Records and curiosities that perhaps you did not know about the Oscars

The awards season does not stop in 2021 and now it is the turn of the most important of them all: the Oscars. Although they will start somewhat late due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 93rd edition will feature a large number of interesting films, spectacular performances and a couple of curiosities to highlight. 

The most important milestone to highlight is the fact that for the first time the category of best director will have two women nominated. Like in the recent Golden Globes, Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell will return to the race for another award thanks to their respective films Nomadland and Promising Young Woman . In the absence of Regina King, these two filmmakers will compete against Thomas Vinterberg ( Another Round ), Lee Isaac Chung ( Minari ) and David Fincher ( Mank ). Will Zhao be able to repeat again or will Fennell succeed this time?

Another headline will be late actor Chadwick Boseman, who could achieve a new posthumous award for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom , something that he already achieved at the Golden Globes. Curiously, this would not be the first time this would happen at the Oscars, since in 1977 and 2009 actors Peter Finch and Heath Ledger won the awards for best actor and best supporting actor, respectively. In fact, another 14 posthumous statuettes have been delivered divided into different categories, like the two by William Horning for best art direction in Gigi (1958) and Ben Hur (1959).

Most awards and nominations achieved

Many will wonder which is the most awarded film at the Oscars, and the answer is that -in fact- there are three with 11 statuettes: Ben Hur (1959), Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ( 2003). These films surpassed the 10 that had been achieved by Gone with the Wind (1939) and West Side Story (1961).

However, let us remember that the number of nominations does not always guarantee success. The two films with the most nominations (11) and that failed to win anything were The turning point (1977) and The color purple (1985). For their part, the films with the most nominations -14- have been All about Eve (winning 6 awards in 1950), Titanic (11 in 1997) and La La Land (6 in 2016).

Individually, the man and woman with the highest number of prizes won are Walt Disney with 22 and Edith Head with 8 (all for best costume design). Only Walt and Bong Joon-ho are the only ones to get four awards in the same edition. As for the most awarded director, John Ford has four out of five.

As for the category of non-English-speaking film, we found out that Italy is the country with the most titles (14 out of 32 nominations), while France is the country with the most nominations (40 out of 12 awards). In turn, three foreign films have won four awards in the same edition: the Swedish Fanny and Alexander (1982), the Chinese The Tiger and the Dragon (2000) and the Korean Parasite (2019). Finally, the Mexican Roma (2018) is the one that has had the most nominations with 10.

The first times

Some will say it was "beginner's luck," but it was really about talent and discipline. Four actresses have triumphed in their first nomination: Shirley Booth (1952), Julie Andrews (1964), Barbra Streisand (1968) and Marlee Matlin (1986). This number increases to nine when we talk about supporting actresses, whose most recent addition was the Mexican Lupita Nyong'o (2013). As for the directors, only six have won the Oscar for their first film: Delbert Mann (1955), Jerome Robbins (1961), Robert Redford (1980), James Brooks (1983), Kevin Costner (1990) and Sam Mendes ( 1999).

Also read: The actors who spent less time on screen and won the Oscar

On the other hand, Julia Phillips became the first woman to win the statuette for best picture (Hit! / 1973), while Kathryn Bigelow was the first to win it as a director ( The Hurt Locker / 2009). Also, Bette Davis was the first to reach ten nominations for best actress, winning only twice. Regarding Latinos, the Brazilian Fernanda Montenegro was the first to be nominated for best actress (1998), the Puerto Rican José Ferrer as best actor (1950), and the Mexican Alfonso Cuarón as best director (2014) .

A matter of age

Age is just a number you have when you set your mind to things and you get them. Justin Henry has been the youngest candidate (8 years), as a supporting actor in 1979, the same role that gave Tatum O'Neal (10) an Oscar in 1973 and made him the youngest winner of the award. Regarding the main categories, Marlee Matlin (21) and Adrien Brody (29) are the youngest to win the award for best actress and actor, respectively. In that same line, the candidates Jackie Cooper (9) and Quvenzhané Wallis (9) stand out.

As for the most veteran, we see that Christopher Plummer leads the acting list, as he was 82 years old when he won as a supporting actor in 2011. In fact, the Canadian is also the oldest candidate (88) after repeating in the same category in 2017. In turn, Henry Fonda (76) and Jessica Tandy (80) were left with the respective awards for best actor and actress. Finally, James Ivory is the longest-lived person to win an Oscar, at 89 years of age, when he achieved it for the best-adapted screenplay, surpassing the musician Ennio Morricone (87).