1. Kevin O'Connell
Nomination and Year: Best Sound: 20 total nominations from
Terms of Endearment (1984) to
Transformers (2008) Imagine the scene. Its 2008 and were at the 80th annual Oscar awards. The award for Best Adapted Screenplay has just gone to Joel and Ethan Coen for
No Country For Old Men. As the Coen brothers leave the stage, Kevin OConnell sits up in his seat his category is next. A bead of perspiration drops from his brow. His heartbeat quickens. His palms are sweaty. This is his 20th nomination in this category. He is mentally going over his acceptance speech in his head it hasnt changed much since he was first up for an award in 1984 with
Terms of Endearment. Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen are presenting the award. After a brief interval of jovial joking around, they open the gold envelope and announce the winner of the Best Sound Mixing award. And the Oscar goes to...
The Bourne Ultimatum! Kevin OConnell punches the table in despair and raises his eyes to the heavens, lamenting the injustice of the cold and indifferent universe we live in. In reality, events probably didnt unfold this way. Im pretty sure by this point Kevin OConnell couldnt care less about whether he won an Oscar or not. The fact that he has been nominated a record-breaking twenty times is an epic achievement in itself. He has been a sound recording mixer on a staggering amount of successful films, including
Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back,
Raiders of the Lost Ark,
Gremlins and
Top Gun. Therefore Kevin OConnell tops my list of people who deserve to have won Oscars. Though he may not be the owner of small gold statue, he has given a golden contribution to sound-mixing in movies.
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