Nominations for the 94th Oscars were unveiled Tuesday, and The Power of the Dog led the pack with a dozen nods.
Here are five key takeaways from the announcement, ahead of the Academy Awards gala on March 27:
Couple of couples
Getting an Oscar nomination is always an honor for any actor, but being nominated in the same year as your life partner must be extra special.
This year’s nominations feature two couples: Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz scored nods in the best actor and actress categories, respectively, for Being the Ricardos and Parallel Mothers. It is the fourth nomination for each, and both have won once.
“I am very happy for my nomination, but mine would not have made sense without hers, because it would not have been a celebration, and the fact that both happened at the same time seems magical,” Bardem told reporters in Madrid.
Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons earned supporting nods, playing a couple in moody Western The Power of the Dog. It is the first nomination for both actors.
Other famous couples earning Academy Award nominations in the same year include Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt in 1932, Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner in 1954, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in 1967, and Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach in 2020.
Directing history
Hollywood titan Steven Spielberg made Oscars history again Tuesday, with a best picture nod for West Side Story making him the first producer to earn a staggering 11 such nominations.
He also bagged an eighth best director nod, placing him alongside the great Billy Wilder, and behind only William Wyler (12) and Martin Scorsese (nine).
Jane Campion became the first woman to receive two best director nominations, 28 years after The Piano.
And multi-hyphenate Kenneth Branagh is the first person to be nominated in seven different categories, earning his first original screenplay and best picture nods.
The Belfast director has never won an Oscar.
