Milestone Markers: The 90th Academy Awards Factoid Roundup

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Rachel Morrison, D.P. for Mudbound (image: Indiewire)

Rachel Morrison goes from being the first female cinematographer nominated in the American Society of Cinematographers, to the first female nominated for Best Cinematography Oscar in Mudbound.

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Dee Rees and Blige in Mudbound (image: HuffPo)

Dee Rees is the second African American woman nominated for Best Screenplay for her directorial achievement Mudbound – first since Suzanne De Passe for 1972’s Lady Sings the Blues. 

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Jordan Peele, director for Get Out (image: CNN)

Jordan Peele has a bunch of stats – only the fifth African American nominated for Best Director (John Singleton, Lee Daniels, Steve McQueen, Barry Jenkins) – and also, only the 3rd to be nominated for Writing, Directing and Producing in his debut (after James L. Brooks, Terms of Endearment, and Warren Beatty, Heaven Can Wait).

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Greta Gerwig and Ronan in Lady Bird (image: LA Times)

Greta Gerwig is the fifth woman ever nominated for Best Director, following Lina Wertmuller (1976 – Seven Beauties), Jane Campion (1991 – The Piano), Sofia Coppola (2003 – Lost in Translation), and Kathryn Bigelow (2009 – The Hurt Locker).

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John Williams – the legend (image: CB)

With the score from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, John Williams now has fifty-one (51) nominations in Best Score and Best Song combined. To put that in context (which is impossible), if you take every nominated actor/actress this year and add up all their lifetime nominations (and subtract Streep for being Streep) – you’d only have 49 nominations across 19 people.

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The Last Jedi (image: The Verge)

Speaking of The Last Jedi, with the four (4) nominations this year (Score, Sound Mixing/Editing, Visual Effects), every Star Wars film ever released has been nominated for at least one Oscar – Episode I-3, II-1, III-1, IV-10, V-3, VI-4, VII-5, RO-2, VIII-4. Total of 33 Oscar nominations – I would wager this is more than the Star Trek franchise has.

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Phantom Thread (image: Rolling Stone)

Phantom Thread only had one precursor guild nomination prior to getting to Best Picture: The Costume Designers Guild (CDG), which nominates fifteen (15) films per year. Compare to The Shape of Water and Dunkirk which had nine (9) guild nominations before Best Picture.

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Frances McDormand (image: Independent UK)

There are two nominees this year who are already Triple Crown of Acting winners (acting Tony, Emmy, Oscar) – Christopher Plummer (Tonys for Cyrano and Barrymore, Emmys for The Moneychangers and Madeline, Oscar for Beginners) and Frances McDormand (Tony for Good People, Emmy for Olive Kitteridge, Oscar for Fargo).

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Christopher Plummer (image: IndieWire)

Christopher Plummer – already the oldest acting winner for 2011’s Beginners – is now the oldest acting nominees in an acting category at 88 years old and second oldest ever nominee in any category for Best Supporting Actor in All the Money in the World

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Agnes Varda (image: Documentary.org)

… Second only to documentation Agnes Varda, who, at 89, is getting a Lifetime Achievement Award Oscar and is nominated for Best Documentary (Faces Places).

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Timothee Chalamet (image: Metro)

Timothee Chalamet, for Call Me By Your Name, is now the youngest Best Actor nominee since Mickey Rooney in 1939 (Babes in Arms). They invented acting in 1938, so that’s something.

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Woody Harrelson (image: Boston Herald)

With Rockwell and Harrelson both nominated for Supporting Actor for Three Billboards, this is the first time since 1991 (Bugsy – Keitel and Kingsley) since two actors were nominated for the same film in Supporting Actor. This has happened 10 times in Supporting Actress since then.

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/10/30/watching/mudbound-watching/30watching-slide-51DV-master768.jpgBlige in Mudbound (image: NYT)

Mary J. Blige is not only nominated in her acting debut (Mudbound), but is also the only Supporting Actress nominee in history to be also nominated for Best Song in the same year (Mighty River”).

