Andrew: Hello readers! So last night I was able to get my predictions for how I thought the 86th Academy Awards nominations would go in the big categories (directing, acting, screenwriting, picture) and overall I didn't fare too poorly! Overall, in the 8 categories I made predictions for, I ended up with 37 out of 44 predictions correct which comes out to about 84.1%.
Let's see what exactly I got right and what I got wrong.
Best Picture
My predictions: 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Gravity, The Wolf of Wall Street, Captain Phillips, Her, Dallas Buyers Club, Savings Mr. Banks
Actual nominees: 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Gravity, The Wolf of Wall Street, Captain Phillips, Her, Dallas Buyers Club, Nebraska, Philomena
Result: 7 for 9. Of the 8 predictions I made I correctly guessed 7 films. But for the third time in three years since they changed the rules for how many Best Picture nominees there can be, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences nominated 9 films, so technically I got 2 wrong.
Best Director
My predictions: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity; Steve McQueen, 12 Years of Slave; David O. Russell, American Hustle; Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street; Spike Jonze, Her
Actual nominees: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity; Steve McQueen, 12 Years of Slave; David O. Russell, American Hustle; Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street; Alexander Payne, Nebraska
Result: 4 for 5. I thought Jonze would get even more appreciation for the tender and original sci-fi film he's created, but it looks like he'll have to settle for his nominations in Original Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Original Song.
My predictions: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave; Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club; Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips; Bruce Dern, Nebraska; Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Actual nominees: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave; Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club; Bruce Dern, Nebraska; Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street; Christian Bale, American Hustle
Result: 4 for 5. In what came as a surprise but what I won't call a snub, Tom Hanks was bounced from this category by Christian Bale's turn in American Hustle. Hanks had long been thought to be a shoo-in, particularly for his final scene, which I haven't seen myself yet.
My predictions: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine; Sandra Bullock, Gravity; Judi Dench, Philomena; Meryl Streep, August: Osage County; Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
Actual nominees: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine; Sandra Bullock, Gravity; Judi Dench, Philomena; Meryl Streep, August: Osage County; Amy Adams, American Hustle
Results: 4 for 5. Much like my belief in the Best Picture category, I thought Emma Thompson would get more love from the Academy for her portrayal of P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks. Instead Amy Adams got the nod over her, which gives Adams her 5th total Oscar nom and her first in the Lead Actress category.
My predictions: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club; Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave; Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips; Daniel Bruhl, Rush; Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
Actual nominees: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club; Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave; Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips; Bradley Cooper, American Hustle; Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
Result: 4 for 5. As I mentioned last night I debated for quite some time between Hill and Daniel Bruhl, and in the end I thought about it too much. Hill now has his 2nd Oscar nomination in the last 3 years, so it's probably time to put the idea that he's just a comic actor to rest.
My predictions: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle; Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Oprah Winfrey, Lee Daniels' The Butler; Julia Roberts, August: Osage County; June Squibb, Nebraska
Actual nominees: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle; Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave; Julia Roberts, August: Osage County; June Squibb, Nebraska; Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Result: 4 for 5. A bit of surprise that Oprah didn't get nominated as it seemed like she was a relative shoo-in, but it looks like the Academy went with first-time nominee Sally Hawkins instead. Not sure why as we haven't seen Blue Jasmine yet, but you can bet we definitely need to now with all the nominations it received.
Best Original Screenplay
My predictions: American Hustle (David O. Russell & Eric Singer); Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen); Her (Spike Jonze); Dallas Buyers Club (Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack); Nebraska (Bob Nelson)
Actual nominations: American Hustle (David O. Russell & Eric Singer); Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen); Her (Spike Jonze); Dallas Buyers Club (Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack); Nebraska (Bob Nelson)
Result: 5 for 5. This was a relatively easy category to predict simply because 3 of the nominees were shoo-ins (American Hustle, Blue Jasmine, and Her) while Dallas Buyers Club had been picking up steam for a while and Alexander Payne has had a pretty good run with the Academy in his career.
Best Adapted Screenplay
My predictions: Before Midnight (Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke); Captain Phillips (Billy Ray); 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley); The Wolf of Wall Street (Terence Winter); Philomena (Jeff Pope & Steve Coogan)
Actual nominees: Before Midnight (Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke); Captain Phillips (Billy Ray); 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley); The Wolf of Wall Street (Terence Winter); Philomena (Jeff Pope & Steve Coogan)
Result: 5 for 5. Possibly an even easier category to predict than Original Screenplay, I debated a while on whether to include Philomena, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom or Lone Survivor but ultimately went with the more prestige-esque British film. Glad I did.
So overall not too shabby! Granted plenty of the nominees were close to sure-things, but I feel pretty good about nailing the screenplay categories and having Leo in the Best Actor category.
Before I sign off, here are a few cool tidbits about today's nominations I liked:
- David O. Russell has now directed 2 consecutive films (Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle) that garnered nominations in all 4 acting categories. It's particularly impressive because before Silver Linings Playbook it hadn't been done in 30 years and now he and his cast have done it in back-to-back years.
- Speaking of American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook, Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper have become the only actors to score back-to-back Oscar nominations for the same films.
- John Williams scored his 49th career Oscar nomination for his score in The Book Thief, and crazy enough that still puts the 81-year-old composer a whole 10(!) nominations behind Walt Disney for the most in history.
- Last but not least I'm happy that Roger Deakins was nominated in Best Cinematography for his work in Prisoners. It was by the far the most gorgeous looking film we saw this year. Sadly he won't win because Emmanuel Lubezki's work in Gravity made you literally feel like you were in space. So I'm just glad Deakins got nominated.
Photo Courtesy: Oscars.org
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