Oscar wins: SUPPORTING ACTOR (Chakiris), DIRECTOR (Robbins & Wise), SUPPORTING ACTRESS (Moreno)

The original West Side Story, which premiered on October 18th, 1961, and which we've discussed in great detail here, was a true four-quadrant blockbuster. It was not only the top-grossing film of its year but an all out Oscar smash. By the spring of 1962 West Side Story was so popular that it did a near complete sweep at the 34th annual Academy Awards ceremony, losing in only one of its categories: Best Adapted Screenplay (which went to the Holocaust courtroom drama Judgment at Nuremberg). But that wasn't all in terms of West Side Story mania. The very next month it competed for "Album of the Year" at the 4th Annual Grammys Awards (it had to settle for winning Best Soundtrack Album since "Judy at Carnegie Hall" took the top prize) and stayed at #1 on the Billboard album charts for almost an entire year (no joke).

How well will the new West Side Story fare? That's a difficult question because a lot of things have changed since West Side Story's initial movie run 60 years ago, including the popularity of musicals within mainstream culture, the number of Oscar categories, the nature of both Oscar campaigns and moviegoing, and even one role within the famous musical...

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