
Oscar nominations are announced on Thursday, and much has changed since my last set of predictions. Some of my more ambitious picks now seem … well, pretty unlikely. Here are my current selections, and note that these are what I THINK they will be — not what I WANT them to be.
BEST PICTURE
12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)
American Hustle (David O. Russell)
Captain Phillips (Paul Greengrass)
Dallas Buyers Club (Jean-Marc Vallee)
Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
Her (Spike Jonze)
Nebraska (Alexander Payne)
Philomena (Stephen Frears)
Saving Mr. Banks (John Lee Hancock)
The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)
If one of the above should fall … :
All Is Lost (JC Chandor)
August: Osage County (John Wells)
Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen)
Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel & Ethan Coen)
Lee Daniels’ The Butler (Lee Daniels)
BEST DIRECTOR
Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
David O. Russell, American Hustle
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
If one of the above should fall … :
Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine
Joel & Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis
Lee Daniels, Lee Daniels’ The Butler
Spike Jonze, Her
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
BEST ACTOR
Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
Chiwetel Ejiofer (12 Years a Slave)
Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips)
Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Robert Redford (All Is Lost)
If one of the above should fall … :
Christian Bale (American Hustle)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Joaquin Phoenix (Her)
Forest Whitaker (The Butler)
BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams (American Hustle)
Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
Judi Dench (Philomena)
Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks)
If one of the above should fall … :
Julie Delpy (Before Midnight)
Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Color)
Brie Larson (Short Term 12)
Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
Tom Hanks (Saving Mr. Banks)
James Gandolfini (Enough Said)
Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
If one of the above should fall … :
Daniel Bruhl (Rush)
Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
Will Forte (Nebraska)
James Franco (Spring Breakers)
Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)
Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)
June Squibb (Nebraska)
Oprah Winfrey (Lee Daniels’ The Butler)
If one of the above should fall … :
Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
Scarlett Johannson (Her)
Margo Martindale (August: Osage County)
Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Octavia Spencer (Fruitvale Station)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine
Joel & Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis
Spike Jonze, Her
Bob Nelson, Nebraska
David O. Russell and Eric Singer, American Hustle
If one of the above should fall … :
Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack, Dallas Buyers Club
Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station
Alfonso Cuaron and Jonas Cuaron, Gravity
Nicole Holofcener, Enough Said
Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith, Saving Mr. Banks
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, Philomena
Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke & Richard Linklater, Before Midnight
Billy Ray, Captain Phillips
John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave
Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street
If one of the above should fall … :
Peter Berg, Lone Survivor
Daniel Cretton, Short Term 12
Ghalia Lacroix and Abdellatif Kechiche, Blue Is The Warmest Color
Tracy Letts, August: Osage County
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Belgium, “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” Felix van Groeningen
Denmark, “The Hunt,” Thomas Vinterberg
Hong Kong, “The Grandmaster,” Wong Kar-wai
Italy, “The Great Beauty,” Paolo Sorrentino
Palestine, “Omar,” Hany Abu-Assad
BEST DOCUMENTARY
20 Feet from Stardom
Blackfish
The Square
Stories We Tell
Tim’s Vermeer
If one of the above should fall … :
The Act of Killing
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
BEST ANIMATED FILM
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Frozen
Monsters University
The Wind Rises