Can you feel the excitement in the air?
Oscar nominations will be announced tomorrow, and the children of America couldn’t be more excited, despite the long odds “Katy Perry: Part of Me” faces in the Best Documentary category.
Here are my updated predictions (you can see my picks in every category on Gold Derby), with picks in all categories to come post-nominations. We need to have a training montage and get you ready for that office pool. I hope you’ve been doing crunches.
Projected winners in bold, because, uh, that’s how I make predictions. Boldly.
Best Picture
There have already been a few quote-unquote frontrunners in this race, starting with “festival buzz” surrounding “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Argo,” moving along to “early screening buzz” surrounding “Les Miserables” (or as I call it, “The Miserables,” since I’m American) and most recently moving into award nomination/critic groups madness, where “Zero Dark Thirty” has been kicking serious Taliban ass.
In the end, Best Picture always comes down to a two-pony race (though unfortunately rarely do those two movies involve ponies), be it “Social Network” vs. “The King’s Speech” or “Shakespeare in Love” vs. “Saving Private Ryan.” This year those ponies are looking like “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Lincoln.”
As for number of contenders (it can fall anywhere between five and 10), considering it was such a fine year for movies, we’ll go with the maximum of 10:
Predictions:
“Amour”
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“Argo”
“Django Unchained”
“Les Miserables”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“The Master”
“Silver Linings Playbook”
“Skyfall”
“Zero Dark Thirty”
Other Contenders:
“Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
“The Dark Knight Rises”
“Flight”
“The Master”
“Moonrise Kingdom”
Best Director
Since the The Academy can often always be about politics and they love themselves a Comeback Story (so long as it’s not Mickey Rourke’s), Big Ben’s gotta be the guy to beat here.
Predictions:
Ben Affleck, “Argo”
Kathryn Bigelow, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Tom Hooper, “Les Miserables”
Ang Lee, “Life of Pi”
Steven Spielberg, “Lincoln”
Other Contenders:
Paul Thomas Anderson, “The Master”
Michael Haneke, “Amour”
David O. Russell, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Quentin Tarantino, “Django Unchained”
Best Actor
It probably doesn’t matter who else gets nominated in this typically crowded field, Daniel Day-Lewis (GOAT?) will win his third Oscar for his predictably immaculate portrayal of the nation’s 16th president (who was kind of a quirkball, it turns out). Now let’s just hope the method man DDL shows up at the Oscars, in character and costume, to accept the award. That way there’d actually be some semblance of surprise here.
Predictions:
Bradley Cooper, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”
Hugh Jackman, “Les Miserables”
John Hawkes, “The Sessions”
Denzel Washington, “Flight”
Other Contenders:
Anthony Hopkins, “Hitchcock”
Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master”
Christoph Waltz, “Django Unchained”
Best Actress
Let’s just blame Meryl Streep, for goofing off with Tommy Lee Jones in “Hope Springs” when she could’ve been lining up for her 400th nomination.
Predictions:
Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Marion Cotillard, “Rust and Bone”
Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Emmanuelle Riva, “Amour”
Naomi Watts, “The Impossible”
Other Contenders:
Keira Knightley, “Anna Karenina”
Helen Mirren, “Hitchcock”
Quvenzhane Wallis, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Rachel Weisz, “The Deep Blue Sea”
Also Check Out: 2013 Oscar Predictions on Film.com
Best Supporting Actor
Predictions:
Javier Bardem, “Skyfall”
Robert De Niro, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “Django Unchained”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”
Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln”
Other Contenders:
Alan Arkin, “Argo”
Dwight Henry, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Matthew McConaughey, “Magic Mike”
Eddie Redmayne, “Les Miserables”
Andy Serkis, “The Hobbit”
Best Supporting Actress
Predictions:
Amy Adams, “The Master”
Anne Dowd, “Compliance”
Anne Hathaway, “Les Miserables”
Helen Hunt, “The Sessions”
Sally Field, “Lincoln”
Other Contenders:
Samantha Barks, “Les Miserables”
Nicole Kidman, “The Paperboy”
Maggie Smith, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
Jacki Weaver, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Rachel Weisz, “The Deep Blue Sea”
Best Original Screenplay
Predictions:
“Django Unchained”
“Flight”
“The Master”
“Moonrise Kingdom”
“Zero Dark Thirty”
Other Contenders:
“Amour”
“Looper”
“Middle of Nowhere”
Best Adapted Screenplay
Predictions:
“Argo”
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Silver Linings Playbook”
Other Contenders:
“Cloud Atlas”
“Les Miserables”
“Perks of Being a Wallflower”
Best Animated Feature
Predictions:
“Brave”
“Frankenweenie”
“ParaNorman”
“Rise of the Guardians”
“Wreck-It Ralph”
Other Contenders:
“Hotel Transylvania”
“The Pirates: Band of Misfits”
“The Rabbi’s Cat”
Best Foreign Film
Predictions:
“Amour”
“Beyond the Hills”
“The Intouchables”
“No”
“A Royal Affair”
Other Contenders:
“Kon-Tiki”
“Sister”
Best Documentary
Predictions:
“Bully”
“The Gatekeepers”
“How to Survive a Plague”
“The Invisible War”
“Searching for Sugar Man”
Other Contenders:
“Detropia”
“The House I Live In”
“This Is Not a Film”
“Mea Maxima Culpa”
