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2012 Oscar Predictions

February 21, 2012 by · Comments Off on 2012 Oscar Predictions 

2012 Oscar Predictions, It doesn’t appear any film will be able to stop The Artist from emerging as the big winner at the upcoming 84th Academy Awards taking place this Sunday, February 26th. Unless Oscar voters decide to pay no attention to the results of the Screen Actors Guild, Writers Guild, Directors Guild, Golden Globes, and Critics’ Choice awards, 2012 will find one of the riskiest feature films released in 2011 emerging as the top dog at the Oscars (even without a nomination for The Artist’s scene-stealing top dog, Uggie).

Our predictions:

Original Screenplay: The Writers Guild, Globes, and Critics’ Choice awards in this category all went to Woody Allen’s biggest box office earner of his lengthy career, and it’s likely the Academy Awards will follow suit. Midnight in Paris should emerge the winner, with Allen not around to deliver an acceptance speech (he always stays away from the Oscars, the exception being the awards after 9/11).

Adapted Screenplay: Unless Moneyball pulls off an upset (as it did at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards), this should be a win for The Descendants. The Nat Faxon/Jim Rash screenplay won over the Writers Guild and has been the favorite in this category from the get-go.

Supporting Actress: No one stands a chance of beating Octavia Spencer (The Help). Sorry Berenice Bejo, Jessica Chastain, Melissa McCarthy, and Janet McTeer, but Spencer’s got momentum on her side as she’s won every major award in this category leading up to the Oscars. If she doesn’t win, this would be one of the biggest upsets of the 2012 Oscars.

Supporting Actor: As with the Supporting Actress award, the winner of the Support Actor Oscar is pretty much a done deal. Beginners’ Christopher Plummer has gotten very good at delivering acceptance speeches over the past few months, and hopefully he has one more worthy speech left in him.

Best Actress: It’s a battle of Oscar favorite Meryl Streep (she holds the record with the most nominations of any actor with 17) versus Viola Davis who delivers an outstanding performance in The Help. Streep’s only won twice (Kramer vs Kramer and Sophie’s Choice) and so the Academy could decide it’s time to honor her with her third statuette, but Davis’ performance is too powerful to ignore. Both women are highly respected by their peers and they’ve split wins leading up to the Oscars – Streep won at the Globes and the BAFTA Awards; the Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice awards went to Davis. It’s a tough call, but I think Academy voters will go with Viola Davis and hand her her first Oscar win.

Best Actor: Another category with a two horse race going on, the Best Actor Oscar could go to either Jean Dujardin for The Artist or George Clooney for The Descendants. My pick would be Dujardin, but I’m not a member of the Academy (I am a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association – the group that votes for the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards winners). Because Dujardin did beat Clooney at the SAG Awards, the scales have titled toward a Dujardin win in this category.

Best Picture and Best Director: The Artist and director Michel Hazanavicius will take home the big prizes in these major categories. The Descendants and Martin Scorsese could pull off surprise wins here, but the buzz says The Artist is still holding strong to the top spot in both of these categories.

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