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Damien Chazelle’s La La Land is dancing into tonight’s Oscars with a massive 14 award nominations. This equals the most nods ever received by a film, previously only achieved by Titanic in 1998 and All About Eve in 1951. La La Land, a musical starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, could very well become the most decorated film of all time. The film already made history at the Golden Globes earlier this month when it won all seven of the awards for which it received nominations. The record for the most Oscar wins is currently jointly held by Ben Hur, Titanic and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, which all took home 11 of the prized statuettes.
Amongst La La Land’s nominations are the five awards which undeniably hold the most gravitas. The so-called ‘Big Five’ Oscars are the awards for Best Picture, Actress in a Leading Role, Actor in a Leading Role, Directing and Writing (Original Screenplay or Adapted Screenplay). In the 89-year history of the Academy Awards, 42 films have been nominated for the Big Five, yet only three films have ever achieved the win for all five categories. These were The Silence of the Lambs in 1991, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975, and It Happened One Night in 1934.
Despite La La Land’s impressive number of Oscar nods, the wins for the Big Five will not come easily. In the Best Picture category, the film will come up against great competition in the form of Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, Lion, Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight. With several of these films being praised as far more diverse than La La Land, the musical could be challenged. Variety awards writer Tim Gray has called Hidden Figures the “dark horse” of the evening, with Moonlight also expected to do well.
Standby.
