ADAM FRAZIER
With the Golden Globes just around the corner, we’ll no doubt soon receive the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards. I thought I would get us all in the mood for the Oscars by peering into my Palantír and predicting nominations for the major categories. For each category I’ll provide some other possibilities, dark horses that could end up sneaking into the Oscar race.
The Academy’s new voting rules dictate that there will be between five and ten Best Picture nominees this year, depending on how many films receive at least five percent of the overall No. 1 votes. With that being said, I’m going to throw out ten films that could potentially be nominated, thought I think the magic number is closer to seven. It’s easy to see how more than five films could be nominated, but now that ten isn’t a requirement, I don’t see that many films getting at least 225 No. 1 votes each.
Best Picture:
- “The Artist”
- “The Descendants”
- “The Help”
- “Hugo”
- “Midnight in Paris”
- “The Tree of Life”
- “War Horse”
- “Moneyball”
- “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
- “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Best Director:
- Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
- Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”
- Alexander Payne, “The Descendants”
- Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
- Steven Spielberg, “War Horse”
Other Possibilities:
David Fincher, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Bennett Miller, “Moneyball”
Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
Best Actor:
- George Clooney, “The Descendants”
- Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”
- Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
- Michael Fassbender, “Shame”
- Leonardo DiCaprio, “J. Edgar”
Other Possibilities:
Ryan Gosling, “Drive”
Michael Shannon, “Take Shelter”
Gary Oldman, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Best Actress:
- Viola Davis, “The Help”
- Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
- Tilda Swinton, “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
- Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn”
- Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Other Possibilities:
Rooney Mara, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Charlize Theron, “Young Adult”
Elizabeth Olsen, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Best Supporting Actor:
- Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”
- Albert Brooks, “Drive”
- Kenneth Branagh, “My Week with Marilyn”
- Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
- Jonah Hill, “Moneyball”
Other Possibilities:
Max Von Sydow, “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
Patton Oswalt, “Young Adult”
Ben Kingsley, “Hugo”
Best Supporting Actress:
- Bérénice Bejo, “The Artist”
- Octavia Spencer, “The Help”
- Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
- Shailene Woodley, “The Descendants”
- Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Other Possibilities:
Carey Mulligan, “Shame”
Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”
Best Adapted Screenplay:
- “The Descendants” (Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne, Jim Rash)
- “Moneyball” (Stan Chervin, Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian)
- “The Help” (Tate Taylor)
- “Hugo” (John Logan)
- “Drive” (Hossein Amini)
Other Possibilities:
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” (Bridget O’Connor, Peter Straughan)
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Steven Zaillian)
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” (Eric Roth)
“War Horse” (Richard Curtis, Lee Hall)
Best Original Screenplay
- “Midnight in Paris” (Woody Allen)
- “The Artist” (Michel Hazanavicius)
- “Win Win” (Thomas McCarthy, Joe Tibani)
- “50/50” (Will Reiser)
- “The Tree of Life” (Terrence Malick)
Other Possibilities:
“Bridesmaids” (Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig)
“Young Adult” (Diablo Cody)
“Beginners” (Mike Mills)
Well, that’s what I think of this year’s Academy Awards hopefuls – of course the fun thing about the Oscars is you never quite know what’s going to happen. After the nominations have been announced, a clear picture will begin to form about which nominees have the best shot of winning each category, so stay tuned for the official announcement.
