We’re now less than 24 hours away from the big Oscar nominations announcement. I’ll be up early to react to the news live on the Today show (please tune in!), and I’m wondering: What will be the big shocker among the nominees tomorrow? Surely everything won’t go as predicted, right? Here are my top 10 possible stunners.
1. The Reader or Gran Torino sneak into Best Picture over The Dark Knight.
2. Richard Jenkins bumps Brad Pitt out of Best Actor.
3. Melissa Leo snags Angelina Jolie’s Best Actress slot.
4. Voters ignore Kate Winslet’s supporting-actress campaign and nominate her for Best Actress for The Reader, leaving Revolutionary Road out of the acting races completely.
5. Dev Patel scores a Best Actor nod instead of landing in the supporting category.
6. The Dark Knight trumps The Reader in the adapted-screenplay race.
7. Doubt scores four acting nods after all, as Amy Adams pushes Taraji P. Henson out of supporting actress.
8. Happy-Go-Lucky’s Mike Leigh displaces Ron Howard or Gus Van Sant in Best Director.
9. Milk takes two supporting-actor slots and leaves Robert Downey, Jr., in the cold.
And finally…
10. Slumdog Millionaire tops Benjamin Button and scores the most overall nominations.
What do you think the biggest surprise will be? And if any of these actually happen, don’t say I didn’t warn you!
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Seems though EW is neglecting the power of Wall-E…which could end up getting several nominations
I would love to see Doubt and The Reader in for Best Picture, but both will never happen. Angelina Jolie deserves a nomination, but Melissa Leo is a wonderful actress. In my mind, Best Picture and Best Actress are the tightest races this year–and the tightest races in recent years, period.
The Dark Knight should absolutely NOT take The Reader’s adapted screenplay slot. Watching it a second time exposed some seriously corny and stilted dialogue hardly worthy of awarding.
And I don’t care who does it, but Robert Downey Jr. should not get a nomination for a fine comedic performance in Tropic Thunder–not when Milk had four extraordinary supporting actors, and there are the likes of Bill Irwin (Rachel Getting Married), Michael Pitt (Funny Games…if enough people saw this movie they’d see that this performance rivals Heath’s for the chill-inducing factor), Dev Patel, and Jason Butler Harner (his disturbing turn in Changeling was incredibly unsettling).
And here’s hoping Wall-E doesn’t end up with anything more than Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.
I think the big suprise will be when CHE gets a Best Actor nomination. Since no one has seen the dam thing!
I still agree that Kate Winslet could be nominated in lead for The Reader. i think it’s something most people aren’t thinking about. It would still most likely be a big surprise, but it’s not impossible.
Hmm…I’m not really expecting any major surprises. I would love it if Cloverfield received a Visual Effects nomination.
Seriously though, Seeing BOTH Richard Jenkins and Leonardo DiCaprio nominated for Best Actor would be a great and deserving surprise.
I hope that the academy nominate Kate Winslet for both of her performances, especially Revolutionary Road because that was the best performance by an actress I have seen since Julianne Moore in Far From Heaven.
Shakespeare; of course no one has seen Che …it’s even longer than the academy awards! who has time?
I got a feeling that The Wrestler is going to sneak into the Best Picture race and knock off Frost/Nixon.
the dark knight all the way!
I actually think Richard Jenkins will be recognized and that will be the biggest surprise
I just hope Benjamin Button recieves fewer nominations than people are predicting- the movie wasn’t half as good as it could have been. The whole Kate Winslet for supporting or lead actress still brings to mind Jennifer Hudson’s win in the “Supporting” category from Dreamgirls- I thought she was firmly the lead in that film as well.
Kate Winslet is obviously the lead in the Reader and the fact that she is being pushed into supporting just so she can get 2 nominations is disgraceful and frankly I hope it backfires. I think the biggest and most refreshing surprise would be if In Bruges was nominated for…anything really. It’s a better movie than most of the movies released during Oscar season.
I’m hoping Revolutionary Road will take Frost/Nixon’s place in the Best Picture category.
Hoping Melissa Leo can get into Best Actress over Angelina Jolie.
