The many Oscars of Batman

Cafe Society
1

I suppose I could look this up, but it would be pretty tedious. Relying on the collective knowledge of the SDMB seems easier, faster, and loads more fun.

If any of the six Batman movies has won an oscar, or been nominated for one, it’s a surprise to me. But have any actors, directors, composers, cinematographers, etc. involved in any of those movies won or been nominated for a different movie? I know that a few years ago, George Clooney (Batman and Robin) won two Oscars, one of which was for best director. I’m fairly certain that Morgan Freeman (BB, DK) won for Driving Miss Daisy. And didn’t Heath Ledger (DK) win one for Brokeback Mountain?

Who else?

2

Heath Ledger was nominated for Brokeback Mountain, but didn’t win. I’ve been predicting for a while that he’ll be nominated for Dark Knight but not win it.

Morgan Freeman won for Million Dollar Baby, not Driving Miss Daisy, though he was nominated for that one as well.

Jack Nicholson has won three Oscars, so he’s doing his part.

3

Four of the franchise installments have been tallied up 7 combined Oscar nominations, with one win to date.

Batman: 1 nod (Art Direction) and 1 win.
Batman Returns: 2 nods (Makeup & Visual Effects)
Batman Forever: 3 nods (Cinematography, Sound, Sound Effects Editing)
Batman Begins: 1 nod (Cinematography)

That nomination and win tally is very likely to double with The Dark Knight.

4

Thank you.

For what?

Surely Uma must have been nominated for something. And what about Nicole Kidman?

5

Terms of Endearment, As Good As It Gets and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. He has a sackload of nominations to go with them.

Yeah, for Pulp Fiction.

Well, look at that, a win for The Hours. Had no idea.

Apart from George Clooney (four nominations including two for writing and directing, one win for Syriana) none of the Batmen have any nominations.

6

Cast members from the franchise who have Oscar nominations to their credit (*indicates Oscar winner)

Kim Basinger*
Michael Caine**
George Clooney*
Morgan Freeman*
Tommy Lee Jones*
Nicole Kidman*
Heath Ledger
Liam Neeson
Jack Nicholson***
Jack Palance*
Michelle Pfeiffer
Eric Roberts
Uma Thurman
Christopher Walken*
Ken Watanabe
Tom Wilkinson

Danny DeVito was also an Oscar nominee for producing Best Picture candidate Erin Brockovich.

Tim Burton is an Oscar nominee for directing the Animated Feature The Corpse Bride and Christopher Nolan received an Oscar nod for writing Memento.

7

**Danny DeVito **was nominated for Best Picture as a producer of Erin Brockovich. Don’t know if that would really count for this though.

Christopher Walken (played Max Shreck in* Batman Returns*) won an Oscar for *The Deer Hunter *and was also nominated for Catch Me if You Can.

Michelle Pheiffer has been nominated three times with no wins.

8

Yes, it does.

I’m really surprised that Gary Oldman has never been nominated for anything. (Looks like he got a SAG award for The Contender, though, which he richly deserved.)

9

Danny Elfman (composer, Batman and Batman Returns) was nominated for his scores for Big Fish, Good Will Hunting and Men in Black. No wins.

10

Other high-profile Oscar winners from the Batman franchise:

Prince wrote songs for #1 and won an Oscar a few years prior to that for Purple Rain. Composer Hans Zimmer (#5-6) won an Oscar for scoring The Lion King and Eliot Goldenthal (#3-4) for Frida. Other Batman composers (Danny Elfman, James Newton Howard) have been nominated but never won.

Costume Desinger Lindy Hemming (#5-6) won an Oscar for Topsy-Turvy.

None of the film editors have won Oscars, but Ray Lovejoy (#1), Chris Lebenzon (#2), Dennis Virkler (#3) and Lee Smith (#5-6) have all been nominated for other movies–specifically Aliens, Crimson Tide/Top Gun, The Hunt for Red October/The Fugitive and Master & Commander, respectively.

Makeup nominees for #2 Stan Winston and Ve Neill may have lost for Batman, but they have won a combined total of 7 Oscars total in their careers (Neill: Beetlejuice, Ed Wood, Mrs. Doubtfire; Winston: Jurassic Park, T2, Aliens).

11

He was nominated, but he didn’t win the SAG.

12

Ah, so he didn’t. Damn shame.

One would think he’d have gotten at least a nod for Sid & Nancy.

13

Too indie & ugly for the Academy, especially for the mid-80s. They were rewarding musical bios like Loretta Lynn and Salieri at the time, not Sid Vicious and Charlie Parker.

14

I suppose. I have great respect for both Sissy and F. Murray. But Gary’s performance was brilliant. I heard that he stayed in costume and character the entire time he was on the set, and actually got treated by the cast and crew as a second-class citizen. That’s dedication.