Oscars 2021
New records at the world’s most important film award
Chloé Zhao with her Oscar for directing.
© imago images / ZUMA Press
At the Oscars there were again a few surprises this year. These stars have set new records.
The Oscar ceremony on the night of April 26th was probably the most unusual in the long history of the film award due to the corona pandemic. At the same time, however, several filmmakers, directors and actors set new records.
The first Asian woman and the oldest man
Chloé Zhao (39) was named best director at the Oscars 2021 for her film “Nomadland”. Zhao, who was born in Beijing, China, was the first Asian woman to receive the award in this category. In addition, she is only the second woman to be honored with the award. Her US colleague Kathryn Bigelow (69) won the 2010 Oscar for “Best Director” with “Tödliches Kommando – The Hurt Locker”. Zhao’s “Nomadland” was also named “Best Film” and leading actress Frances McDormand (63) won the category “Best Actress in a Leading Role”.
At 83, Hollywood veteran Anthony Hopkins is now the oldest actor to ever win the Academy Award for Best Male Actor. The 83-year-old, who was honored for his performance in “The Father”, did not give an acceptance speech either. Because of the corona pandemic, the Briton could not travel to the USA, instead Hopkins slept through the ceremony. His longtime agent Jeremy Barber told the US magazine “People”: “Tony was in Wales, where he grew up, and he was sleeping at 4am when I woke him up to tell him the news.”
For his role in “Minari”, Steven Yeun (37) was also the first US actor with Asian roots to be nominated for “Best Actor”. Yeun, most well known from the popular series “The Walking Dead”, could – like his also nominated colleagues Riz Ahmed (38, “Sound of Metal”), Chadwick Boseman (1976-2020, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” ) and Gary Oldman (63, “Mank”) – failed to prevail against Hopkins.
Most of the nominations
For her portrayal in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, Viola Davis (55) was also in the running for the “Best Actress” award alongside her colleague McDormand. According to “Guinness World Records” she was doing it the most nominated black actress (four nominations) at all. Davis previously competed once as “Best Actress” and twice as “Best Supporting Actress”. In 2017 she received the Oscar for her role in the drama “Fences”.
Meanwhile, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson received an Oscar in the “Make-up and Hairstyling” category for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” – alongside their colleague Sergio Lopez-Rivera. So that’s what they are first black filmmakers to be honored for their work in this category.
Another record goes indirectly to Sacha Baron Cohen (49): “Borat 2” became the film with the longest name that has ever entered the race. The official title: “Borat Subsequent Movie: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”. The actress Maria Bakalowa (24) was nominated as “Best Supporting Actress”, Cohen himself could hope for the “Best Adapted Screenplay” category. However, others won in both categories: Yuh-Jung Youn (73) for “Minari” and “The Father”.