Since the Academy Awards have been around for a long time, it has amassed a trove of facts from notable firsts to other superlatives.
The Oscars are almost here. Predictions are flying here and there, but no one will know for certain who or which movie will win until the day itself, March 10 (March 11 in the morning in the Philippines).
Since the Academy Awards have been around for a long time, with this year’s iteration being the 96th, it follows that it has amassed a trove of facts from notable firsts to other superlatives—the oldest nominee for this, the youngest winner for that.
For this year’s Oscars, we’ve gathered 10 of the most remarkable facts that aren’t only fun or cool, but also impressive and uplifting.
1. Martin Scorsese is the oldest ever nominee for Best Director
The legendary director known for his critically acclaimed films like The Wolf of Wall Street and The Departed, is nominated for his 10th Oscar this year. This sets a new record for a living director, overtaking Steven Spielberg.
Spielberg, however, beats Scorsese in actual directing wins with a scorecard of two (Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan) against one (The Departed).
At 81, he is also the oldest ever nominee in the category. The oldest winner is Clint Eastwood, who was 74 when he won for Million Dollar Baby in 2005.
If we are talking about the overall oldest nominee this year, that goes to composer John Williams, who at 92 is nominated in the Original Score category for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
This nomination is the composer’s 49th in the category. Throughout his decades-long career, he has amassed a grand total of 54 Oscar nods, including five for Original Song.
2. Two nominees have set a record for gay actors
For the first time ever, two openly gay actors are nominated for playing openly gay roles.
We have Colman Domingo of Rustin, who portrays the titular civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, and the indefatigable Jodie Foster in Nyad, who plays Bonnie Stoll, the swimmer Diana Nyad’s friend and coach.
The only other time an openly gay actor has been nominated for playing an openly gay character was Sir Ian McKellen in Gods and Monsters in 1998.
Domingo, who is of Belizean and Guatemalan descent, is also the first Afro-Latino to earn a lead actor nomination.
3. Should she win, Emma Stone will join an elite club
The Poor Things star could become only the eighth actress to win two Oscars by the age of 35. She first won for the musical romance film La La Land in 2017.
If she indeed wins, she would follow in the footsteps of Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, Luise Rainer, Olivia de Havilland, and Hilary Swank.
To this day, no male actor has ever achieved the same feat.
4. Four couples are nominated for Oscars this year
Love is in the air at this year’s 96th Academy Awards, with not just one, two, but four couples who are nominated for an award.
There’s Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas, who are both nominated as producers of Oppenheimer as part of the film’s Best Picture nod.
Photo by Dave Benett for Getty Images
Meanwhile, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach are jointly nominated for Barbie’s screenplay.
Also from 2023’s biggest blockbuster (earning $1.4billion) are Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley, both of whom are nominated as producers for the movie’s Best Picture nom.
Worth noting for a remarkable feat is Gerwig being the only director ever to see her first three feature film outings (Lady Bird, Little Women, Barbie) nominated for Best Picture.
Justine Triet, a Best Director nominee, is also nominated in the Original Screenplay category with her husband Arthur Harari. The pair are jointly nominated for writing Anatomy of a Fall.
5. Bradley Cooper could be the fifth most nominated living person never to have won an Oscar
The actor has been nominated 12 times in various categories—acting, directing, and writing—but he has yet to win an Oscar.
The only ones to have scored more nominations without a win are sound engineer Greg P. Russell (16 nominations), composer Thomas Newman (15), songwriter Diane Warren (15), and special effect supervisor Daniel Sudick (13).
6. Lily Gladstone is the first-ever Native American to be nominated for Best Actress
The mesmerizing 37-year-old isn’t the first indigenous performer to be nominated for Best Actress. That honor goes to Whale Rider‘s Keisha Castle-Hughes and Roma‘s Yalitza Aparicio.
Gladstone, however, is the first from the US. She comes from a Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana.
The Killer of the Flower Moon star has already won awards at this year’s SAG Awards and Golden Globes.
7. Some of the Best Picture-nominated films this year are over three hours long
Oppenheimer from director Christopher Nolan clocked in at three hours and Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon runs for a staggering 206 minutes or three hours and 26 minutes.
Hugh Grant even channelled his inner Oompla Loompa and sang about the nominated films’ length during this year’s Baftas: “Oompa Loompa doompity-dong, most of these films were frankly too long.”
8. The Holdovers achieves a “Christmas miracle”
Christmas films are usually fun, light, and not expected to be nominated for an Academy Award.
Enter The Holdovers, which is the first Christmas film to be nominated for Best Picture since the original Miracle on 34th Street in 1948.
9. American Fiction breaks a record
Jeffrey Wright’s and Sterling K. Brown’s nominations mark the first time two black actors have been nominated in the lead and supporting categories for the same film.
American Fiction tells the story of a black author who writes a book which plays up to racial stereotypes and tropes, only to find himself in the middle of the establishment he resents.
10. There are 10 first-time nominees in this year’s acting categories
Barbie’s America Ferrera, Killers of the Flower Moon’s Lily Gladstone, and Oppenheimer’s Cillian Murphy are up for an Oscar for the first time.
Other first-time Academy Award acting nominees are Emily Blunt, Danielle Brooks, Sterling K. Brown, Colman Domingo, Sandra Hüller, Jeffrey Wright, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
