To repeat what I say every month, it’s pretty much a fool’s errand to try to guess what’s going to be nominated for an Oscar this early in the year. Some of the choices below — A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, The Irishman, Little Women,Once Upon A Time In Hollywood — are there because of their directors or their stars. Some — like Cats and 1917 — are there because they sound like they’re either going to be brilliant or total disasters. Call of the Wild and Fair and Balanced are listed because of my own instincts, for whatever they’re worth. Harriet is listed because Clayton Davis over at Awards Circuit is currently predicting that it will be nominated and he’s got a pretty good track record as far as predicting these things is concerned. Queen & Slim is listed because I saw a few people on twitter raving about a preview of it that they were lucky enough to see. Myself, I have no idea what Queen & Slim is about, beyond the fact that it deals with two people on a date who are pulled over by the police. (That’s according to the imdb.) See how random this is?
So, I guess what I’m saying is that you should take these predictions with a grain of salt. In fact, you should pour salt all over these predictions. The Oscar race usually doesn’t even start to become clear until around September.
The Cannes Film Festival will be held next month. Sometimes, Cannes lends some clarity to the Oscar race. (Tree of Life and BlackKklansman both stated their Oscar campaigns at Cannes.) Just as often, Cannes turns out to be totally useless as far as being predictive tool is concerned. Though the official lineup has not yet been announced, it seems probable that Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and perhaps a few more contenders will be screened at Cannes next month. We’ll see what happens!
If you’re interested in more predictions that you shouldn’t pay too much attention to, be sure to check out my Oscar predictions for January, February, and March! See how my thinking has progressed. Check out just how random my guesses occasionally are.
Best Picture
1917
A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood
Call of the Wild
Cats
Fair and Balanced
Harriet
The Irishman
Little Women
Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Queen & Slim
Best Director
Tom Hooper for Cats
Kassi Lemmons for Harriet
Sam Mendes for 1917
Martin Scorsese for The Irishman
Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Best Actor
Ben Affleck in Torrance
Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood
John Lithgow in Fair and Balanced
Eddie Murphy in My Name Is Dolemite
Edward Norton in Motherless Brooklyn
Best Actress
Amy Adams in The Woman In The Window
Cynthia Erivo in Harriet
Blake Lively in The Rhythm Section
Saoirse Ronan in Little Women
Alfre Woodard in Clemency
Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon in Ford v Ferrari
Harrison Ford in Call of the Wild
Malcolm McDowell in Fair and Balanced
Sir Ian McKellen in Cats
Brad Pitt in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Best Supporting Actress
Dame Judi Dench in Cats
Laura Dern in Little Women
Tiffany Haddish in The Kitchen
Nicole Kidman in The Goldfinch
Margot Robbie in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood