Random facts about the 2022 Oscars
Academy Award season is upon usas we saw the beginning of a return to theatres, and yet this could still be the first year a Netflix film wins Best Picture.
The Oscars are this Sunday, March 27 at 8 p.m. ET. This year saw a return to the movie theaters after the covid-19 pandemic kept several of us inside and out of the cinema for a long time. Even still, streaming services have still been challenging the Hollywood films for awards at the Academy.
As you prepare your Oscar-watching-party outfits and snacks for Sunday, let's take a look at some interesting tidbits about the 2022 Oscar nominations.
West Side Story is the first remake of a previous Best Picture winner to be nominated for Best Picture
Remakes rarely win Best Picture. So rarely, in fact, that it’s only happened once. The Departed (2006) was an adaptation of a Hong Kong film called Internal Affairs, which was not nominated. That means that if West Side Story wins, it will be the first remake to ever win Best Picture whose original also won Best Picture. It would also be the first musical to win in almost 20 years. Chicago was the last to achieve that and that was in 2003. La La Land almost got it in 2017, but they were just kidding.
Judi Dench could become the oldest person to win an acting Oscar
Judi Dench, 87 years old, is nominated for Best Supporting actress for her role in Belfast. The current record holder for oldest person to win an acting Oscar is Anthony Hopkins, who was 83 when he won Best Supporting Actor for The Father in 2021. Dench is not the oldest ever nominee in an acting category, though. That record belongs to Christopher Plummer, who was 88 when he was nominated for All the Money in the World in 2018.
Jane Campion is the first female to be nominated for Best Director twice
Jane Campion’s last Best Director nomination came in 1994 for The Piano. She lost to Steven Spielberg, who won it for Schindler’s List. Coincidentally, Campion will have her chance at a rematch, as she is up against Spielberg again this year, Campion for Power of the Dog, and Spielberg for West Side Story. She is the first female to ever be nominated for Best Director twice.
Cate Blanchett is the actress who appeared in the most Best Picture winners
Cate Blanchett has appeared in more Academy Award-winning films than any other actress, with nine total: three Lord of the Rings films, Elizabeth, Babel, The Aviator, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This year, she played a role in, not one, but two Best Picture nominees - Don’t Look Up and Nightmare Alley.
Netflix could win Best Picture for the first time
Netflix movies started to be included at the Oscars in 2013, and since then, they’ve had no shortage of nominations. From those, they’ve won 15 awards, though none of those were Best Picture. They’ve had some close winners with Roma and The Irishman, but The Power of the Dog may be their best bet at winning the category yet. If Coda wins instead, it would still make history, as it was released on the streaming service Apple TV+.