Adrien Brody and Nicole Kidman would make Oscars history if they both win again
Adrien Brody and Nicole Kidman are back in the Oscars race this year with their respective films “The Brutalist” and “Babygirl” from A24, both already making the rounds in the awards contention with strong festival premieres. The stars are now looking to claim victory in their respective categories of Best Actor and Best Actress, and if that sounds familiar, it’s because they both won these same races 22 years ago for “The Pianist” and “The Hours.” Can they strike gold for the second time and become the first duo in Oscars history to win the lead categories twice in the same years?
The year of 2002 was considered one of the most unpredictable Oscar seasons in multiple main categories. Starting with Kidman and “The Hours,” the Stephen Daldry movie took home Golden Globe Awards for Best Drama Actress and Best Drama Motion Picture, along with writing accolades for David Hare at the Writers’ Guild of America and the USC Scripter Awards, while later racking up nine Oscar nominations. Yet Kidman’s loss at the Screen Actors Guild Award to Renee Zellweger (“Chicago”) left many wondering how many Oscars the movie would win, if any. In the end, Kidman prevailed as the only victory of the night, while “The Hours” lost multiple key categories, including Best Adapted Screenplay, to “The Pianist.”
That brings us to Brody in Roman Polanski’s Holocaust drama, perhaps one of the biggest comeback films in recent history, winning a shocking three Oscars of its seven nominations. None of those were expected, particularly since Brody didn’t claim a single major precursor acting prize. Throughout the season, “The Pianist” did not pick up any industry hardware above-the-line until the BAFTAs, when it claimed Best Film and Best Direction for Polanski, which turned out to be indicative of his Best Director win later at the Oscars. Brody came up short to Jack Nicholson (“About Schmidt”) at the Globes and Daniel Day-Lewis (“Gangs of New York”) at the BAFTAs and SAG Awards, so it was the biggest surprise of the night when he (as well as Best Adapted Screenplay winner Ronald Harwood, who also had not won any precursors prior) was called up to the stage.
Now both actors are back contending for their leading roles in 2024 films. Brody stars as another Holocaust survivor, inspired by the life of Laszlo Toth, in “The Brutalist,” which chronicles three decades as his character comes to America to be an architect and becomes involved with a wealthy industrialist. And Kidman stars as a CEO who begins an illicit affair with a drastically younger intern in “Babygirl.” Both films have been praised for their leading performances and have already nabbed hardware when they premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, with the former picking up the Silver Lion for director Brady Corbet, and Kidman winning Best Actress.
Per the combined Gold Derby odds, Brody is tied with Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”) at 9/2 odds for second place in Best Actor behind Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”) with 4/1, then followed by Timothee Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”) at 6/1, Daniel Craig (“Queer”) at 11/1, and Sebastian Stan (“The Apprentice”) at 16/1. Kidman, meanwhile, is fourth with 17/2 odds in a crowded Best Actress field, behind Mikey Madison (“Anora”) at 39/10, Karla Sofía Gascón (“Emilia Perez”) at 9/2, and Angelina Jolie (“Maria”) 5/1 in descending order, and followed by Saoirse Ronan (“The Outrun”) at 10/1 and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Hard Truths”) at 14/1.
In the entire history of the Academy Awards, no two actors have won the lead categories twice in the same year, though Spencer Tracy and Luise Rainer came close. They both won theirs consecutively, the former from 1937-1938 and the latter from 1936-1937. Should Brody and Kidman both prevail on March 2, 2025, they would be the first pair to achieve this milestone, and given their rocky roads to their first Oscar victory, history could very well repeat itself.
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