Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, I’m still clinging to the hope that Richard Linklater’s peerless, beautiful, 12-years-in-the-making coming-of-age film Boyhood will win Best Picture at the Oscars on Sunday night.
The latest numbers suggest it won’t. Alejandro González Iñárritu’sscorched-earth showbuisness satire Birdman – another tremendous film, if not quite Boyhood’s equal – has already won top honours from the Producers’ Guild of America, the Directors’ Guild of America and the Screen Actors’ Guild.
Individually, these awards can be good Oscar bellwethers. Combined, they virtually amount to a sure thing. The last film to win all three and fail to secure Best Picture was Apollo 13 in 1996 and, with respect to Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and the others, Apollo 13 is no Birdman.
But perhaps the voting system the Academy uses to decide its Best Picture winner might eventually play out in Boyhood’s favour. In all other categories, a first-past-the-post vote applies, but for Best Picture, members rank their choices from one to eight, with the less popular films’ votes being redistributed as the count progresses.
Birdman is brash and abrasive, with a lunatic twinkle – and it’s galvanised enormous industry support, as the PGA, DGA and SAG awards demonstrate. Perhaps, though, there’s a sizeable minority who find it irritating or showy, and whose reallocated votes may push Boyhood over the finish line.
Either film would make a fine winner – as would Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel, whose bumper showing in the craft categories at Bafta suggest it might end up the overall biggest winner of the night.
The Best Director Oscar sometimes doubles as a de facto silver medal: Alfonso Cuarón won for Gravity last year and Ang Lee for Life of Pi the year before, while Best Picture went to the other frontrunner: respectively, 12 Years a Slave and Argo. But in the past ten years it’s matched up with the night’s grand prize more often than it hasn’t.
The sheer chutzpah required to pull off a film like Birdman demands some recognition, so whatever happens with Best Picture, I suspect Iñárritu may triumph in this category.
In its own quiet way, Linklater’s work on Boyhood is every bit as audacious as Iñárritu’s, and it strikes me as the greater achievement. But Iñárritu would make a deserving winner – and the victory speech from this gregarious and heroically profane Mexican filmmaker would almost certainly be one for the ages.
Best Actor is the category that’s ripest for an upset. Most of the conversation so far has circled Eddie Redmayne and Michael Keaton, with Redmayne’s transformative turn as the young Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything the safe bet, and Keaton’s fairground-mirror self-portraiture in Birdman the possible usurper. But Bradley Cooper, who hasn’t figured much at other awards shows this year by dint of not being nominated, could squeak past both.
Cooper is extraordinarily well-loved by Oscar voters: he’s been nominated for an acting award every year for the past three: an extraordinary feat last matched by Renée Zellweger, for whom third time was the charm in 2003. And Cooper’s role in American Sniper ticks the voter-pleasing boxes – physically transformative performance, tragic true story, unexpected commercial success. I still think the award will go to Redmayne, but he’s far from the sure thing he was at the Baftas.
Best Actress, on the other hand, feels like it was decided months ago. It’s often been said that this year’s Oscar ceremony isJulianne Moore’s ‘time’ to be inducted into the winners’ circle – although for those of us who felt her time was 1998, when she was nominated for Boogie Nights, the recognition now feels as overdue as a Victorian library book
In Still Alice, Moore plays a university lecturer slowly succumbing to early-onset Alzheimers. It’s not quite Peak Moore (I preferred her in David Cronenberg’s poisonous Hollywood ghost story Maps to the Stars, for which she won Best Actress at Cannes last year), but it’s a terrifically precise, thought-through piece of acting, and her victory feels like a foregone conclusion.
In the knowledge that Moore basically has this in the bag, my vote would probably go to Rosamund Pike, whose finger-lickingly vicious work as Gone Girl’s antiheroine was exactly the kind of role this talented, under-utilised actress has deserved for years. If that means it’s her time now, maybe we only have another 15 years to wait for the Oscars to catch up.
