If Alejandro G. Inarritu wins Best Director for “The Revenant,” he’ll be the third director to win that award in consecutive years, after John Ford for “The Grapes of Wrath” and “How Green Was My Valley” (1940-41) and Joseph L. Mankiewicz for “A Letter to Three Wives” and “All About
If “The Revenant” also wins Best Picture, Inarritu will become the first director to win back-to-back director and picture awards.
If Emmanuel Lubezki wins Best Cinematography for “The Revenant,” he’ll become the first cinematographer to win three consecutive awards. He would also become only the fifth person to win three consecutive awards in any category, after visual effects artists Jim Rygiel and William Randall Cook, composer Roger Edens and Walt Disney, who won four consecutive Short Subject (Two Reel) awards between 1950 and 1953 and eight consecutive Short Subject (Cartoon) awards between 1932 and 1939.
If “The Big Short” wins Best Picture, Dede Gardner will become the first woman to win two Oscars for producing. She also won for “12 Years a Slave” in 2015.
Also if “The Big Short” wins, Brad Pitt will become the second past acting nominee to win two Best Picture awards as a producer, following Clint Eastwood. Pitt also won for “12 Years a Slave.” Only George Clooney has won for both acting (“Syriana”) and producing (“Argo”).
If “Inside Out” wins Best Original Screenplay, it’ll be the first animated film to do so.
If 21-year-old Saoirse Ronan wins Best Actress for “Brooklyn,” she’ll become the second-youngest Best Actress winner, 104 days older than Marlee Matlin was when she won for “Children of a Lesser God.”
(Brie Larson is less than five years older than Ronan, but she wouldn’t even make the Top 10 youngest if she wins for “Room.”)
If Bryan Cranston wins for playing screenwriter Dalton Trumbo in “Trumbo,” he’ll become the first male actor to win an Oscar for portraying an Oscar winner — and only the second performer of either sex, after Cate Blanchett in “The Aviator.” (She played Katharine Hepburn.)
If Antony Hegarty wins for co-writing the song “Manta Ray,” she’ll become the first openly transgender person to win an Oscar. She is currently the second to be nominated, after composer Angela Morley, who was nominated twice in the 1970s.
If Matt Damon wins Best Actor for “The Martian,” he’ll become the first person to win an acting Oscar after winning a screenwriting Oscar. (Emma Thompson won for acting before she won for writing.)
If “Embrace of the Serpent” or “Theeb” wins Best Foreign Language Film, it will be the first Oscar win for Colombia or Jordan, respectively.
If Ennio Morricone wins the Best Original Score award for “The Hateful Eight,” it’ll be his first competitive Oscar in a more than 50-year career writing film music. He won an Honorary Oscar in 2007, but has only been nominated five previous times, and never for a Western.
If John Williams wins the Original Score Oscar for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the most-nominated living person will improve his success rate to 10 percent: five wins in 50 nominations.