Brian Lehrer: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. As some of you know, one of the things that we usually do during membership drives to make the fundraising weeks a little more fun, a little more palatable, is a short quiz on the show each day. Get two in a row right and you'll learn a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. Today, it's a 10-question quiz.
Looking ahead to Sunday's Academy Award ceremony, the Oscars. Even if you didn't see the movies themselves, you probably heard a lot about them. Who wants to play? 212-433-WNYC. Of course, that's our own airline, not our donation line. We're never going to ask you for money on the air, but who wants to play? 212-433-9692. We've got some people up already, and we're going to start with Brandy in Manhattan. Hi, Brandy, ready to play?
Brandy: Hi, yes, thank you.
Brian Lehrer: All right. Ten-question Oscars quiz. Question number one. We'll start with a category that we've talked about on this show, and that's the subject of the question. Each year, on this show, we interview all five directors, or filmmakers nominated in what Oscars category?
Brandy: Documentaries.
Brian Lehrer: Best feature-length documentary is correct. Question number two then, all five filmmakers run the show this month, and we discussed something unusual about the five films this year, none were made by American filmmakers. Can you name any one of the five countries featured in the nominated documentaries?
Brandy: France.
Brian Lehrer: One of them has been in the news a lot. I didn't hear that. Pretend I didn't hear that, and I'll say one of them has been in the news a lot.
Brandy: No, I know the country but I can't retrieve it. Ukraine.
Brian Lehrer: All right, Ukraine is right.
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Brian Lehrer: Is not [unintelligible 00:02:18] under the wire there.
Brandy: I had it in my head.
Brian Lehrer: I'm glad you're going to get yourself a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap with that clue. Hang on, we'll take your mailing address off the air. All right. Carlos in the Bronx, ready to play?
Carlos: Yes.
Brian Lehrer: Question number three. The highest-grossing movie of last year Barbie, is nominated for six Oscars. Which of these categories is not among them? Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, or Best Adapted Screenplay? It's nominated and all those categories except one, which one?
Carlos: Best Picture.
Brian Lehrer: Sorry, it is nominated for Best Picture. The answer was Best Director, Greta Gerwig. Only three women have won that award. Yes. Gerwig was nominated for Best Director for the film Lady Bird, so she is one of only eight women ever to be nominated. Only three women have won the award, but Greta Gerwig did not earn an Oscar nomination as director for Barbie. David in East Harlem, ready to play?
David: Yes.
Brian Lehrer: Question four. The movie Oppenheimer, features a slew of physicists besides the title character himself, J. Robert Oppenheimer. Can you name anyone other physicists portrayed in the film? I have a list here of 26 of them. Can you name one?
David: Niels Bohr.
Brian Lehrer: Niels Bohr is absolutely right. I'm not going to go through the rest of the list, but even Albert Einstein was on that list. That's right. For the baseball hat, question number five. What discovery on Osage Nation land in Oklahoma triggers the murders in the movie Killers of the Flower Moon, which is also nominated for Best Picture? What discovery on Osage Nation land, this is true in history, this was based on a true story, triggers the murders?
David: I believe it's oil.
Brian Lehrer: It was absolutely oil.
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In the 1920s, oil was discovered and reportedly made the Osage the richest people per capita in the world for a while. The movie is based on the nonfiction book of the same name by David Grann, about the nefarious plot to take that oil money by people directed by Robert Scorsese, at least portrayed by the people directed by Robert Scorsese. David, hang on, we'll take your mailing address and send you a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. Here's Murray calling from Switzerland. Murray, you're on WNYC. Hello from New York, ready to play?
Murray: I am. I'm ready.
Brian Lehrer: Okay. Question number six. Who is hosting the award ceremony this year?
Murray: Oh, no. Is it Jimmy Kimmel?
Brian Lehrer: It is Jimmy Kimmel, and it's his first time.
Murray: Oh, okay.
Brian Lehrer: Yes. Now, this is probably the hardest question in the quiz. Winners on Sunday have to agree to first offer to sell the statuette back to the Academy for a set price before selling or giving it away elsewhere. The Academy has been unhappy with auctions that turned statuettes into mere commodities when they want them to be sacrosanct as recognition of great work. If one of the winners on Sunday night wants to sell the statuette, how much do they have to offer it to the Academy for? It's either $1, $100, $1,000, or $10,000?
Murray: Well, I have no idea, but I will guess $1 because that's elegant.
Brian Lehrer: It is a very elegant guess, [orchestra sound] and it happens to be right. [chuckles] I was really surprised when I learned this just yesterday, but that rule has been in place since 1951. According to an article in The Guardian, those awarded before 51 like Vivien Leigh's Best Actress Oscar from 1933 for Gone with the Wind and Orson Welles award for Citizen Kane, have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction, and David Copperfield, maybe his best magic trick, resold the best director Oscar for Casablanca for more than $2 million.
The academy doesn't like all of that, so they put this $1 limit on a requirement really to sell it back to them for $1 first. Murray, thank you very much. We're going to get your international mailing address and send you a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. Let's see. James in Los Angeles is up next. Hi, James, ready to play?
James: Yes. Good morning. Thank you.
Brian Lehrer: All right. Question number eight. This year, one film could break the record for the most Oscars awarded to one movie, Ben-Hur, Titanic, and The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King. Each won 11 Oscars. Which film is in the running with more than 11 nominations?
James: Oh, no. Well, I'm going to answer the first thing that popped into my mind, Oppenheimer.
Brian Lehrer: Oppenheimer is right. It has 13 nominations. The movie, Poor Things could tie the record if it wins all 11 categories that it's nominated in. Question number nine for the baseball hat. Of the five nominees for Best Original Song, two come from the same film. Which film?
James: Barbie.
Brian Lehrer: Barbie is correct.
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You being in Los Angeles, I shouldn't have even let you play. You're out there in Hollywood, you must be steeped in this stuff. I'm just kidding. Hang on, we're going to send you a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. The I'm Just Ken song, music and lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt and What Was I Made For music and lyrics by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell. Other nominees in that category, The Fire Inside from Flamin' Hot' music and lyric by Diane Warren.
It Never Went Away from American symphony, music and lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson, and also Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People) from Killers of the Flower Moon, music and lyric by Scott George, but Barbie has two nominees in the best song category. All right, we only have one more question. That means, Robin in Manhattan if you're ready to play, you only have to get one question right, and you win a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. Okay, you're ready?
Robin: Ready.
Brian Lehrer: Can you name any three of the 10 Best Picture nominees?
Robin: Okay. Barbie.
Brian Lehrer: Right.
Robin: American Fiction and Oppenheimer.
Brian Lehrer: Absolutely right.
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That was the easiest prize you ever won.
[chuckles]
Robin: Probably. Thank you.
Brian Lehrer: Robin, thank you for playing. Hang on, we'll take your address and send you a Brian Lehrer Show baseball cap. The other ones were Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Past Lives, Poor Things, and The Zone of Interest. That's our 10-question quiz for today. We'll have one more at this time tomorrow to wrap up the membership drive. Brian Lehrer on WNYC, much more to come today.
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