Now we turn to Best Supporting Actor, and this year’s most dramatic case of awards-season momentum: call it JK Rolling. As soon as Whiplash first screened way back in January last year, there were mutterings about JK Simmons’ Oscar chances for playing Fletcher, the film’s Vesuvius-tempered music instructor.
By the time of the film’s UK gala premiere at the London Film Festival last October, he felt like a sure thing. The role unleashes a kind of pent-up tidal wave of charisma that’s amassed over years of dependable character work – and it’s virtually impossible to resist.
If the Best Supporting Actress category feels less inspiring, that’s no slight on the nominees, but rather voters’ preference for roles that are primarily supportive – there’s no space for the more exciting, disruptive work from Katherine Waterston in Inherent Vice, Jessica Chastain in A Most Violent Year, Kristen Stewart in Still Alice, or Emily Blunt in Edge of Tomorrow.
Still, there are a couple of goodies here: even in busy Birdman, Emma Stone stands out as Sam, the hot-headed, flame-tongued daughter of Michael Keaton’s character, who delivers a monologue about the importance of popularity over prestige in the age of the internet that’s ready made for Oscar clip reels.
But it’s Patricia Arquette who seems unassailable: as the mother in Boyhood, she give a shaded, human, and completely emotionally alive performance that serves as the beating heart of the film. To develop this kind of character over the course of making a normal film would be special enough; to have done it over 12 years feels like a miracle. An Oscar is the least she deserves.
Break out the bubbly — the Oscars are almost here! The 87th Annual Academy Awards will air live on Sunday, Feb. 22, and the race is extra tight this year.
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Nominations for the highly anticipated show were first announced on Thursday, Jan. 15. Now with just days away (and last-minute red carpet fittings!), give yourself a refresher on who’s in the running for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and more!
Into the Woods actor Chris Pine, Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams, and Gravity filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron were on hand with Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs to announce the nominations in 24 categories, including Best Actor and Best Actress, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and, of course, Best Picture.
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Among the contenders are Golden Globe winners Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Julianne Moore (for Still Alice), Michael Keaton (for Birdman), and Eddie Redmayne (for The Theory of Everything).
The star-studded show is set to take place on Sunday, Feb. 22, at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre. As previously announced, veteran awards show emcee Neil Patrick Harris will take over hosting duties from last year’s mistress of ceremonies, Ellen DeGeneres.
Check out the full list of 2015 Oscars nominees below, and tell Us who you’ll be rooting for on Feb. 22!
Best Picture
American Sniper
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Credit: Matt Lankes/IFC Films
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Steve Carell in Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper in American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything
Credit: Alison Rosa/Twentieth Century Fox
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Robert Duvall in The Judge
Ethan Hawke in Boyhood
Edward Norton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Mark Ruffalo in Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons in Whiplash
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore in Still Alice
Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon in Wild
Credit: Sony Pictures
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Patricia Arquette in Boyhood
Laura Dern in Wild
Keira Knightley in The Imitation Game
Emma Stone in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Meryl Streep in Into the Woods
Best animated feature film of the year
Big Hero 6, Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli
The Boxtrolls, Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight
How to Train Your Dragon 2, Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold
Song of the Sea, Tomm Moore and Paul Young
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura
Achievement in cinematography
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Emmanuel Lubezki
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Robert Yeoman
Ida, Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
Mr. Turner, Dick Pope
Unbroken, Roger Deakins
Credit: Jack English
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Achievement in costume design
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Milena Canonero
Inherent Vice, Mark Bridges
Into the Woods, Colleen Atwood
Maleficent, Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive
Mr. Turner, Jacqueline Durran
Achievement in directing
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Alejandro G. Inarritu
Boyhood, Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher, Bennett Miller
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Wes Anderson
The Imitation Game, Morten Tyldum
Credit: Martin Scali/Fox Searchlight
Best documentary feature
CitizenFour, Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky
Finding Vivian Maier, John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
Last Days in Vietnam, Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester
