Each year’s Academy Award nominations arrive with an array of notable firsts and other cool factoids that speed the hearts of Oscar lovers and movie trivia fans everywhere. Here’s a recap of some of our favorite new record-breakers and, pardon the pun, envelope pushers from the academy’s latest choices.
—Lily Gladstone, the heart and soul of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” became the first Native American to be nominated for lead actress.
—Nominations for both Colman Domingo, the electrifying star of “Rustin,” and Oscar veteran Jodie Foster, a supporting contender for “Nyad,” marks the first time in the same year that two out queer actors have been contenders for playing LGBTQ+ characters. Two more firsts for the acclaimed actors: “Nyad’s” Bonnie Stoll is Foster’s first lesbian acting role; Domingo, who is of Belizean and Guatemalan descent, is the first Afro Latino to earn a lead actor nomination.
—This is the first time that two folks in the same year — actor-producers Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”) and Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) — have earned nominations for both picture and lead acting awards.
—Also new to the Oscar race is that two foreign-language films (“Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest”) have been nominated for best picture in the same year.
—A second international first: Every documentary feature nominee this year is a non-English-speaking film. No American movie made the top five. As it’s said in “Barbie”: “That’s life. It’s all change.”
—Never have three female directors in one year earned best picture nominations for their work until Justine Triet (“Anatomy of a Fall”), Greta Gerwig (“Barbie”) and Celine Song (“Past Lives”) came along.
—On that front, Gerwig is the only director ever to see her first three feature film outings (“Lady Bird,” “Little Women,” “Barbie”) nominated for best picture. Go top that!
—Rarely has one person won three out of the five nominations in their category but, this year, SFX supervisor Neil Corbould received a trio of nods for best visual effects for his work on “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” “Napoleon” and “The Creator.” It’s a first for the category — and makes for pretty good odds for Corbould.
—Thelma Schoonmaker captures a record ninth nomination for film editing with “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the latest of her more than two dozen feature collaborations since 1967 with director Martin Scorsese. She bests frequent Steven Spielberg collaborator Michael Kahn, who has eight editing nominations.
—“The Zone of Interest” is the ninth non-English-language film to be nominated in both the international feature and best picture categories in the same year. Other such dual nominees have included “Z” (1969), “Life Is Beautiful” (1998), “Parasite” (2019) and “Drive My Car” (2021).
—For his participation on “Maestro,” Steven Spielberg amassed his 13th best picture nomination, a record for an individual producer.
—Thanks to the epic drama “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Martin Scorsese becomes the most-nominated living film director of all time, with an amazing 10 nods. He surpasses old pal Spielberg, who now ranks second in the category, with nine nominations. Still, Spielberg beats Scorsese in actual directing wins, two (“Schindler’s List,” “Saving Private Ryan”) to one (“The Departed”).
—“Flower Moon” also brought a new best to supporting acting contender Robert De Niro, who now boasts a record 12 credited roles in a best picture nominee. His co-star in the film, Leonardo DiCaprio, now ranks second on that count, with 11 such appearances.
—With his work on “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” uber-composer John Williams broke his own record of nominations for original score. This, his 49th in the category, makes for a grand total of 54 Oscar nods, including the five he’s received for original song. What a career.
—Speaking of original song, that doyenne of the category, Diane Warren, also beat her own record this year earning her 15th nod — and seventh in a row — for penning “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot.” But will this finally be the year Warren wins her first statue? (She was given an honorary Oscar in 2022.)
—Martin Scorsese, at 81, becomes Oscar’s oldest nominated director, streaking past former titleholder John Huston, who was 79 when nominated in 1986 for “Prizzi’s Honor.”
—In the “Hold My Beer” department, composer John Williams, 91, is the oldest nominee to ever compete for an Oscar, breaking the record he set last year when, at 90, he was tapped for his work on “The Fabelmans.”
—Robert De Niro’s nomination for “Killers of the Flower Moon” marks the longest period ever between a performer’s first and latest acting nods: 49 years. (His initial nomination was in 1975 for “The Godfather Part II.”) He now exceeds Katharine Hepburn, whose first-to-last Oscar span was 48 years.
—Drilling down a bit, Jodie Foster’s nod for “Nyad,” her first as a supporting actress since “Taxi Driver” 47 years ago, is the longest stretch to occur between two nominations in the same category. See, Oscar trivia knows no bounds.
—Sandra Hüller, star of best picture nominee “Anatomy of a Fall,” is the first German-born actress to earn a nomination in 86 years. The last? Luise Rainer in 1938 for “The Good Earth.”
From the Oscars to the Emmys.
Get the Envelope newsletter for exclusive awards season coverage, behind-the-scenes stories from the Envelope podcast and columnist Glenn Whipp’s must-read analysis.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
