The other
“active” leaders in this are Mike Nichols with 18 nominations, and 2 wins –
although he’s over 80, and hasn’t directed since 2007, so perhaps he’s not
“active”. Francis Ford Coppola with 14 nominated performances and 2 wins –
although he hasn’t had anyone nominated since 1991, and given what he’s
interested in doing now (which I respect), I doubt we’ll see him add to that
total. Clint Eastwood with 12 nominees and 4 winners. Steven Spielberg with 12
nominees and 1 winner. And strangely enough, David O. Russell, with 11 nominees
and 3 winners. Russell is a strange case because all of those nominees have
come since 2010 in just three films. He keeps this pace up, and maybe he’ll catch
Allen and Scorsese – not to mention the two leaders in this category – Elia
Kazan with 24 nominated performances and 7 winners, and William Wyler, with a
staggering 36 nominees, and 14 winners. James L. Brooks is the only other
active director with 10 or more nominees – with exactly 10 (4 wins) – although
they all come from 3 movies (4 for Terms of Endearment, 3 for Broadcast News
and 3 for As Good As It Gets).
A few
interesting tidbits about the nominees for Allen Scorsese: Of those 18
performances Allen has directed, only 5 have been for men – the other 13 were
women. The breakdown for him is 2 Best Actor Nominees, 3 Best Supporting Actor
nominees, 3 Best Actress Nominees and 10 Supporting Actress. Of the six
winners, it’s one for Actress, one for Supporting Actor and 4 for Supporting
Actress. Despite his tendency to work with the same actors again and again,
only Dianne Wiest received two different nominations for his films – winning
both times. The stretch of nominees for Woody Allen is 36 years – the first two
coming in 1977, and the last two for 2013. 11 different films received
nominations – Bullets Over Broadway received 3, Hannah and Her Sisters,
Interiors, Annie Hall, Blue Jasmine all received 2. In total, Allen’s films
have been nominated for 53 Oscars – good for a tie for 18th among
directors – and won 11 of them. Personally, Allen has been nominated 24 times –
16 for writing (winning 3), 7 for directing (winning 1) and once for acting.
For
Scorsese, it’s 12 male performances to 10 Female performances – a more even
ratio than I expected. His breakdown is 7 Best Actor, 2 Best Actress, 6
Supporting Actor, and 7 Supporting Actress. The five wins are 2 for Actor, 1
for Actress, 1 for Supporting Actor and 1 for Supporting Actress. Scorsese has
directed 3 nominated performances by Robert DeNiro (1 won), 2 by Joe Pesci (1
won) and 2 by Leonardo DiCaprio. The other 15 nominations went to different
people, only nominated once for a Scorsese film. The stretch of nominees for
Scorsese is 39 years – the first two coming in 1974, the final two in 2013. For
Scorsese, it’s 12 different films – with Raging Bull and The Aviator both
receiving 3, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Taxi Driver, The Color of Money,
GoodFellas, Cape Fear and The Wolf of Wall Street all receiving 2. In Total,
Martin Scorsese’s films have been nominated for 80 Oscars – 3rd most
all time behind Wyler and Spielberg – and won 20. Scorsese has personally been
nominated for 12 Oscars – 8 for Directing (winning once), twice each for
Producing and Writing.
The only
actor to be directed to an Oscar nominated performance by both Allen and
Scorsese? Cate Blanchatt – who won for The Aviator back in 2004 for Scorsese,
and could well win for Allen’s Blue Jasmine this year.
Now for fun,
I’ll rank the 18 nominated Performances From Woody Allen Movies, with only a
few short words on each. Remarkably, I rather like all 18 performances, even if
I wouldn’t have nominated some of them. Winners are marked with a (W).
18. Geraldine Page, Interiors (1978) – Best
Actress – Page is fine in Allen’s first “serious” movie – but damn if it’s
not a thoroughly depressing performance.
17. Maureen Stapleton, Interiors (1978) –
Best Supporting Actress – I like this one a little bit more than Page’s,
because she takes what could have been a one note role as a “vulgarian” – and
turns it into something a little bit more.
16. Jennifer Tilly, Bullets Over Broadway
(1994) – Best Supporting Actress – Probably Tilly’s best film work not – at
least not as a lesbian in a Wachowski neo-noir – Tilly is great fun, using her
voice to good advantage, but it’s kind of a one note role.
15. Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
(2006) – Best Supporting Actress (W) – Great in her native Spanish as a
sexual firecracker – a little one note perhaps, but it’s a hell of a note.
14. Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine (2013) –
Best Supporting Actress – She more than held her own against the hurricane
of Cate Blanchatt – doesn’t quite get the opportunity to do more than that
though.
13. Mira Sorvino, Mighty Aphrodite (1995) –
Best Supporting Actress (W) – Another strangely voiced comedic role, this
is the best work Sorvino ever did – hilarious, and in that final scene rather
heart felt.
12. Chazz Palmeterri, Bullets Over Broadway
(1994) – Best Supporting Actor – Perfectly cast as a gangster, who reveals
hidden artistic depths, and the disturbing lengths he’ll go to protect that
art.
11. Dianne Wiest, Bullets Over Broadway
(1994) – Best Supporting Actress (W) – Wiest has great fun in her second
Oscar winning role for Allen as an aging, alcoholic diva wrapping poor John
Cusack around her finger.
10. Sean Penn, Sweet and Lowdown (1999) –
Best Actor – Sean Penn doing comedy
is hilarious at times, but goes deeper than we first expect - he's more than a little bit of an asshole, but everyone in the movie - and the audience - cannot help but kind of love him.
9. Samantha Morton, Sweet and Lowdown
(1999) – Best Supporting Actress – A silent role, as a mute, Morton
delivers an hilarious performance that I love more and more each time I see it.
8. Muriel Hemingway, Manhattan (1979) –
Best Supporting Actress – She plays a teenager dating a middle aged man,
and hanging out with his friends – who is the only one with an excuse to be
this immature – a great performance she sadly never topped.
7. Michael Caine, Hannah and Her Sisters
(1986) – Best Supporting Actor (W) – A weak willed, pathetic character –
probably not quite what you would expect from Caine, but damn it if he wasn’t
great.
6. Cate Blanchatt, Blue Jasmine (2013) –
Best Actress – Taking on a role inspired by Blanche Dubois couldn’t have
been easy, but Blanchatt is more than up to the task and nails it in a tour de
force.
5. Woody Allen, Annie Hall (1977) – Best
Actor – Allen’s only nomination as an actor – and while I don’t think it’s
his best performance, it’s probably the best at combining his persona, his
jokes and a little bit of dramatic skills – he’s always been underrated as an
actor, and here’s proof.
4. Judy Davis, Husbands and Wives (1992) –
Best Supporting Actress – Gloriously bitchy, this is Davis at her very best
– if only the rumors were true and Jack Palance was supposed to call her name
and not Marisa Tomei’s.
3. Dianne Wiest, Hannah and Her Sisters
(1986) – Best Supporting Actress (W) – Perhaps the most “Woody” out of all
the female parts he has ever written – and Wiest nails it brilliantly as a mess
of a character, who finally finds her soul mate – in Allen of course.
2. Martin Landau, Crimes and Misdemeanors
(1989) – Best Supporting Actor – A brilliantly cold performance as a man
who wants to protect his reputation at all costs – even murder. He should have
won for this, and let Samuel L. Jackson win in 1994 for Pulp Fiction (instead
of Landau in Ed Wood).
1. Diane Keaton, Annie Hall (1977) – Best
Actress (W) – Could it really be anyone else? Is there a more iconic Woody
Allen character than the one he based on Keaton herself, and let her play to
perfection? I don’t think so.
Now, Allen
has made 45 films in his career – so obviously they didn’t nominate all the
performances they probably should have. The following performances at least
should have been considered.
Woody Allen himself has delivered some
excellent performances in his career in particular in Manhattan (1979), Stardust Memories (1980), Husbands and Wives (1992)
and Deconstructing Harry (1997) – which when you add them in with his
nominated performance in Annie Hall really does away with the myth that he
always plays the same character and I would have been fine with nominations for
any of those. Mia Farrow (rightly)
hates Allen’s guts – but she did great work with him in Broadway Danny Rose (1984), The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Hannah and
Her Sisters (1986), Radio Days (1987) and Husbands and Wives (1992) –
certainly one of which deserved a nomination (sadly, Farrow has never been
nominated). On a completely different note, Gena Rowlands was brilliant in Another
Woman (1988) – perhaps the best work of her career outside of a John
Cassavetes movie. Scarlett Johansson
was brilliant in Match Point (2005).