Hopefully Leonardo DiCaprio can sneak into the Best Actor race (possibly over Brad Pitt).
Hopefully Gran Torino will NOT get a Best Picture nod. The Dark Knight deserves it more.
And I’m especially hoping that Robert Downey Jr does NOT get nominated for Supporting Actor. That spot should go to someone much more deserving, like Michael Shannon (Rev Road). Or even James Franco. JUST PLEASE NO ROBERT DOWNEY JR!!!
I would actually be surprised if The Dark Knight was nominated for Best Picture? I think it should be nominated but it seemed to be shut out by many other award shows. It seemed like in general Oscar likes to pick the smaller films these days. Go Dark Knight!
I think (2), (3), (7) and (10) are the most likely surprises. It would be wonderful if Bragelina got left out in the cold! Least likely are (4) and (5) simply b/c I do not recall a single instance when Academy voters went against the advertising campaigns and nominated an actor in a category other than the one they were being touted for. God knows there are several instances where the decision about what is lead and what is supporting was a purely calculated marketing decision, and I’d love the Oscars to call the studios out on this, but seriously doubt that they would do so, since they are all part of the same industry.
And I agree with Taylor about In Bruges. Taylor, let’s hope for a screenplay nod at least! It’s possible!
I don’t think bumping Angelina Jolie will be that big a surprise–the Academy has been rather cold about her since Girl, Interrupted. I think Michelle Williams getting a nomination for Wendy and Lucy would be a shock, though not an unpleasant one. It’s nice to see a very competitive Best Actress category this year for a change
The biggest surprise will be when all the Oscar prediction pundits collectively realize that no one other than them support Frost/Nixon. Yes Virginia, it is possible that Dark Knight and Gran Torino can both make it into the top five! Clint Eastwood will also score a best director nom. I also don’t see Robert Downey, Jr.’s nomination being in jeopardy . . . in fact, it wouldn’t shock me if Tom Cruise was also nominated for his scathing turn as studio head Les Grossman, especially since it’s a role Hollywood can relate to. “G5, playa!”
Here are some things that would shake up the Oscars, though I don’t expect them to actually happen (sadly in some cases).
1. Heath Ledger gets nominated for Best Actor, totally screwing up and adding drama to the acting categories.
2. Wall-E AND The Dark Knight get nominated for Best Picture, making it the most populist (and best) group of nominees for the award…ever?
3. Synecdoche, New York gets a nom for its screenplay. (Pretty please?)
4. Benjamin Button doesn’t get the Best Picture nom (it doesn’t deserve it; nor does Milk).
5. Darren Aranofsky gets nominated.
6. Michael Sheen gets nominated over Frank Langella. Can you imagine?
I would love for Amy Adams to get in. I think she is the best part of the movie and is getting overlooked because her part isnt as showy. So fingers crossed.
I watched In Bruges the other night and loved it. I think that and Slumdog Millionaire are the two best films I’ve seen from last year. And I would love for Colin Farrell and Brendon Gleason to get recognized for it.
Just wondering, there are a few people saying Clint Eastwood for a Best Director nod. Which film are you guys talking about? Gran Torino or Changeling? I believe he directed both. Personally I don’t think he should get a nod for either, although I do think he should get a Best Actor nod for Gran Torino.
Best Picture Nominees : Wall-E … The Wrestler … Doubt … Dark Knight … Slumdog Millionare
My top 5 for the year. Let’s hope…
I don’t understand why people think that the Dark Knight deserves an automatic Oscar nomination. It was a good film, but was is really Oscar worthy?
I would love Darren Aranofsky to get in… Or The Wrestler as best pictures.
Amy Adams <3
Lola, I completely agree with you.
However, The Dark Knight scored a DGA and a PDA nomination, which means there is a pretty good chance it is going to get an Oscar nomination.
WALL-E will be nominated for best picture. That would be the best surprise!
I too think that Jason Butler Harner should be nominated for an incredibly fine performance in Changeling. Why he has been overlooked is baffling.
I dare say that Benjamin Button will get the most nominations but not Best Picture.