Every year my family goes all out for the Academy Awards with a big viewing party, lots of food, and of course, bets on who will win. Everyone fills out a ballot with their best guesses and throws $5-10 into the pot, winner take all. Because this has been a tradition in my family for almost two decades, I’ve become pretty good at guessing who the victor in each category will be. I’ve seen a fair amount of the movies nominated, and although I’m sad a few very good movies got snuffed (The First Grader, Tintin, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), the show must go on. Here are my early predictions for who is going to get the Oscar, based solely on my personal opinion, as well as my favorite out of the bunch. Sometimes I get emotionally attached to certain actors or movies, but know very well that they won’t win the award.
Best Picture
The Nominees:
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
Predicted winner: The Artist
My favorite: The Artist
Best Director
The Nominees:
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Predicted winner: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
My favorite: Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Best Actor
The Nominees
Demian Bichir, A Better Life
George Clooney, The Descendants
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Predicted winner: Jean Dujardin, however Clooney might steal this one for no reason other that he’s Clooney.
My favorite: Jean Dujardin
Best Actress
The Nominees:
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Predicted winner: Viola Davis
My favorite: Viola Davis
Best Supporting Actor
The Nominees
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Max Von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Predicted winner: Christopher Plummer
My favorite: Max Von Sydow, however I haven’t seen Beginners, yet
Best Supporting Actress
The Nominees:
Bérénice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Predicted Winner: Octavia Spencer
My favorite: Octavia Spencer
Best Original Screenplay
The Nominees:
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
JC Chandor, Margin Call
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Kristen Wiig & Annie Mumulo, Bridesmaids
Predicted winner: Woody Allen
Best Adapted Screenplay
The Nominees:
George Clooney & Grant Heslov, The Ides of March
Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne & Jim Rash, The Descendants
John Logan, Hugo
Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan, Tinker, Tailor Soldier Spy
Aaron Sorkin & Steven Zaillian, Moneyball
Predicted winner: Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne & Jim Rash, The Descendants
Best Foreign Film
The Nominees:
Bullhead (Belgium)
Footnote (Israel)
In Darkness (Poland)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada)
A Separation (Iran)
Predicted winner: A Separation (Iran)
Best Documentary Feature
The Nominees
Hell and Back Again
If a Tree Falls
Paradise Lost 3
Pina
Undefeated
Predicted winner: Pina
Best Animated Film
The Nominees:
A Cat in Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss In Boots
Rango
Predicted winner: Rango
My favorite: Tintin, which unfortunately didn’t make it. Motion Capture is still up for debate whether it’s live action or animation.
Best Art Direction
The Nominees:
“The Artist” Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
“Hugo” Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
“Midnight in Paris” Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
“War Horse” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales
Predicted winner: Hugo
Best Cinematography
The Nominees:
“The Artist” Guillaume Schiffman
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Jeff Cronenweth
“Hugo” Robert Richardson
“The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki
“War Horse” Janusz Kaminski
Predicted winner: The Artist
Best Costume Design
The Nominees:
“Anonymous” Lisy Christl
“The Artist” Mark Bridges
“Hugo” Sandy Powell
“Jane Eyre” Michael O’Connor
“W.E.” Arianne Phillips
Predicted winner: The Artist
Film Editing
The Nominees:
“The Artist” Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
“The Descendants” Kevin Tent
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
“Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
“Moneyball” Christopher Tellefsen
Predicted winner: Hugo
Makeup
The Nominees:
“Albert Nobbs” Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Iron Lady” Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland
Predicted winner: The Iron Lady
My favorite: Harry Potter
Music (Original Score)
The Nominees:
“The Adventures of Tintin” John Williams
“The Artist” Ludovic Bource
“Hugo” Howard Shore
“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Alberto Iglesias
“War Horse” John Williams
Predicted winner: The Artist
Music (Original Song)
The Nominees:
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
“Real in Rio” from “Rio” Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett
Predicted winner: “Man or Muppet”
Sound Editing
The Nominees:
“Drive” Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Ren Klyce
“Hugo” Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
“War Horse” Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
Predicted winner: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Sound Mixing
The Nominees:
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
“Hugo” Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
“Moneyball” Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
“War Horse” Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson
Predicted winner: Hugo
Visual Effects
The Nominees:
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
“Hugo” Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
“Real Steel” Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier
The Predicted Winner: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
My favorite: Harry Potter
Lizzy is a Merchandise Product Development major at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising L.A. She is highly influenced by J. Crew, Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors and hopes to one day be designing and marketing fantastic fashions just like her icons.
Lizzy S. has 64 post(s) on RTR On Campus
