Will Oscar show love for ‘La La’?
‘La La Land’ hopes to be champ of Hollywood’s big dance
THERE PROMISES to be drama aplenty at tonight’s Oscars (ABC, 8 p.m.) — but not so much surrounding the awards themselves. The musical “La La Land” has danced away with top prizes and critics’ honors throughout this awards season, and Academy voters sure love to sing the praises of movies about making movies, as best picture wins for “The Artist” and “Argo” have shown in recent years. A more interesting plot twist is that after two years of the #OscarSoWhite controversy, in which no actors of color were nominated in the acting categories, there is much more diversity across the board this year. All ears, though, will be on the lines that the winners (not to mention host Jimmy Kimmel) deliver at the podium at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre. Expect plenty of Trump-bashing in the vein of Meryl Streep’s speech at the Golden Globes. In the meantime, the Daily News will hold the envelopes to the light and predict the major winners:
BEST PICTURE
NOMINEES: “Moonlight,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “La La Land,” “Hidden Figures,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Arrival,” “Lion,” “Fences,” “Hell or High Water” WILL WIN: With a recordtying 14 nominations and a spring in its step after strong showings at the Golden Globes, the Screen Actor Guild Awards and the Producers Guild of America Awards, “La La Land” looks like a juggernaut. COULD WIN: There is a contingent that favors “Moonlight” (inset), a visually stunning and emotionally moving tale of an African-American boy desperate to keep his homosexuality secret in a less-than forgiving neighborhood.
BEST ACTRESS
NOMINEES: Natalie Portman (“Jackie”), Meryl Streep (“Florence Foster Jenkins,” inset), Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”), Ruth Negga (“Loving”), Emma Stone (“La La Land”) WILL WIN: Oscar voters have fallen in love with Emma Stone — just like everyone else who watched in “La La Land.” It’s a role where she managed to both chew scenery and carry a tune. COULD WIN: When “Jackie” spooled at the Venice and Toronto film festivals, Natalie Portman notched plenty of Oscar hype, but the biopic about how former First Lady Jackie Kennedy dealt with the assassination of her husband seems to have faded into history. Portman looks like a no-show too. She told the Hollywood Reporter on Saturday that she would miss the Oscars
due to her pregnancy.
BEST DIRECTOR
NOMINEES: Damien Chazelle (“La La Land”), Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”), Kenneth Lonergan (“Manchester by the Sea”), Mel Gibson (“Hacksaw Ridge”), Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival”) WILL WIN: “La La Land’s” Damien Chazelle will have a reason to whistle a happy tune as his movie adds to its hardware collection. KIND OF WON ALREADY: For Mel Gibson (inset), it really is an honor just to be nominated. His violent World War II drama, “Hacksaw Ridge,” will likely only take home a best sound editing statuette, but just being in the mix for best director and best picture signals his Hollywood peers have accepted him back into the fold 10 years after his now-infamous DUI and anti-Semitic rant.
BEST ACTOR
NOMINEES: Denzel Washington (“Fences”), Casey Affleck (“Manchester bythe Sea), Ryan Gosling (“La La Land”), Andrew Garfield (“Hidden Fences”), Viggo Mortensen (“Captain Fantastic”)
WILL WIN: In what now seems the closest of the major races, Casey Affleck (inset) deserves to hold on for his nuanced performance as a griefstricken handyman forced to be a guardian to his nephew in “Manchester by the Sea.” COULD WIN: Many Oscar prognosticators are predicting that Denzel Washington’s performance in “Fences,” a role which already won him a Tony on Broadway, gained enough momentum for an upset.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
NOMINEES: Michelle Williams (“Manchester by the Sea”), Viola Davis (“Fences”), Octavia Spencer (“Hidden Figures”), Nicole Kidman (“Lion”), Naomie Harris (“Moonlight”) WILL WIN: Bet your kid’s college savings on Viola Davis (inset) winning for her role as a beleaguered and betrayed housewife in “Fences.” It’s a lock. COULD WIN: Naomie Harris gave a devastating turn as a drug-addicted mother who wastes away before the audience’s eyes over three time periods in “Moonlight.” More amazing is that all her footage was shot over just three days, director Barry Jenkins recently told The News.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
NOMINEES: Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”), Jeff Bridges (“Hell or High Water”), Dev Patel (“Lion”), Michael Shannon (“Nocturnal Animals”), Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea”) WILL WIN: Veteran character actor Mahershala Ali (inset) finally gets his due as a drug dealer who becomes an unlikely father figure in “Moonlight.” COULD WIN: As a racist marshal in “Hell or High Water,” Jeff Bridges turns in another memorable performance — the type of marriage of actor and role that Oscar voters traditionally applaud.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
NOMINEES: “Moonlight,” “Arrival,” “Hidden Figures,” “Fences,” “Lion” WILL WIN: “Moonlight” (inset), based on a play by Tarell Alvin McCraney, makes beautiful use of its sparse dialogue. COULD WIN: Likely to get shut out in other categories, “Hidden Figures,” a drama about the reallife black women at NASA who cracked the math to help launch the U.S. manned space program, probably has its best shot here. A shutout doesn’t add up.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
NOMINEES: “La La Land,” “Hell or High Water,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “20th Century Women,” “The Lobster” WILL WIN: “Manchester by the Sea” provides another lock. Kenneth Lonergan found a winning recipe that’s two parts heart-breaking, one part funny. SHOULD WIN: “Sons of Anarchy” actor Taylor Sheridan will eventually win a writing Oscar judging by his first two scripts, 2015’s “Sicario” and this year’s “Hell or High Water.”