The Salt of the Earth, Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier
Virunga, Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
Best documentary short subject
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
Joanna, Aneta Kopacz
Our Curse, Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki
The Reaper (La Parka), Gabriel Serra Arguello
White Earth, J. Christian Jensen
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Achievement in film editing
American Sniper, Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach
Boyhood, Sandra Adair
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game, William Goldenberg
Whiplash, Tom Cross
Best foreign language film of the year
Ida, Poland
Leviathan, Russia
Tangerines, Estonia
Timbuktu, Mauritania
Wild Tales, Argentina
Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
Foxcatcher, Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier
Guardians of the Galaxy, Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Alexandre Desplat
The Imitation Game, Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar, Hans Zimmer
Mr. Turner, Gary Yershon
The Theory of Everything, Johann Johannsson
Credit: Liam Daniel/focus features
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Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Everything Is Awesome” from The Lego Movie
Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson
“Glory” from Selma
Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn
“Grateful” from Beyond the Lights
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
“Lost Stars” from Begin Again
Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois
Achievement in production design
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
The Imitation Game, Production Design: Maria Djurkovic; Set Decoration: Tatiana Macdonald
Interstellar, Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
Into the Woods, Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Mr. Turner, Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Charlotte Watts
Credit: Warner Bros.
Best animated short film
The Bigger Picture, Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper, Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Feast, Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Me and My Moulton, Torill Kove
A Single Life, Joris Oprins
Best live action short film
Aya, Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham, Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak), Hu Wei and Julien Feret
Parvaneh, Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
The Phone Call, Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Achievement in sound editing
American Sniper, Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Martin Hernandez and Aaron Glascock
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
Interstellar, Richard King
Unbroken, Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro
Credit: Atsushi Nishijima/Paramount Pictures
Achievement in sound mixing
American Sniper, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano and Thomas Varga
Interstellar, Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
Unbroken, Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano and David Lee
Whiplash, Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley
Achievement in visual effects
Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist
Guardians of the Galaxy, Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould
Interstellar, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
X-Men: Days of Future Past, Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer
Credit: Daniel McFadden, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
Adapted screenplay
American Sniper, Written by Jason Hall
The Imitation Game, Written by Graham Moore
Inherent Vice, Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything, screenplay by Anthony McCarten
Whiplash, Written by Damien Chazelle
Original screenplay
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Written by Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo
Boyhood, Written by Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher, Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel, Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
Nightcrawler, Written by Dan Gilroy
FRENCH VERSION
Les derniers chiffres suggèrent qu’il ne sera pas. AlejandroGonzález Iñárritu « satire de showbuisness sscorched-terreBirdman – un autre film formidable, sinon tout à fait les égales de l’enfance – a déjà remporté les grands honneurs des producteurs» Guild of America, le Directors’ Guild of America et la ScreenActors’ Guild.
Individuellement, ces prix peut être de bons indicateurs d’Oscar.Combinés, ils constituent presque une chose sûre. Le dernier filmde gagner tous les trois et ne parviennent pas à garantir lameilleure qualité d’image était Apollo 13 en 1996 et, en ce qui concerne Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton et les autres, Apollo 13 n’estaucun Birdman.
Mais peut-être le système de vote l’Académie utilise pour déciderde que son vainqueur de la meilleure qualité d’image pourraitéventuellement jouer en faveur de l’enfance. Dans toutes lesautres catégories, un vote de first-past-the-post s’applique, maispour une meilleure qualité d’image, membres classent leurs choixd’un à huit, avec les voix des films les moins populairesredistribuées en cours de comptage.
Birdman est impétueux et abrasifs, avec un clin d’oeil lunatic – etil a galvanisé de soutien de l’industrie énorme, comme ledémontrent de la PGA, DGA et SAG awards. Peut-être,cependant, il existe une minorité non négligeable qui trouventirritant ou voyantes, et dont les voix données réallouées peuventpousser l’enfance sur la ligne d’arrivée.
