“And the Oscar goes to… The Boss Baby!” These are words which could genuinely ring out across the 90th Academy Awards ceremony this weekend, with Dreamworks’ ‘what-if-a-baby-wore-a-suit’ comedy somehow crawling into this year’s Best Animated Feature shortlist.
It wouldn’t be the first time the Oscars considered dishing out a shiny gold statue to a film that no-one in their right minds predicted.
Read on for some of the unlikeliest Oscar nominees ever put forward.
Suicide Squad (Winner, Best Makeup, 2017)
There are several categories where DC’s anti-hero dud could be considered award-worthy: most irritating overuse of a pop soundtrack; worst Joker performance; most crushing trailer-to-film disappointment. Instead it wound up getting an Academy Award for the people who tattooed ‘damaged’ onto Jared Leto’s forehead every day. We’ll have what they’re smoking.
Norbit (Nominated, Best Makeup, 2008)
The true brilliance of special effects legend Rick Baker isn’t his ability to make great films iconic, but to make terrible films Oscar-worthy. The absurdly talented gore guru once used his powers for evil in the offensively bad (and genuinely offensive) Norbit, making it possible for Eddie Murphy to play an obese woman and a racist asian caricature. Thankfully, it lost out on the night to Édith Piaf drama La Vie en Rose.
Fifty Shades of Grey (Nominated, Best Song, 2016)
You’d have to lock us up and tie us down to make us watch the punishing tedium of Fifty Shades again. The Weeknd’s tie-in song Earned It fittingly managed to earn it an Oscar nod, though the Academy decided not to sign the contract and instead handcuffed itself to Sam Smith’s sub-sub-sub-Adele Spectre theme.
102 Dalmatians (Nominated, Costume Design, 2001)
One Hundred and One Dalmatians is a Disney classic, and its 1996 live action counterpart 101 Dalmatians is fun too, largely thanks to Glenn Close’s Cruella de Vil. But neither made a splash at the Oscars — that honour went to 102 Dalmatians. Clearly that extra puppy made all the difference, though it was ultimately put to the sword by Ridley Scott’s Gladiator.
Surf’s Up (Nominated, Best Animated Film, 2008)
Surf’s Up isn’t even in the upper tier of the animated penguin genre reserved for the likes of Happy Feet and The Wrong Trousers. But still it ended up rubbing shoulders — question: do penguins have shoulders? — with Marjane Satrapi’s Iranian coming-of-age biography Persepolis and Pixar’s underrated classic Ratatouille. Spoiler: the cooking rat won.
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Nominated, Best Makeup, 2014)
No, you’re not imagining it: a Jackass movie once got an Oscar nomination. Sadly it wasn’t one that included segments like Alligator Tightrope, Butt Chug, Beehive Limo, or Ass Kicked By Girl. The Bad Grandpa spin-off saw Johnny Knoxville get an Academy-recognised makeover by Stephen Prouty as an old-age pensioner, complete with wrinkles, grey hair, and prosthetic genitals.
Borat (Nominated, Best Adapted Screenplay, 2007)
With the sight of Sacha Baron Cohen in a mankini, gags about ‘shape-shifting’ Jews, and toe-curling digs at, well, everybody, Borat is about as far from the usual Oscar wheelhouse as it’s possible to get. And still it managed to get nominated — great success! Sadly the Academy pulled a big old 'NAHT!' joke when the award went to The Departed instead.
Babe (Winner, Best Visual Effects, 1996)
You’ll believe a pig can talk. And a sheep-dog. And a horse. And a duck. And a… you get the idea. Back in the ‘90s, Babe’s special effects wowed the Academy, beating out its sole competitor Apollo 13. In fact the family drama was a surprise Academy darling, though it failed to rustle up wins in the Best Picture, Best Director, Screenplay, Supporting Actor, Editing, and Art Direction categories.
Ted (Nominated, Best Song, 2012)
Note to all unlikely Oscar hopefuls: the Academy loves jazz so much that you can attach a Norah Jones showtune to a comedy led by Marky Mark and a foul-mouthed animated bear and still get a nomination. Just don’t expect to win if you’re up against Adele doing Bond.
Click (Nominated, Best Makeup, 2006)
Here’s a thought that haunts even the Pale Man: Adam Sandler comedy-drama Click, aka It’s A Wonderful Life-with-a-universal-remote, rubbed shoulders with del Toro’s fantasy-war opus Pan’s Labyrinth at the Oscars. The faun won, and luckily Sandler didn’t have a real-life remote to rewind and switch the envelopes while the PwC team were distracted by Twitter.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Nominated, Sound Mixing, 2010)
In a move that surely invalidates the entire existence of the Academy, the first three Transformers movies were all Oscar-nominated. Yes, the ones with the oil-pissing Autobot, and the giant ball-swinging baddie, and Ken Jeong vs. a robo-bird. The latter Mark Wahlberg instalments didn’t get any nods — presumably due to the lack of jazz.