Early Oscar Nomination Predictions Because Why Not?

Best Picture:  

• 12 Years a Slave   
• Gravity 
• Captain Phillips 
• Saving Mr. Banks 
• The Wolf of Wall Street 
• Nebraska 
• Lee Daniels’ The Butler 
• Inside Llewyn Davis American Hustle
• Her 
• Fruitvale Station

Alternates: Inside Llewyn Davis, August: Osage County, Blue Jasmine

Sleepers: Before Midnight, Philomena

Dark Horse: The Place Beyond the Pines Frozen

Best Director

• Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave 
• Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity 
• Joel and Ethan Coen– Inside Llewyn Davis  David O Russell - American Hustle
  
• Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street 
• Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips

Alternate: David O Russell – American Hustle Joel and Ethan Coen– Inside Llewyn Davis

Sleeper: Spike Jonze: Her

Dark Horse: Ryan Coogler – Fruitvale Station

Best Actress

• Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine  
• The nomination’s been a lock since the film’s release.
• Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks 
• Banks has gotten pretty much no traction, but Thompson should still be safe.
• Sandra Bullock – Gravity 
• Gets all the screen time, and the academy does like to see it's nominees suffer on screen. 
• Judi Dench – Philomena 
• It's Judi Dench. She doesn't need any "traction" to get nominated.
• Meryl Streep – August: Osage County
• When it comes to predicting Oscar nominations, always bet on Streep.
  

                Alternate: Julie Delpy – Before Midnight

                Sleeper: Adèle Exarchopoulos – Blue is the Warmest Color

                Dark Horse: Brie Larson – Short Term 12

Best Actor

• Chiwetel Ejifor – 12 Years a Slave 
• Perennially underrated actor who goes through tons of suffering. 
• Robert Redford – All is Lost 
• Well respected actor in a one man survival story. Still,surprisingly little momentum right now.
• Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club 
• Physical transformation. Playing a real person. Playing a real person who gets AIDS. 
• Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips 
• The final scene of the movie should lock up another nomination for Hanks.
• Bruce Dern – Nebraska
• Super well respected actor. 
  

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Alternate: Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Sleeper: Joaquin Phoenix - Her

Dark Horse: Michael B. Jordan - Fruitvale Station

Best Supporting Actor

• Michael Fassbander – 12 Years a Slave 
• Get’s to be multiple kinds of evil. Academy loves villains in this category. 
• Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club 
• Playing a real person. Physical transformation.
• Barkhad Abdi– Captain Phillips 
• Pretty much the co-lead of the movie. Really strong performance, too. 
• Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street 
• The buzz is really strong here. Still, too many people seem to dislike the movie...
• Tom Hanks – Saving Mr. Banks Bradley Cooper - American Hustle
• Academy may want to avoid a double nomination. But, it is Tom Hanks as Walt Disney…+600 bonus points
• Hustle has all the momentum right now, so Cooper gets swept up in the tide.
  

                Alternate: Bradley Cooper – American Hustle

                Sleeper: Will Forte – Nebraska Daniel Bruhl - Rush

                Dark Horse: David Oyelowo – Lee Daniels’ The Butler

Best Supporting Actress

• Oprah Winfrey – Lee Daniels’ The Butler 
• It’s freaking Oprah. Or so I thought earlier. She's not a lock.
• Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave 
• Academy uses this category to reward unknown actors. Gets the most tragic character.
• Julia Roberts – August: Osage County 
• Just a hunch here that Roberts’ star power will lead to a nomination. Very shaky ground right now.
• Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle 
• Jennifer Lawrence is unstoppable (and apparently the best thing about the movie) The only sure thing.
• Octavia Spencer – Fruitvale Station
• I feel the Academy’s going to want to give at least one acting nomination to the movie. 
  

Alternate: June Squib – Nebraska

Sleeper: Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine

Dark Horse: Shailene Woodly – The Spectacular Now

Best Adapted Screenplay

• 12 Years a Slave 
• Before Midnight 
• August: Osage County 
• The Wolf of Wall Street 
• Captain Phillips

            Alternate: Philomena

            Sleeper: Labor Day

            Dark Horse: Ummm…Catching Fire maybe? Surprisingly few choices this year.

