Online Reporter
LOS ANGELES. − Hollywood has had another eventful year: Deadpool faced off with Wolverine, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni sued each other, Inside Out 2 conquered the box office and Joker’s sequel emphatically did not.
The Oscars race, meanwhile, played out against the grim backdrop of wildfires which devastated Los Angeles and left thousands of homes destroyed.
Awards season had its fair share of scandal.
While The Brutalist’s use of AI and Anora’s lack of an intimacy co-ordinator were storms in a Twitter teacup, there was one genuine controversy when some historic tweets nearly brought down Emilia Pérez.
Ahead of the Academy Awards on Sunday, here are some of the quirks, trends, patterns, and record breakers from this year’s batch of nominees.
1. This is the first time two musicals have been nominated for best picture in more than five decades.
Wicked and Emilia Pérez are the first tuneful twosome to be up for the top prize since Funny Girl and Oliver! in 1969.
The musical resurgence is partly down to it being twice as easy to score a best picture nomination nowadays, after the top category was expanded to 10 slots.
2. Adrien Brody already holds one Oscars record, and he could break another.
The US star is currently the youngest ever winner of best actor − he was 29 when he won for his performance in 2002’s The Pianist.
But Brody wasn’t nominated again until this year, with his nod for The Brutalist. If he wins again, he will become the first person to win the leading actor category with his first two nominations.
Only seven other actors currently have a 100% win rate at the Oscars from two or more nominations − Vivien Leigh, Hilary Swank, Kevin Spacey, Luise Rainer, Christoph Waltz, Helen Hayes and Mahershala Ali.
3. But Timothée Chalamet is a major threat.
The Dune and Wonka star is Brody’s toughest competition in best actor, thanks to his acclaimed portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.
If he won, not only would Chalamet halt Brody’s winning streak, he would also take Brody’s record as the youngest-ever winner. There isn’t much in it − Chalamet would be just 10 months younger than Brody was when he won.
4. Netflix’s Emilia Pérez could follow a dubious pattern for streaming films.
It might have the most nominations, but the Spanish-language musical could share the same fate as other recent streaming films which were heavily nominated, but failed to follow through with many wins.
The Irishman (Netflix) won zero Oscars, from 10 nominations
Mank (Netflix) won two out of 10
The Power of the Dog (Netflix) won one out of 12
Killers of the Flower Moon (Apple) won zero out of 10 Emilia Pérez is strong in a couple of categories, but it’s similarly unlikely to sweep the board.
Only one streaming film has ever won best picture − Apple’s Coda − which only had three nominations overall. − BBC
