Oscar Wishes and Cinematic Dreams

From the speculation of the US Presidential Elections late last year, to the speculation of the Oscar contenders early this year – only this time its THR’s Scott Feinberg instead of NYT’s Nate Silver playing with the numbers. With the nominations announcement on Thursday, I, too, have prepped for this moment, watching movies throughout the year, interviewing stars and keeping up with where my Big 5 entertainment reads (Time, The Hollywood Reporter, LA Times’ The Envelope, Entertainment Weekly, Deadline Hollywood) are putting their money, much of it based upon awards and nominations that’ve already been handed out. Alternatively, you could just check out the number-crunching at GoldDerby.

Here, then, Miss Ntertainment’s two-cents’ worth on the predicted “Sexy Six”, as Time’s Richard Corliss likes to call them, based on the Big 5, and one or two wild movie wishes and cinematic dreams.

Best Picture

Zero Dark Thirty, Argo, Lincoln, Life of Pi, Les Miserables , Silver Linings Playbook, Django Unchained, Skyfall, Amour, Beasts of the Southern Wild (such a charming breakout indie hit!)

All 5 have Zero Dark Thirty on their lists, which I think will go all the way and nab the Oscar for this category, IF the controversy around the film’s depiction of torture hasn’t harmed it too much, and there’s little indication it has, so far. Argo would be my second pick, based on the excellent suspense of the drama that manages to make you think maybe history turned out differently to what you know actually happened. Back to the actual nominations, because this category could have up to 10 nominees, or follow last year’s 9, the last spot could be filled by Moonrise Kingdom. If I could, I’d put Searching for Sugar Man in there, just because I loved it so much, but I know it’s a shoo-in for Best Documentary, so that’s okay.

Best Director

Ben Affleck, Argo, Steven Spielberg, Lincoln, Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty, Ang Lee, Life of Pi, Tom Hooper, Les Miserables.

These are based on the recent DGA nominations for best feature.

Best Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln, John Hawkes, The Sessions, Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables, Denzel Washington, Flight , Denis Lavant, Holy Motors.

(In my ideal world, John would win this, but I recognize that Daniel owns this category with the role of a lifetime. I’m also hoping Denis Lavant gets a nod for his glorious turn in Holy Motors, although Bradley Cooper will likely nab that last spot for his great performance in Silver Linings Playbook.)

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty, Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook, Naomi Watts, The Impossible, Marion Cotillard, Rust & Bone, Emmanuelle Riva, Amour or Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild (if a 6-year old qualifies, she would be the youngest!)

Best Supporting Actor

Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln, Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook, Javier Bardem, Skyfall, Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained, Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master.

Best Supporting Actress

Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables, Sally Field, Lincoln, Helen Hunt, The Sessions, Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy.

Mix into all of this, the fact that for the first time this year, e-voting was allowed (extra-tight security reportedly caused some problems with ballots being cast), and the deadline date for submissions was brought forward to allow the 5 600 members to see all the films nominated in time for the ceremony on February 24th, and we’ll see how it all turns out!

 Pics: 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures