As the director and producer of both “House of Gucci” and “The Last Duel,” Ridley Scott is poised to score big when the 2022 Oscar nominations are announced three months from now. Reaping double Best Picture or Best Director bids would make the 83-year-old the first to pull off either feat since Steven Soderbergh (“Erin Brockovich,” “Traffic”) did so in 2001. Even if he ends up being left out of both lineups, he could still make history if academy voters decide to recognize the work of his two leading ladies. If Jodie Comer (“The Last Duel”) and Lady Gaga (“House of Gucci”) are both chosen to compete for Best Actress, Scott will become the fifth person to direct female leads from different films to nominations in a single year.
The first of these rare occurrences dates back to the third Oscars ceremony in 1930 when Nancy Carroll (“The Devil’s Holiday”) and Gloria Swanson (“The Trespasser”) vied for Best Actress for films made by Edmund Goulding. They ultimately lost to Norma Shearer (“The Divorcee”), whose director was Robert Z. Leonard. Goulding went on to direct seven more Oscar-nominated performances, including those of Best Supporting Actress champs Mary Astor (“The Great Lie,” 1942) and Anne Baxter (“The Razor’s Edge,” 1947).
The next case involved 1941 victor Ginger Rogers (“Kitty Foyle”) and her competitor Martha Scott (“Our Town”). Both films were helmed by Sam Wood, who was individually nominated for the former but lost to John Ford (“The Grapes of Wrath”). He, Ford, and Alfred Hitchcock each had a pair of features make it into that year’s 10-film Best Picture lineup, with Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” coming out on top in the end. Wood also directed the Oscar-winning performances of Robert Donat (“Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” 1940) and Katina Paxinou (“For Whom the Bell Tolls,” 1944) as well as eight additional nominated ones.
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Daniel Mann joined the group next when Susan Hayward (“I’ll Cry Tomorrow”) and Anna Magnani (“The Rose Tattoo”) both scored Best Actress bids in 1956. Magnani went on to nab the trophy, while her film was defeated in the Best Picture race by “Marty.” Although Mann was never nominated for an Oscar, he directed a trio of Best Actress-winning performances, the other two being those of Shirley Booth (“Come Back, Little Sheba,” 1953) and Elizabeth Taylor (“BUtterfield 8,” 1961). The only director to have more of his leading ladies triumph is William Wyler with five: Bette Davis (“Jezebel,” 1939), Greer Garson (“Mrs. Miniver,” 1943), Olivia de Havilland (“The Heiress,” 1950), Audrey Hepburn (“Roman Holiday,” 1954), and Barbra Streisand (“Funny Girl,” 1969).
Herbert Ross is the only one on this list whose lead actresses took up three of the five spots in a single lineup. In 1978, his “The Turning Point” earned nominations for both Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine, while Marsha Mason was recognized for her work in his “The Goodbye Girl.” The former film brought Ross a Best Director bid, but he lost to Woody Allen, whose “Annie Hall” bested both Ross-helmed films in the Best Picture category as well. Diane Keaton also won Best Actress for “Annie Hall,” with the final slot being filled by Jane Fonda (“Julia”). Ross directed a dozen actors to Oscar nominations, including winners George Burns (“The Sunshine Boys,” 1976), Richard Dreyfuss (“The Goodbye Girl,” 1978), and Maggie Smith (“California Suite,” 1979).
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Scott has been nominated for Best Director three times throughout his career, for “Thelma & Louise,” “Gladiator,” and “Black Hawk Down.” He was beaten by Jonathan Demme (“The Silence of the Lambs”), Soderbergh (“Traffic”), and Ron Howard (“A Beautiful Mind”), respectively. He also vied for the 2016 Best Picture award as a producer of “The Martian,” but the film lost to “Spotlight.”
This would be the second instance of Scott having directed two-fifths of a Best Actress lineup, since both Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon from “Thelma & Louise” competed against each other in 1992. The only other similar case involved Joseph L. Mankiewicz, whose direction led to nominations for “All About Eve” costars Baxter and Davis in 1951 and “Suddenly, Last Summer” leads Katharine Hepburn and Taylor in 1960. Scott’s previous films have racked up a total of seven acting bids, with the “Thelma & Louise” duo having been followed by 2001 Best Actor winner Russell Crowe (“Gladiator”) and nominees Joaquin Phoenix (“Gladiator”), Ruby Dee (“American Gangster”), Matt Damon (“The Martian”), and Christopher Plummer (“All the Money in the World”).
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