‘Shape of Water’ tops poll of Oscar favorites
Guillermo del Toro, director of Cold War-era romance, also top choice
While Oscar voters had until Tuesday to vote for their favorites, The Shape of Water is feeling the love from audiences of landlubbers.
In a poll of more than 7,000 moviegoers conducted by Fandango.com exclusively for USA TODAY, the Cold War-era fantasy romance between a silent woman and a fish-man would be their choice to win best picture at the Academy Awards (ABC, Sunday, 8
ET/5 PT). The movie starring Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer ranked No. 1 with 19% of film lovers who say they’ve seen all nine nominated pictures, overtaking the two highestgrossing films in the best-picture race, World War II drama Dunkirk (with
17%) and social thriller Get Out (16%). The dark comedy Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri placed fourth (14%), followed by Winston Churchill biopic Darkest Hour (10%), coming-of-age film Lady Bird (9%), Pentagon Papers thriller The Post
(9%), love story Call Me By Your Name
(4%) and couture fashion drama Phantom Thread (2%).
A melding of creature feature and heartfelt love story, Shape of Water “is just a movie that’s on everybody’s list,” says Fandango.com managing editor Erik Davis, adding that the movie has “a good shot” at winning.
Water filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is also the poll’s pick for best director with 31%: “He’s a director that a lot of people have been rooting for a very long time,” Davis says. Dunkirk’s Christopher Nolan was second (29%), Get Out’s Jordan Peele had 23%; Lady Bird’s Greta Gerwig, 14%; Phantom Thread’s Paul Thomas Anderson, 3%.
Gary Oldman, who stars as Churchill in Darkest Hour, is the Oscar favorite for best actor, and he’s the audience choice as well, with 44% of the vote. Daniel Kaluuya ( Get Out) took second with 23%; Denzel Washington ( Roman J. Israel, Esq.) had 15%; Daniel Day-Lewis ( Phantom Thread), 11%;
and Timothée Chalamet ( Call Me By Your Name), 7%.
For best actress, Frances McDormand ( Three Billboards) was the top pick with 30%, and the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild winner’s char- acter is one movie fans can relate to “as a mom who’s grieving and taking matters into her own hands,” Davis says. “She’s no-holds-barred and says what she wants, and that ideology is something that’s speaking to a lot of people around the country.” Hawkins was second with 20%, followed by Margot Robbie ( I, Tonya) with 19%; Saoirse Ronan ( Lady Bird), 16%; Meryl Streep ( The Post), 15%.
Three Billboards stars Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson went No. 1 (28%) and No. 2 (23%) in the poll for supporting actor. Richard Jenkins ( Shape of Water) placed third with 18%; Christopher Plummer ( All the Money in the World), 16%; Willem Dafoe ( The Florida Project), 15%.
Of the contenders for supporting actress, Spencer and Allison Janney ( I, Tonya) tied for the top spot with 30% each. Laurie Metcalf ( Lady Bird) was third with 24%; Mary J. Blige ( Mudbound), 10%; Lesley Manville ( Phantom Thread), 6%.
Three years ago, the Fandango/USA TODAY audience poll chose American Sniper as best picture, an honor that ultimately went to Birdman. In 2016, moviegoers picked The Revenant, which lost to Spotlight. And last year’s poll preferred Hidden Figures, though Moonlight eventually won the bestpicture Oscar.