It’s award season and we can’t be any more excited to talk about the highly debated Academy Awards this year. After a very weak year for filmmaking due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Oscars are back with a bang. In fact, there are so many contenders that we simply can’t pick our favorite!
We will talk about the nominees in the most highly contested categories and we will give you some predictions based on how the nominees performed in other award ceremonies.
Best Picture
There are more nominees for Best Picture than last year, and it’s obvious why. Ten films are nominated:
- The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
- Dune (Warner Bros)
- Belfast (Focus Features)
- King Richard (Warner Bros)
- Don’t Look Up (Netflix)
- CODA (Apple Original Films)
- Licorice Pizza (MGM/United Artists Releasing)
- West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
- Nightmare Alley (Searchlight Pictures)
- Drive My Car (Janus Films/Sideshow)
The Power of the Dog received the highest number of Oscar nominations (12) and it’s thus among the favorites to win Best Picture. Belfast is also a strong competitor, which might swing the votes in its favor. Various media outlets place either Belfast or The Power of the Dog as the winner.
Betting sites, however, have clearly picked their winner. Currently, The Power of the Dog is more than 500 points ahead of Belfast. We’d be surprised if any of the other eight contenders pick up the golden statuette instead.
Best Director
Here are the nominees for Best Director this year:
- Kenneth Branagh (Belfast)
- Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)
- Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza)
- Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)
- Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car)
Steven Spielberg made history by being nominated for the 7th time in the Best Director category with the first nomination being in 1977, which makes him the first person to be nominated in six different decades.
Jane Campion also made history with her nomination; the New Zealand director is the first woman to be nominated twice for Best Director and it appears that most, if not all, media outlets and betting sites favor her to win the award.
Best Actor
Here are the lucky nominees for Best Actor:
- Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog)
- Will Smith (King Richard)
- Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth)
- Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos)
- Andrew Garfield (Tick, tick… Boom!)
Will Smith might be not only King Richard but also the King of the Oscars. Smith is placed first in almost all prediction slips, while betting sites give him a cozy 700-point lead ahead of runner-up Benedict Cumberbatch. It appears, however, that it would be a close race between the two. One also shouldn’t ignore Andrew Garfield who won the Golden Globe for comedy.
Best Actress
Here are the five lucky ladies to be nominated for Best Actress this year:
- Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos)
- Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter)
- Kristen Stewart (Spencer)
- Penelope Cruz (Parallel Mothers)
- Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)
This race is perhaps the most unpredictable one. For months, Kristen Stewart was prognosed to win the Academy Award with her breathtaking performance of Princess Diana in Spencer. This changed in the following months as more films came out offering just as brilliant acting.
We were all secretly rooting for Stewart, the unsung underdog of the industry, but the American actress is currently tailing fourth in the races after she failed to win notable awards, much to the surprise of everyone.
Jessica Chastain is now favored to win, but nobody knows until the coveted envelope is opened.
Best Supporting Actor
Here are the fine gentlemen competing for Best Supporting Actor:
- Jesse Plemons (The Power the Dog)
- Kodi Smit McPhee (The Power of the Dog)
- J.K. Simmons (Being the Ricardos)
- Troy Kotsur (CODA)
- Ciaran Hinds (Belfast)
We see two contenders from The Power of the Dog, namely Plemons and McPhee who play step-father and step-son in the film, respectively. We enjoyed watching them on screen, but it seems like Troy Kotsur from CODA is the current favorite to win.
Fans and critics applaud Kotsur’s performance of a deaf father and the visibility for deaf people that the film presents.
Best Supporting Actress
Here are the five talented women who are poised to become the next Best Supporting Actress:
- Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)
- Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog)
- Judi Dench (Belfast)
- Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter)
- Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)
Spielberg’s fresh and detailed remake of West Side Story created many new stars, but Ariana DeBose is hardly a new actress with her long list of theatre roles. She is the favorite to win the Best Supporting Award, but it might not be such an easy task.
Aunjanue Ellis who plays the mother and coach of the Williams sisters in King Richard is a worthy opponent of DeBose. She’s thought to have been snubbed at the SAG awards, so the Academy might wish to honor her instead.
There’s also Kirsten Dunst who has been snubbed by the Academy many times, so people think that she might pull a Leonardo DiCaprio for the Revenant and receive the Best Supporting Actress award to make up for the misses over the years.
Conclusions
You might think that you already know who’s gonna get the prestigious award this year, but previous years have shown that you can never be too sure. Tune in for the Oscars on March 28 to find out!
