Oscar Nominees Revealed

By Jason Ihle

The nomination process went mostly as expected (results here). No big surprises. I am impressed with myself, though. I got 39 out of 43 in the top nine categories (including animated feature). I missed 1 each in Director, Actress, Supporting Actor and Actress.

You guys all know i’m a big fan of numbers and statistics, so here goes:

This is the first time in 24 years (since the year of Reds, Raiders, Chariots, Golden, Atlantic) that Picture and Director match up 5 for 5. A stunning 14 of the 20 acting nominees are first timers. Incredibly, only 3 of the nominated performances are for characters who die during the course of the film. 10 of them are real historical characters.

William Hurt got his first nomination in 18 years.

Here’s an interesting stat: film editor Michael Kahn earns a 7th nomination (for Munich), putting him in a 3-way tie with Barbara McLean and William Reynolds for most noms in that category.

All-time leading visual effects artist Dennis Muren adds number 15 for War of the Worlds.

John Williams picked up his 44th and 45th career nominations, making him tied with Alfred Newman as the all time leading nominated composer, and second all time nominations - period - behind only Walt Disney’s 60 career nominations.

Woody Allen - who was already the most nominated screenwriter since 1997’s Deconstructing Harry - has added a 14th writing nomination (and 22nd overall) for Match Point. The biggest crime of the nominations is that Scarlett Johannson was not nominated for her performance in that film.