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Spencer in Shape of Water (image: Channel24)

With this year’s nom, Octavia Spencer now ties Viola Davis as the most nominated African American woman in Academy history. It seems crazy that it only took three (3) nominations to do so.

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Betty Gabriel in Get Out (image: IMDb)

Get Out is the first February release to be nominated for best picture since Silence of the Lambs in 1991.

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Logan (image: IMDb)

Logan becomes the first comic book movie since 1931’s Skippy (a comic strip adaptation) to be nominated for its screenplay. Other comic films nominated by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) but not the Academy include Deadpool (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and The Dark Knight (2008)

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Strong Island (image: Netflix)

Best Documentary nominee Strong Island‘s director Yance Ford is openly transgender – only the third transgender person ever to be nominated, and the first ever transgender director in any medium – other two nominees were in best song score (Angela Morley, The Slipper and the Rose and The Little Prince) and best song (ANOHNI, from Racing Extinction).

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The Insult (image: IMDb)

In Foreign Language, The Insult becomes the first Lebanese movie nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

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Shape of Water director Del Toro (image: IMDb)

The Three Amigos of Mexican Cinema are now all nominated for best director – Guillermo Del Toro (The Shape of Water) joins his brothers-in-arms Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman and The Revenant), and is also a favorite to win.

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Meryl being Meryl (image: IMDb)

Four of the five Best Actress nominees also represent Best Picture films (Three Billboards, The Post, The Shape of Water, Lady Bird compared to last year, with only one nomination representing a Best Picture (La La Land).

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Kobe Bryant, with the Dear Basketball animated short, is the first professional basketball player to be nominated for an Oscar. LeBron James hears this, and adds a goal to his goal-adding-app.

Great milestones in all, but… Number of minority actors nominated decreases from seven (7) in 2017 to four (4) in 2018. Bummer.

Emmy Nominations: Comedy and Drama Series

(Image: The Hollywood Reporter)

Welcome to our Emmy predictions chat with your favorite awards-chasers, David and TJ. We’re splitting up the work into a couple different conversations to cover the major acting and series categories. Check out Supporting Acting and Lead Acting we’ve already done… Today we’re looking at the big ones – Best Comedy Series and Best Drama Series

TJ: Best Comedy and Best Drama… The awards people would be waiting for if the Emmys were more like the Academy Awards.

David: wut.

TJ: …Exactly. WHODYA PICK DAVID!?!

Best Comedy SERIES

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Atlanta (FX) (Image: AV Club)

Last Year’s Nominees:
Veep (Winner)
Black-ish
Master of None
Modern Family
Silicon Valley
Transparent
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

David’s Picks:
Atlanta
Veep
Black-ish
Master of None
Transparent
Silicon Valley
Catastrophe

TJ’s Picks:
Atlanta
Veep
Black-ish
Master of None
Transparent
Silicon Valley
Modern Family

David: Of these, all are eligible to come back. You and I have a lot of overlap in shows coming back – we have Black-ish, Master of None, Silicon Valley and Transparent. We both dropped Kimmy.

TJ: I didn’t really get that to begin with. That show is okay and all. Seems to me it’s carried by it’s supporting cast. Never blew me away like the others did.

David: I liked the first season, but I felt like it wore out its welcome from the funny premise. So with the open slot, you kept the rambling corpse of Modern Family and I took a wild and brave shot at Catastrophe.

So TJ… Why do you hate hope?

TJ: Because the last time Modern Family didn’t get nominated was last decade. MOVE BITCH GET OUT THE WAY.

David: That is true for the zero-th season of Modern Family because every single season has been nominated. I went for Catastrophe – with Carrie Fisher’s work on the show being some of the last work she did, I think that show might get a bump – it got a writing nomination last year. Who knows… I’m thoroughly out of the way now.

