Cinema Science

The Envelope’s Pete Hammond wonders about the possibility of the Coens taking home four individual Oscars on Feb 24:

For the first time since 1953 (and potentially only the second time in Academy history), the Coens could earn individual victories in four separate categories. Only Walt Disney, as producer of three live-action, animated and documentary shorts in addition to a documentary feature, was able to leave an Oscar ceremony with four statuettes in hand.

If the Coens can pull off the same feat, they would be the first to do it for a single film. Orson Welles for “Citizen Kane,” and Warren Beatty for both “Heaven Can Wait” and “Reds,” each had four nods but walked off with only a single Oscar (Welles shared the 1941Screenplay prize while Beatty won Best Director in 1981 for “Reds”). A few artists have won three Oscars in one night, including Billy Wilder, James L. Brooks, James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Marvin Hamlisch and others. However, the Coens would join Disney as the only ones to take four.

But there is a catch.

In the best editing category, they credit themselves under their joint pseudonym Roderick Jaynes. Should the Coens win that category , the Academy confirmed this week that there will be only one statuette presented and it would later be engraved as belonging to Mr. Jaynes. This means the brothers would only get that statuette and official Academy record books would technically not list Joel and Ethan Coen as the rightful recipients of four Oscars should they win in all of their categories.

The Editors guild, however, says it will be happy to give both Coens, a.k.a. Jaynes, Eddie awards if they win there Sunday and they can have whatever name they want engraved on them. A spokesperson at the guild said they would be thrilled just to have them show up!