With the 85th Academy Awards just a day away, it's a good time to reflect on other big nights in this year's award season. Not only does it give some perspective on the multitude of cinematic honors bestowed on films each year, but it's also essential research for your Oscar pools!
The Oscars began in 1929 when there were still categories for Best Title Writing, Academy Juvenile Award (for those spunky newcomers, here's to you, Quvenzhané!), Best Dance Direction (<em>Silver Linings Playbook wishes), and Best Assistant Director. In the more than eight decades since, a host of other awards ceremonies, not to mention film festival honors, have popped up around the world.
With a focus on the Golden Globes, the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Awards, Gotham Awards, Cannes, Sundance, Venice, Berlin, Satellite, AFI, BAFTAs, and the various guild awards, here's a brief look at the track record of this year's Oscar nominees, often a reliable indicator of who will walk away from the red carpet with that sword-wielding golden knight.
Argo and Beasts of the Southern Wild both have four major awards, though Argo's wins carry more weight with the Academy.
Best Picture:
Amour
Won: Cannes Palme d’Or, LA Film Critics Award (LAFCA)
Argo
Won: AFI Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, Producers Guild Association Award
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Won: AFI Award, BFI Award, Cannes-Un Certain Regard, Sundance Grand Jury Prize
Django Unchained
Won: AFI Award
Les Misérables
Won: AFI Award, Golden Globe
Life of Pi
Won: AFI Award
Lincoln
Won: AFI Award
Silver Linings Playbook
Won: AFI Award, Satellite
Zero Dark Thirty
Won: AFI Award, New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC)
Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook. Lawrence leads our Best Actress award tally with four.
Best Actress:
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Won: Golden Globe
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Won: BAFTA, Venice, LAFCA
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Won: Golden Globe, SAG, Satellite, LAFCA
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Won: Satellite
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Daniel Day Lewis as Lincoln with four major award wins, so far.
Best Actor:
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Won: Satellite
Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln
Won: BAFTA, Golden Globe, NYFCC, SAG
Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables
Won: Golden Globe
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Won: LAFCA, Venice
Denzel Washington, Flight
Christoph Waltz has two wins, while Tommy Lee Jones's SAG Award makes him a likely competitor.
Best Supporting Actor:
Alan Arkin, Argo
Won: SAG (ensemble)
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Won: Hollywood Film Award
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Won: Venice
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Won: SAG
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Won: BAFTA, Golden Globe
Anne Hathaway has raked in four awards for Les Misérables.
Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams, The Master
Won: LAFCA
Sally Field, Lincoln
Won: NYFCC
Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Won: BAFTA, Golden Globe, SAG, Satellite
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Won: San Francisco Film Critics Circle (SFFCC)
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty, which has two screenwriting awards alongside Django Unchained.
Best Original Screenplay:
Amour
Django Unchained
Won: BAFTA; Golden Globe
Flight
Moonrise Kingdom
Won: Gotham
Zero Dark Thirty
Won: Satellite, Writers Guild Award (WGA)
John Goodman, Alan Arkin and Ben Affleck in Argo, which has two Best Adapted Screenplay awards.
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Argo
Won: LAFCA, WGA
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Life of Pi
Won: Satellite
Lincoln
Won: NYFCC
Silver Linings Playbook
Won: BAFTA
Michael Hanake's Amour with four major wins.
Best Foreign Film:
Amour
Won: Golden Globe, BAFTA, NYFCC, Palme d'Or
Kon-Tiki
No
Won: Cannes C.I.C.A.E. Award
A Royal Affair
Won: Berlin, Satellite
War Witch
Won: Tribeca
How to Survive a Plague is tied with Searching for Sugar Man with two wins this season.
Best Documentary:
5 Broken Cameras
Won: Sundance Directing Award
The Gatekeepers
Won: LAFCA
How to Survive a Plague
Won: NYFCC (Best First Film), Gotham
The Invisible War
Won: Sundance Audience Award
Searching for Sugar Man
Won: BAFTA, WGA
Life of Pi and Skyfall both have two wins under their belt for Best Cinematography.
Best Cinematography:
Anna Karenina
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Won: BAFTA, Satellite
Lincoln
Skyfall
Won: LAFCA, American Society of Cinematographers