TJ: Finally…

David: We both have Atlanta and Veep here – both vying for the win. What show do you think is going to win for best comedy?

TJ: Right now? Atlanta. It did so well through last season and Donald Glover is on fire. Veep could definitely pull it off though. I kind of predict them to be my pick come ceremony time.

David: I’m in the same boat – I think Veep will win, but I think this has been the weakest season. I think most still love the show, but I’d be pretty disappointed if Atlanta didn’t win, I’ll be honest.

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Master of None (Netflix) (Image: Vulture)

TJ: Talking about hope, my vote would be for Master of None. My prediction, however, is Atlanta, at the moment. And I’d be perfectly happy if Atlanta won the night.

David: I just finished Master of None recently – a great season with some outstanding episodes in there. What nominee beside our sole difference (Modern Family, Catastrophe) do you think is the most vulnerable?

TJ: Silicon Valley? It seemed to have the least exciting season. And the lack of history, or maybe pedigree, might make it liable for the boot.

David: This morning I had Silicon Valley out… But I put it back in – when I think back on it, I’d much rather watch Silicon Valley than Veep. It’s just more entertaining to me. I might guess Transparent actually… Feels like it’s losing its luster.

But that’s crazy. It’ll never not be nominated.

TJ: Yea…

Best Drama Series

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The Crown (Netflix) (Image: Hypable)

Last Year’s Nominees:
The Americans
Better Call Saul
Homeland
House of Cards
Mr. Robot
Game of Thrones (Winner)
Downton Abbey

David’s Picks:
The Crown
Stranger Things
This Is Us
The Americans
The Handmaid’s Tale
Better Call Saul
The Leftovers

TJ’s Picks:
The Crown
Stranger Things
This Is Us
The Americans
The Handmaid’s Tale
Better Call Saul
Westworld

David: Of these shows, Downton Abbey has concluded, and Game of Thrones is premiering too late for the 2017 Emmys.

TJ: I’ve only got two returning. What about you?

David: Only two here as well. This feels like the year of great new dramas. We share Americans and Better Call Saul returning.

TJ: Sadly, I feel like the winner of this category might be the least kept secret of the Emmys.

David: I do too. I feel like The Crown is gonna take it, and it’s probably the least interesting of the shows we have here (although I did like it). We share all but one nom – you have Westworld, where I went with The Leftovers. Tell me why Westworld is going to make it, where other Sci-Fi shows have not.

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Westworld (HBO) (Image: HBO)

TJ: Yea, I liked The Leftovers plenty. But no more or less than Westworld. I also think Westworld is more likely to fill the void left by GoT in the hearts of voters. HBO is also more likely to throw their backing with the show of the future.

David: Good point. I just think that the Westworld cultural phenomenon was so long ago. Sometimes, distance with a show makes the flaws more pronounced. I think The Leftovers finishing up has dominated the stage at the point where Emmy voters are turning in ballots.

TJ: Perhaps.

David: We both think The Crown is gonna win – so let’s close this out. which other show winning would make you the happiest? And which of your slate do you feel is the most vulnerable of missing out on a nomination?

TJ: One: Stranger Things, and two: Stranger Things. That’s not a great feeling, but it’s the only one of my picks that I don’t have a ton of confidence in. Maybe Better Call Saul, but the acting in that show is just too good.

David: Good picks – I’d love if Stranger Things won, but my world would be completely rocked if The Leftovers won – last chance, and such an idiosyncratic treat every week. Most vulnerable… ehh… Maybe The Americans – it came out of nowhere last year, and Emmy history is littered with one-hit wonders that vanish just as fast…

That does it for our main category predictions – we’ll figure out on Wednesday July 13th who comes out on top. And who comes out in the upside-down…

TJ: Sounds good.

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Stranger Things (Netflix) (Image: IGN)

~fin~

Well this has been The Media By Us award-chasing the Emmys, looking at our definitive 100% correct predictions for Best Comedy and Drama Series. Check back after 7/13 to see who won!