2023 Oscars: Stats, Trivia, History and more
Oscar trivia, stats that fall and streaks that are broken are the bread and butter of Oscar watchers all around the world. Every year we have new firsts to celebrate, or give side-eye to, when the Academy Award nominations are announced. This year is no different with several categories seeing noteworthy additions to the Oscar canon.
Will be updating.
BEST PICTURE
Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans) ties William Wyler’s record as the director with most films nominated for Best Picture at 13.
All Quiet on the Western Front is the first Best Picture nominee to be spoken almost entirely in German. It is also the fifth year in a row a non-English language film has been nominated for Best Picture.
This is the first time since 1982 (E.T. and Tootsie) that the two highest-grossing films of the year were also nominated for Best Picture (Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick).
Women Talking is the first Best Picture nominee to earn only a SAG Cast nomination with no individual nominations and no PGA nomination.
Cate Blanchett has now appeared in 10 Best Picture nominees, tying with Leonardo DiCaprio and just behind Robert De Niro (with 11).
Dede Gardner (Women Talking) is the second most-nominated woman in this category at seven. Kathleen Kennedy has eight.
BEST DIRECTOR
Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans) ties with Martin Scorsese for the second-most best director nods ever at 9. He is also the first director nominated in six different decades.
Daniel Kwan is just the third Asian-American director to be nominated for Best Director after Lee Isaac Chung and Terrence Malick. His nomination marks the fourth year in a row that an Asian director has been nominated after Bong Joon-ho (2019), Chloé Zhao and Chung (2020) and Ryusuke Hamaguchi (2021).
BEST ACTOR
For the first time in 88 years, since 1934, all Best Actor nominees are first-timers: Austin Butler (Elvis), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Brendan Fraser (The Whale), Paul Mescal (Aftersun) and Bill Nighy (Living).
BEST ACTRESS
Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once) is the first (openly) east Asian actress ever nominated in this category. Merle Oberon (1935’s Dark Angel) was born in India and of Eurasian descent but had to hide her heritage in the early days of filmmaking, including during the Hays Code.
With her 5th nomination today, Michelle Williams is the most-nominated actor born in 1980s.
Ana De Armas is the fifth Latina nominated in Best Actress after Fernanda Montenegro, Salma Hayek, Catalina Sandino Moreno and Yalitza Aparicio.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
With Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan for The Banshees of Inisherin, this is the fourth consecutive year a film has been double-nominated in Supporting Actor. This ties the record for longest streak of films earning double nominations in the same category, which happened twice in Supporting Actress (20th—23rd Oscars, 81st—84th Oscars).
At 8:03, Judd Hirsch (The Fabelmans) has the least amount of screen time for a nominee in this category since John Lithgow for 1983’s Terms of Endearment. Hirsch also breaks Henry Fonda’s record for longest gap between nominations: 42 years.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) is only the 4th Black actress to receive multiple Oscar nominations, joining Whoopi Goldberg, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer.
Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All At Once) joins Laura Dern and Liza Minnelli as the only actors to be Oscar-nominated after both of her parents were. Inside that, Curtis now holds the record of the gap between those happening at 60 years.
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Ruben Östlund is only the second Swedish writer nominated in this category, after Ingmar Bergman.
FILM EDITING
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Mandy Walker (Elvis) is only the third woman ever to be Oscar-nominated for cinematography after Rachel Morrison (2017’s Mudbound) and Ari Wegner (2021’s The Power of the Dog).
PRODUCTION DESIGN
COSTUME DESIGN
ORIGINAL SCORE
At 90, John Williams is the oldest Oscar nominee in this or any category.
ORIGINAL SONG
Diane Warren extends her record in this category to 14 nominations without a win. She received an Honorary Oscar in 2022.
SOUND
MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
VISUAL EFFECTS
ANIMATED FEATURE
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Other superlatives
Best Director and Best Original Screenplay match up 5/5 with all directing nominees penning the screenplays. The Fabelmans also has Tony Kushner as a co-writer (but not nominated as a director).
Alfonso Cuarón has now been nominated in 7 Oscar categories: Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing and Live Action Short, tying with Kenneth Branagh.
With the cinematography nomination for Bardo, all seven of Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s film have been Oscar-nominated.
With nods for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu (all for Everything Everywhere All at Once) and Hong Chau (The Whale), this is the most Asian acting nominees in a single year.
Ireland had its most successful Oscar nomination year ever today with 14 nominations across all categories, including nine for The Banshees of Inisherin, a record for a single Irish film.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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