On the back of Michael Keaton’s career best performance, Birdman will be a major player
List compiled by Eddie on 12/12/2014
If I was putting my biased hat on, next year’s Oscar race would be the event of Interstellar but as it stands it looks set to be an intriguing race where at the moment it looks like a certain selection of smaller films will be vying for the award’s top honors.
Boyhood, Birdman, Selma and films such as The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game all seem destined for some forms of success on the night and it’s nice to see a wide selection of films all in contention compared to previous recent years in which but a few films really stood a chance.
The openness of the awards season so far speaks volumes of the quality films that were on display through the year and for each individual title a win at the awards night’s night of nights would be just rewards for efforts that showcased the best the industry had to offer in varying forms.
Main Categories –
Best film –
In any other year, Christopher Nolan’s stunning Sci-Fi epic would be sweeping the awards
Boyhood
Birdman
Interstellar
The Imitation Game
Selma
American Sniper
Whiplash
Unbroken
The Theory of Everything
Foxcatcher
Best Director –
Seeing Clint Eastwood in fine form could allow the great to garner another Oscar nomination for his work on American Sniper
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Clint Eastwood – American Sniper
Ava DuVernay – Selma
Alejandro González Iñárritu – Birdman
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game
Best Actor –
Eddie Redmayne will make it to the big time with his portrayal of Stephen Hawking
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
David Oyelowo – Selma
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Timothy Spall – Mr. Turner
Best Actress –
While Wild might not shake up most categories, Witherspoon’s central turn should get some attention
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Reese Witherspoon – Wild
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
Best Supporting Actor –
A bit player for many years, J.K Simmons should get just rewards for his blistering turn in Whiplash
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Josh Brolin – Inherent Vice
Best Supporting Actress –
It wouldn’t be an Oscar ceremony without a token nomination for Meryl Streep, this time for Into the Woods
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Carmen Ejogo – Selma
Subsidiary Categories –
Original Screenplay –
Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
JC Chandor – A Most Violent Year
Adapted Screenplay –
Jason Dean Hall – American Sniper
Graham Moore – The Imitation Game
Gillian Flynn – Gone Girl
Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Richard LaGravenese, William Nicholson – Unbroken
Anthony McCarten – The Theory of Everything
Original Score –
Thomas Newman – The Judge
Johann Johannsson – The Theory of Everything
Hans Zimmer – Interstellar
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Gone Girl
Alexandre Desplat – The Imitation Game
Best Cinematography –
Dick Pope – Mr. Turner
Hoyte Van Hoytema – Interstellar
Roger Deakins – Unbroken
Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman
Jeff Cronenweth – Gone Girl
Best Animated Film –
The Lego Movie
Big Hero 6
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Boxtrolls
The Book of Life
Best Documentary –
Citzenfour
Life Itself
Last Days in Vietnam
Finding Vivian Maier
The Salt of the Earth
Best Foreign Language Film –
Force Majeure
Winters Sleep
Two Days, One Night
Mommy
Leviathan
Best Film Editing –
Interstellar
Birdman
The Imitation Game
Fury
Gone Girl
Best Production Design –
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Mr. Turner
Into the Woods
The Imitation Game
Exodus: Gods and Kings
Best Visual Effects –
Interstellar
Transformers: Age of Extinction
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Godzilla
Best Costume Design –
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner
Maleficent
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Exodus: Gods and Kings
Best Original Song –
Everything Is Awesome – The Lego Movie
The Last Goodbye – The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Lost Stars – Begin Again
Glory – Selma
Mercy Is – Noah
Best Sound Editing –
Interstellar
Fury
Unbroken
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
American Sniper
Best Sound Mixing –
Interstellar
Gone Girl
Fury
Into the Woods
American Sniper
Best Makeup and Hairstyling –
Exodus: Gods and Kings
Guardians of the Galaxy
Foxcatcher
Into the Woods
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Nomination Tally’s –
Birdman – 7
Interstellar – 6
Boyhood – 5
Selma – 4
The Imitation Game – 8
Foxcatcher – 3
American Sniper – 5
The Theory of Everything – 5
Whiplash – 3
Unbroken – 4
Fury – 3
Wild – 1
Into the Woods – 5
Mr. Turner – 4
Gone Girl – 6
The Grand Budapest Hotel – 3
Exodus: Gods and Kings – 3
Still Alice – 1
Two Days, One Night – 2
Inherent Vice – 1
The Judge – 1
The Lego Movie – 2
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – 2
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – 2
A Most Violent Year – 2
How do these predictions stack up to your thoughts? Have a few standouts been wrongly omitted? Let us know in the comments below
I think Gyllenhaal sneaks into the Best Actor noms and Ida into Foreign Feature
I would love to see Jake sneak in 🙂 His had a couple of great unrewarded performances now so his past due. Good call on Ida as well.
E
I know Meryl Streep is cool and all, but she’s not 18 Oscar noms-good or 3-time Oscar-winner good. Why should someone be rewarded for starring in boring, depressing drama after boring, depressing drama, or starring in Oscar-bait after Oscar-bait? Wait, I just answered my own question 😛
haha Celtic, I know both Jordan and I would feel very much the same. As accomplished as she may be there is no way half of her turns deserve nominations.
E
I’d be surprised if either Jake Gyllenhaal or Oscar Isaac (or both) aren’t nominated for Best Actor. Either way, its going to be a close, tight race for every category this year i.e. if both Hoytema/Interstellar and Lubezki/Birdman are nominated for Best Cinematography.
Very true Mark, should be one of the closest comps in years! I think it looks likely that Birdman is the leader at this stage.
E
Wow! This list is pretty spot on to how I think things will actually turn out. The acting choices you’ve made seem to only have one, at most two, differences (where I disagree), but you never know. The technical awards and other categories appear to be on the correct side, or most likely. These ones, do tend to be up in the air until the week before nominations are announced and pundits really start calling things definitive. Nicely done!
Can’t wait to see how it all falls man, should be a great night.
E
Can’t find a Like button, but I enjoyed this post as I enjoy all of your material and the interest you have in movies, new and classic.
Good work, gents!!!
N.
Sent from Windows Mail
Cheers buddy much appreciated 🙂
E
I wouldn’t omit “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, it’s been creeping up in a lot of precursor awards in more than the Screenplay category. Well deserved nods for Anderson’s best work. I’m happy you included “Mommy”, it’s definitely the best quebecois movie of the year! Blowed me away! 🙂
I think there will be a few sneak into contention man, even Nightcrawler seems to be doing a lot better than predicted and I am unsure what people really think of Unbroken.
E
Did you see Mommy and Two Days, One Night both got robbed of the chance to be nominated today!
Wow really that is crazy, what’s up with that?
E
Not sure but apparently Dardennes has been robbed of a nomination 8 times now. And from what I’ve seen of Dolan’s films he should’ve been nominated many times before as well.
Great predictions. I prefer these to the actual nominations. Selma’s snub for Best Director and Best Actor make little sense to me.
It does seem quite random considering the reviews it has gotten, shame about no gone girl and interstellar to.
E