They nominated Landau, but surely there was also room for Alan Alda for Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). Barbara Hershey may not be quite as
good as Dianne Wiest, but her work in Hannah
and Her Sisters (1986) was also great. Since I’ve mentioned everyone else
in the movie, why not Sydney Pollock for
Husbands and Wives (1992). I could go on.
And now, of
course, come the 22 Nominated Performances from Martin Scorsese movies – again,
a reasonably solid list with only a few real head scratchers.
22. Mary Elizabeth Mastranonio, The Color
of Money (1986) – Best Supporting Actress - A nearly forgotten performance
by a nearly forgotten actress in Scorsese’s most forgettable movie. She’s fine,
but I still cannot help but wonder how this happened.
21. Alan Alda, The Aviator (2004) – Best
Supporting Actor – An obvious sympathy vote for aging actor the quite like,
but never nominated before – I like to think it’s a makeup nomination for not
nominating him for Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors. Alda is very good in the
role, but it’s not a great role.
20. Paul Newman, The Color of Money (1986)
– Best Actor (W) – Newman is movie star cruise control is still immensely
entertaining. Still considering his career, this is the movie that won him an
Oscar?
19. Diane Ladd, Alice Doesn’t Live Here
Anymore (1974) – Best Supporting Actress – Ladd adds some much needed humor
into Scorsese’s one “woman’s picture” – but star Ellen Burstyn really is the whole
show here
18. Robert DeNiro, Cape Fear (1991) – Best
Actor – DeNiro is full psycho mode is a guilty pleasure for me every time I
watch the movie. But an Oscar nominee? I’m not convinced – Nolte has another
leading role, and while he’s not as flashy, he may be better.
17. Cathy Moriaty, Raging Bull (1980) –
Best Supporting Actress – Moriaty does precisely what she is supposed to do
in Raging Bull – smolder and exude sexuality that drives DeNiro’s LaMotta
crazy. There isn’t much depth to the role however – but she plays what there is
to perfection.
16. Winona Ryder, The Age of Innocence
(1993) – Best Supporting Actress – I love this movie, and Ryder’s extremely
subtle performance – she never lets on about how much she knows – is very good.
Still, perhaps the role is a little too subtle.
15. Juliette Lewis, Cape Fear (1991) – Best
Supporting Actress – Lewis is great in one of her first major roles –
particularly in the film’s best scene, as DeNiro creepily tries to seduce her.
I won’t argue with those who are fans – and I know there are many – but when
Lewis gets the right role, she nails it. This is one of them.
14. Sharon Stone, Casino (1995) – Best
Actress – Stone was a major movie star in 1995, but was rarely given a role
that required much from her – but she is great in Casino, as DeNiro’s wife, who
appears to be perfect at first – but has a lot of baggage she brings along with
her, which sinks them all. The best performance of Stone’s career.
13. Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn’t Live Here
Anymore (1974) – Best Actress (W) – Burstyn handpicked Scorsese to direct
this film – and it was a would choice, given that it lead to her one Oscar win
(she should have won more). She is great as a newly widowed mother who decides
to reinvent her life – and finds it doesn’t quite go according to plan. Not one
of my favorite Scorsese movies – but a hell of a performance.
12. Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
(2013) – Best Supporting Actor – Hill is hilarious and despicable in this
movie as DiCaprio’s perhaps even more depraved partner and best friend. He
plays the biggest asshole imaginable to perfection.
11. Mark Wahlberg, The Departed (2006) –
Best Supporting Actor – Mark Wahlberg’s role in The Departed was the only
major one not in the original Hong Kong film – and he’s profane perfection in
it. Some were surprised he was nominated and not Nicholson (for my money, they
both should have got in) and while he’s not the best one in film (that would be
DiCaprio) he is the only acting nominee – and he is great.
10. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Aviator (2004) –
Best Actor – DiCaprio probably would not have been most people’s first
choice to play eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes – but that didn’t stop him
from delivering an excellent performance as a man driven to succeed, and undone
by his personal demons.
