2024 Oscar Nominations Stats, Trivia and More
Every Oscar season comes surprises and snubs, to be sure, but also with a wealth of stat-breaking, history-making and all around fun trivia for us awards watchers.
Here are just some of what the 2024 Oscar nominations brought us today.
First year ever that the Oscar’s Best Picture lineup matched the PGA lineup exactly.
There are no Best Picture nominees from the fourth quarter that didn’t receive a festival run first. Past Lives kicked off all the way back at last year’s Sundance; Anatomy of a Fall, Killers of the Flower Moon and The Zone of Interest began at Cannes; Maestro and Poor Things at Venice; The Holdovers at Telluride, and American Fiction at Toronto. Only summer releases Barbie and Oppenheimer had no festival run.
In the acting categories, ten individuals are first-time nominees (Emily Blunt, Danielle Brooks, Sterling K. Brown, Colman Domingo, America Ferrera, Lily Gladstone, Sandra Hüller, Cillian Murphy, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Jeffrey Wright). Three are previous acting winners (Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster and Emma Stone).
With Killers of the Flower Moon, Lily Gladstone makes Oscar history as the first Native American Best Actress nominee.
Colman Domingo is the first, and only second, openly LGBTQ Best Actor nominee after Ian McKellen in 1998’s Gods and Monsters. He is also the first Afro Latino nominated in the category.
Domingo and best supporting actress nominee Jodie Foster (Nyad) also made dual Oscar history: It’s the first time two openly LGBTQ actors have been nominated for playing LGBTQ characters. It’s also Foster’s first lesbian role to date.
American Fiction nominees Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown mark the first time that a Black lead actor has been nominated alongside a Black supporting actor from the same film.
Robert De Niro (49 years) passes Katharine Hepburn (48 years) for the longest period of time between his first and newest Oscar nomination for acting. Jodie Foster is right behind at 47 years.
There are no returning acting Oscar nominees from last year.
For the first time since 1931 all acting nominees age is over 30.
Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall) is the first German-born actress nominated since Luise Rainer in 1938.
Emma Stone is only the second woman to be nominated for acting and Best Picture for the same film, following Frances McDormand, Nomadland (2020).
Bradley Cooper becomes the fourth person to direct himself to an acting nomination on more than one film. Laurence Olivier: Henry V, 1946; Hamlet, 1948; Richard III, 1956; Warren Beatty: Heaven Can Wait, 1978; Reds, 1981; Clint Eastwood: Unforgiven, 1992; Million Dollar Baby, 2004; Bradley Cooper: A Star Is Born, 2018; Maestro, 2023.
Emma Stone becomes the second woman to be nominated for acting and Best Picture for the same film, following Frances McDormand, Nomadland (2020).
With Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie and Past Lives we have a lineup of the most Best Picture nominees directed by women in Oscar history. It’s also the fifth consecutive year that at least one film nominated for Best Picture has been directed by a woman.
Nine films from the 2023 Cannes Film Festival Official Selection represent 26 nominations in 16 categories.
For the sixth consecutive year, at least one non-English language film has been nominated in a writing category and for Best Picture.
Steven Spielberg receives his thirteenth nomination for Best Picture, a record for an individual producer (since 1951 when producers were first named as nominees). Spielberg and producing partner Kristie Macosko Krieger become only the third team of producers to receive Best Picture nominations in three consecutive years (Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Barrie M. Osborne for the Lord of the Rings films from 2001-2003; Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner for four films across four consecutive years from 2013-2016).
Martin Scorsese becomes the oldest Directing nominee at 81 years old (previous record was John Huston at 79 years for Prizzi’s Honor, 1985). His tenth Directing nomination puts him two behind record-holder William Wyler with 12 nominations and ahead of Steven Spielberg.
Justine Triet’s nomination is the ninth Directing nomination for a woman.
Annette Bening, Bradley Cooper and Jodie Foster join the 5-time Oscar acting nominee club.
The Zone of Interest is the ninth non-English language film to be nominated for both International Feature Film and Best Picture in the same year. Each of the previous films (Z, 1969; Life Is Beautiful, 1998; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2000; Amour, 2012; Roma, 2018; Parasite, 2019; Drive My Car, 2021; All Quiet on the Western Front, 2022) won for International Feature Film. To date, Parasite is the only film to also win Best Picture.
First time that A24 has gotten two Best Picture nominees in the same year; Past Lives and The Zone of Interest.
Celine Song is the first Asian woman nominated for best original screenplay, for Past Lives.
Bradley Cooper and Wes Anderson join the group of people with nominations in five or more award categories. Cooper has been nominated for acting (lead and supporting), writing (adapted and original) and best picture. Anderson has been nominated for writing (original), animated feature, directing, best picture and live action short film. With seven there is Kenneth Branagh for acting (lead and supporting), directing, live action short film, writing (adapted and original) and best picture and Alfonso Cuarón for writing (adapted and original), film editing, directing, best picture, cinematography and live action short film; with six there is George Clooney for writing (adapted and original), directing, best picture, acting (lead and supporting). Warren Beatty is a five-timer with nominations for best picture, director, acting (lead) and writing (adapted and original).
Thelma Schoonmaker’s ninth nomination is a record in the Film Editing category.
This is the first time in 20 years that costume design and production design have matched 5/5: Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon, Oppenheimer and Poor Things all hit both.
John Williams continues to add to his record number of music scoring nominations with his 49th. His overall total of 54 nominations (including five for Original Song) is the most for any living person, and second only to Walt Disney at 59. He is also, to the best of our knowledge, the oldest nominee in a competitive award category at 91 years of age.
Kiyoko Shibura becomes the fifth woman to be nominated in the Visual Effects category.
Hayao Miyazaki ties the record for most nominations for Animated Feature Film with his fourth nomination in the category. Pete Docter also has four nominations.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is the first film in the M:I series to earn an Oscar nomination: Sound and Visual Effects.
Godzilla Minus One is the first Godzilla film to earn an Oscar nomination.
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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