It’s great to be Cate. When “TAR” was announced as one of the 2023 Oscar nominees for Best Picture on January 24, it secured Cate Blanchett a record 10th appearance in movies nominated for the Oscars’ top prize. That ties Blanchett with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jack Nicholson for having appeared in the second-most Best Picture nominees in history behind only Robert De Niro, who has been credited with starring in 11 Best Picture nominees.
The caveat: Actor Ward Bond appeared in 13 films that were nominated for Best Picture, but he was uncredited as a performer in a number of the projects. His roster of Best Picture nominees, however, included “Arrowsmith” (1931/32), “Lady for a Day” (1933), “It Happened One Night” (1934), “Dead End” (1937), “You Can’t Take It with You” (1938), “Gone with the Wind” (1939), “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940), “The Long Voyage Home” (1940), “The Maltese Falcon” (1941), “Sergeant York” (1941), “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946), “The Quiet Man” (1952), and “Mister Roberts” (1955).
Back to Blanchett. Last year, the two-time Oscar winner made history by starring in two 2022 Best Picture nominees, “Don’t Look Up” and “Nightmare Alley.” Those appearances made her the only actress ever credited with that many Best Picture nominees, surpassing a record previously held by Olivia de Havilland. With this year’s Best Picture nomination, Blanchett has now extended her lead.
Blanchett’s first role in a Best Picture nominee came for “Elizabeth,” the 1998 film that also gave Blanchett her first Best Actress nomination. Her other Best Picture nominees before this year included all three films in the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “The Aviator” (which gave Blanchett her first Oscar win, in the Best Supporting Actress category), “Babel,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Don’t Look Up,” and “Nightmare Alley.”
As it turned out, “Don’t Look Up” was a boon for the resumes of its stars. The film gave DiCaprio his 10th appearance in a Best Picture nominee and Meryl Streep her eighth appearance in a Best Picture nominee, a fact that allowed Streep to tie de Havilland in the record books. But while Blanchett is now just one behind De Niro for the overall record of Best Picture appearances, she might not catch him any time soon. This year, De Niro and DiCaprio star in Martin Scorsese’s “The Killers of the Flower Moon,” which is already expected to factor heavily into the 2024 Oscars race.
PREDICT the 2023 Oscar winners through March 12
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