9. Cate Blanchatt, The Aviator (2004) –
Best Supporting Actress (W) – Blanchatt nailed her Katherine Hepburn
impression in this movie, and even if the movie fudges a little on how
important she was to Hughes, she also delivers an emotional turn as well.
Playing a Hollywood icon is tough – and she pulled it off with ease.
8. Lorraine Bracco, GoodFellas (1990) –
Best Supporting Actress – Bracco’s best big screen role comes here, as the
wife of Ray Liotta’s Henry Hill – a gangster she knows she shouldn’t be
attracted to, but cannot help herself. Bracco doesn’t descend quite as far as
Liotta does – but its close, and she’s great here.
7. Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York
(2002) – Best Actor – Gangs of New York is a flawed film to be sure, but
I’ve never seen one in Daniel Day-Lewis’ brilliant turn as Bill the Butcher.
Does he go over the top? Sure. Would I want it any other way? No.
6. Joe Pesci, GoodFellas (1990) – Best
Supporting Actor (W) – This is the Joe Pesci that will be remembered
forever – a hair trigger tempered, psychotic gangster who kills at the drop of
a hat, and doesn’t see his downfall coming. 100 years from now, people will
still be saying “What are you saying? I’m a clown?” to each other.
5. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall
Street (2013) – Best Actor – DiCaprio delivers an inspired comedic
performance that I didn’t know he was capable of. There isn’t an ounce of
vanity in his performance as he plays a clearly horrible person, but also shows
how that can be charming. A brilliant performance by an actor who keeps getting
better.
4. Jodie Foster, Taxi Driver (1976) – Best
Supporting Actress – Jodie Foster’s role as a child prostitute in Taxi
Driver is disturbing for many reasons – but the young Foster handles her every
scene with ease. It remains one of the best roles of Foster’s amazing career.
3. Joe Pesci, Raging Bull (1980) – Best
Supporting Actor – DeNiro won every award in sight for Raging Bull
(deservingly), but Pesci is almost as good. The then newcomer holds his own
against DeNiro is every scene – especially the “You fuck my wife” scene that is
the heart of the movie. You rarely see better acting than that scene anywhere –
by either actor.
2. Robert DeNiro, Raging Bull (1980) – Best
Actor (W) – The weight gain is only part of why this performance works so
well. As Roger Ebert said, Raging Bull is like a modern day Othello, with
DeNiro’s Jake LaMotta as the title character, who screws everything up because
of his jealously and rage. One of the greatest screen performances of all time.
1. Robert DeNiro, Taxi Driver (1976) – Best
Actor – And this may just be the
greatest screen performance of all time – or at least my favorite. As Travis
Bickle, DeNiro delivers a performance that ranges from quiet and introspective
to delusional to violent – and yet he also lets us inside the character’s head
– which is a disturbing place to be. The best performance DeNiro ever gave or
that was ever in a Scorsese movie.
Overlooked Performances: As with Woody
Allen movies, there are a number of performances from Scorsese movies that I
think warranted consideration in the Oscar race. Including Robert DeNiro in Mean Streets which was his breakthrough role in
Scorsese’s breakthrough film. Robert
DeNiro, Jerry Lewis & Sandra
Bernhard in The King of Comedy were all brilliant – especially DeNiro as
the delusional Rupert Pupkin. Willem
Dafoe in The Last Temptation of Christ is probably the most human Jesus in
cinema history. Ray Liotta in GoodFellas
somehow never got any respect for the performance, despite the fact he’s
brilliant and in almost every scene. Daniel
Day-Lewis & Michelle Pfeiffer in The Age of Innocence should have
joined Winona Ryder as nominees – especially Day-Lewis (although they nominated
him for a different, not quite as movie that year). Robert DeNiro & Joe Pesci in Casino were accused of simply
repeating their GoodFellas roles, which is somewhat ridiculous. Leonardo DiCaprio & Jack Nicholson in The Departed were both
great – DiCaprio should have won Best Actor this year, and why they nominated
him for Blood Diamond instead, I’ll never know. Leonardo DiCaprio & Michelle Williams in Shutter Island were both
excellent in a film that many dismissed as a genre exercise because they
couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Margot
Robbie in The Wolf of Wall Street was hurt by the film’s late release, as
she never garnered much buzz for her excellent work. No matter – it should
still make her a star.
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