As the Oscar race heats up, here are 10 surprise upsets from the past

As the recent Screen Actors Guild awards showed, there can still be some upsets heading into this year’s Oscar race in many categories. The most notable being Yuh-Jung Youn’s SAG win for female supporting actor for “Minari” and “Trial of the Chicago 7” winning best ensemble, SAG’s version of best picture.

With the Academy Awards set for April 25, here, then, are my 10 big upsets from Oscars past:

“Moonlight” wins best picture (2017) — Not only was it an enormous surprise, but it was also the most historic flub in Oscar history with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway accidentally announcing the wrong winning film, thanks to an envelope mix-up.

Beatty looked baffled as Dunaway grabbed the envelop from him and announced “La La Land” as the winner, but it was actually “Moonlight.” It should have been “La Land,” though. While “Moonlight” was a good film, it wasn’t as exuberant or as magical as “La La Land.” (Yes, I’m still a little mad about that one.)

Olivia Colman beats Glenn Close for best actress (2019) — Close had won nearly all the precursor awards for her role in “The Wife” and everyone just unanimously seemed to agree that it was her long overdue time to win an Oscar, but nooooo. When Colman’s name was announced for her performance in “The Favourite” she seemed as genuinely shocked as everyone else (and in all fairness, it was a splendid, detailed performance vs. Close’s very solemn one).

Colman also goes down as giving one of the funniest Oscar thank-you speeches ever. But c’mon! Give Close an Oscar! She ties Peter O’Toole for most nominations in the acting categories without a win, with eight.

Grace Kelly beats Judy Garland for best actress (1955) — Garland was the favorite that year for her performance in “A Star is Born” (paving the way for Lady Gaga to be nominated decades later), and never won a competitive Oscar (she did win a 1940 juvenile award for best performance by a child actor). But Kelly won the Oscar instead, for the forgettable “The Country Girl.”

It’s surprising because in that same year Kelly also appeared in such iconic films as Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” and “Dial M for Murder.”

Juliette Binoche beats Lauren Bacall for best supporting actress (1997) — Bacall was another Hollywood legend who had never won an Oscar, and this seemed to finally be her time for her role in “The Mirror Has Two Faces.” But instead, Binoche won for “The English Patient” (which was actually essentially a leading role).

Bacall in her autobiography apparently even blamed the loss on Harvey Weinstein for his aggressive campaigning (that was when he had power, you know).

Adrien Brody beats Daniel Day-Lewis and Jack Nicholson to win best actor (2003) — Talk about underdog victories! Brody (nominated for the Holocaust drama “The Pianist”) was the least known among the nominees, who that year also included Daniel Day-Lewis (“Gangs of New York”), Jack Nicholson (“About Schmidt”), Michael Caine (“The Quiet American”) and Nicolas Cage (“Adaptation”).

But Brody cemented his surprise win in the books with his also surprise memorable kiss with presenter Halle Berry (way to seize the moment, yo).

Marisa Tomei wins best supporting actress (1993) — I like Tomei, and I’ve always really liked her performance in “My Cousin Vinny,” for which she won. But is it an Oscar-winning performance? Debatable. But in hindsight, it is a genius comic performance which she undoubtably nails, and Oscar rewards comedy not nearly enough.

Tomei beat out the likes of Miranda Richardson (“Damage”) and Vanessa Redgrave (“Howards End”). And honestly, do you remember those performances or the films? Also debatable. But we do remember Tomei’s sassy out-of-work hairdresser/automotive savant. And I always felt bad for her after rumors spread that presenter Jack Palance actually read the wrong name. C’mon! (Hollywood is catty, no surprise there.)

Marcia Gay Harden wins best supporting actress (2001) — Wins and nominations from the industry precursor awards usually indicate who will win on Oscar night. But Harden’s performance in “Pollock” was overlooked by the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards. But she surprisingly beat out such contenders as Judi Dench for “Chocolat,” Kate Hudson and Frances McDormand for “Almost Famous” and Julie Walters for “Billy Elliot” (my personal favorite).

“Crash” wins best picture over “Brokeback Mountain” (2006) — Everything pointed to “Brokeback Mountain” winning best picture, especially after Ang Lee won best director, but “Crash” nabbed the top prize. It even led to speculation of homophobia among voters (”Brokeback” followed the decades-long love affair between two cowboy ranch hands).

”Shakespeare in Love” beats “Saving Private Ryan” for best picture (1999) — Another Harvey Weinstein marketing victory is the bland “Shakespeare in Love’s” shocking win over Steven Spielberg’s in-every-way stunning war drama.

“Chariots of Fire” wins best picture (1982) — Sure, Hugh Hudson’s film about the 1924 Olympics has a memorable score by Vangelis, and that iconic slow-motion running scene is unforgettable, but does anyone remember anything else about it? Except that it beat Warren Beatty’s epic “Reds” and Steven Spielberg’s rollicking classic adventure “Raiders of the Lost Ark?” Uh, no.

This story was originally published April 16, 2021 at 5:01 AM with the headline "As the Oscar race heats up, here are 10 surprise upsets from the past."