13 Mar 2023

‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ Went 0-9 at the Oscars: What Other Films Have Done That?

The Banshees of Inisherin was one of just three films to receive nine or more Oscar nominations this year, along with Everything Everywhere All at Once and All Quiet on the Western Front. But while EEAAO and All Quiet each piled up multiple Oscar wins on Sunday (March 12), Banshees was shut out.

The film, which was written, directed and co-produced by Martin McDonagh, is one of only nine films in Oscar history to receive nine or more nominations and wind up with no wins at all. Six films did even worse than Banshees — four went 0-10, while two went 0-11.

Martin Scorsese directed two of the films on this list. Scorsese is universally regarded as one of the greatest directors in film history, so experiencing a shutout (or even two) does not consign someone to a hall of shame.

It’s important to keep in mind that all of these films did very well with Oscar voters. Amassing nine or more nominations is a tremendous achievement. The Oscars have just 23 categories, about one-quarter as many as the Grammys (which has 91).

So Banshees did well. It’s just that other films this year did better. Banshees lost in six categories to the unstoppable force that was EEAAO.

It’s probably not much fun for the cast and crew of a film to sit in a theater and watch their film get shut out. But there are worse fates, like not being nominated at all, or getting just a few token nods. Nothing should take away from the high the filmmakers felt when the nominations were announced – even an Oscar Night that fell short of their hopes.

Here are all the films that received nine or more nominations yet wound up with no hardware, along with the categories in which they scored their many nods.

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