The 2022 Oscars are all about the power of the couple.
Real-life Hollywood couples Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, and Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons made Oscars history on Tuesday with nominations for their big-screen performances.
It’s “the first time we’ve had two couples nominated in the same year covering all 4 acting categories,” tweeted Kyle Buchanan, reporter and awards season columnist for the New York Times.
Penélp[e landed a Best Actress nomination for her role in Parallel Mothers. Meanwhile, her husband Javier Bardem scored a Best Actor nomination for Being The Ricardos. The pair, who tied the knot in 2010, have two children together.
Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons both earned nominations for their roles in the Jane Campion film, The Power of the Dog.
The two were first linked in 2016 after starring on the show Fargo together. They got engaged in 2017 and share two children.
While this is the first time we’ve seen two couples nominated in four Oscars acting categories, other couples have scored nods in the past, including Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams for Brokeback Mountain in 2006, and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in 2009 for The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and Changeling, respectively.
Win or lose, Kirsten and Jesse have plans to keep working together.
“We actually talked to [The Power of the Dog producer] Tanya Seghatchian about what Jesse and I should do next,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in November. “We have some ideas, and Jesse and I definitely want to do another project. He’s my favourite actor to work with.”
Penélope also floated the idea of doing a musical with her husband, with whom she has worked many times.
“I would love to,” she told Entertainment Tonight last month. “I saw my husband singing in The Ricardos and he did an incredible job.”