Sunday’s ceremony will be an evening of firsts for many of the Academy’s finest
“Argo” is the front-runner to snag the Best Picture victory. If the movie, directed by Ben Affleck, wins, it will mark only the fourth time in Oscar history that a film won Best Picture without being nominated in the Best Director category. This has not happened since “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989), directed by Bruce Beresford.
“Amour,” directed by Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke, is only the ninth foreign language film to be nominated for Best Picture in Oscar history. The French-language drama is a shoo-in to win Best Foreign Language Film, which would mark Austria’s second win in the category. Austria previously won for “The Counterfeiters” (2007).
This year’s Best Actress category features both the youngest and oldest nominees to date. Nine-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis is nominated for her role in “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” while, at 85, Emmanuelle Riva (“Amour”) is the eldest in the category. Wallis was only 5 years old when she auditioned for her role in “Beasts;” she lied to producers and said she was 6. Riva turns 86 on the night of the Oscar ceremony, Feb. 24.
At age 22, Jennifer Lawrence is the youngest person to receive two Best Actress nominations, this year for “Silver Linings Playbook.” She was previously nominated for her performance in “Winter’s Bone” (2010).
Daniel Day-Lewis is the critic’s choice for Best Actor, and if he wins, he will become the first actor to earn three Oscars for Best Actor. He has previously won for “My Left Foot” (1989) and “There Will Be Blood” (2007). His potential victory would also mark the first time an actor has won for playing a United States president.
Nominated for Best Actor for “Flight,” Denzel Washington now has both the most nominations — six — and most wins — two — of any black actor or actress. He has won twice so far: Best Supporting Actor for “Glory” (1989) and Best Actor for “Training Day” (2001).
Steven Spielberg received his seventh Best Director nomination for “Lincoln.” If he wins, he will become only the fourth director in Oscar history to win more than two Best Director Oscars. John Ford won four while Frank Capra and William Wyler both won three. If Ang Lee wins, he will become the first director to win for a film shot in 3-D (“Life of Pi”). If Michael Haneke wins, he will be the first director to win for a foreign language film (“Amour) and the second oldest winner in Oscar history.
“Silver Linings Playbook” is the first film since “Reds” (1981) to be nominated in all four acting categories. The acting nominations include Bradley Cooper for Best Actor, Jennifer Lawrence for Best Actress, Robert De Niro for Best Supporting Actor and Jacki Weaver for Best Supporting Actress.
For the first time in Oscar history, all of the Best Supporting Actor nominees are previous Oscar winners. This category is arguably the tightest race of the evening. The nominees are Alan Arkin for “Argo,” Robert De Niro for “Silver Linings Playbook,” Philip Seymour Hoffman for “The Master,” Tommy Lee Jones for “Lincoln” and Christoph Waltz for “Django Unchained.”