The nominations for the 95th Academy Awards are here, and a new crop of Oscar nominees has been minted. As always, there are loads of exciting stats, pieces of trivia, and records set with these nominees, and we’re here to collect a comprehensive list of it all. From the extension of records already established by the likes of Steven Spielberg and Diane Warren to breaking new ground with nominations for “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” there’s plenty of trivia to celebrate this year.
Please take a look at our comprehensive list of as much trivia as we could gather!
OVERALL STATS & TRIVIA
- With seven nominations for “The Fabelmans,” Steven Spielberg’s films have now received 146 Academy Award nominations, the most for any director’s filmography. William Wyler has the second-most, with 127 nominations for his movies.
- “Blonde” is only the second NC-17-rated film to receive an Oscar nomination. The first was “Henry & June,” nominated for Best Cinematography. “Henry & June” was also the first film to receive an NC-17 rating. Three X-rated films had previously been nominated for Academy Awards before the NC-17 rating was introduced: “Midnight Cowboy,” “A Clockwork Orange,” and “Last Tango in Paris.”
- Alfonso Cuarón received a nomination in his seventh unique category with “Le Pupille” in Best Live Action Short. This nomination ties Kenneth Branagh’s record, which was just set last year, for the most nominations in unique categories by an individual. Cuarón has received nominations in Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography, and, now, Live Action Short.
BEST PICTURE STATS & TRIVIA
- Steven Spielberg earned his twelfth nomination for Best Picture with “The Fabelmans,” extending his record with the most nominations in the category.
- “The Fabelmans” is Spielberg’s thirteenth film nominated for Best Picture, tying William Wyler’s record for directing the most Best Picture nominees.
- “TÁR” marks Cate Blanchett’s tenth credited appearance in a Best Picture nominee, extending her record for the most of any actress. She is now tied with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson for the second-most credited appearances of any actor in Best Picture nominees. Robert De Niro holds the record with 11 appearances in Best Picture nominees.
- Frances McDormand received her second nomination for Best Picture, making her the first woman to receive multiple Best Picture nominations and acting nominations.
- “All Quiet On The Western Front” is only the second International Feature (non-English, non-American produced) nominated for Best Picture without a Best Director nomination. 1937 is the only other year when this happened, with “The Grand Illusion.”
- “All Quiet On The Western Front” is the first German-language film nominated for Best Picture.
- This is the fifth year in a row that a non-English language film was nominated for Best Picture. The previous record was two in a row from 1972-1973.
- Though the term “remake” is debatable, “All Quiet On The Western Front” can be considered the third remake of an earlier Best Picture winner that is nominated for Best Picture. The first two were “Mutiny On The Bounty” in 1962 and “West Side Story” in 2021.
- “Avatar: The Way Of Water” and “Top Gun: Maverick” became the eighth and ninth sequels nominated for Best Picture. This is the first time multiple sequels have been nominated for Best Picture in the same year.
- “Avatar: The Way Of Water” marks the third franchise to receive a Best Picture nomination for its first two films, after “The Godfather” and “The Lord of the Rings.” “Avatar” is the first franchise not based on pre-existing material to do so as well.
- “Top Gun: Maverick” is the third sequel nominated for Best Picture without any other entries being nominated for Best Picture. “Toy Story 3” and “Mad Max: Fury Road” were the first to do this.
- This is the first time two movies that have grossed over $1 billion have been nominated for Best Picture in the same year, with “Avatar: The Way Of Water” and “Top Gun: Maverick.” They are the seventh and eighth billion-dollar grossers to be nominated for Best Picture.
- With “Avatar: The Way Of Water” and “Top Gun: Maverick” as the top two highest-grossing films of 2022, this is the first time since 1982 that the two highest-grossing movies of the year were nominated for Best Picture (“E.T.” and “Tootsie”).
- With it comes to “Elvis,” Catherine Martin is the first person nominated for Best Picture, Production Design, and Costume Design in the same year.
BEST DIRECTOR STATS & TRIVIA
- “The Fabelmans” is Spielberg’s ninth nomination for Best Director, tying with Martin Scorsese as the second-most-nominated director in the category. Only William Wyler has more, with ten nominations.
- This is the first year since 2017 without directors nominated for non-English language films.
- Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert are the fourth directing team nominated for Best Director. The previous teams were Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins (“West Side Story” (1961)), Warren Beatty & Buck Henry (“Heaven Can Wait”), and Joel & Ethan Coen (“No Country For Old Men” & “True Grit“).
- Kwan & Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, are the first two people nominated for Best Director with the name “Daniel.” Of course, Danny Boyle is also a Best Director winner but isn’t professionally known as Daniel, so we can count on it.
- Daniel Kwan is the third Asian American nominated for Best Director, following Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari“) and M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense“).
ACTING STATS & TRIVIA
- Judd Hirsch’s nomination for Best Supporting Actor for “The Fabelmans” is his first in 42 years, the largest gap between nominations in Academy Awards history. He broke the record set by Henry Fonda with 41 years.
- Hirsch is the second oldest acting nominee of all time, at 87 years and 315 days. Only Christopher Plummer in “All The Money in the World” was older, at 88 years and 41 days.
- “Everything Everywhere All At Once” is the first film to produce three Asian acting nominees in the same year.
- Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All At Once“) is the second Asian actress nominated for Best Actress. Merle Oberon is the only other Asian actress nominated in the category, though she hid her heritage at the time. Yeoh is also the first East Asian actress nominated for Best Actress.
- Yeoh is the first person born in Malaysia to be nominated for an Academy Award.
- Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All At Once“) is the first person born in Vietnam to be nominated for an acting Oscar.
- Hong Chau (“The Whale“), though of Vietnamese descent, was born in Thailand. This makes her the first acting nomination for a person born in Thailand.
- With Hong Chau and Stephanie Hsu both nominated for Supporting Actress, this is the first year with two Asian actors nominated in the same category.
- With Yeoh, Quan, Hsu, and Chau, this is the first ever year with four Asian acting nominees. The previous record was in 2004, when Ben Kingsley, Shohreh Aghdashloo (both from “House of Sand and Fog”), and Ken Watanabe (“The Last Samurai”) were nominated.
- Ana De Armas (“Blonde“) is the second person born in Cuba to be nominated for an acting Oscar, following Andy Garcia (“The Godfather Part III”). She is the fifth Latina nominated for Best Actress.
- For her role in “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” Stephanie Hsu is the first openly queer actor nominated for portraying a queer character since Ian McKellen in “Gods and Monsters” in 1998.
- For the fourth year in a row, Best Supporting Actor had two nominees from the same film. This is the first time in history that this has happened, with the previous record being two years in a row.
- With double Best Supporting Actress nominees from “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and double Best Supporting Actor nominees from “The Banshees of Inisherin,” this is the first time with double nominees in two acting categories since 1992. That year, “Thelma & Louise” had two Best Actress nominations, while “Bugsy” scored two Supporting Actor nominations.
- This is the first year in which two movies, “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” each received four acting nominations since 1977. That year “Julia” and “The Turning Point” achieved the same feat.
- Judd Hirsch’s nomination for “The Fabelmans” is the seventh-shortest performance nominated for Best Supporting Actor at 8:03, according to Screen Time Central.
- This is Angela Bassett’s (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever“) first Oscar nomination in 29 years, tying Joe Pesci for the eighth longest gap between nominations.
- Angela Bassett is the first person to receive an acting nomination for a film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- Jamie Lee Curtis is the third actor to receive an acting nomination after both of their parents received Oscar nominations. Laura Dern and Liza Minnelli are the other two to achieve this.
- This is the first time since 1933 that Best Actor is comprised entirely of first-time Oscar nominees.
- At 73 years old, Bill Nighy (“Living“) is the sixth oldest Best Actor nominee in history.
SCREENPLAY STATS & TRIVIA
- This is the first year ever that all five Best Director nominees are also nominated for writing the screenplays of their films. All of them are nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
- Kazuo Ishiguro is the second person to receive an Academy Award nomination after being awarded a Nobel Prize, after George Bernard Shaw. He is the sixth Nobel laureate overall to receive an Oscar nomination. The others on the list:– Bob Dylan (won Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2001 Nobel Prize for Literature in 2017)
– Harold Pinter (nominated for Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1982, 1984, Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005)
– Jean-Paul Sartre (nominated for Academy Award for Best Writing in 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964)
– John Steinbeck (nominated for Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay in 1945, 1946, and 1953, Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962)
– George Bernard Shaw (Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925, won Academy Award for Best Screenplay in 1939)
- Steven Spielberg is nominated alongside Tony Kushner for Best Original Screenplay. After receiving his first Oscar nomination in 1978, this is Spielberg’s first nomination outside of Best Director or Best Picture.
