It’s that time of year again where all of the world’s movie nerds and pop culture aficionados rejoice.
This Sunday is the 86th Academy Awards.
Lumination Entertainment Editor Logan Butts here with my predictions for the night’s major awards winners.
Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave. With 13 months and hundreds of movies in the rear-view mirror, the race for best picture has been whittled down to three competitors: 12 Years a Slave, Gravity and American Hustle. At various points throughout the marathon that is awards season, both Gravity and American Hustle were the front-runners for the big prize, but now that it is time for the Oscars to finally happen, it looks like 12 Years a Slave has proven to be the film that will stand tall among a crowded Best Picture field.
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron. Gravity was undoubtedly the work of a director’s vision, and although Steve McQueen’s directorial work in 12 Years a Slave has just as many fans, I think Cuaron pulls out a victory due to the sheer magnitude of his accomplishment.
Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey. In an unusually competitive race for this category, the “McConaissance” (the term McConaughey’s new career trajectory) will peak with a victory at the Oscars for his performance in Dallas Buyer’s Club. All five nominees could claim to still be alive for the win, but Chiwetel Ejiofor should provide the closest competition.
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett. Despite a late run from Amy Adams multi-accented performance in American Hustle, Blanchett, for her work in Blue Jasmine, should already have her acceptance speech written.
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto. Best Supporting Actor is always one of the most competitive awards each year. Although Barkhad Abdi, Michael Fassbender and Bradley Cooper are all still alive in the race, Leto’s performance in Dallas Buyer’s Club should earn him the victory.
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o. Nyong’o has been charming the awards circuit with flawless precision to support her work in 12 Years a Slave, giving the first-time actress the lead in the race against Jennifer Lawrence for her performance in American Hustle.
Best Original Screenplay: Her. At this point, Best Original Screenplay is a toss-up between Spike Jonze’s Her and David O. Russell’s American Hustle. The latter is an actor’s movie through and through, while the former fits in perfectly with previous winners in this category.
Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave. John Ridley’s script should outlast the group of contenders due to the film’s overall support within the Academy. If you’re looking for an underdog, it would be the script for the final movie of Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy Before Midnight.
Best Film Editing: Gravity. There’s an outside shot that Captain Phillips cashes in on its Academy-wide support with a victory in this category, but it is more likely that Gravity will begin its sweep of the technical categories with a win here.
Best Cinematography: Gravity. Although there is a chance the somehow Oscar-less Roger Deakins earns some sympathy votes for his work in Prisoners, I think Gravity will continue the trend of 3-D films winning in one of my favorite categories.
Best Visual Effects: Gravity. This one was already decided in October.
The Academy Awards will be airing at 6 p.m. on ABC this Sunday.