VINER’S HOT OSCAR TIPS

THERE is plenty of British talent in the running at the 88th Academy Awards on Sunday, but our main contenders, I fancy, will leave the glittering ceremony empty-handed.

Even before she put her elegant foot in it regarding the snub to black actors, Charlotte Rampling (45 Years) really didn’t stand a chance in the Best Actress category. That, I’m sure will be Brie Larson’s (Room).

Eddie Redmayne is a Best Actor nominee for The Danish Girl, but if there is recognition for that (in my view overpraised) film, the more likely beneficiary is Alicia Vikander, who might very well pip Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs) to Best Supporting Actress. Which would at least spare us one of dear Kate’s breathless ‘ What, little old me?’ acceptance speeches. Sunday’s big winner seems certain to be The Revenant. The Oscars will surely follow the Baftas by anointing it as Best Picture (though the brilliant Spotlight would get my vote). It would count as a major shock if The Revenant’s leading man Leonardo DiCaprio does not bag his first Academy Award. He already has his Bafta, and didn’t

survive all those tribulations in the wild not to brandish an Oscar statuette at the end of it all.

But I don’t think it was Leo’s finest performance, if only because it didn’t really need to be.

Statistically, the best chance for British performers is in the Best Supporting Actor category, where Christian Bale (The Big Short), Tom Hardy (The Revenant) and Bafta winner Mark Rylance (Bridge Of Spies) are all nominated.

But they love to honour a grizzled old-timer at the Oscars, and I’ll be surprised if Sylvester Stallone, for his moving turn as an ageing Rocky Balboa in Creed, doesn’t administer one last knockout blow.