Grownup Actors Nab 10 Oscar Nominations

Of the 20 actors nominated for the Oscar in 2020, 10 are over age 50 — a big improvement over last year, when just six grownups made the list.

Grownups swept the Oscar supporting-actor nominations: Tom Hanks, 63 (A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood); Anthony Hopkins, 82 (The Two Popes); Al Pacino, 79, and Joe Pesci, 76 (The Irishman); and Brad Pitt, 56 (Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood). The other grownup Oscar acting nominees are best actress nominee Renée Zellweger, 50 (Judy); best actor nominees Jonathan Pryce, 72 (The Two Popes) and Antonio Banderas, 59 (Pain and Glory); and supporting actress nominees Laura Dern, 52 (Marriage Story), and Kathy Bates, 71 (Richard Jewell).

For entertainment news, advice and more, get AARP’s monthly Lifestyle newsletter.

Many of the Oscar nominations overlap with the nominees for AARP's Movies for Grownups Awards, whose winners were announced Jan. 11 at the Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles. While presenting Martin Scorsese, 77, with the Movies for Grownups best director award, Juliette Lewis called the Movies for Grownups ceremony, “my new favorite awards show.” The event will air on PBS Jan. 19 at 6 p.m. Eastern time (check local listings). The funniest moment in the 19-year history of the Movies for Grownups Awards arguably came when Conan O'Brien, 56, stole the show by giving his old pal Adam Sandler, 53, a quick, hilarious celebrity roast while presenting him with AARP's best actor award. Don't miss this telecast.

Oscars vs. Movies for Grownups Awards

In Hollywood, the AARP Movies for Grownups Award nominees are seen as partial predictors of who's going to get Oscar love. Here's how the Movies for Grownups winners correlated with the Academy Awards nominees in 2020:

Best Movie for Grownups: The Irishman

Best Director: Martin Scorsese

Like AARP, the Oscars honored Scorsese's career-capstone mob epic with nominations for directing and best picture, plus the cinematography, editing, costume design, production design, visual effects, and adapted screenplay awards. About half of major professional Oscar predictors think Scorsese will win the best director Oscar for The Irishman. Except for The Joker director Todd Phillips, 49, all of Scorsese's rival directors are grownups: Bong Joon Ho, 50 (Parasite); Sam Mendes, 54 (1917); and Quentin Tarantino, 56 (Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood).

Best Actress: Renée Zellweger, Judy

Zellweger was nominated for the best actress Oscar, surprising nobody. Practically every sentient being in Hollywood predicts that she will win the Oscar to add to her Movies for Grownups award.

A24

Best Actor: Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems

The Oscars snubbed Sandler, whose comedies — not all of them masterpieces — have earned billions. In some Hollywood pundits’ opinion, AARP was smarter to honor Sandler's coming of age as a dramatic actor in Uncut Gems than the Oscars were to ignore him, reflecting the Academy's historic, snobbish bigotry against comedies.