Shocking Oscar Snubs: How Icons Like Toni Collette, Alfred Hitchcock, and Stanley Kubrick Were Overlooked by the Academy

The Oscars are often seen as the ultimate recognition of achievement in cinema, but over the years, some of the most influential filmmakers and actors have been notably overlooked! With the 2025 Academy Awards coming this weekend there are likely to be more deserving movies and the people behind them that many will believe should have picked up more, or any, prizes. Let’s explore some of the most shocking instances of talent going unrecognized by the Academy, like Toni Collette, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, and more.

Toni Colette Not Getting Nominated For Hereditary

Horror movies have long struggled to gain recognition at the Academy Awards, with the genre often dismissed as "lowbrow", and this disdain was never more evident than with 2018’s Hereditary. Widely regarded as one of the finest horror movies of the 21st century, Hereditary didn’t just earn its acclaim over time—it was an immediate success, drawing praise from both critics and audiences alike.

Directed by Ari Aster in his feature debut, Hereditary placed Aster among the top emerging horror filmmakers, alongside the likes of Robert Eggers, Julia Ducournau, and Jordan Peele. While it was unlikely to get nods for Best Picture or Aster for Best Director, Toni Collette—already a multi-award-winning actress— not getting a Best Actress nod for the most intense and emotionally draining performance of her career is borderline criminal.

However, with Coralie Fargeat’s body-horror film The Substance receiving multiple nominations this year and leading the charge during awards season, there’s hope that the Academy’s prejudice against the horror genre may finally change, and Demi Moore will pick up a most deserved Best Actress win.

The Iron Claw Getting No Oscar Or Any Other Major Award Nominations

For a movie about the rather niche topic of professional wrestling, The Iron Claw kinda took the world by storm. Hitting US screens right at the end of 2023 and European early 2024, The Iron Claw’s tragic story and tear-jerking performances garnered it a lot of interest through word-of-mouth.

Telling the story of the Von Erich family, which consisted of 5 pro wrestler brothers: Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike and David. Their complex relationship with their father, their “family curse” and their undying bond being the subject of The Iron Claw. But The Iron Claw is not only a heart-wrenching tragi-drama, it’s also a bleak insight into the world of professional wrestling during its hey-day in the 1980s. From the toll it takes on both the body and the mind to having to mask it all behind a persona to maintain a career as well as the reliance on drugs that many fall into in order to sustain it.

That all sounds like the perfect recipe for awards season, but Sean Durkin’s film that stars Zac Efron in the finest performance of his career along with Jeremy Allen White in arguably the best of his, not only received zero Oscar nods, but zero major awards nominations at all. If you’ve seen the movie even through your own tears, you’ll understand how absurd that is. Granted it was late in the year and didn’t have the time for an awards campaign, but this remains one of the biggest awards snubs of all time.

Alfred Hitchcock Never Winning Best Director

One of the most surprising movie facts you’ll ever hear is that Alfred Hitchcock, the legendary master of suspense, has not a single Oscar win to his name. Hitchcock—whose name is synonymous with tension, psychological depth, and cinematic brilliance—crafted a legacy that forever shaped the thriller genre. His distinctive style is so iconic in fact that it is now literally an adjective in the Oxford dictionary: "Hitchcockian"- resembling or characteristic of the style of the English film director Sir Alfred Hitchcock, especially through the use of tension and suspense.

Despite being nominated five times throughout his career—namely for Rebecca, Lifeboat, Spellbound, Rear Window, and Psycho—Hitchcock never claimed the coveted Best Director Oscar. His lack of an Academy Award remains one of Hollywood’s most glaring oversights, and many attribute it to that bias against “lowbrow” genres and his unorthodox approach to filmmaking.

Even without that golden statue though, there’s no denying that Hitchcock’s influence stretches far beyond awards, and his work continues to inspire filmmakers, actors, and audiences alike. He did win the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1968 though, so there is that.

Stanley Kubrick Never Winning Best Director

In a similar way, Stanley Kubrick is another of the most influential filmmakers of all time who never won the coveted Best Director. With a body of work that includes 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket and Dr. Strangelove, his films were nominated 13 times, with four for best director. But of those 13 nominations, the only time his name was called at the Academy Awards was for a special effects nod for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Kubrick’s movies aren’t gonna hit with everybody, especially not Rock Hudson who famously walked out the 2001 premiere saying “will someone tell me what the hell this is about?” And maybe for that reason, the Academy found them a bit too highbrow at the time. A couple of the films he lost to were at least reasonable though, with the likes of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and William Friedkin’s The French Connection, which starred the late Gene Hackman, triumphant over Kubrick’s works.

They do say that auteurs that are ahead of their time don’t win awards, and perhaps that’s the case for both Kubrick and Hitchcock. Sadly the Academy didn’t find the time to offer him a consolation prize like they did with Hitchcock, but his works remain on just about every “greatest films” list there is.

Glenn Close Has Never Won An Oscar

Of all of Glenn Close’s iconic roles, performances, accolades and records, the most surprising of them all is the record for most Oscar-nominated actress to have never won. She has been nominated eight times for Best Actress and Supporting Actress in iconic flicks like Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, Albert Nobbs and recently The Wife, for which she was considered the favourite, but lost to Olivia Coleman in the actual favourite, The Favourite. She is also a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as Nova-Prime Irani Rael in Guardians of the Galaxy.

Her lack of Oscar doesn’t seem to have gotten to her though, with her telling Associated Press in 2021. “First of all, I don’t think I’m a loser,” she continued, “Who in that category is a loser? You’re there, you’re five people honored for the work that you’ve done by your peers. What’s better than that?” And she’s right, of all the movies that get released every year and go through the voting process, no nominee is a loser.

Despite her lack of an Oscar, Glenn Close’s legacy as one of the greatest actresses of her generation remains, and her work continues to inspire both audiences and fellow performers alike.

Charlie Chaplin Only Won An Oscar For Original Score

Charlie Chaplin, another widely regarded as one of the most influential filmmakers and performers of all time, never won an Oscar during his career, despite his pioneering work in the early years of cinema, with his timeless classics like City Lights, Modern Times and The Gold Rush setting the standard for comedy and emotional storytelling in cinema at the time. Yet, despite is several nominations, Chaplin never claimed the coveted statuette for Best Actor or Best Director, which many would argue he truly deserved.

Chaplin's absence from the Oscar-winning list was notable, especially considering his groundbreaking contributions to film. His innovation in physical comedy alone have left a mark on the movie industry that are still influential even today a century later. However, it was his personal and political views that may have played a role in his strained relationship with Hollywood and the Academy, and ultimately his chances of taking home any Oscars.

It wasn't until 1972 that Chaplin was finally recognized by the Academy with an honorary Oscar, acknowledging his contributions to the art of film and his role in shaping cinema as we know it today. While the honorary Oscar was long overdue, many still feel that Chaplin's legacy as a performer and filmmaker deserved more during his time in the industry. Nevertheless, his work continues to be celebrated worldwide, as is his legacy as one of the most important figures in movie history.

In the end, while the Oscars may be seen as the highest esteem somebody involved in the movie industry can achieve, they are by no means the definitive measure of a legacy. The influence, craftsmanship, and performances continue to inspire audiences and filmmakers around the world, and while it's frustrating to see their names left off the list of Oscar winners, their work remains immortalised in movie history.