Chaque film ferait un beau gagnant – comme de The GrandHotel de Wes Anderson Budapest, dont pare-chocs montrantdans les catégories de bateaux à Bafta dirais qu’il pourrait finirpar le global plus grand gagnant de la nuit.
Le meilleur Oscar directeur se double parfois d’une médailled’argent de fait : Alfonso Cuarón a remporté pour la gravité l’andernier et Ang Lee pour Life of Pi l’année précédente, tandis quele meilleur film est allé à l’autre favori : 12 ans respectivement, unesclave et Argo. Mais dans les dix dernières années il est jumeléavec le grand prix de la nuit plus souvent qu’il n’a pas.
Le culot pur pour enlever un film comme Birdman exige unereconnaissance, donc quoi qu’il arrive avec la meilleure qualitéd’image, je soupçonne Iñárritu peut triompher dans cettecatégorie.
À sa manière calme, travaux de Linklater sur l’enfance est toutaussi audacieux que de Iñárritu, et il me semble que la plus grande réalisation. Mais Iñárritu ferait un digne lauréat – et lediscours de victoire de ce cinéaste mexicain grégaire ethéroïquement profane serait presque certainement l’un pour lesâges.
Meilleur acteur est la catégorie qui est plus mûrs pour unbouleversement. La plupart de la conversation jusqu’à présent aencerclé Eddie Redmayne et Michael Keaton, avec le tourtransformatrice de Redmayne comme le jeune Stephen Hawkingdans The Theory of Everything la valeur sûre et autoportrait de Keaton des forains-miroir en Birdman l’usurpateur possible. MaisBradley Cooper, qui n’a pas compris que beaucoup aux autresawards montre cette année à force de ne sont ne pas nommés,pourraient grincer passé tous les deux.
Cooper est extraordinairement bien aimé par les électeurs del’Oscar : il est nominé pour un prix par intérim chaque annéepour les trois dernières : un exploit extraordinaire dernièreaccompagné d’une Renée Zellweger, pour qui le troisième fois a été le charme en 2003. Et rôle de Cooper en tireur d’éliteaméricain tiques les boîtes de plaire à l’électeur – performancephysiquement transformatrice, tragique histoire vraie, un succèscommercial inattendu. Je pense toujours que le prix ira àRedmayne, mais il est loin d’être la chose certaine, qu’il était à laBAFTA.
Meilleure actrice, a quant à elle, se sent comme il a été décidé il y a mois. Il a souvent été dit que, Oscar cette année ‘temps’ decérémonie isJulianne Moore pour être intronisé au cercle desvainqueurs – bien que pour ceux d’entre nous qui se sentait sontemps a été 1998, quand elle a été nominée pour Boogie Nights,la reconnaissance aujourd’hui se sent aussi en retard comme unlivre de bibliothèque victorienne
Dans encore Alice, Moore joue un professeur d’Universitélentement succomber à la maladie d’Alzheimer précoce. Il n’estpas tout à fait pic Moore (je lui préfère dans l’histoire defantômes toxique Hollywood cartes de Cronenberg vers lesétoiles, pour lequel elle a gagné meilleure actrice au Festival deCannes l’an dernier), mais c’est une pièce terriblement précise etréfléchi d’agir, et sa victoire se sent comme une fatalité.
En sachant que Moore a fondamentalement ceci dans le sac,mon vote irait probablement à Rosamund Pike, dont le doigt-lickingly vicieux travail comme antiheroine de Girl Gone étaitexactement le genre de rôle que cette actrice talentueuse, sous-utilisé a mérité pour des années. Si cela signifie que c’est sontemps maintenant, peut-être que nous n’avons encore 15 ans àattendre pour les Oscars à rattraper.
Maintenant, nous passons au meilleur acteur de soutien et le casplus dramatique de cette année de momentum prix-saison :appelez-le JK Rolling. Dès le coup de fouet tout d’abord projetéchemin du retour en janvier l’année dernière, il y avait desmurmures sur les chances d’Oscar JK Simmons pour jouerFletcher, instructeur de Vésuve trempé la musique du film.
