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Clayton Davis
Chief Awards Editor
byClaytonDavis See All
Can any of this year’s Oscar acting contenders receive a double take?
One of the most notable rule changes for the 99th Oscars allows an actor to earn multiple nominations in the same category, provided each performance ranks among the top five vote getters. Previously, only the highest finisher advanced. The move finally aligns the acting races with the rest of the ballot. The change has the potential to neutralize some of the presumed “category fraud,” at least for actors with two performances in play in the same year, in which a campaign team strategically pushes one turn into supporting to dodge a vote split.
Oscar historians can point to dual turns like Leonardo DiCaprio in 2006’s “Blood Diamond” and “The Departed” or Kate Winslet in 2008’s “The Reader” and “Revolutionary Road” as instances where a performer might have claimed two slots in one race.
The acting rule mechanism dates to the earliest days of the Academy Awards. The last notable acting rule change came at the 17th Academy Awards in 1945, when Barry Fitzgerald became the only performer in Oscar history to receive nominations for both lead and supporting actor for the same role, Father Fitzgibbon in “Going My Way” (1944). The Academy soon after limited each performance to a single nomination.
Several notable actors are entering the season with eccentric blends of pedigreed projects, blockbuster flair and early raves — all of which could put them in play for that rare double.
Here are the names Variety will be keeping close tabs on.
Honorable mentions: Zendaya (“Dune: Part Three,” “The Odyssey” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”) and Robert Pattinson (“The Drama” and “Primetime” in lead, “Dune: Part Three,” “Here Comes the Flood” and “The Odyssey” in supporting).
See all Academy Awards predictionsVariety Awards Circuit: Oscars
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Penélope Cruz
Image Credit: Cannes The Oscar-winning Spanish star of “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” (2008) walked into two festivals, Sundance and Cannes, and walked out with buzz at both. She drew standout notices as a free-spirited neighbor in the Olivia Wilde dark comedy “The Invite,” then surfaced in one of the three chapters of “La Bola Negra,” the period drama that won best director at Cannes for Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo.
A24 and Netflix landed the films, respectively. A third title could also loom: the Florian Zeller thriller “Bunker,” alongside hubby Javier Bardem, eyeing a 2026 release, and a possible fall festival debut.
Could Cruz be a triple threat for supporting actress?
