As awards season lurches forward with the urgency of a sloth after a nap, expect even the slightest controversy to push its way into the Oscar conversation. Case in point: On Monday, during a CNN segment on how the Academy Award trophy gets made, a plate reading "Academy Award to Leonardo DiCaprio Best Performance By An Actor In A Leading Role 'Wolf Of Wall Street'" was shown, causing many Twitter users to freak out as actual websites published stories about an "Oscar spoiler."
SPOILER: CNN Showed the Oscar winner for Best Actor in a Leading Role #Oscars pic.twitter.com/kNAxJU9G2B
— Joseph Robinow (@Joerobinow) February 10, 2014
Except it wasn't a spoiler: as BuzzFeed pointed out, prior to the ceremony, every nominee has a nameplate made with their name listed as a winner. From a relevant Hollywood Reporter article in 2010:
This year, R.S. Owens, the company that manufactures the Oscar statuettes, will create 197 nameplates -- to factor in all the potential winners -- in advance. Each engraving will include name, category, film title and year.
At the [Governors Ball], which takes place at the Hollywood & Highland Center next door to the Kodak, the winners will be invited into a specially designed area, where technicians will affix the nameplates to each Oscar.
Further throwing salt on DiCaprio's pre-Oscar win, besides reason and fact? The Academy Awards voting deadline, which isn't until Feb. 25.
Despite this non-setback, DiCaprio is still eligible to win an Oscar this year. He's nominated for Best Actor alongside Christian Bale, Bruce Dern, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Matthew McConaughey.
The 86th annual Academy Awards are set for March 2.
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