With Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid‘s Oscar nominees announcement on January 23, 2024, the 96th Academy Awards created several new records. Besides having 10 first-timers in its four acting categories, the 2024 Oscars had its share of perceived snubs and shocking nominations. The 96th Academy Awards is scheduled to be held on March 10, 2024.
The ceremony will begin at 4:00 p.m. PT (7:00 p.m. ET) with comedian Jimmy Kimmel as host again. While all eyes are tuned in to the biggest award night in the American film industry in 2024, history and records could be made and broken. However, even before the ceremony night, several records were created with the 96th Academy Awards nominations. Here are 9 amazing 96th Academy Awards records.
Steven Spielberg’s 13th Best Picture Nomination
With Steven Spielberg’s Best Picture nomination at the 96th Academy Awards, the filmmaker extends his total Oscar nomination for Best Picture to 13. Steven Spielberg is nominated as one of the producers of the Bradley Cooper-directed Maestro. Spielberg already held the record as the producer with the highest Oscars Best Picture nomination before the 2024 Oscars. With 13 nominations, the next most nominated producer is Scott Rudin, who has received 9 nominations.
Martin Scorsese’s 10th Best Director Nomination
With a filmmaking career of over six decades, Martin Scorsese is one of Hollywood’s oldest living directors. His nomination for Best Director at the 96th Academy Awards holds new records at the Academy. With 10 Best Director nominations, Martin Scorsese has the most nominations by a living person. Scorsese had earlier tied with Steven Spielberg with 9 Best Director nominations. His work with Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) gave Scorsese a nod from the Academy and earned a tenth Best Director nomination. Although he currently holds the record as the highest-nominated living director, the late German-born American director William Wyler holds the record for the highest Best Director nomination in the history of the Oscars. Before his death, William Wyler received 12 Best Director nominations.
Lily Gladstone As First Indigenous American Actress To Be Nominated For An Acting Oscar
Indigenous American actress Lily Gladstone played the lead role in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). She earned her first Academy Award nomination for her role to become the first Indigenous American actress to be nominated for an acting Oscar. Although singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie was once regarded as the first Indigenous American to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song, her Indigenous American claim has been refuted several times. Irrespective of this, Lily Gladstone’s 96th Academy Awards nomination is one of this year’s records. In the Oscars’ history, Gladstone is the first Indigenous American actress to ever be nominated for an acting Oscar. If Buffy Sainte-Marie’s refuted claim is taken into consideration, Lily Gladstone is the first-ever indigenous American with a nomination at the Academy Awards.
6 Couples Nominated In Same Category
One of the most interesting 96th Academy Awards records is having 6 couples nominated in the same award category. Actress Margot Robbie and her English filmmaker husband Tom Ackerley are nominated together for Best Picture as co-producers of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie. Filmmaker Christopher Nolan and his British film producer wife, Emma Thomas, also share a nomination for Best Picture as co-producers of Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
Besides directing Barbie, Greta Gerwig also worked on the screenplay with her screenwriter husband, Noah Baumbach. With Barbie receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, Gerwig and her husband Baumbach share a nomination at the 96th Academy Awards. French filmmaker and screenwriter Justine Triet is also up for a nomination at the 96th Academy Awards with her longtime partner Arthur Harari. The couple shares a nomination for Best Original Screenplay for their co-written screenplay for Anatomy of a Fall.
Husband and wife American filmmakers Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess. The couple is nominated in the Best Animated Short category for their short animated movie Ninety-Five Senses. Also, Samy Burch shares a nomination with her husband, screenwriter Alex Mechanik, in the Best Original Screenplay category. The couple worked on the story for May December (2023), with Samy Burch writing the screenplay.
Thelma Schoonmaker’s 9th Best Film Editing Nomination
Algerian-born American film editor Thelma Schoonmaker set one of the 96th Academy Awards records with her ninth nomination for Best Film Editing. Besides her nominations, Schoonmaker holds one of the highest wins in the category. The film editor has won a record three times, something she shares with Michael Kahn, Daniel Mandell, and Ralph Dawson. Thelma Schoonmaker shared an eighth Best Film Editing nomination with Michael Kahn until her ninth nomination at the 2024 Oscars for her work in Killers of the Flower Moon. With the nomination, Thelma Schoonmaker becomes the most nominated person in the Best Film Editing category.
John Williams’ 54th Nomination As The Most Nominated Living Person
John Williams may not be a popular name to film and television audiences, but his work offscreen has not gone without recognition. At the 96th Academy Awards, John Williams was nominated for Best Original Score for his work in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Williams’ nomination brings his total Oscar nominations to 54. The nomination is one of the 96th Academy Awards’ new set records. With 54 Academy Awards nominations, John Williams is the most nominated living person. The only other person to have received more Academy Awards nominations is Walt Disney, who was nominated a record 59 times.
Scott George’s As First Osage Nation Member Nominated For An Oscar
As part of an effort to make Killers of the Flower Moon authentic and historically correct, Martin Scorsese worked with several Osage Nation members. Wanting to incorporate the culture’s music in the movie, Scorsese worked with Osage Nation musician Scott George. Scott George received his first Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. George is nominated for his music and lyrics with the song “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People).” Scott George’s 96th Academy Awards nomination adds to the list of the 2024 Oscars records as the first Osage Nation member to ever be nominated at the Academy Awards.
Martin Scorsese Is the Oldest Best Director Nominee
Besides extending his nomination for Best Director at the 96th Academy Awards to 10, Martin Scorsese extends his records at the Oscars with age. After receiving a nomination for Best Director at 81, Martin Scorsese became the oldest nominee to be nominated in the category. If Martin Scorsese wins at the 96th Academy Awards ceremony, he will replace Clint Eastwood as the oldest winner in the category. Clint Eastwood won Best Director at 74 at the 77th Academy Awards.
Colman Domingo As The First Afro-Latino Man Nominated For An Acting Oscar
Actor Colman Domingo received his first Oscar nomination for his acting career at the 96th Academy Awards. Domingo was nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of Bayard Rustin in the biographical drama Rustin (2023). However, Domingo’s nomination isn’t just a record for the actor. Colman Domingo became the first Afro-Latino man ever nominated for an Oscar. Although born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Colman Domingo’s father is from Belize, with ancestry from Guatemala. If you enjoyed reading about the new and broken 96th Academy Awards records, read about the 10 actors with their first mominations at the 96th Academy Awards.