‘Oppenheimer all the way’
CRITICS WEIGH IN ON WHO WILL TAKE HOME THE BIG PRIZES
Ahead of Sunday’s 96th Academy Awards, Associated Press Film Writers Jake Coyle and Lindsey Bahr share their predictions.
BEST PICTURE
Nominees: American Fiction; Anatomy of a Fall; Barbie; The Holdovers; Killers of the Flower Moon; Maestro; Oppenheimer; Past Lives; Poor Things; The Zone of Interest. Bahr: Oppenheimer. It’s not just because it’s won all the other major awards: This is a recognition that’s a long time coming for Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas, who have been nominated for best picture twice before, for Inception and Dunkirk, but whose influence and impact on the industry and even the Oscars has extended far beyond a simple nomination tally.
Coyle: It’s Oppenheimer all the way, and the only question is how many awards it ultimately walks away with. (I’ll say eight.) But let’s hear it for one of the best best-picture fields in recent memory. There’s not really a clunker in the mix this year.
BEST ACTRESS
Nominees: Annette Bening, Nyad; Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon; Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall; Carey Mulligan, Maestro; Emma Stone, Poor Things.
Coyle: This is going to a nailbiter. Gladstone and Stone are seemingly in a dead heat, with oddsmakers splitting them evenly. I’m going to give the edge to Gladstone, who’s coming off a big win at the Screen Actors Guild Awards and has history riding on her potential victory. She would be the first Native American to win an Oscar. Stone, though, is absurdly good in Poor Things and her chances can’t be dismissed.
Bahr: You know it’s a tough year when the other three very accomplished and utterly committed performances aren’t even in the conversation. I want Gladstone to win, but something is telling me that Stone is going to be the one up that stage.
BEST ACTOR
Nominees: Bradley Cooper, Maestro; Colman Domingo, Rustin; Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers; Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer; Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction. Bahr: This is going to be one of the bigger hold your breath moments on Oscars night as we wait to hear if best actor goes to Giamatti or Murphy. Neither have won this award before and both gave undeniably great and memorable performances, both of which involved copious drinking and different kinds of regret. I do think that Murphy, will get the trophy.
Coyle: As much as we’d all like to see a knock-down, drag-it-out fight between Murphy and Giamatti — two famously nice guys and much-admired character actors getting a leading-man moment — that tete-a-tete just never materialized. The Oppenheimer headwinds are just too strong for Giamatti to pull it off.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Nominees: Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer;
Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple; America Ferrera, Barbie; Jodie Foster, Nyad; Da’vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers. Coyle: This race has been a lock for months, making Randolph all but certain to cruise to her first Academy Award. Out of the three pitch-perfect performances in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers (the others being Giamatti and newcomer Dominic Sessa), the sensitivity of Randolph’s grieving mother has made her an Oscar shoo-in.
Bahr: And let’s hope that whoever is reading the winner card gets the pronunciation of her name correctly. Psst ... it’s DAY-VINE.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Nominees: Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction; Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon; Robert Downey Jr. Oppenheimer; Ryan Gosling, Barbie; Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things.
Bahr: Downey Jr. Like Jamie Lee Curtis last year, it’s an overdue acknowledgment of his lifetime in entertainment.
Plus, he gives good speech. Coyle: Downey will win his first Oscar. De Niro, is doing his best work in years. Brown, who gives American Fiction such a jolt, is as good as anyone working today. Ruffalo, great in everything, should someday soon get the “overdue Oscar” treatment Downey is receiving this year. And Gosling might be our best comic actor. He’s going to lose but only because his Ken is too good.
BEST DIRECTOR
Nominees: Anatomy of a Fall, Justine Triet; Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese; Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan; Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos; The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer. Coyle: This is Nolan’s award, for sure. It will be his first directing Oscar, a belated coronation for one of Hollywood’s most respected auteurs. To see how seldom these chances can be, you need look no further than fellow-nominee Scorsese. He’s only won it once. (Cue Gosling shriek.)
Bahr: Nolan.