The Oscars are upon us. More precisely, the nominations. The 89th Annual Academy Awards will be announced on January 24, 2017 beginning at 5:18 AM PST. We could be looking at a very diverse crop of nominees both in terms of the Best Picture and acting races. The day before nominations there’s also a Christmas Eve feeling. Those who are Oscar obsessed can hardly contain themselves, anticipating the revelations that will be made only to be live tweeted and shared across the globe.
Seeing who gets nominated is better than who will win. Because once the nominations are out we can tend to gauge the frontrunners. Then it’s just waiting for the inevitable Academy Awards telecast and get a predictable show. While there have been surprises in the past (Mark Rylance for his performance in Steven Spieberg’s Bridge of Spies), oftentimes we can spot the safe bets and sure things.
Nominations lead to speculation and questions about who got snubbed. Hopefully, my picks on behalf of BackstageOL.com will try to squash such talk. But I doubt it.
While there are a total of twenty-four categories, I will only be looking at fourteen of them. I’ll also include some dark horse picks for a few categories on the off chance I can bask in the glory of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences thinking outside the box.
Since the Oscars changed up the nomination process for Best Picture, it can result in a varying number of films year by year. We’ve never had less than eight films nominated for Best Picture since 2011. The last two years the category had 8 films selected. I’m leaning on the side of nine being named.
Best Picture
1. La La Land
2. Moonlight
3. Manchester by the Sea
4. Arrival
5. Lion
6. Hidden Figures
7. Hell or High Water
8. Hacksaw Ridge
9. Fences
Dark Horse pick: Deadpool
Best Director
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Garth Davis, Lion
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Denis Villeneuve, Arrival
Best Actress
Amy Adams, Arrival
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
Dark Horse pick: Annette Bening, 20th Century Women
Best Actor
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences
Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel, Lion
Dark Horse pick(s): Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nocturnal Animals; Ben Foster, Hell or High Water
Best Adapted Screenplay
Arrival
Fences
Hidden Figures
Lion
Moonlight
Dark Horse pick(s): Nocturnal Animals, Deadpool
Best Original Screenplay
Hell or High Water
Jackie
La La Land
The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea
Dark Horse pick: Captain Fantastic
Best Animated Feature Film
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini
The Red Turtle
Zootopia
Best Foreign Language Film
Land of Mine
A Man Called Ove
My Life as a Zucchini
The Salesman
Toni Erdmann
Best Documentary – Feature
The Eagle Huntress
I Am Not Your Negro
O.J.: Made in America
13th
Tower
Dark Horse pick(s): Gleason, Weiner
Best Original Score
Jackie
La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Nocturnal Animals
Dark Horse pick: Kubo and the Two Strings
Best Original Song
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” La La Land
“Can’t Stop the Feeling,” Trolls
“City of Stars,” La La Land
“Drive It Like You Stole It,” Sing Street
“How Far I’ll Go,” Moana
Dark Horse pick: “Runnin’,” Hidden Figures
Best Cinematography
Arrival
La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Silence
Dark Horse pick: Nocturnal Animals
