2019 Oscars Predictions

Well, the nominees for the 91st Academy Awards have been announced. As usual, crowds of people disgruntled with the snubs and the very existence of the ceremony have gathered. I’m part of both, but as I’ve written in other pieces on awards show, I can’t help but unironically buy into the hype. If nothing else, the Oscars and events like it highlight the opinions held by a significant portion, if not the majority, of an industry. And a large part of the film industry thought GREEN BOOK and BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY were incredible. OK. THE FAVOURITE and ROMA led the most nominations with ten each. Without further ado, let me list my predictions for who and what will win for each category; not my actual favorites. As usual, I’ll probably get a vast majority of them wrong. I’ll bold my choice in each list.

Best Picture

• BLACK PANTHER
• BLACKKKLANSMAN
• BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
• THE FAVOURITE
• GREEN BOOK
• ROMA
• A STAR IS BORN
• VICE

Best Director

• Spike Lee — BLACKKKLANSMAN
• Paweł Pawlikowski — COLD WAR
• Yorgos Lanthimos — THE FAVOURITE
• Alfonso Cuarón — ROMA
• Adam McKay — Vice

Best Actor

• Christian Bale — VICE
• Bradley Cooper — A STAR IS BORN
• Willem Dafoe — AT ETERNITY’S GATE
• Rami Malek — BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
• Viggo Mortensen — GREEN BOOK

Best Actress

• Yalitza Aparicio — ROMA
• Glenn Close — THE WIFE
• Olivia Colman — THE FAVOURITE
• Lady Gaga — A STAR IS BORN
• Melissa McCarthy — CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

Best Supporting Actor

• Mahershala Ali — GREEN BOOK
• Adam Driver — BLACKKKLANSMAN
• Sam Elliott — A STAR IS BORN
• Richard E. Grant — CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
• Sam Rockwell — VICE

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams — VICE
• Marina de Tavira — ROMA
• Regina King — IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
• Emma Stone — THE FAVOURITE
• Rachel Weisz — THE FAVOURITE

Best Original Screenplay

• THE FAVOURITE — Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara
• FIRST REFORMED — Paul Schrader
• GREEN BOOK — Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, and Peter Farrelly
• ROMA — Alfonso Cuarón
• VICE — Adam McKay

Best Adapted Screenplay

• THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS — Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• BLACKKKLANSMAN — Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee
• CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? — Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
• IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK — Barry Jenkins
• A STAR IS BORN — Eric Roth and Bradly Cooper & Will Fetters

Best Animated Feature Film

• INCREDIBLES 2
• ISLE OF DOGS
• MIRAI
• RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET
• SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

Best Foreign Language Film

• CAPERNAUM
• COLD WAR
• NEVER LOOK AWAY
• ROMA
• SHOPLIFTERS

Best Documentary — Feature

• FREE SOLO
• HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING
• MINDING THE GAP
• OF FATHERS AND SONS
• RBG

Best Documentary — Short Subject

• BLACK SHEEP
• END GAME
• LIFEBOAT
• A NIGHT AT THE GARDEN
• PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE.

Best Live Action Short Film

• DETAINMENT
• FAUVE
• MARGUERITE
• MOTHER
• SKIN

Best Animated Short Film

• ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR
• BAO
• LATE AFTERNOON
• ONE SMALL STEP
• WEEKENDS

Best Original Score

• BLACK PANTHER — Ludwig Göransson
• BLACKKKLANSMAN — Terence Blanchard
• IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK — Nicholas Britell
• ISLE OF DOGS — Alexandre Desplat
• MARY POPPINS RETURNS — Marc Shaiman

Best Original Song

• “All the Stars” — BLACK PANTHER
• “I’ll Fight” — RBG
• “The Place Where Lost Things Go” — MARY POPPINS RETURNS
• “Shallow” — A STAR IS BORN
• “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” — THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

Best Sound Editing

• BLACK PANTHER — Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boeddeker
• BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY — John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone
• FIRST MAN — Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
• A QUIET PLACE — Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
• ROMA — Sergio Díaz and Skip Lievsay

Best Sound Mixing

• BLACK PANTHER — Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter Devlin
• BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY — Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali
• FIRST MAN — Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Ai-Ling Lee and Mary H. Ellis
• ROMA — Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan and José Antonio García
• A STAR IS BORN — Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder and Steve Morrow

Best Production Design

• BLACK PANTHER — Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart
• THE FAVOURITE — Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton
• FIRST MAN — Nathan Crowley and Kathy Lucas
• MARY POPPINS RETURNS — John Myhre and Gordon Sim
• ROMA — Eugenio Caballero and Bárbara Enriquez

Best Cinematography

• COLD WAR — Łukasz Żal
• THE FAVOURITE — Robbie Ryan
• NEVER LOOK AWAY — Caleb Deschanel
• ROMA — Alfonso Cuarón
• A STAR IS BORN — Matthew Libatique

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• BORDER — Göran Lundström and Pamela Goldammer
• MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS — Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher, and Jessica Brooks
• VICE — Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe, and Patricia Dehaney

Best Costume Design

• THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS — Mary Zophres
• BLACK PANTHER — Ruth E. Carter
• THE FAVOURITE — Sandy Powell
• MARY POPPINS RETURNS — Sandy Powell
• MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS — Alexandra Byrne

Best Film Editing

• BLACKKKLANSMAN — Barry Alexander Brown
• BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY — John Ottman
• THE FAVOURITE — Yorgos Mavropsaridis
• GREEN BOOK — Patrick J. Don Vito
• VICE — Hank Corwin

Best Visual Effects

• AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR — Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earl, and Dan Sudick
• CHRISTOPHER ROBIN — Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones, and Chris Corbould
• FIRST MAN — Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles, and J.D. Schwalm
• READY PLAYER ONE — Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler, and David Shirk
• SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY — Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan, and Dominic Tuohy

Welp, I’m looking forward to getting these all wrong! By my estimation, A STAR IS BORN will be the biggest winner with four wins…which doesn’t sound right. Oh well. This is all pointless.