Oscars 2024: all the facts and anecdotes you need to know before the awards ceremony

Who is breaking records this year? How long are the films? And why does this year's Oscars represent slow but sure progress? Here's everything you need to know about the 96th Academy Awards.

As you may know from our extensive coverage on the subject, the Oscars are this weekend.

You'll have to wait a little longer to hear our predictions for this year's 96th ceremony, and to find out how many trophies "Oppenheimer" is expected to win among his 13 nominations.

In the meantime, here are the facts about the Oscars that you need to know for the 2024 edition, and the valuable anecdotes that will help you shine in society this Sunday.

Movies are getting longer and longer

 

Martin Scorsese at the Berlinale 2024.

This year, the average length of a feature film competing for the best film award is 138 minutes. 

 

The shortest film is "The Zone of Interest", which is 105 minutes long, and the longest is "Killers of the Flower Moon", which is 206 minutes long.

First Christmas film in the nominees

                                                Paul Giamatti from “The Holdovers”

“The Holdovers” is technically the first Christmas movie to be nominated for best picture since “Miracle on 34th Street,” in 1948.

Plastic, It's Fantastic

 

 

 Greta Gerwig

 

 "Barbie" may have missed out on a few nominations, including best director and best actress, but what many fans forgot was that Greta Gerwig became the first director in history to see all three of her first feature films nominated in the best film category, with “Barbie” following “Lady Bird” and “Little Women”.

 

 In the category of best director, the French Justine Triet (“Anatomy of a Fall”) became the ninth woman nominated. The first was Lina Wertmüller for "Seven Beauties" (1977). Then came Jane Campion for “The Piano Lesson” (1994), Sofia Coppola with “Lost in Translation” (2003), Kathryn Bigelow with “The Hurt Locker” (2010), Greta Gerwig with “Lady Bird” (2017) , Emerald Fennell with “Promising Young Woman” (2020), Chloé Zhao with “Nomadland” (2021) and Jane Campion again with “T__he Power of the Dog” (2022).

 

 As a reminder, only three women nominated in the “best director” category received the Oscar: Kathryn Bigelow, Chloé Zhao and Jane Campion.

 

 Slow progress... but progress

 

 

 Justine Triet at the 2024 Césars

 

This year is the first time that the list of best films includes three directed by women: “Barbie”, “Anatomy of a Fall” and “Previous Lives” by Céline Song. A first in the history of the Oscars.

 

Furthermore, four of the ten nominated screenplays were written or co-written by women: “Anatomy of a Fall” (Justine Triet, with her partner Arthur Harari), “Barbie” (Greta Gerwig, with her partner Noah Baumbach) , “May December” (Samy Burch) and “Past Lives” (Céline Song). This is the largest number of female screenwriters represented in both categories in a single year.

Historic firsts

 

Lily Gladstone

 

Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown were nominated for the Oscars for the first time in the “American Fiction” category. In doing so, they set a milestone, as it was the first time that a black lead actor and a supporting actor were both nominated for the same film.

 

When it comes to representation, "Killers of the Flower Moon" star Lily Gladstone makes history by becoming the first Native American woman to be nominated in the best actress category. A member of the Blackfeet nation, she has every chance of winning the prize...

 

Encore plus de progrès

                                                                  Colman Domingo

 The nominations of Colman Domingo ("Rustin") and Jodie Foster ("Nyad") in the "best actor" and "best supporting role" categories respectively mark the first time that, in the same year, two homosexual actors have been in the running for play LGBTQ+ characters.

 Good luck !

 

 Sandra Hüller

 Sandra Hüller, lead actress in "Anatomy of a Fall" and supporting actress in "The Zone of Interest", is the first actress of German origin to receive a nomination (best actress) in 86 years. In case you're wondering, the last one was Luise Rainer for "The Good Earth" in 1938.

 We interviewed her and she is charming.

 

 10th Martin Scorsese film to be nominated

 

 

 Martin Scorsese at the Berlinale 2024.

 

 

“Killers of the Flower Moon” becomes the 10th Martin Scorsese-directed film to receive a Best Picture nomination. (The previous nine were "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", "Goodfellas", "Gangs of New York", "The Aviator", "The Departed", "Hugo", "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "The Irishman").

 

Additionally, Martin Scorsese also earned his tenth nomination for Best Director, meaning that at age 81 he not only becomes the oldest person to be nominated in the Best Director category, but he also surpasses Steven Spielberg for the most Best Director nominations by a living filmmaker.

 

In case you're wondering, William Wyler ("Roman Holiday," "Ben Hur") still holds the record with 12 nominations.

 

Martin Scorsese has won the directing prize only once, for his film "The Departed" (2006), while Steven Spielberg has won it twice: "Schindler's List" and "It We must save Private Ryan.

 

 49 years since Robert De Niro's last nomination

 

 

 Robert De Niro

 

Speaking of "Killers of the Flower Moon", Robert De Niro is nominated for Best Supporting Actor and sets a new record for the longest time between an actor's first and last Oscar nomination , surpassing Katherine Hepburn's 48-year gap.

 

Indeed, his recognition in 2024 comes 49 years after his first nomination for his performance in "The Godfather: Part II" (which he won), in 1975. Robert De Niro beats the record held by Katherine Hepburn, who 48 years passed between his first nomination for "Morning Glory", in 1938 and his last nomination for "On Golden Pond", in 1982.

 

The most named person alive strikes again...

 

Le compositeur John Williams, à gauche, et le réalisateur Steven Spielberg posent ensemble lors du gala 2016 du AFI Life Achievement Award Tribute to John Williams.
 

 Composer John Williams, 92, received his 54th nomination this year for "Indiana Jones and the Clock of Destiny."

 

 This 54th nomination means he is just five nominations away from Walt Disney's record of 59 career nominations. John Williams, however, remains the most Oscar-nominated composer of all time, and remains the most nominated living person.

 

 At the other end of the age spectrum...

 

Billie Eilish

 

If Billie Eilish and Finneas win Best Song for "What Was I Made For?" from “Barbie,” the 22- and 26-year-old siblings will become the youngest two-time Oscar winners in history.

 

Ils avaient déjà été récompensés pour leur hymne à James Bond "No Time to Die" en 2022.

 

Oh, Bradley...

Bradley Cooper

 Bradley Cooper is the fifth most nominated living person to never win an Academy Award.

 

 He was nominated 12 times, but never won. In all likelihood, it won't win this year, as "Maestro" probably won't win Best Picture, Best Actor or Best Original Screenplay this year.
 

He joins sound engineer Greg P. Russell (16 nominations), composer Thomas Newman (15), composer Diane Warren (15) and special effects supervisor Daniel Sudick (13).

Oh Thelma...

                                         Thelma Schoonmaker at the Berlinale 2024

 Thelma Schoonmaker, winner of three Academy Awards, earned a record ninth nomination for editing her film "Killers of the Flower Moon." The legendary editor has worked with Martin Scorsese since 1967 and, with this nomination, she surpasses frequent Steven Spielberg collaborator Michael Kahn, who has eight nominations for editing.

 International feature film / double for best film

                                                                 Jonathan Glazer

 Jonathan Glazer's "The Zone of Interest" is nominated this year for both best film and best international film, as a non-English film.

 This happens more and more often over the years: "Life is beautiful" (1998), "Hidden Tiger and Dragon" (2000), "Love" (2012), "Roma" (2018), "Parasite" (2019), “Drive My Car” (2021), and “All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022).

 The first to achieve this was the film "Z" in 1969.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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