Disney is no stranger to the Academy Awards, but it managed to hit a few “firsts” with this year’s batch of nominees. With the Oscars airing tomorrow, I thought I would discuss a few fun facts about Disney’s noms for the 94th Academy Awards.
Best Original Song (Encanto). “Dos Oruguitas”—the song Disney submitted for consideration for Encanto instead of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”—is the first song from a Disney movie not entirely in English that is nominated for an Oscar.
Best Original Score (Encanto). Germaine Franco is the sixth woman nominated for this award, and the first Latina nominee—ever. This is a huge deal.
Best Animated Feature (Encanto, Raya and the Last Dragon, Luca). This is the third time Disney has occupied this many slots among nominees. Disney won the award in both earlier instances, for Spirted Away and Brave, respectively.
Best Supporting Actress (West Side Story). Ariana DeBose—the favorite to win the award—made history just by being nominated: this is the first time an actor has been nominated for playing the same role in a remake as a previous winner. Rita Moreno famously won the Academy Award in the same category for playing Anita in the 1962 film. A win for Ariana DeBose would be another historic first.
Best Picture and Best Director (West Side Story). Steven Spielberg is nominated for directing his first musical (though he has received many Best Director nod in his (West Side) storied career. This is also his 11th nomination for Best Picture—as a producer on the film he is therefore in consideration for this award. Spielberg won the latter category for Schindler’s List at the 1994 awards.
Despite the controversies and the falling viewer ratings, the Academy Awards remain Hollywood’s biggest night. This year the awards air tomorrow (March 27) at 8PM ET/ 5PM PST. Will you be watching?
Source: D23 Magazine.
