With the Oscars approaching on Sunday, Mar. 12, it is time to give my predictions on who will be taking home the gold statues. I’ve spent the past several weeks watching all of the nominated films and compiling my thoughts on each one in regard to the acting, directing, and overall production. Every awards season comes with obvious standouts and films that fall flat. Without further ado, here are my final predictions for the 95th Academy Award winners.
One of the most anticipated categories of the night is Best Picture, the final award given out during the show. Out of the ten films in this category, “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once” completely outshined its fellow nominees. This film received the most nominations out of any other film this year, and I predict that they will take home several of those awards. I think it’s likely the film will receive awards honoring the whole ensemble. If everything goes the way I expect it to, we will be seeing Best Actress for Michelle Yeoh and Best Supporting Actor for Ke Huy Quan. While I am hoping to see Stephanie Hsu for Best Supporting Actress, I think it will be going to her co-star Jamie Lee Curits, who has seemed to be in the lead this award season.
There were a few honorable mentions in the Best Picture category that I believe deserve recognition which include “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “The Fablemans.” Both of these films are up for Best Original Screenplay, along with several other nominations in the production categories. While we also see “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once,” “Triangle of Sadness” and “Tár” in this category, the winning film will be a tossup. I am predicting that we may see “The Banshees of Inisherin” pull out the win in the Best Original Screenplay category.
The Best Actor category was stacked with incredible nominations this year including Paul Mescal in “Aftersun'' and Colin Farrell in “The Banshees of Inisherin.” Other performances in this category include Brendan Fraser for “The Whale” and Bill Nighy for “Living.” I would be remiss to not mention “Elvis,” which has given Austin Butler several wins this season (including a Golden Globe and a BAFTA). He is nominated for the Actor in a Leading Role category this year. Though “Elvis” was not a favorite of mine, I think Butler is the one we are going to see up on the stage accepting this award. I also think we will see “Elvis'' receiving the Costume Design and Makeup and Hairstyling awards.
The Academy certainly did not shy away from recognizing the Blockbuster hits this year, with “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” all receiving several nominations, two of which are in the Best Picture category. All three of these greatly contributed to the resurgence of movie watchers getting back into the theater. If any of these films win anything, I predict we will see “Top Gun: Maverick” take Best Film Editing, and a toss up between “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” taking Best Visual Effects.
When looking at the category for Best Director this year, out of the all male nominees (I’m looking at you, members of the Academy), I believe it will definitely be going to Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for “Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.” If the Academy is going to throw any curveballs during the night, they may choose to give Steven Spielberg the award for “The Fablemans,” since the film’s competition is stacked in every other category. While usually this category is one of the most talked about, there has not been a ton of conversation about it thus far.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by many of the nominated films this year, and I believe that several of these actors, directors, producers, costume designers, makeup artists and everyone else who had a hand in creating these films should be very proud of their work. As one of the most esteemed nights in Hollywood, I am sure it will be an interesting show that will leave the internet buzzing. Make sure to tune in to The Oscars on ABC at 8 p.m. EST / 5 p.m. PT.
By Haileigh West, Opinion Editor