Early Oscar Predictions

The 92^nd Academy Awards are still over 5 months away, but due to the Film Festival circuit starting in earnest this past week, the ‘awards season’ has officially begun, and it is something I am going to follow closely in the weeks and months building up to the Oscars.

Here, I will lay out my very early and brief (and very likely to look wildly ridiculous come 9^th February 2020) predictions for the nominations of the 6 major categories (the screenplay predictions are harder to predict this far out but will be among the coverage as we get closer to the big day).

Best Picture

This is a hard to predict category as much can change with the reception of these films in the next months, and you never know how many films the academy will actually nominate as they rarely go up to the 10 they are allowed.

Ford v. Ferrari

Joker

Just Mercy

Little Women

Marriage Story

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

The Farewell

The Irishman

1917

Wildcard = Parasite

Best Director

There are many factors that can influence this category but it is rare a director is nominated here if their film is not nominated for Best Picture as well.

Greta Gerwig – Little Women

James Mangold – Ford v. Ferrari

Martin Scorsese – The Irishman

Noah Baumbach – Marriage Story

Quentin Tarantino – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Wildcard = Todd Phillips – Joker

Best Actor

This category is likely to be filled with very high profile actors this year, and in a rare turn for the Oscars, could be filled by performances from some of the year’s biggest box office films as well.

Adam Driver – Marriage Story

Christian Bale – Ford v. Ferrari

Joaquin Phoenix – Joker

Leonardo DiCaprio – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Robert De Niro – The Irishman

Wildcard = Robert Downey Jr – Avengers: Endgame

Best Actress

This is a category that looks wide open at this point of the year with very few sure bets, and that should make for a very exciting few months as we see how this unfolds.

Awkwafina – The Farewell

Charlize Theron – Bombshell

Renee Zellwegger – Judy

Saoirse Ronan – Little Women

Scarlett Johansson – Marriage Story

Wildcard = Penelope Cruz – Pain & Glory

Best Supporting Actor

This proves to be another fascinating battle where some actors who really delivered lead performances could be moved into this category as they may be seen as having a better chance of winning here or to get out of the way of a co-star who is viewed as having a better chance as lead.

Al Pacino – The Irishman

Brad Pitt – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Gary Oldman – The Laundromat

Jamie Foxx – Just Mercy

Timothee Chalamet – Little Women

Wildcard = Taika Waititi – Jojo Rabbit

Best Supporting Actress

This category is also a wide open one this year, with a couple of actresses (Margot Robbie/Laura Dern/Nicole Kidman) having the possibility to be nominated for one of a couple of films this year, and it will be interesting to see if this goes against them and they end up splitting the vote.

Annette Bening – The Report

Florence Pugh – Little Women

Laura Dern – Marriage Story

Margot Robbie – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Zhao Shuzhen – The Farewell

Wildcard = Brie Larson – Just Mercy