Fellow Actors

Many actors have been nominated for portraying real people; there is a tiny subset of actors who have been nominated for portraying other Oscar nominated actors:













Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin

Downey received a Best Actor nomination for Chaplin (1992), a biopic of the silent film auteur. Chaplin himself was nominated twice as Best Actor, for The Circus (1928) and The Great Dictator (1940.)














Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn

Blanchett won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Aviator (2004), the Howard Hughes biopic that portrayed his romance with Katharine Hepburn. Ms. Hepburn holds the all-time record for most acting victories, winning her very first nomination for Morning Glory (1933), her very last nomination for On Golden Pond (1981), plus two consecutive wins for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and The Lion in Winter (1968); she also received eight more Best Actress nominations.














Kenneth Branagh as Laurence Olivier

This year's film My Week With Marilyn depicts the shoot for the 1957 film The Prince and the Showgirl. Kenneth Branagh is nominated for portraying the film's director and star, Laurence Olivier. Sir Larry received 10 Oscar nominations for acting in his long career, winning for Hamlet (1948).













Branagh and Olivier share another piece of Oscar trivia; they both received Best Actor nods as Shakespeare's Henry V, in their 1946 and 1989 adaptations.

Best Director: All-Time Champs

With this year's crop of Oscar nominations, Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese now have the most Best Director nods of any living filmmakers. Here's how they figure into the all-time records:
















William Wyler (1902-1981) is the all-time champ, with 12 nominations in this category:
1936: Dodsworth
1939: Wuthering Heights
1940: The Letter
1941: The Little Foxes
1942: Mrs. Miniver (*win)
1946: The Best Years of Our Lives (*win)
1949: The Heiress
1951: Detective Story
1953: Roman Holiday
1956: Friendly Persuasion
1959: Ben-Hur (*win -- pictured above)
1965: The Collector

He also holds the record for directing the most Oscar-nominated performances; an astounding 35 nominations, with 14 going on to win.





















Billy Wilder (1906-2002) is in second place, with eight:
1944: Double Indemnity
1945: The Lost Weekend (*win)
1950: Sunset Boulevard
1953: Stalag 17
1954: Sabrina
1957: Witness for the Prosecution
1959: Some Like it Hot
1960: The Aparment (*win -- pictured above)
















Woody Allen (b. 1935) is now one of four filmmakers in a tie for third place, with seven nods each:
1977: Annie Hall (*win)
1978: Interiors
1984: Broadway Danny Rose
1986: Hannah and Her Sisters
1989: Crimes and Misdemeanors
1994: Bullets Over Broadway
2011: Midnight in Paris

Woody did not attend a single Oscar ceremony in which he was nominated; his only appearance on the telecast was in 2002 (pictured above), to introduce a montage tribute to films shot in his beloved home city of New York.





















David Lean (1908-1991):
1946: Brief Encounter
1947: Great Expectations
1955: Summertime
1957: The Bridge on the River Kwai (*win)
1962: Lawrence of Arabia (*win -- pictured above)
1965: Doctor Zhivago
1984: A Passage to India





















Martin Scorsese (b. 1942) also moves up to third place this year:
1980: Raging Bull
1988: The Last Temptation of Christ
1990: Goodfellas
2002: Gangs of New York
2004: The Aviator
2006: The Departed (*win -- pictured above)
2011: Hugo





















Fred Zinnemann (1907-1997):
1948: The Search
1952: High Noon
1953: From Here to Eternity (*win -- pictured above)
1959: The Nun's Story
1960: The Sundowners
1966: A Man for All Seasons (*win)
1977: Julia

The other gents on this list are all repeat winners. Will Woody or Marty pick up a second directing trophy this year? (I haven't seen all the nominees yet, but so far, my vote goes to Marty!)

P.S.: I'm looking at the pictures of Wilder, Allen, and Scorsese and wondering: Perhaps the key to cinematic greatness is...nerd glasses?

Nomination Reactions!

Best Actor: 3/5
Demian Bichir and Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) instead of Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael Fassbender. I haven't seen any of these four performances, so I can only say I'm glad Gary Oldman finally got his first nomination.

Best Actress: 4/5
Rooney Mara instead of Tilda Swinton. I haven't seen either performance, but I'm glad there's at least one first-timer in this race.

Best Supporting Actor: 3/5
Nick Nolte and Max Von Sydow(Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) instead of Albert Brooks and Armie Hammer. I hated Drive with a burning passion, and the role was no indication of Albert's range or talent, but I'm still bummed that he was passed up. With The Artist, plus Von Sydow's performance as a mute, there are three silent performances in the running.

Best Supporting Actress: 5/5
Score!

Best Adapted Screenplay: 4/5
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy instead of The Help. I can't complain, the script for The Help needed some serious work.

Best Original Screenplay: 3/5
Margin Call and A Separation instead of 50/50 and Young Adult. Margin Call?!?! What on earth is Margin Call?!?! I'm especially disappointed for 50/50, which was so wonderfully written.

Best Director: 4/5
Terrence Malick instead of Steven Spielberg. Remember when Malick was last nominated, for The Thin Red Line, and every single article about the Best Director race used the same file photo? Well, that's still the only public photo of Malick, and that same file photo is going to show up on every digital and print article all over again.

