Every week from now until the critics groups start giving out their prizes for the best of the year, I’m going to be spotlighting the big Oscar players and their chances at Oscar glory this year.

Trying to spread the love between directors, actors, writers and other players in Hollywood, I thought I’d take time in our third week to highlight one of the titans of screenwriting: Woody Allen.

Yes, Allen is also a film director and actor, but no one has earned more Oscar nominations for screenwriting than Allen and even when his movies fail to earn nominations in Best Picture or Best Director, he can still pick up a nod or two in the screenplay categories and even the acting categories. This makes him a rare commodity in Hollywood…if you can really call him a Hollywood player. In his career in Hollywood, he has earned a stupendous 21 nominations in three categories (Best Director, Best Screenplay (adapted or original) and Best Actor). Fourteen of those mentions have come in the field of writing. His output has been prolific, releasing one new movie every year since 1982. And since 1977, he’s only missed one year of film releases (1981). That means that Midnight in Paris is his 30th consecutive film release, an impressive achievement.

So what makes him such a strong contender this year? A lot of those reasons will be highlighted in the discussion on Midnight in Paris below, but when Allen performs well at the box office, he tends to pick up Oscar nominations for his efforts. On top of that, with fourteen nominations under his belt, it’s clear the Academy likes his body of work, it just doesn’t always like the individual pictures he makes. Since the turn of the century, Woody has only picked up ONE nomination for himself (2005’s Match Point) even though his film Vicky Cristina Barcelona picked up a single nomination which resulted in the Supporting Actress Oscar going Penélope Cruz. It would seem at this point in his career, a special achievement (or at least a popular one) is required for his success with the Academy, which leads us to…

Midnight in Paris

The film has proven a strong performer at the box office, making the Top 10 of the box office seven times in its eleven weeks in release. And those aren’t even consecutive. It’s also accumulated over $46 million, which puts it numerically ahead of Woody’s biggest film to date, Hannah and Her Sisters which made just over $40 million. Of course, when inflation is taken into account, the film is quite a bit behind not only Hannah, but bigger performers Annie Hall and Manhattan. Still, the impressive total will give the Academy a nice fuzzy feeling remembering fondly when Woody made art house flicks that were popular across broad demographics. This film could also be seen as a revival for its star, Owen Wilson. Wilson’s performance could be only the second male lead to earn an Oscar nomination in a Woody Allen film who wasn’t Allen himself.

On top of all this, the Academy may want to throw a few more bones at the film, which includes supporting nominations for any number of ensemble cast members and might even involve some Art Direction and Costume Design consideration with all of the film’s time-bending settings. The only nomination I’m set to lock in place this year, however, is Original Screenplay, which will be his fifteenth. While I don’t know that he’ll win again, a nomination is assured. Other nominations will be icing on Woody’s cake.

Forecast Categories (where the film is most likely to compete): Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Owen Wilson), Best Supporting Actor (Adrien Brody, Michael Sheen), Best Supporting Actress (Kathy Bates, Marion Cotillard), Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design.

Woody Allen’s Oscar History

• What’s Up Tiger Lily? (1966) 0 / 0
• Take the Money and Run (1969) 0 / 0
• Dont Drink the Water (1969) 0 / 0
• Bananas (1971) 0 / 0
• Play It Again, Sam (1972) 0 / 0
• Every Thing You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask (1972) 0 / 0
• Sleeper (1973) 0 / 0
• Love and Death (1975) 0 / 0
• Annie Hall (1977) 5 / 4 [Picture, Director, Actor (Woody Allen), Actress (Diane Keaton), Original Screenplay]
• Interiors (1978) 5 / 0 [Director, Actress (Geraldine Page), Supporting Actress (Maureen Stapleton), Original Screenplay, Art Direction]
• Manhattan (1979) 2 / 0 [Supporting Actress (Mariel Hemingway), Original Screenplay]
• Stardust Memories (1980) 0 / 0
• A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982) 0 / 0
• Zelig (1983) 2 / 0 [Cinematography, Costume Design]
• Broadway Danny Rose (1984) 2 / 0 [Director, Original Screenplay]
• The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) 1 / 0 [Original Screenplay]
• Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) 7 / 3 [Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Michael Caine), Supporting Actress (Dianne Wiest), Original Screenplay, Film Editing, Art Direction]
• Radio Days (1987) 2 / 0 [Original Screenplay, Art Direction]
• September (1987) 0 / 0
• Another Woman (1988) 0 / 0
• Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) 3 / 0 [Director, Supporting Actor (Martin Landau), Original Screenplay]
• Alice (1990) 1 / 0 [Original Screenplay]
• Shadows and Fog (1991) 0 / 0
• Husbands and Wives (1992) 2 / 0 [Supporting Actress (Judy Davis), Original Screenplay]
• Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) 0 / 0
• Bullets Over Broadway (1994) 7 / 1 [Director, Supporting Actor (Chazz Palminteri), Supporting Actress (Dianne Wiest), Supporting Actress (Jennifer Tilly), Original Screenplay, Art Direction, Costume Design]
• Mighty Aphrodite (1995) 2 / 1 [Supporting Actress (Mira Sorvino), Original Screenplay]
• Everyone Says I Love You (1996) 0 / 0
• Deconstructing Harry (1997) 1 / 0 [Original Screenplay]
• Celebrity (1998) 0 / 0
• Sweet and Lowdown (1999) 2 / 0 [Actor (Sean Penn), Supporting Actress (Samantha Morton)]
• Small Time Crooks (2000) 0 / 0
• The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) 0 / 0
• Hollywood Ending (2002) 0 / 0
• Anything Else (2003) 0 / 0
• Melinda and Melinda (2004) 0 / 0
• Match Point (2005) 1 / 0 [Original Screenplay]
• Scoop (2006) 0 / 0
• Cassandra’s Dream (2007) 0 / 0
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) 1 / 0 [Supporting Actress (Penélope Cruz)]
• Whatever Works (2009) 0 / 0
• You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010) 0 / 0
• Midnight in Paris (2011)