What does it matter that Hollywood is 2,436 miles from Pittsburgh? The city’s link to the big screen is always close by.
The latest round of Oscar nominations were unveiled Tuesday, and — sure enough — we’ve managed to find some Pittsburgh connections.
Of course we did.
The first and most direct link would be Netflix’s Pittsburgh-filmed “Rustin,” which garnered a nod for Colman Domingo as best actor. A lot of “Rustin” was filmed in fall 2021 on sets inside soundstages in Warrendale, but recognizable portions of Pittsburgh show up in the film, including Craig Street at Fifth Avenue in Oakland and Sixth Avenue in Downtown near the Duquesne Club with Trinity Cathedral in the background.
“Rustin” also starred Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, CCH Pounder, Audra McDonald and two more links to other Oscar nominees: Jeffrey Wright and Da’Vine Joy Randolph.
While neither of those actors were nominated for their work in “Rustin,” we’re still counting that as a Pittsburgh link (we aren’t being picky here, kids).
Wright landed a nomination for his work in “American Fiction,” while Randolph scored a best supporting actress nod for her work in “The Holdovers.”
Emily Blunt received a nomination for best supporting actress for her work as a woman who grew up in Aspinwall: Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, the wife of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in the film “Oppenheimer.”
Score Pittsburgh a half extra point because Cillian Murphy’s work in that film as the lead character landed him a nomination for best actor. Murphy’s Pittsburgh link comes via having played the Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan’s “Batman” trilogy, including “The Dark Knight Rises,” which was mostly filmed in Pittsburgh (although not Murphy’s scenes).
Sterling K. Brown — who was nominated for best supporting actor in “American Fiction” — has a double connection in that he starred in the partially Pittsburgh-set NBC drama “This Is Us,” and provided the voice-over in a 2022 UPMC commercial, which aired during the Olympics.
There very well could be many six-degrees-of-separation (or less) with other nominees, but we just don’t have that kind of time. Or interest.
Writer’s note: We, ahem, won’t mention (although we kinda are, aren’t we?) that Bradley Cooper — nominated for best actor for “Maestro” — and Randolph are Philadelphia natives.