Best Picture: 6/6
Plus Moneyball, The Tree of Life, and War Horse. Ugh, this ever-changing Best Picture category pisses me off. As with the last two years, I think it's safe to say that the five also nominated for Best Director are the "real" nominees, and the other four are the "extras."

As for everything else, I was disappointed to see Jason Segal and Mary J. Blige passed up for Best Song, but thrilled for Bret McKenzie's inclusion for "Man or Muppet." I hope he and Jason Segal both perform it on the show!

So there are 21 films sharing the top 44 nominations. Keep track of how many films you've seen (and how much they're weighted, nomination-wise) with this fun-to-color scorecard!

Best Actor

Sure-Things:

George Clooney, The Descendants

Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar

Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Remaining Prediction:

Michael Fassbender, Shame

Alternates:

Ryan Gosling, Drive

Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March

Long-Shots:

Damien Beshir, A Better Life

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50

Fassbender and Gosling acted their hearts out in 2011. Gosling’s comedic turn in Crazy, Stupid, Love isn’t in the running, but his two dramas could cancel each other out. Meanwhile, Fassbender’s star-making turn in Shame is by far the favorite over A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, and X-Men: First Class.

Best Actress

Sure-Things:

Viola Davis, The Help

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin

Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Remaining Prediction:

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs

Alternates:

Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Charlize Theron, Young Adult

Long-Shots:

Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia

Elizabeth Olson, Martha Marcy May Marlene

Kristin Wiig, Bridesmaids

It’s a tough call: Dragon Tattoo did really well with the Guild Awards, and Mara would be the only first-time nominee in the group, but Close edged her out for the SAG nod.

Best Supporting Actor

Sure-Things:

Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn

Jonah Hill, Moneyball

Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Remaining Predictions:

Albert Brooks, Drive

Armie Hammer, J. Edgar

Alternate:

Nick Nolte, Warrior

Long-Shots:

Ben Kingsley, Hugo

Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method

Patton Oswalt, Young Adult

Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Brooks, Hammer, and Nolte are neck-and-neck. I’m demoting Nolte because I don’t think enough voters have seen his film, and promoting Hammer because with The Social Network and J. Edgar, he is a star on the rise.

Best Supporting Actress

Sure-Things:

Berenice Bejo, The Artist

Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

Octavia Spencer, The Help

Remaining Predictions:

Jessica Chastain, The Help

Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs

Alternates:

Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life

Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Long-Shots:

Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter

Carey Mulligan, Shame

The critics’ groups are all giving their awards to Jessica Chastain because they can cite all of her many supporting turns in 2011 films. She runs some risk of splitting her own vote, but her Globe and SAG nods for The Help should win out.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Sure-Things:

The Descendants, Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne, Jim Rash

The Help, Tate Taylor

Hugo, John Logan

Moneyball, Stan Chervin, Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian

Remaining Prediction:

The Ides of March, George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon

Alternates:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Steven Zaillian

War Horse, Richard Curtis, Lee Hall

Long-Shots:

Drive, Hossein Amini

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Eric Roth

That fifth nomination is mighty slippery; my guess is that Academy members will reward Clooney for his work on either side of the camera, they way they did for both Good Night and Good Luck and Syriana in 2005.

Best Original Screenplay

Sure-Things:

50/50, Will Reiser

The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius

Bridesmaids, Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig

Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen

Remaining Prediction:

Young Adult, Diablo Cody

Alternates:

A Separation, Asghar Farhadi

Win Win, Thomas McCarthy, Joe Tiboni

Long-Shots:

Beginners, Mike Mills

The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick

Diablo Cody, a winner for Juno, should return to this category just ahead of Thomas McCarthy, whose scripts for The Station Agent and The Visitor were both passed up by the Writers’ Branch. Also, the most acclaimed foreign film of the year is always a possible upset in the screenplay categories.

Best Director

Sure-Things:

The Artist, Michel Hazanavicious

The Descendants, Alexander Payne

Hugo, Martin Scorsese

Remaining Predictions:

Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen

War Horse, Steven Spielberg

Alternates:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, David Fincher

The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick

Long-Shots:

Drive, Nicolas Winding Refn

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Stephen Daldry

The Help, Tate Taylor

The Ides of March, George Clooney

Moneyball, Bennett Miller

A Separation, Asghar Farhadi

In a year that will see few first-time nominees, the directing race is especially vintage; four of the top seven contenders are the most exciting new filmmakers of…the 1970’s. Scorsese and Malick thrilled the critics this year and Allen pleasantly surprised them, so I think Spielberg, with his usual crowd-pleasing tear-jerker, is on the shakiest ground.

Best Picture

Sure-Things:

The Artist

The Descendants

Hugo

Remaining Predictions:

The Help

Midnight in Paris

War Horse

Alternates:

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

Long-Shots:

Drive

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The Ides of March

The Academy continues to monkey around with this category. After two years of a ridiculous ten Best Picture nominees, they have changed the rules again, this time dictating that the number of nominees will be between five and ten every year, depending on how many films reach a certain percentage of first place votes. This means that my predictions, and maybe one or two of my alternates, could be chosen. It further ruins my comparative statistics keeping, and therefore greatly pisses me off.

The nominations for the 84^th Annual Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. Pacific Time, by Academy President Tom Sherak, and Academy Award-nominee Jennifer Lawrence.