Branagh sets an Oscar record
Scott Jordan Harris
The announcement of the 2012 Oscar nominations has caused a considerable stir on this side of the Atlantic. Reactions are split roughly 50-50 between delight that Britain’s Gary Oldman has been nominated for Best Actor for his performance in Tinker Tailor Sailor Soldier Spy and outrage that director Steve McQueen and company have not been nominated in any category for the British film Shame.
But the British export we should all be talking about is not Oldman or Shame, but Kenneth Branagh. His nomination for Best Supporting Actor for playing Laurence Olivier in My Week with Marilyn is remarkable in two ways. Firstly, if he wins, Branagh will become the only man to win an Oscar for playing a man who won an Oscar. (Cate Blanchett is the only woman to win an Oscar for playing a woman who won an Oscar, after portraying Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator.)
Secondly, and more impressively, the nomination makes Branagh the only person in history – Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles included – to be nominated for five Academy Awards in five different categories. Sadly, as he has yet to win in any of them, even this distinction may not mean much to Britain’s most famous big screen Shakespearean. After all, his ex-wife, Emma Thompson, is only person in history to win (non-honorary) Oscars for both writing and acting.
Most people know, or can at least work out, that three of Branagh’s previous four nominations have come in the categories of Best Actor, Best Director and Best (Adapted) Screenplay. But the
final category is generally more of a surprise.
In 1992, Branagh directed Swan Song, a short film starring John Gieguld and Richard Briers, and adapted from the play by Chekhov. Although it was justly nominated for Best Live Action Short, it continues to been seen far less than then should be.
And so, in a small effort to remedy that, Swan Song is included here, in two parts. I apologise for the Italian subtitles – but in this case, as so often on the internet, embedders can’t be choosers.
N.B. If we consider nominations for Oscars for Best Picture - which essentially reward everyone who worked on a film but are presented to a limited number of named producers - then Warren Beatty and John Huston have also been nominated for five Oscars in five different categories. Discounting the Best Picture category, Kenneth Branagh is the only person to be nominated for five Oscars in five different categories and, as Rhett Bartlett points out, is certainly the first person to have his first five Oscar nominations come in five different categories.
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January 27th, 2012 10:23am
Lucy AmIs
I agree it's a remarkable achievement, and think Branagh is overdue a win. However I think you'll find that his record is equalled by George Clooney who's had oscar nominations in 5 categories too: Best Actor (3 times), Supporting Actor (Syriana, and won), Director (Good Nigth, Good Luck), Original Writing (Good Night, Good Luck - shared with Grant Heslov), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Ides of March, shared with Heslov & Beau Willimon).
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January 27th, 2012 10:16pm
Scott Jordan Harris
That's a very good point, Lucy. An omission on my part. What makes Clooney's nominations even more remarkable is that they have all come in less than a decade. I wonder if he could get nominations in six or seven categories. I can see him working on a socially conscious documentary, perhaps, or picking up one of the above mentioned Best Picture nominations.
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February 2nd, 2012 5:53pm
Tariq
Warren Beatty is the only person in Academy history to have been nominated in four major categories (actor, director, screenwriter, producer) in the same year, twice: first for Heaven Can Wait, then for Reds. And he did more than any other individual to usher in the Hollywood New Wave of the 60's and 70's by producing and championing Bonnie and Clyde.
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