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Take today's Oscar challenge!
Loved the first Oscar quiz that we put out? Well, here's more from where that came from.
1. Jane Campion. Sofia Coppola. Kathryn Bigelow. Who is the odd woman out?
a. Kathryn Bigelow
b. Jane Campion
c.Sofia Coppola
The correct answer is Kathryn Bigelow. Campion, Coppola and Bigelow are members of an elite group of women directors nominated for an Oscar for Best Director.
Bigelow is the only lady winner, for The Hurt Locker.
German filmmaker Lina Wertmuller, (Seven Beauties, 1976) was the first woman to be nominated for Best Director.
New Zealander Campion (The Piano) was nominated in 1993.
Ten years later, in 2003, Sofia Coppola, whose pa American director Francis Ford Coppola won a 1972 Oscar for The Godfather, was nominated for Lost in Translation.
Last year when Bigelow won, her former husband was also in the running: James Cameron, for Avatar.
Bigelow is the only lady winner, for The Hurt Locker.
German filmmaker Lina Wertmuller, (Seven Beauties, 1976) was the first woman to be nominated for Best Director.
New Zealander Campion (The Piano) was nominated in 1993.
Ten years later, in 2003, Sofia Coppola, whose pa American director Francis Ford Coppola won a 1972 Oscar for The Godfather, was nominated for Lost in Translation.
Last year when Bigelow won, her former husband was also in the running: James Cameron, for Avatar.
Take today's Oscar challenge!
2. Two-time Oscar winner Vivien Leigh was born in India. In which city?
a. Lucknow
b. Darjeeling
c. Shimla
The correct answer is Darjeeling. Leigh (Vivian Mary Hartley)'s father Ernest was an officer in the Indian Cavalry regiment. The future Oscar winner for Gone With The Wind (1939) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) was born in Darjeeling on November 5, 1913.
It was in India that the woman who would steal Laurence Olivier's heart made her acting debut, aged 3, in her mother's amateur theatre group.
After she left India in 1920, to go to school in England, Vivian never saw this country again.
At the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta, a museum at the location where the writer wrote Gone With the Wind, there is a special section devoted to Vivien Leigh who played the memorable Scarlett O'Hara, with prominent mention of her Indian origin.
It was in India that the woman who would steal Laurence Olivier's heart made her acting debut, aged 3, in her mother's amateur theatre group.
After she left India in 1920, to go to school in England, Vivian never saw this country again.
At the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta, a museum at the location where the writer wrote Gone With the Wind, there is a special section devoted to Vivien Leigh who played the memorable Scarlett O'Hara, with prominent mention of her Indian origin.
Take today's Oscar challenge!
3. Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland are the only two to do what?
a. Rival stars who never won an Oscar
b. Sisters to win an Oscar
c. Actresses to jointly win an Oscar
The correct answer is Sisters to win an Oscar. Fontaine, who was nominated thrice, won the Oscar for Suspicion, the only actor to win for a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock (she had also been nominated for her role in his Rebecca).
De Havilland was nominated five times, including once for Best Supporting Actress (Melanie Hamilton in Gone With the Wind) and won twice (To Each His Own; 1946, and The Heiress; 1949).
In 1941, both sisters -- who were born in Tokyo a year apart -- were in contention for the Big Prize; Fontaine, the younger sister, won.
The legendary actresses are still going strong at 94 and 93 respectively, but have not spoken to each other since 1975, the culmination of a feud that began in childhood and escalated during the 1941 Oscars ceremony when the victorious Fontaine (whose mother apparently did not allow to use the family name unlike her favoured elder daughter) snubbed de Havilland, who had been nominated for Hold Back the Dawn.
De Havilland did likewise when she won some years later.
De Havilland was nominated five times, including once for Best Supporting Actress (Melanie Hamilton in Gone With the Wind) and won twice (To Each His Own; 1946, and The Heiress; 1949).
In 1941, both sisters -- who were born in Tokyo a year apart -- were in contention for the Big Prize; Fontaine, the younger sister, won.
The legendary actresses are still going strong at 94 and 93 respectively, but have not spoken to each other since 1975, the culmination of a feud that began in childhood and escalated during the 1941 Oscars ceremony when the victorious Fontaine (whose mother apparently did not allow to use the family name unlike her favoured elder daughter) snubbed de Havilland, who had been nominated for Hold Back the Dawn.
De Havilland did likewise when she won some years later.
Take today's Oscar challenge!
4. Tom Cruise has been nominated thrice for an Oscar. Twice for leading man (Born on the Fourth of July and Jerry Maguire). He has also been nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category. For which film?
a. Interview with the Vampire
b. Magnolia
c. Rain Man
The correct answer is Magnolia. Tom has never won an Oscar, and the hardest working actor in Hollywood's time may have passed at the Academy Awards.
