Our look at contenders for big-six nominations
▶ Gemma White picks potential front runners for the top six prizes as the buzz around the awards heightens
Next year’s Oscars may still be months away, but players in the film industry are already jostling to secure a nomination before contenders are announced on Monday, March 15. And a handful of A-list names are being talked about, including Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman, who died of cancer in August.
Viola Davis, Colin Firth and Amy Adams are a few others generating Oscars buzz ahead of the 93rd Academy Awards, which will be held on Sunday, April 25, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
While no one is quite sure yet how a socially distanced ceremony might look, whether the winners will be at the venue or joining remotely, as with the Emmys in September, the competition will be no less fierce.
There are 24 categories in total, but we’ve focused on the early front runners in the big six – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. Here’s who we hope to see score a nomination at next year’s Academy Awards.
Best Picture
Nomadland, starring twotime Best Actress Oscarwinner Frances McDormand, is considered a shoo-in. Based on the book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder, the film follows Fern (McDormand), a woman in her sixties who loses her home, savings and livelihood in the recession and moves into her van to travel across the American Midwest.
Other strong contenders include Netflix’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, starring Sacha Baron Cohen, and Mank, which stars 2018 Best Actor Oscar-winner Gary Oldman as the screenwriter of Citizen Kane, Herman J Mankiewicz.
Amazon’s One Night in Miami is another firm favourite. It imagines what happened on one night in February 1964, when boxer Muhammad Ali, civil rights activist Malcolm X, musician Sam Cooke and football player Jim Brown found themselves together in a Miami motel room.
Best Director
It could be David Fincher’s year for Mank. The American director has been nominated in this category twice before – in 2011 for The Social Network and in 2009 for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – but lost both times.
Regina King is a favourite, making her directorial debut with One Night in Miami, while screenwriter-turned-director Aaron Sorkin should certainly be considered for The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Outliers include Spike Lee (a five-time nominee and one-time Oscar winner), for Netflix’s Da 5 Bloods, while Christopher Nolan for Tenet and George Clooney with The Midnight Sky are also two to watch.
Finally, Emerald Fennell, who stars as Camilla Parker Bowles in season four of The Crown on Netflix, deserves a nod as director of Promising Young Woman, which stars Carey Mulligan.
Best Actress
Three-time nominee and onetime winner (Best Actress in 2017 for Fences) Viola Davis is a big favourite in this year’s race, for her titular role as Ma Rainey in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. However, this year, the category is positively stacked with top-tier talent, and Davis’s biggest rival has to be McDormand for Nomadland.
Elsewhere, Sophia Loren for The Life Ahead and Meryl Streep for the star-packed The Prom will almost certainly secure nominations. Other stars who’ll probably be vying for a mention include Kate Winslet for Ammonite, Michelle Pfeiffer for French Exit, Amy Adams for Hillbilly Elegy and Mulligan for Promising Young Woman.
Best Supporting Actress
Mean Girls actress Amanda Seyfried might not only secure her first Oscar nomination, but also be the one to beat for her stellar role as Marion Davies in Mank. Davies was an actress, producer and screenwriter in the 1920s who gained notoriety as US newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst’s long-time mistress.
Olivia Colman, who won Best Actress in 2019 for The Favourite, and who portrays Queen Elizabeth II in season three and four of The Crown, is another front runner for The Father. Priyanka Chopra Jonas will be one to watch for her role as Pinky Madam in Netflix’s The White Tiger, as will Maria Bakalova, the unknown actress winning rave reviews for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. Rounding out a heavily stacked group could be Glenn Close for Hillbilly Elegy, Vanessa Kirby for The World To Come and Saoirse Ronan for Ammonite.
Best Actor
Even so early on in the race, two clear front runners have emerged in this category: Anthony Hopkins and the late Boseman. Hopkins, a five-time nominee, took home Best Actor in 1992 for his chilling portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. This year, he will be hoping to do the double for his role opposite Colman in The Father.
However, Boseman’s role as Levee in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom has been winning critical acclaim, and he could follow in the footsteps of Heath Ledger who also won an Oscar posthumously – Best Supporting Actor in 2009, for playing The Joker in The Dark Knight.
Elsewhere, Oldman is a shooin for Mank, and outsiders include Riz Ahmed for Sound of Metal, Colin Firth for Supernova, Dev Patel for The Personal History of David Copperfield and Jude Law for The Nest.
Best Supporting Actor
Although Baron Cohen’s name has been floated for the Best Actor category for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, his chances of a nomination (and a win) are much stronger in the supporting category for his role as Abbie Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago 7. His costars in the film, Mark Rylance and Eddie Redmayne, could also secure nominations in this category.
Stanley Tucci, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2010 for The Lovely Bones, could be considered for Supernova, while Daniel Kaluuya, who was a Best Actor nominee in 2018 for Get Out, looks likely to be considered again this year for Judas and the Black Messiah. Rounding off the list will probably be Charles Dance for Mank and Bill Murray for On The Rocks.