10 interesting facts about 2022 Oscars' nominees

Writer: Heidi Hsia

It's the time of the year to see who are worthy of the golden statuettes

10 Feb – The 94th Oscars have finally announced the list of nominees, with Netflix's "The Power of the Dog" leading the way with 12 nominations.

But did you know that there are also several interesting titbits about this year's nominees?

Here are our top 10 interesting facts about this year's competitors:

Maggie Gyllenhaal with her famous brother Jake

1. Maggie Gyllenhaal gets her first non-acting Oscar nomination for her directorial debut

Maggie Gyllenhaal, who helmed and wrote "The Lost Daughter", has been nominated in the Writing (Adapted Screenplay) category, a news that got her extremely excited.

"I turned it on to watch the very first name that was announced was Jesse Buckley. I think she's just an extraordinary actress and I think she's wonderful in the movie. And that was not at all a done deal, you know, I don't know. I don't think anyone really expected that that was gonna happen," she said.

Jane Campion with her lead actor, Benedict Cumberbatch

2. Jane Campion's movie "The Power of the Dog" not only got the most nominations, she also became the first woman to receive two Best Director nominations.

The New Zealander was first nominated for 1994's "The Piano", but lost to Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List". Interestingly, they are competing again this year!

Spielberg with the cast of "West Side Story"

3. Steven Spielberg made history by nabbing his eighth Best Director nomination, making him the first person in history to receive such acknowledgment in six different decades.

The director, nominated for his work in "West Side Story", had been nominated in the category in 1978 ("Close Encounters of the Third Kind"), again for "E.T." in 1983 and "The Color Purple" in 1986, won twice in the '90s with "Schindler's List" (1994) and "Saving Private Ryan" (1999), and nominated again in the noughties for 2006's "Munich" and 2010s for "Lincoln" (2013).

Steven Spielberg with ET back in the 80s

4. Spielberg also became the first director to have a movie nominated for Best Picture 11 times.

This include "E.T.", "Letters from Iwo Jima", "War Horse", "The Post" and "Bridge of Spies".

Denzel looking all doom and gloom in "The Tragedy of Macbeth"

5. Denzel Washington became the first Black Actor to get the most nomination at the Oscars.

The actor, who is nominated for his performance in Joel Coen's "The Tragedy of Macbeth", has ten nominations and two wins that include Best Actor for "Training Day" and Best Supporting Actor in "Glory".

Real-life couple Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemmons have two children together but not tied the knot (yet?)

6. Two celebrity couples are nominated

Kirsten Dunst and fiancé Jesse Plemmons are nominated in Best Actor and Actress in a Supporting Role for their performances in "The Power of the Dog", while Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem are in the Leading Role categories - Cruz for "Parallel Mothers" and Bardem for "Being the Ricardos"

Previous married nominees include Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner; Elsa Lanchester and Charles Laughton; Rex Harrison and Rachel Roberts and Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

Encanto's "We Don't Talk About Bruno" is Lin-Manuel Miranda's first No. 1 Hit Song

7. Lin-Manuel Miranda may finally be able to get his EGOT

The Broadway star and composer has his song "Dos Oruguitas" from "Encanto" nominated in the Best Original Song. Miranda already has two Emmys, three Grammys and three Tonys, and he just need one Oscar to finally join the EGOT club, whose "members" include Audrey Hepburn, Alan Menken, John Legend, and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

My car is like my wife, get it??

8. Japan gets its first Best Picture nomination as well as a place in the highly competitive International Picture category

Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Drive My Car" is joining the growing club of foreign language films to be nominated in the Best Picture category, which include recent winner, "Parasite" from South Korea. Ryusuke also became the first director since Akira Kurosawa to be nominated in the Director category.

Denmark's "Flee" is nominated in three categories

9. Denmark gets three nominations for its animated feature, "Flee"

Aside from being nominated in the Documentary Feature category, it is also nominated in the Animated Feature Film and International Feature Film categories. Last year, Denmark won the latter with "Another Round".

The said animated docudrama is directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, with British actor Riz Ahmed and "Game of Thrones" alumnus Nikolaj Coster-Waldau serving as executive producers

And you all thought she couldn't act

10. Kristen Stewart gets her first Best Actress nomination

It was no surprise that the actress, who has won hearts all over through her portrayal of Lady Diana in Pablo Larrain's "Spencer" would get a nomination.

It's safe to say that Stewart can finally give the middle finger to all "Twilight" haters who say that she could not act!