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The 96th Academy Awards is around the corner. With some heavyweights competing against each other in the leading categories, the race to the finale is getting interesting by the day. Those who have keenly followed Oscar awards over the years, understand the pattern and can predict the winners. However, the Academy is also known to spring surprises. While Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, the clear favourite, is leading with 13 nominations, the other favourite is Martin Scorsese's Killer Of The Flower Moon which has earned 10 nods. 

Scorsese's film has already earned a few records as it has picked up nominations in almost all leading categories. Whether it surpasses everyone's favourite Oppenheimer with multiple wins on Oscars night is something that we will have to wait and watch but the film has already earned accolades in the awards season and created history along the way. 

Killers Of The Flower Moon and its record-breaking Oscar nods

The film's leading lady Lily Gladstone is perhaps one of the frontrunners in the Best Actress category. Gladstone nomination is historic as she is the first native American actress to have earned a spot in the Best Actress category in the history of Oscars. It has taken 95 years for the Native American community to find a space in Hollywood's elite awards. 

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Explained | Osage Indian Murders that inspired Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon

Veteran actor Robert DeNiro has also created a record of sorts by becoming Scorsese's most nominated actor at the Oscars. DeNiro has earned his ninth Oscar nomination for his role in Killers of The Flower Moon. The nomination is a massive achievement for the actor but also a record-breaking performance concerning all of Scorsese's films, as De Niro now has the most Oscar nominations for any actor in a Scorsese movie. DeNiro has been nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for his role as the ruthless real-life Oklahoma crime boss William King Hale, who was a considerable perpetrator in the Osage Nation murders. Before this, De Niro has earned nominations for other Scorsese films like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Cape Fear. 

Killers of the Flower Moon review: A devastating, utterly tremendous piece of cinema

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Oscar snubs Leonardo Di Caprio

While the film will go down the history as an important film that highlights the oppression that Natives went through and which formed the foundation of America - which is often overlooked by Hollywood - it will also be remembered for Leonardo Di Caprio's stupendous role as the gullible Ernest Burkhart. The actor, most had predicted, would have been nominated in the Best Actor category but somehow missed the bus. The snub will not majorly affect Di Caprio's illustrious career. He is one of the top stars of Hollywood and has over the years created a niche despite less validation from the Academy. 

Also read: Oscars Awards 2024 Best Picture nominee: How US-Korean drama Past Lives spoke a universal language of love

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Lily Gladstone to create history?

Gladstone, as mentioned before has already created history with her nomination. The incredibly talented actress grabs attention from the first second as Mollie Kyle center stage in Killers of the Flower Moon. Gladstone brings grace and subtlety to her portrayal of Mollie Kyle, a strong and independent Osage woman living in 1920s Oklahoma. Her performance has already earned a Golden Globe in the Best Actress (Drama) category in January. The possibility of her winning the Oscar is high and will create history as she will become the first Native American actress to win an Oscar in the category. Her only strong competition in the category is Emma Stone who has impressed most juries this award season with her performance in Poor Things. 

Read: Here’s how Greta Gerwig’s Barbie became a global cultural phenomenon

It is a well-known fact that Martin Scorsese and his leading man Leonardo Di Caprio have not had a successful stint at the Oscars. Despite multiple nominations (this is Scorsese's 10th Oscar nomination) Scorsese has only won the Best Director Oscar once - for Departed in 2006. This year, he is pitted against Christopher Nolan who is a front-runner in the category for his film Oppenheimer. 

Whether or not Killers of The Flower Moon earns multiple Oscars is something that we will have to wait till March 10 but the film has already won hearts by narrating an important chapter of American history.