accessAtlanta

To paraphrase Tolstoy's dictum on unhappy families, every Oscar year is complicated in its own particular way.

Here are some complications you may want to keep in mind when the nominations are announced Tuesday morning.

MOST POPULAR STORIES How and where to have a blast on the Fourth LA police plan for huge crowd at Jackson memorial Sandra Bullock movie takes over Atlanta private school Atlanta's fireworks options sparkle Big. Bang. Boom!
EMAIL THIS PRINT THIS MOST POPULAR
RELATED LINKS: • Our critic takes her best shot at sorting out the Oscars • Alan Smithee: You don't have to wait for scoop on Oscar's faves • Awards tracker: Who has won what so far

DOUBLE TROUBLE?

Leonardo DiCaprio ran against himself at the Golden Globes, with nominations in the best actor category for both "Blood Diamond" and "The Departed." Oscar doesn't allow dual nominations for the same award. However, he does stand an excellent chance of being a best actor nominee for "Blood Diamond" and a best supporting actor nominee for "The Departed." In the last 70 years (the best supporting category wasn't added until 1936) this sort of double take has only happened 10 times.

1938: Fay Bainter loses best actress for "White Banners," but wins best supporting for "Jezebel."

1942: Teresa Wright loses best actress for "The Pride of the Yankees," but wins best supporting for "Mrs. Miniver."

1944: Barry Fitzgerald is nominated for best actor and best supporting actor for playing the same role — the crusty old priest in "Going My Way." He won for best supporting, and the Academy changed its rules so it wouldn't happen again.

1982: Jessica Lange is nominated for "Frances" and "Tootsie," She wins for her supporting performance in the latter.

1988: Sigourney Weaver breaks the cycle, but not in a good way. She loses for both "Gorillas in the Mist" and "Working Girl."

1992: Al Pacino is nominated for his terrific supporting turn in "Glengarry Glen Ross," but wins best actor for his hambone performance in "Scent of a Woman."

1993: Lightning strikes twice. Both Holly Hunter and Emma Thompson are dual nominees. Hunter wins best actress for "The Piano," beating Thompson in "The Remains of the Day." Hunter for "The Firm" and Thompson for "In the Name of the Father" lose in the supporting category to Hunter's co-star, Anna Paquin.

2002: Julianne Moore is nominated for "Far from Heaven" (best actress) and "The Hours" (best supporting), but alas, like Weaver, loses both.

2004: Jamie Foxx wins best actor for "Ray" and loses best supporting actor for "Collateral."

AGE CANNOT WITHER

Hollywood is known to be rough on actresses over the age of 40, but it's hell — or just about — for ones over 50. It's been more than a decade since the best actress Oscar went to someone near the half-century mark. It last happened in 1995 when 49-year-old Susan Sarandon won for "Dead Man Walking."

But this year, the three top contenders are all over 50: Dench, 72, "Notes on a Scandal"; Helen Mirren, 61, "The Queen"; and Meryl Streep, 57, "The Devil Wears Prada."

IT'S GOOD TO BE THE KING. OR THE QUEEN. OR IS IT?

Forest Whitaker and Helen Mirren have been crowned over and over again by one awards group after another, he for "The Last King of Scotland" (though, technically, Idi Amin was a king only in his own mind) and she for "The Queen." In the last 78 years, royalty has been rewarded seven times:

1933: Charles Laughton as Henry VIII in "The Private Life of Henry VIII."

1948: Laurence Olivier as the troubled Prince of Denmark in "Hamlet."

1953: Audrey Hepburn as a runaway princess in "Roman Holiday."

1956: Yul Brynner as the King of Siam in "The King and I" and Ingrid Bergman as the long lost heir to the Russian throne (maybe...) in "Anastasia."

1968: Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine in "The Lion in Winter."

1998: Judi Dench as Elizabeth I in "Shakespeare in Love."

You could call Anjelica Huston a Mafia princess ("Prizzi's Honor), but that might be stretching it.