Ralph Fiennes’ Oscars hopes hit after voters ‘admit Schindler’s List mistake’

Ralph Fiennes has been nominated for three Oscars during his career

Anonymous Oscars voters have admitted that they didn’t vote for Ralph Fiennes in Conclave under the false assumption that they thought he had won before.

Fiennes, 62, is in contention for the Best Actor award for his performance as Cardinal Lawrence in the Vatican thriller. It’s the third time the star has been nominated for an Oscar, having previously been recognised for Schindler’s List and The English Patient.

Despite the nominations and critical acclaim, Fiennes didn’t actually win an Oscar for either of the roles, losing out to Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive and Geoffrey Rush in Shine, respectively.

Speaking to Variety, two of the voters admitted that they didn’t cast their ballot for Fiennes because they both believed that “he won before” for Schindler’s List, where he played Nazi officer Amon Goeth.

Schindler’s List won seven Oscars overall in 1994, including Best Picture and Best Director for Steven Spielberg. The only major award Fiennes won for the role was a Bafta.

“Oh s***!” one voter reportedly said after learning the truth. Variety also ironically noted that both of the individuals said they voted for Adrien Brody’s performance in The Brutalist, who had previously won Best Actor for The Pianist in 2003.

Ralph Fiennes in Conclave (© 2024 Focus Features, LLC. All Rights Reserved.)

Brody has dominated the awards season so far, winning the Bafta and the Golden Globe and is the favourite to complete the set at the Oscars this Sunday (2 March).

Although Conclave won Best Picture at the Baftas, the race for the Oscar looks to be between The Brutalist and Anora.

Sean Baker’s film about a sex worker, who impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch, took top honours at both the Producers Guild Awards and the Directors Guild Awards, earlier this month.

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Both guild ceremonies were held in Beverly Hills, California. The PGA's top prize, the Darryl F Zanuck Award, has matched the Oscar winner for best picture in 16 of the last 21 years. Since 2009, when the guild and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences both adopted a preferential ballot to pick a winner from 10 nominees, they've corresponded all but three times.

The DGA is similarly predictive. In the past 74 years, 66 winners have gone on to triumph at the Oscars. That makes Baker the favourite for best director in a field entirely composed of first-time nominees.