We favoured Interstellar, Godzilla, The Lego Movie, The Imitation Game and Guardians of the Galaxy as our best picks of 2014 (Birdman, Selma, American Sniper and The Theory of Everything counting as 2015) but the Oscars are assumed as the definitive representation of the finest films. The esteemed guests of actor Chris Pine (Star Trek Into Darkness), director/writer JJ Abrams (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens) and last year’s Best Director winner Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity, Children of Men) were the ones to reveal the following announcements.
Best Picture:
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Best Director:
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game
Best Actor:
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Best Actress:
Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild
Best Supporting Actress:
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Laura Dern – Wild
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Emma Stone – Birdman
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods
Best Supporting Actor:
Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
JK Simmons – Whiplash
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Jason Hall – American Sniper
Graham Moore – The Imitation Game
Paul Thomas Anderson – Inherent Vice
Anthony McCarten – The Theory of Everything
Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
Best Original Screenplay:
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
E Max Frye, Dan Futterman – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler
Best Animated Feature Film:
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Best Cinematography:
Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman
Robert Yeoman – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal, Ryszard Lenczewski – Ida
Dick Pope – Mr Turner
Roger Deakins – Unbroken
Best Editing:
American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash
Best Costume Design:
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr Turner
Best Foreign Language Film:
Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines
Timbuktu
Wild Tales
Best Makeup and Hair:
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
Best Production Design:
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr Turner
Best Sound Editing:
American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken
Best Sound Mixing:
American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash
Best Visual Effects:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Best Music – Original Score:
Alexandre Desplat – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat – The Imitation Game
Hans Zimmer – Interstellar
Gary Yershon – Mr Turner
Johann Johannsson – The Theory of Everything
Best Music – Original Song:
Everything is Awesome – Shawn Patterson – The Lego Movie
Glory – John Stephens, Lonnie Lynn – Selma
Grateful – Diane Warren – Beyond the Lights
I’m Not Going to Miss You – Glen Campbell, Julian Raymond – Glen Campbell…I’ll be Me
Lost Stars – Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois – Begin Again
Best Documentary Feature:
CitizenFour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga
Best Documentary Short:
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper
White Earth
Best Short – Live Action:
Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh
The Phone Call
Best Short – Animation:
The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Feast
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life
Overall, this wasn’t entirely different to any of the major awards dispensers to go before but there’s still the odd surprise in store. Bradley Cooper, Laura Dern, Marion Cotillard and Robert Duvall’s acting nods weren’t expected. The strange number of eight Best PIcture nominees left out other favourites such as Foxcatcher, Unbroken, Interstellar, Into the Woods and Nightcrawler. Big Eyes, Cake and A Most Violent Year are mentionless.
The Lego Movie got a disappointing turnout but Selma, while it picked up a Best Picture nomination, got snubbed in Best Director (Ava DuVernay) and Best Actor (David Oyelowo). David Fincher/Ben Affleck’s Gone Girl too will be sourly disappointed, only receiving Leading Actress Shamefully, every acting competitor is white and there are no female entries in Directing or Writing, proving the bias of the predominantly white male academy.
The award of Best Editing tends to be a powerful prompter for the Best Picture frontrunners so I’d say American Sniper, The Imitation Game, Whiplash and Birdman will be the closest contenders to the main winner Boyhood. The Grand Budapest Hotel may suffer the American Hustle problem of a great amount of nominations but none to few wins. Here’s the current leaderboard.
Birdman – 9
The Grand Budapest Hotel – 9
The Imitation Game – 8
Boyhood – 6
American Sniper – 6
Interstellar – 5
Foxcatcher – 5
Whiplash – 5
The Theory of Everything – 4
Mr Turner – 4
Into the Woods – 3
Unbroken – 3
Ida – 2
Wild – 2
Selma – 2
Guardians of the Galaxy – 2
Inherent Vice – 2
Richard Linklater, Michael Keaton, Julianne Moore, JK Simmons and Patricia Arquette seem set to win and here’s my own top ten most likely predictions for Best Picture.
- Boyhood
- Birdman
- American Sniper
- Whiplash
- The Theory of Everything
- The Imitation Game
- Selma
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gone Girl and How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris will host the Academy Awards on February 22nd.