Da’Vine Joy Randolph (‘The Holdovers’) will be first Oscar winner directed by Alexander Payne

Alexander Payne movies always do well in two areas come the Oscar nominations: writing and acting. Five of Payne’s movies have been nominated for writing (“Election,” “Sideways,” “The Descendants,” Nebraska,” and “The Holdovers”) while five of his flicks have also snagged acting bids (“About Schmidt,” “Sideways,” “The Descendants,” “Nebraska,” and “The Holdovers”). However, while “Sideways” and “The Descendants” both took home Oscars for their writing (both for Best Adapted Screenplay), no Payne movie has ever won for acting. Here’s the record.

“About Schmidt” procured a Best Actor nomination in 2003 for Jack Nicholson. He was in a two-horse race for the Best Actor gong with “Gangs of New York” star Daniel Day-Lewis but it was Adrien Brody (“The Pianist”) who ended up winning by splitting the votes. Kathy Bates was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress for “About Schmidt” but she lost to Catherine Zeta-Jones (“Chicago”).

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Paul Giamatti was cruelly snubbed for a Best Actor bid for “Sideways” in 2005 but two of his costars were nominated. Thomas Haden Church was nominated for Best Supporting Actor while Virginia Madsen picked up a Best Supporting Actress bid. Haden Church lost to Morgan Freeman (“Million Dollar Baby”) and Madsen lost to Cate Blanchett (“The Aviator”).

George Clooney then landed a Best Actor bid of his own for “The Descendants” in 2012. He lost to Jean Dujardin for “The Artist.”

“Nebraska” then snagged two acting bids in 2014, one for Best Actor for Bruce Dern and one for Best Supporting Actress for June Squibb. Dern lost to Matthew McConaughey (“Dallas Buyers Club”) while Squibb missed out to Lupita Nyong’o (“12 Years a Slave”).

A decade years after the “Nebraska” noms, this year’s “The Holdovers,” from Focus Features, also secured two acting nominations. Giamatti is up for Best Actor and Da’Vine Joy Randolph is nominated for Best Supporting Actress. It’s an interesting split here. Payne’s movies have so far garnered nine acting nominations. Four of those came for Best Actor, four came for Best Supporting Actress, and one came for Best Supporting Actor. “The Holdovers” is the third Payne movie to be nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress after “About Schmidt” and “Nebraska” also reaped those two bids. Still, however, no performer has ever taken home an Oscar for acting… until this year.

Giamatti is nominated alongside Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”), Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”), Colman Domingo (“Rustin”), and Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”). Giamatti has a decent shout at winning Best Actor after his Golden Globe (Best Comedy Actor) and Critics Choice Award wins but Murphy has pushed on after Golden Globe (Best Drama Actor), BAFTA, and SAG victories. We fully expect Murphy to take home Best Actor now.

Instead, it’s Randolph who will break this Payne curse. She is up against Emily Blunt (“Oppenheimer”), Danielle Brooks (“The Color Purple”), Jodie Foster (“Nyad”), and America Ferrera (“Barbie”). Randolph has swept the entire awards season, however, and has won the Golden Globe, Critics Choice Awards, BAFTA, and SAG for her performance in “The Holdovers.” We are confident that Randolph has the Best Supporting Actress all locked up. If she does, she will become the first actor to win for an Alexander Payne movie.

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