It’s that time of year again! Within the early months of every year, film awards ceremonies take place as prestigious events that honor critically acclaimed films that have been released within the past year. These ceremonies, most notably the Golden Globes and the esteemed Academy Awards, are televised and viewed by many people across the nation.
The Golden Globes Ceremony
Nominees
Best Picture (Drama) – Anatomy of a Fall, Killers of the Flower Moon, Past Lives, The Zone of Interest, and Maestro
Best Picture (Comedy/Musical) – Air, American Fiction, Barbie, The Holdovers, May December, Poor Things
Best Director – Bradley Cooper for Maestro, Celine Song for Past Lives, Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer, Greta Gerwig for Barbie, Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon, and Yorgos Lanthimos for Poor Things
Best Performance by a Male Actor (Drama) – Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers), Barry Keoghan (Saltburn), Bradley Cooper (Maestro), Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), Colman Domingo (Rustin), Leonardo DiCaprio (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Best Performance by a Female Actress (Drama) – Annette Bening (Nyad),Caileen Spaeny (Priscilla), Carey Mulligan (Maestro), Greta Lee (Past Lives), Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon), Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall)
Best Performance by a Male Actor (Comedy/Musical) – Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction), Joaquin Phoenix (Beau is Afraid), Matt Damon (Air), Nicolas Cage (Dream Scenario), Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers), Timothée Chalamet (Wonka)
Best Performance by a Female Actor (Comedy/Musical) – Alma Pöysti (Fallen Leaves), Emma Stone (Poor Things), Jennifer Lawrence (No Hard Feelings), Margot Robbie (Barbie), Natalie Portman (May December)
Winners
Best Picture (Drama) – Oppenheimer
Best Picture (Comedy/Musical) – Poor Things
Best Director – Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer
Best Actor (Drama) – Cillian Murphy Oppenheimer
Best Actress (Drama) – Lily Gladstone Killers of the Flower Moon
Best Actor (Comedy/Musical) – Paul Giamatti The Holdovers
Best Actress (Comedy/Musical) – Emma Stone Poor Things
The Academy Awards Ceremony (The Oscars)
Nominees
Best Picture – American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Poor Things, and The Zone of Interest
Best Director – Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest), Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things), Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer), Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon), Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall)
Best Actor – Bradley Cooper (Maestro), Colman Domingo (Rustin), Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers), Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)
Best Actress – Annette Bening (Nyad), Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon), Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall), Carey Mulligan (Maestro), Emma Stone (Poor Things)
Best Supporting Actor – Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction), Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon), Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer), Ryan Gosling (Barbie), Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)
Best Supporting Actress – Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer), Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple), America Ferrera (Barbie), Jodie Foster (Nyad), Da’vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)
Predictions
American pop culture magazines, reputable prediction experts, blogs, websites, and film buffs alike are all casting their predictions of Oscar winners. Now some of these predictions may be personal hopes, but the most common prediction should be assumed to be the most accurate. Below is a culmination of the most commonly predicted Oscar winners in the most notable categories.
Best Picture
Throughout most sources on the web, Oppenheimer seems to be the clear predicted winner of the Oscar for Best Motion Picture. Coupled with fantastic directing and outstanding performances and cinematography, it is easy to say that Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer will be taking the Oscar this year for Best motion Picture. Although, it is possible that this prediction of Oppenheimer as the winner for Best Motion Picture could be usurped by Killers of the Flower Moon, which was awarded especially well at the Golden Globes.
Best Directing
Following the prediction of Oppenheimer for Best Motion Picture, it is no surprise that many sources believe that Christopher Nolan will finally be taking home the Oscar for Best Directing, after receiving two prior nominations for Best Directing and having over 40 nominations for his films overall. However, just as the two most common predictions for Best Motion Picture line up with Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese may also have a high potential of winning Best Directing over Christopher Nolan.
Best Actor
Even though Cillian Murphy won the category for Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture at the Golden Globes, Paul Giamatti (who won Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical Motion Picture) is the predicted winner of Best Actor in a Motion Picture at this year’s Academy Awards. However, it is still overwhelmingly clear that Cillian Murphy and Paul Giamatti are the two highest contenders for the winner of this category, and the Oscar could very well go to either one of them for their stellar performances in their respective films.
Best Actress
Just like at the Golden Globes, either Lily Gladstone and Emma Stone, who both won Best Performance by a Female Actor in their respective film categories there, are predicted to win for their superb performances in Killers of the Flower Moon and Poor Things, respectively. Although Stone is a seasoned actress who has won in this category at the Academy Awards before, most sources, such as Variety magazine and Entertainment Weekly, cast Gladstone as their predicted winner of this category, who is surprisingly a first-time nominee.
Best Supporting Actor
Robert Downey Jr. is a two-time nominee of two separate categories at the Academy Awards, and has been unsurprisingly nominated for a third time for his outstanding performance as a supporting actor in Oppenheimer. Downey Jr is predicted to win by a landslide against his fellow nominees, with the other commonly predicted winner being Ryan Gosling for his humorous performance in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
Best Supporting Actress
Da’vine Joy Randolph is predicted to be the clear winner of this category for her performance in The Holdovers, especially after her win at the Golden Globes for this category as well. Her impactful and emotional performance in the film will surely be enough to launch her as the winner of this category, with only Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer as a possible competitor.
Surprises and Snubs
Although most nominations were accounted for and expected by many, there were a couple notable surprises in the nominations as well as an overwhelming amount of snubs. The most unexpected nomination was found in the category for Best Actress, where Annette Bening received a nomination for a relatively strong performance in Nyad, therefore snubbing a possible nomination for Margot Robbie’s touching performance in Barbie, or Greta Lee’s incredibly emotional performance in Past Lives. Although these two films were nominated for Best Picture, it was a surprise to many that neither Greta Gerwig or Celine Song were nominated for Best Directing in Barbie and Past Lives, respectively. However, the nominations for Best Directing are still considered a strong lineup, and it was a surprise that neither of the two female directors were nominated but ultimately, they were not snubbed. Although there were plenty of other surprises and snubs in the nominations for the biggest categories of the Academy Awards, the aforementioned surprises and snubs were by far the most notable that garnered the most public discontent.
Awards Ceremonies Schedule (Short description of each)
January 7 – Golden Globes Awards
January 14 – Critic’s Choice Movie Awards
February 14 – BAFTA Film Awards
February 24 – Screen Actors Guild Awards
March 10 – Academy Awards
5/14 – 5/25 – Cannes Film Festival
