Adam McKay, The Other Philly Oscar Nominee

Sylvester Stallone’s not the only Philly expat to earn an Oscar nomination this year: Adam McKay — best known for directing Will Ferrell comedies like Step Brothers, The Other Guys and the Anchorman movies — will be up for two when the Academy Awards are doled out in February.

He’ll be (inactively) vying for awards in the Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay categories for his work on his first drama The Big Short, about last decade’s housing bubble burst.

As a side note, McKay’s podcast Surprisingly Awesome — co-hosted by New York Times Magazine economics columnist Adam Davidson — is surprisingly well-produced and researched. It’s surprising, I guess, because it’s not just a couple dudes sitting around making jokes and telling Hollywood war stories. In each episode, one Adam tries to convince the other that something seemingly boring, like mold or foul shots, is actually interesting.