The Batman franchise, the Godfather series, and the movie musical West Side Story don't have very much in common. The Godfather and its sequels are based on a novel from the 1960s, while Batman and his many villains originally appeared in comic books in the 1930s, and West Side Story was originally a Broadway show in the 1950s (itself inspired by the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet from the 1590s). As far as genre is concerned, the three are worlds apart. The Godfather is a crime drama trilogy, and often considered one of the most important works in cinematic history. Film adaptations of the Batman comics have ranged from children's cartoons to gritty action flicks. West Side Story is both a toe-tapping musical and a heartbreaking tragedy.

Yet despite all their differences, The Godfather, Batman, and West Side Story have all spawned critically-acclaimed film adaptations, and the Academy Awards have been quite kind to many of these films. The Godfather trilogy was nominated for 28 Oscars and won 9, including two wins for Best Picture. Films based on the Batman comics have been nominated for a total of 26 Oscars, winning 5. The original film adaptation of West Side Story was nominated for 11 Oscars and won 10 (in addition to an honory award for choreography). The brand new adaptation of West Side Story, directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 2021, is eligible for nominations at the upcoming 94th Academy Awards.

Among The Godfather trilogy's many Academy Awards are two for acting – one for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor. The Batman franchise has also received one Academy Award for Best Actor and one for Best Supporting Actor. And in both cases, the awards were for playing the same role.

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Vito Corleone And The Joker – The Only Roles For Which Two Different Actors Have Both Won An Oscar

In 1973, Marlon Brando won Best Actor for his role as Vito Corleone in The Godfather. Two years later, Robert De Niro won Best Supporting Actor for his role as a younger version of Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II. In 2008, Heath Ledger was posthumously awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight. Twelve years after that, Joaquin Phoenix was named Best Actor for his protrayal of the Joker in the aptly titled film Joker.

Two different actors have won an Academy Award for playing Vito Corleone. Two different actors have won an Academy Award for playing the Joker. And this year, the role of Anita in West Side Story could join this very small list if Ariana Debose takes home the trophy on Oscar night.

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Rita Moreno Won The Oscar In 1962

Rita Moreno played Anita in the original West Side Story film adaptation from 1961. In 1962, she was named Best Supporting Actress at the 34th Academy Awards. She became the first Latin American actress to win an Oscar, and she would remain the only Latin American woman to win an Oscar until Lupita Nyong'o (who was born in Mexico City) won for Best Supporting Actress in 2013. If Ariana Debose, who plays Anita in Spielberg's West Side Story, is nominated for an Oscar this year, she will join Moreno as the only Puerto Rican women to ever be nominated for an Academy Award.

Ariana Debose Has Already Been Nominated For Many Prizes This Awards Season, And Oscar Nominations Are Coming Soon

The 94th Academy Awards ceremony is set to be held on March 27, 2022 and the nominations will be announced seven weeks earlier, on February 8. But while the nominations have not yet been revealed, Ariana Debose is already a favorite to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Thus far, Debose has been nominated for 16 major awards for her performance as Anita, including the Golden Globe and the Critics Choice Award. Variety currently has Ariana Debose listed at the most likely candidate to be nominated for Best Supporting Actress, and Variety film critic Clayton Davis writes that Debose "could be in serious contention for an Oscar win."

Whether or Ariana Debose will actually win the Oscar remains to be seen, and she'll have lots of competition from performers like Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog), Ruth Negga (Passing), and Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin (CODA). However, as the race currently stands, Debose has as good a chance as anyone else.

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This Could Be The First Time That Two Different Actors Actually Accept The Oscar For The Same Role

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QUacU0I4yU

Anita in West Side Story could become just the third role for which two different actors have won an Academy Award. But it could make more Oscars history than just that. If Ariana Debose wins, it would mark the first time that a role played by women has achieved this feat and the first time that a role played by non-white actors has achieved this feat.

Moreover, if Debose wins the Oscar and accepts the award herself, it would mark the first time in Oscars history that two different actors both accepted the Academy Award for the same role. Neither Marlon Brando nor Robert De Niro attended the ceremony the year that they won, and Brando famously sent Native America actor and activist Sacheen Littlefeather to decline the award in his place. Heath Ledger's Oscar for The Dark Knight was awarded after his death, and so his family accepted it on his behalf.

Rita Moreno, on the other hand, gleefully accepted her Academy Award. Her speech was just eleven words long (at the time, one of the shortes acceptance speeches ever), but those eleven words were all she needed. "I can't believe it!" she excalimed, "Good lord! I leave you with that."

Ariana Debose has said nothing to suggest that she would not attened the cermony were she to be nominated. She attended the Oscars in 2021 (when she wasn't even nominated) and she attended the Tony Awards when she was nominated in 2018.

It remains to be seen whether or not any of this will actually happen. Arian Debose first has to be nominated for an Oscar, and then she'll have to beat out four very talented women to secure the win. But if she does win, Anita from West Side Story will join the likes of the Joker and the Godfather in Oscars history. That's surely a sentence Rita Moreno never thought she would hear in her lifetime.

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