Best Original Screenplay

•           Blue Jasmine 
•          Nebraska 
•           Her 
•           Inside Llewyn Davis 
•           Saving Mr. Banks American Hustle

Alternate: American Hustle Saving Mr. Banks

Sleeper: Gravity

Dark Horse: Lee Daniels’ The Butler

Best Animated Film

•           Frozen 
•           Monster’s University 
•           The Wind Rises 
•           Ernest & Celestine 
•           Despicable Me 2

                Alternate: O Apostle

                Dark Horse/Sleeper: The Croods? (Pretty thin crop of movies this year)

 Best Film Editing

•           Gravity 
•           12 Years a Slave 
•           Captain Phillips 
•           The Wolf of Wall Street 
•           American Hustle

                Alternate: All is Lost

                Sleeper: Rush

                Dark Horse: The World’s End Frances Ha

Best Production Design

•           The Great Gatsby 
•           The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 
•           Saving Mr. Banks 
•           12 Years a Slave 
•           Inside Llewyn Davis

                Alternate: Gravity

                Sleeper: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

                Dark Horse: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Best Cinematography

•           Gravity 
•           12 Years a Slave 
•           Prisoners 
•           Captain Phillips 
•           The Great Gatsby

           Alternate: Inside Llewyn Davis

           Sleeper: Nebraska

           Dark Horse: Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

Best Costume Design

•           The Great Gatsby 
•           American Hustle 
•           12 Years a Slave 
•           The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 
•           Saving Mr. Banks

Alternate: Lee Daniels’ The Butler

Sleeper: Oz the Great and Powerful

Dark Horse: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

•           Lee Daniels’ The Butler  American Hustle
•           Rush The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
  
•           The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Bad Grandpa

Alternate: Dallas Buyer’s Club

Sleeper: 12 Years a Slave The Great Gatsby

Dark Horse: Oz the Great and Powerful The Lone Ranger

Best Visual Effects

•           Gravity 
•           Pacific Rim 
•           The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 
•           Iron Man 3 
•           Man of Steel Elysium

                Alternate: The Great Gatsby Star Trek Into Darkness

                Sleeper: Star Trek Into Darkness Oblivion

                Dark Horse: Oblivion Thor: The Dark World

Best Sound Mixing

•           Captain Phillips 
•           Gravity 
•           Rush 
•           The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 
•           All is Lost

                Alternates: 12 Years a Slave

                Sleeper: Lone Survivor

                Dark Horse: Pacific Rim

Best Sound Editing

•          Captain Phillips 
•          Gravity 
•          Lone Survivor 
•          Rush 
•          The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Alternates: All is Lost

Sleeper: Pacific Rim

Dark Horse: Man of Steel

Best Original Score

•           The Book Thief – John Williams 
•           Gravity – Steven Price 
•           12 Years a Slave – Hans Zimmer 
•           Philomena – Alexandre Desplat 
•           Saving Mr. Banks – Thomas Newman

Alternate: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Howard Shore All is Lost - Alex Ebert

Sleeper: Frozen – Christophe Beck Her - William Butler and Owen Pallett

Dark Horse – Romeo and Juliet – Abel Korzeniowski

Best Original Song

•           “Let it Go” – Frozen 
•           “Young and Beautiful” – The Great Gatsby 
•           “In the Middle of the Night” – Lee Daniels’ The Butler 
•           “The Moon Song” – Her 
•           “Amen” – All is Lost "Please Mr. Kennedy" - Inside Llewyn Davis
  “Amen” – All is Lost

Alternate: “For the First Time in Forever” – Frozen “I See Fire” – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Sleeper: “I See Fire” – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
"So You Know What It's Like" - Short Term 12

Dark Horse: “My Lord Sunshine (Sunrise)” – 12 Years a Slave