10 Best Picture Oscar Nominees You Might Not Have Heard Of

5. Children Of A Lesser God

Year: 1986 Fellow Nominees: Platoon, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Mission, A Room With a View A year later and another William Hurt film, this time Children of a Lesser God, which sees Hurt star as James, a speech teacher who falls for a deaf student, Sarah (Marlee Matlin, who won here for Best Actress and a great pub quiz answer). The film, which was nominated for five Oscars, including another nod for Hurt as Best Actor, was up against much stiffer competition than Kiss of the Spider Woman, eventually losing out to Oliver Stone's incendiary Platoon, a deserved Best Picture if ever there was one. Directed by Randa Haines (not nominated), who hadn't done much before and has done virtually nothing of note since, the film was never likely to win, especially against Academy favourites like Stone and Woody Allen (Hannah and Her Sisters). Moreover, Roland Joffe, who was nominated two year earlier as director of The Killing Fields, again had a film in contention (The Mission, starring Robert De Niro), and James Ivory's A Room With a View was typical academy fare, ensuring that Children of a Lesser God really was the fifth favourite here. Still, it's a solid film bolstered by a couple of great performances from the lead stars, and it marks a solid couple of years for Hurt, who has long been one of Hollywood's most underrated actors.