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The Academy Awards are upon us. After struggling with declining audience interest in the last few years, as well as concern over their general relevance, the Oscars will attempt to return to past glory with a handful of audience-favourite films in contention for the top prize this year. Although 2022 was a notoriously difficult year for traditional awards contenders at the box office, the Academy has made sure to make full use of the expanded field for the Best Picture category, and selected massive hits such as Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Elvis, as well.
While most categories seem to be locked heading into Oscars weekend, it’s always fun to speculate about who will win, and more importantly, who should win. And there’s normally some discrepancy between the two. So, without any further ado, here are our predictions in the top six categories at this year’s Oscars — Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director and Best Picture.
Best Actor
It’s a tight race this year in the Best Actor category, Paul Mescal’s heartbreaking performance in director Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun is a highlight. The moving and almost-meditative look at a young girl’s fading memories of her father feels both intimate and urgent, with an ultimately tragic conclusion. Mescal, with only a few lines and just his body language, eloquently portrays the deep bond shared by the the father-daughter protagonists. A scene in which he weeps almost uncontrollably with his back to the camera is as harrowing as it is unforgettable. Aftersun, like The Fabelmans, is a semi-autobiographical film.
Of course, just because one is rooting for a certain actor doesn’t diminish anyone else’s performance. Irish star Colin Farrell has appeared in some incredible movies over the years. So, it seems appropriate that he finally earns an Oscar for the well-crafted tragi-comedy The Banshees of Inisherin. For now, it is difficult to say on whose side the scales will tip, it could very well also be Brendan Fraser (The Whale), and Austin Butler (Elvis). But Farrell, who has been around for decades and consistently given credible performances, seems like the likely winner.
Who will win: Colin Farrell
Who should win: Paul Mescal
Best Actress
Michelle Yeoh and Cate Blanchett appear to be the frontrunners in this category with their impressive performances in Everything Everywhere All at Once and Tár, respectively. While Ana de Armas gave a career-best performance in Blonde, the film received a lot of backlash for its interpretation of Marilyn Monroe’s life and career and this seems to have diminished her chances at this year’s Oscars. Michelle Williams’ work in The Fabelmans can be described as the journey of a broken woman who is trying to hold it together, but slips every once in a while. Andrea Riseborough’s nomination for To Leslie was investigated soon after the nominations were announced, so it seems highly unlikely that the Academy’s voting members would go ahead with a controversial choice.
Cate Blanchett has previously won two Oscars – Best Actress for Blue Jasmine, and Best Supporting Actress for The Aviator. In Tár, she plays the titular character Lydia Tár who lives in the bubble of her fame and refuses to acknowledge how the world is changing around her. But this year’s Academy Award belongs to Michelle Yeoh, who has been working in the movies since the early 1980s. Yeoh plays a multiverse-hopping mother who is trying to repair her relationship with her daughter. This is the first Academy Award nomination for Yeoh and it appears that this will be her first win as well.
Who will win: Michelle Yeoh
Who should win: Michelle Yeoh
Best Supporting Actress
The five nominees in the Best Supporting Actress category are Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Hong Chau (The Whale), Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin), Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu (both for Everything Everywhere All at Once). Hong Chau playing Liz in The Whale understood the vulnerability of the characters around her while she managed to walk the line between dealing with her own grief, and supporting her friend who was literally dying because of his. Kerry Condon’s Siobhán in The Banshees of Inisherin knew how to pick her battles but it was Angela Bassett’s Queen Ramonda who actually went to battle in Wakanda Forever.
The most impressive performances in this list belong to Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu. Both actors are essential to Evelyn Quan Wang’s story in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Curtis turns from a lover to a nemesis and back, in the many multiverses of the film, and Hsu’s arc about finding her true self make them excellent supporting characters. However, it seems like Angela Bassett might walk away with the honour given the overwhelming love that the film and her character have received. The film also marks her exit from the MCU.
Who will win: Angela Bassett
Who should win: Jamie Lee Curtis OR Stephanie Hsu
Best Supporting Actor
Ke Huy Quan was spectacular as the earnest but fierce Waymond Wang in the Daniels’ lengthy but fabulous Everything Everywhere All at Once. He played the docile and sincere version of Waymond with as much nuance as the ‘Alpha Waymond’ who teaches Michelle Yeoh’s character how to travel through the multiverse. His longing and love for his partner was heartbreaking in the moment when he crosses paths with her in the movie star-verse. That bit alone was worthy of a standing ovation.
Quan should win for all the above reasons, but his chances of winning are all the more stronger because he represents something that Hollywood loves above everything else — a solid, emotional, hard-earned comeback story. After his child star turn in The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Ke’s career appeared to fizzle out after a few more roles, so he took up jobs behind the camera. Years later, he was tempted to try acting again after seeing the success of Crazy Rich Asians globally, and this is when the offer of Everything Everywhere All at Once came to light. So, even though Quan’s fellow nominees Brendan Gleeson, Brian Tyree Henry, Judd Hirsch and Barry Keoghan are all able competitors for the trophy, it seems unlikely that any of them stands a chance against him.
Who will win: Ke Huy Quan
Who should win: Ke Huy Quan
Best Director
The Academy often likes to divide the Best Director and Best Picture awards between the top two contenders, in what is a strange practice that has never made logical sense. How could Green Book be the best film of the year, even though the best director is Alfonso Cuaron?
This is just one of the reasons why Steven Spielberg won’t win his third directing Oscar, an award that he last won in 1999. Aside from the fact that The Fabelmans didn’t exactly turn out to be the loving ode to the movies that many audiences were led to believe. But Everything Everywhere All at Once was exactly the kind of emotionally rooted genre romp that audiences went in expecting. And there can be no doubt that directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert delivered one of the most original movies in recent memory, in addition to bringing an uncommon gravitas to what is ultimately a genre film — something that the Academy tends to overlook in favour of traditional dramas.
Who will win: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Who should win: Steven Spielberg
Best Picture
Despite tough competition from Steven Spielberg and Todd Field, the precursor awards have all but confirmed that the Daniels’ genre mashup Everything Everywhere All at Once is the film to beat at this year’s Oscars. Even though both Spielberg and Field delivered formidable films, The Fabelmans and TAR could ultimately be too alienating for general voters, even though the skill on display is undeniable.
Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical drama, which many have described as an expensive therapy session, clearly doesn’t scream crowd favourite. Nor does Field’s darkly comic dissection of cancel culture. But the Daniels’ groundbreaking movie, despite borrowing liberally from so many different styles of cinema, can’t help but feel like a burst of originality at a time when everybody is ruing how mundane Hollywood has become. And for that reason, Everything Everywhere All at Once will win the Academy Award for Best Picture, just as it has won every major precursor honour leading up to the big night.
Who will win: Everything Everywhere All at Once
Who should win: The Fabelmans
Click for more updates and latest Hollywood News along with Bollywood and Entertainment updates. Also get latest news and top headlines from India and around the World at The Indian Express.
