People who know me well, know that I don’t give a crap about New Year’s Day. So what that the year ends on December 31st and begins on January 1st? To me, only one thing marks the beginning of another year of waiting, yearning and building up to greatness: when the Academy Awards have been presented, my new year launches.
The Academy Awards are as holy to me as God is to Roman Catholics. In an attempt to further humiliate myself, I’ll share a little secret with you that might turn out to be embarrassingly too-revealing: my biggest aspiration in life is to one day having achieved such an act of cinematic greatness that I’ll be rewarded an Academy Award by the Academy. Go ahead, laugh, but I’m not ashamed of having big dreams. There is just something about the Academy that mesmerises me.
So, after having discredited myself for ever presenting my opinion again, I’ll now continue by showing you which nominees I would vote for (if I had a vote) and which nominees will win on Sunday regardless of my opinion. (I know, right? They dare to defy my opinion!) Expect a longer article from me tomorrow, one in which I will talk about the five Best Picture nominees, why Danny Boyle’s direction (Slumdog Millionaire) annoyed me beyond anything, and I will possibly also explain some of the picks I have made in this prediction article.1
Just to clarify, wins in this colour are my personal picks, but if they don’t match with the nomination that will probably win, those “wrong wins” will be set in this colour.
So, in the first category (Actor in a Leading Role) I personally think Sean Penn should win, but I think Mickey Rourke will win for The Wrestler. Got that?
Actor in a Leading Role
- Richard Jenkins (The Visitor)
- Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon)
- Sean Penn (Milk)
- Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
- Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)
Actor in a Supporting Role
- Josh Brolin (Milk)
- Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder)
- Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt)
- Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight)
- Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road)
Actress in a Leading Role
- Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)
- Angelina Jolie (Changeling)
- Melissa Leo (Frozen River)
- Meryl Streep (Doubt)
- Kate Winslet (The Reader)
Actress in a Supporting Role
- Amy Adams (Doubt)
- Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
- Viola Davis (Doubt)
- Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
- Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler)
Animated Feature Film
- Bolt (Chris Williams, Byron Howard for Walt Disney Animation Studios)
- Kung Fu Panda (John Stevenson, Mark Osborne for DreamWorks Animation)
- WALL-E (Andrew Stanton for Pixar Animation Studios)
Art Direction
- James J. Murakami, art direction; Gary Fettis, set decoration (Changeling)
- Donald Graham Burt, art direction; Victor J. Zolfo, set decoration (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
- Nathan Crowley, art direction; Peter Lando, set decoration (The Dark Knight)
- Michael Carlin, art direction; Rebecca Alleway, set decoration (The Duchess)
- Kristi Zea, art direction; Debra Schutt, set decoration (Revolutionary Road)
Cinematography
- Tom Stern (Changeling)
- Claudio Miranda (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
- Wally Pfister (The Dark Knight)
- Chris Menges, Roger Deakins (The Reader)
- Anthony Dod Mantle (Slumdog Millionaire)
Costume Design
- Catherine Martin (Australia)
- Jacqueline West (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
- Michael O’Connor (The Duchess)
- Danny Glicker (Milk)
- Albert Wolsky (Revolutionary Road)
Directing
- David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
- Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon)
- Gus Van Sant (Milk)
- Stephen Daldry (The Reader)
- Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire)
Documentary Feature2
- The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) (Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath)
- Encounters at the End of the World (Werner Herzog, Henry Kaiser)
- The Garden (Scott Hamilton Kennedy)
- Man on Wire (James Marsh, Simon Chinn)
- Trouble the Water (Tia Lessin, Carl Deal)
Documentary Short2
- “The Conscience of Nhem En” (Steven Okazaki)
- “The Final Inch” (Irene Taylor Brodsky, Tom Grant)
- “Smile Pinki” (Megan Mylan)
- “The Witness” (Adam Pertofsky, Margaret Hyde)
Film Editing
- Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
- Lee Smith (The Dark Knight)
- Mike Hill, Dan Hanley (Frost/Nixon)
- Elliot Graham (Milk)
- Chris Dickens (Slumdog Millionaire)
Foreign Language Film
- The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
- The Class (France)
- Departures (Japan)
- Revanche (Austria)
- Waltz with Bashir (Israel)
Makeup
- Greg Cannom (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
- John Caglione, Jr., Conor O’Sullivan (The Dark Knight)
- Mike Elizade, Thom Floutz (Hellboy II: The Golden Army)
Music (Score)
- Alexandre Desplat (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
- James Newton Howard (Defiance)
- Danny Elfman (Milk)
- A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire)
- Thomas Newman (WALL-E)
Music (Song)
- “Down to Earth” from WALL-E (Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman)
- “Jai Ho” from Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman, Gulzar)
- “O Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman, Maya Arulpragasam)
Best Picture
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Ceán Chaffin for Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures)
- Frost/Nixon (Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Eric Fellner for Universal Studios)
- Milk (Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen for Focus Features)
- The Reader (Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Donna Gigliotti, Redmond Morris3 for The Weinstein Company)
- Slumdog Millionaire (Christian Colson for Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Short Film (Animated)4
- “La Maison en Petits Cubes” (Kunio Kato)
- “Lavatory – Lovestory” (Konstantin Bronzit)
- “Oktapodi” (Emud Mokhberi, Thierry Marchand)
- “Presto” (Doug Sweetland)
- “This Way Up” (Alan Smith, Adam Foulkes)
Short Film (Live Action)2
- “Auf der Strecke (On the Line)” (Reto Caffi)
- “Manon on the Asphalt” (Elizabeth Marre, Olivier Pont)
- “New Boy” (Steph Green, Tamara Anghie)
- “The Pig” (Tivi Magnusson, Dorte Høgh)
- “Spielzeugland (Toyland)” (Jochen Alexander Freydank)
Sound Editing
- Richard King (The Dark Knight)
- Frank Eulner, Christopher Boyes (Iron Man)
- Tom Sayers (Slumdog Millionaire)
- Ben Burtt, Matthew Wood (WALL-E)
- Wylie Stateman (Wanted)
Sound Mixing
- David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
- Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo, Ed Novick (The Dark Knight)
- Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty (Slumdog Millionaire)
- Tom Myers, Michael Semanick, Ben Burtt (WALL-E)
- Chris Jenkins, Frank A. Montaño, Petr Forejt (Wanted)
Visual Effects
- Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
- Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber, Paul Franklin (The Dark Knight)
- John Nelson, Ben Show, Dan Sudick, Shane Mahan (Iron Man)
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
- Screenplay by Eric Roth; screen story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
- Written by John Patrick Shanley (Doubt)
- Screenplay by Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon)
- Screenplay by David Hare (The Reader)
- Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire)
Writing (Original Screenplay)
- Written by Courtney Hunt (Frozen River)
- Written by Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky)
- Written by Martin McDonagh (In Bruges)
- Written by Dustin Lance Black (Milk)
- Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon; original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter (WALL-E)
Footnotes
- That’s an ugly sentence, I realise that. Also, shut up! [↩]
- I haven’t seen any of these features, so I won’t be able to pick winners in this category. [↩] [↩] [↩]
- Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack posthumously. Normally, the maximum of Best Picture producers is three, but the Academy felt that this was an extraordinary situation. [↩]
- I have only seen “Presto,” but I don’t feel that’s enough to pick winners in this category. [↩]
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