- “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” and “Top Gun: Maverick” are the eighth and ninth sequels nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, following “The Godfather Part II,” “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King,” “Toy Story 3,” “Before Sunset,” “Before Midnight,” “Logan,” and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.”
CRAFT CATEGORIES STATS & TRIVIA
- Nominated for Best Original Score for “The Fabelmans,” John Williams extends his record as the most-nominated living person with 53 Academy Award nominations. He only trails Walt Disney for the most nominations of all time, with 59 nominations.
- John Williams is the oldest Academy Award nominee of all time at 90 years and 350 days old. He beats the late Agnes Varda, who was 89 years and 238 days old at the time of her nomination.
- Son Lux is the first band to be officially nominated for Best Original Score rather than nominated as individuals. While Arcade Fire was credited with the score for “Her” in 2013, the nomination officially went to Wiliam Butler and Owen Pallett. Additionally, The Beatles were nominated for Best Original Song Score, which nominated their music and lyrics.
- If we combine nominations from pre-unified Germany, “All Quiet On The Western Front” is Germany’s 21st nomination. That makes them the third most-nominated country, after France (40 nominations) and Spain (32 nominations).
- “All Quiet On The Western Front” is the first non-English language film nominated for Best Visual Effects.
- “The Quiet Girl” is the first film from Ireland to be nominated for Best International Feature.
- For her work on “Elvis,” Mandy Walker is the third woman ever nominated for Best Cinematography. Rachel Morrison (“Mudbound“) and Ari Wegner (“The Power of the Dog“) were the first two.
- For “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” del Toro becomes the first person to be nominated for Best Animated Feature after winning Best Director. He is the third person to have nominations for both Best Director and Best Animated Feature after Wes Anderson and George Miller.
- Del Toro is also the fifth person of Hispanic descent to be nominated for Best Animated Feature, following Jonas Rivera, Phil Lord, Carlos López Estrada, and Yvett Merino.
- “Turning Red” is the second nominee for Best Animated Feature with only female nominees, director Domee Shi and producer Lindsey Collins. “Kung Fu Panda 2” was the first to do this, with director Jennifer Yuh Nelson.
- Domee Shi is the first woman to win Best Animated Short and go on to a nomination for Best Animated Feature. Previously, Nicole Paradis Grindle (“Sanjay’s Super Team” and “Incredibles 2“) and Dana Murray (“Lou” and “Soul“) were the only two women to be nominated in both categories.
- “My Father’s Dragon” is the first film from Cartoon Saloon not to receive a nomination for Best Animated Feature.
- Laura Poitras received her third nomination for Best Documentary Feature with “All The Beauty And The Bloodshed,” tied for the most for any woman in the category along with Julia Reichert.
- Diane Warren scored her fourteenth nomination for Best Original Song with “Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman.” If she doesn’t win this year, she will extend her record as the most-nominated woman without a win (though she received an Honorary Academy Award this year).
- Warren received an Oscar nomination the same year she received an Honorary Academy Award. She is the second woman to do this, following Agnes Varda in 2017. This used to be a more common practice in the early days of the Academy Awards but, prior to 2017, hadn’t occurred since William Wyler received both the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award and a Best Director nomination for “The Collector” in 1966.
- With the nomination of “RRR’s” “Naatu Naatu,” this is the third year in a row that a non-English language song was nominated for Best Original Song.
- Roger Deakins received his 16th nomination for Best Cinematography for “Empire Of Light,” becoming the third most-nominated person in the category, behind Charles Lang and Leon Shamroy, who both had 18 nominations.
- Dan Sudick received his 13th nomination for Best Visual Effects for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” He’ll extend his record for the most nominations in the category without a win if he doesn’t win.
- With his 13th nomination, Dan Sudick is now tied with Dennis Muren for the most nominations ever in the category.
- Though challenging to confirm, “All Quiet On The Western Front” appears to have the second-lowest budget for a Best Visual Effects nominee this century at approximately $20 million. “Ex Machina” seems to hold the record, winning the category on a $15 million budget.
With such a unique field of nominees, there is sure to be more history made with the Oscar winners themselves. As always, keep an eye on Next Best Picture as we cover the awards race and predict the winners.
What stats and trivia surprised you the most? Did we miss any interesting tidbits? What history-making win are you predicting for the Oscars themselves? Please us know in the comments below or over on our Twitter account and check out our latest Oscar predictions here.
