In Thursday’s unveiling of the nominees for the 85th Academy Awards, there are milestones, both big and small, and noteworthy bits of biz history. Among them:
• The supporting actor category marks the first time in Oscar history when all nominees in an acting race were previous winners. The runner-up year was 2002, when four of the five lead actor nominees (Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine, Daniel Day-Lewis and Jack Nicholson) were all previous winners; first-timer Adrien Brody eventually won that year for “The Pianist.”
• All five directing nominees were also cited in other categories: Michael Haneke, David O. Russell and Benh Zeitlin in the script races, and Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg as producers. Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy share the record for most best-picture producer noms, with eight apiece.
• Among the other dual contenders this year: Mark Boal, producer and writer of “Zero Dark Thirty”; Mychael Danna, music score and song, “Life of Pi”; William Goldenberg, editing for “Argo” and “Zero Dark Thirty” (shared with Dylan Tichenor). Nicole Kidman and Maggie Smith, who each received two Golden Globes nominations (one for film, the other for TV), came up empty at the Oscars.
• Seven of the nine best-pic contenders bowed in November or December. “Beasts of the Southern Wild” launched in June, and “Argo” in October.
• George Clooney is nommed as a producer of “Argo,” meaning he matches Warren Beatty’s record of noms in the picture, directing, writing and acting categories.
• “Amour” is the fifth film to be nominated for both best picture and foreign-lingo film. The others were “Z,” “The Emigrants,” “Life is Beautiful” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” None has ever swept.
• In the sound categories, Greg P. Russell earned his 16th career nom for “Skyfall,” while Andy Nelson scored his 17th and 18th noms (for “Les Miserables” and “Lincoln”).
• Eiko Ishioka earned a posthumous nom for costume design of “Mirror Mirror.” Ishioka, who died Jan. 21, won for the 1992 pic “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.”
• Eight of nine best picture nominees had a running time of at least two hours, the exception being “Beasts of the Southern Wild” at 1:31. The average running time of the best picture nominees was 2:14.
• A project starring Matthias Schoenaerts was nominated for an Oscar, but it wasn’t “Rust and Bone.” It was live-action short “Death of a Shadow.”
