If “Women Talking” take home the Best Picture statuette at next year’s 95th Oscars, Frances McDormand would become only the second woman to win at least two Academy Awards trophies in the category. We say ”at least” because should the movie win the top prize, it would mean that fellow “Women Talking” producer Dede Gardner had earned her third.
In fact, Gardner has a pair of chances this year to add more Best Pic gold to her bio: “Women Talking” and “She Said.” Her previous triumphs in the category came in 2014 for “12 Years a Slave” and in 2017 for “Moonlight.”
McDormand’s previous Best Picture producer victory came in 2021 for “Nomadland,” for which she also earned her third Best Actress award. Her other Oscar performing wins – also for Best Actress – came in 1997 for “Fargo” and in 2018 for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
Historically, there have been 16 Best Picture honors taken home by 15 different women (with Gardner earning two of those). Here is the complete list of past female winners, in order (year refers to ceremony):
• Julia Phillips for “The Sting” (1974)
• Lili Fini Zanuck for “Driving Miss Daisy” (1990)
• Wendy Finerman for “”Forrest Gump” (1995)
• Donna Gigliotti for “Shakespeare in Love” (1999)
• Fran Walsh for “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2004)
• Cathy Schulman for “Crash” (2006)
• Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker” (2010)
• Dede Gardner for “12 Years a Slave” (2014)
• Nicole Rocklin and Blye Pagon Faust for “Spotlight” (2016)
• Adele Romanski and Dede Gardner for “Moonlight” (2017)
• Kwak Sin-ae for “Parasite” (2020)
• Frances McDormand, Mollye Asher and Chloe Zhao for “Nomadland” (2021)
A few other interesting stats:
• There have been 134 female nominees total (including repeat noms) in the Best Picture category, not a single one prior to 1974.
• All of the women who have won for Best Picture have shared the honor with at least one (and in most cases) several men.
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