Oscars Surprise: Live-Action Short Results in Seventh Tie in Academy Awards' History

Mar 15, 2026 5:40pm PT Oscars Surprise: Live-Action Short Results in Seventh Tie in Academy Awards’ History By Rebecca Rubin Plus Icon Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter rebeccaarubin Latest Box Office: ‘Scream 7’ Becomes Franchise’s Highest-Grossing Release With $176 Million, ‘Hamnet’ Surpasses $100 Million Milestone 8 hours ago Box Office: Colleen Hoover’s ‘Reminders of Him’ Impresses With $18 Million, ‘The Bride!’ Craters By 70% as ‘Hoppers’ Remains No. 1 10 hours ago Who Will Win Best Actor? Will Conan O’Brien Avoid a Sophomore Slump? And Other Burning Questions Ahead of the Oscars 2 days ago See All Courtesy Images It’s a tie! For only the seventh time in Oscars history, a category ended with two winners after “The Singers” and “Two People Exchanging Saliva” both nabbed the Academy Award for live-action short film. “Ironic that the short film Oscar is going to take twice as long,” Kumail Nanjiani, who presented the award, cracked as he read the winners. He called up the directors — Sam A. Davis and Jack Piatt for “The Singers” and Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata for “Two People Exchanging Saliva” — one at a time to give speeches. Related Stories Chalamet or Jordan? Oscars Betting Becoming a $100 Million-Plus Business With Kalshi and Polymarket Barbra Streisand in Talks for Oscars Performance to Honor Robert Redford “A tie — wow. I didn’t know that was a thing. but we’re happy to be up here,” said “The Singers” filmmakers. Popular on Variety In his speech, Singh took a jab at Timothee Chalamet’s recent viral comments regarding his thoughts on the state of ballet and opera. “We believe art can change people’s souls. Maybe it takes 10 years time, but we can change society through art, through creativity, through theater and ballet — and cinema.” Prior to this year’s ceremony, the most recent tie was at the 2013 ceremony when “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Skyfall” shared the award for sound editing. Other notable ties include 1932 when best actor went to Wallace Beery (“The Champ”) and Fredric March (“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”); 1949 when documentary short went to “A Chance to Live” and “So Much for So Little”; 1986 when documentary feature went to “Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got” and “Down and Out in America” and 1994 when live-action short film went to “Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Trevor.” Perhaps most memorably, Katharine Hepburn (“The Lion in Winter”) and Barbra Streisand (“Funny Girl”) shared the best actress trophy at the 1968 awards. More to come… Jump to Comments TV Station Group Consolidation Leaves Markets With Less Local News, According to New Study That DirecTV Has Filed With the FCC DIRECTV’s MyNews Genre Pack Is Now $34.99/Month for 2 mos. — Just in Time For Awards Season AT&T Taps Kirk Herbstreit for ‘Clutch Calls’ Promotion During College Football Playoffs JavaScript is required to load the comments. Loading comments...