Either the Academy's voters don't like his pearly whites and smashing looks, or maybe he has had the bad luck to be nominated in a year with a more exemplary performance.
In 1989, he lost out to Daniel Day-Lewis; no jury could have ignored Dan's tormented Christy Brown in My Left Foot.
1989 was a wonderful year for actors: Morgan Freeman was nominated for his breakout role in Driving Miss Daisy; Kenneth Branagh for Henry V; Robin Williams for Dead Poets Society.
Seven years later, in 1996, when he was nominated for playing the endearing Jerry M, Tom came up against Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient, Billy Bob Thornton in Slingblade, Woody Harrelson in The People vs Larry Flynt and Geoffrey Rush in his breakout performance in Shine.
Geoffrey won, and how we have loved the Aussie actor's talent -- from the Elizabeth films (Shekhar Kapur is a big mate of his) to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to this year's The King's Speech.
Tom didn't have better luck when he was nominated for Magnolia. That field had Jude Law (The Talented Mr Ripley), Michael Clarke Duncan in Green Mile, Haley Joel Osment in M Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense and Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules.
Caine, who is married to Indian-origin Guyanese beauty Shakira Caine, won. His 'Good-Night, You Kings of New England' to the kids at the orphanage, including future Spider-Man Tobey Maguire, delivered in that wonderful Caine way, never ceases to enchant us.
Either the Academy's voters don't like his pearly whites and smashing looks, or maybe he has had the bad luck to be nominated in a year with a more exemplary performance.
In 1989, he lost out to Daniel Day-Lewis; no jury could have ignored Dan's tormented Christy Brown in My Left Foot.
1989 was a wonderful year for actors: Morgan Freeman was nominated for his breakout role in Driving Miss Daisy; Kenneth Branagh for Henry V; Robin Williams for Dead Poets Society.
Seven years later, in 1996, when he was nominated for playing the endearing Jerry M, Tom came up against Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient, Billy Bob Thornton in Slingblade, Woody Harrelson in The People vs Larry Flynt and Geoffrey Rush in his breakout performance in Shine.
Geoffrey won, and how we have loved the Aussie actor's talent -- from the Elizabeth films (Shekhar Kapur is a big mate of his) to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to this year's The King's Speech.
Tom didn't have better luck when he was nominated for Magnolia. That field had Jude Law (The Talented Mr Ripley), Michael Clarke Duncan in Green Mile, Haley Joel Osment in M Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense and Michael Caine in The Cider House Rules.
Caine, who is married to Indian-origin Guyanese beauty Shakira Caine, won. His 'Good-Night, You Kings of New England' to the kids at the orphanage, including future Spider-Man Tobey Maguire, delivered in that wonderful Caine way, never ceases to enchant us.
Take today's Oscar challenge!
5. Johnny Depp has been nominated thrice for Best Actor. The first time in 2003 for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. In 2004, for Finding Neverland. What film did Johnny get his third nomination for?
a. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
b. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
c. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
The correct answer is Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Johnny has yet to win. And though he is just 11 months younger than Tom Cruise (Johnny will be 48 this June!), his star is still on the ascendant.
In 2003, he lost out to Sean Penn (Mystic River). Bill Murray (Lost in Translation); Ben Kingsley (House of Sand and Fog); Jude Law (Cold Mountain) were the other contenders.
In 2004, he came up against Jamie Foxx playing Ray Charles in Ray. Others who lost out that year were Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby), Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda) and Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator).
In 2007, Daniel Day-Lewis struck again, with what we believe was an over-the-top performance in There Will Be Blood. Johnny's maniacal barber was clearly better than Dan's oilman Daniel Plainview. Others in the fray: George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah) and Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises).
Maybe his final turn as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides may get Johnny his Oscar. Or maybe playing a vampire named Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows will do it for Mr Gorgeous.
Other upcoming Johnny roles: Playing journalist Paul Kemp in The Rum Diary based on his late friend Hunter S Thompson's book and Tonto in The Lone Ranger.
In 2003, he lost out to Sean Penn (Mystic River). Bill Murray (Lost in Translation); Ben Kingsley (House of Sand and Fog); Jude Law (Cold Mountain) were the other contenders.
In 2004, he came up against Jamie Foxx playing Ray Charles in Ray. Others who lost out that year were Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby), Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda) and Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator).
In 2007, Daniel Day-Lewis struck again, with what we believe was an over-the-top performance in There Will Be Blood. Johnny's maniacal barber was clearly better than Dan's oilman Daniel Plainview. Others in the fray: George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah) and Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises).
Maybe his final turn as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides may get Johnny his Oscar. Or maybe playing a vampire named Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows will do it for Mr Gorgeous.
Other upcoming Johnny roles: Playing journalist Paul Kemp in The Rum Diary based on his late friend Hunter S Thompson's book and Tonto in The Lone Ranger.