AwardsDaily’s Final Oscar Predictions

It’s all come down to this, my friends. A preferential ballot for all too enabled Academy voters. It’s hard to know  how this thing will go. There are so many conflicting narratives that run through it, so many different types of people voting. The industry throws out brilliant films like Inherent Vice or Selma but that doesn’t mean it will fit in the comfort zone of Oscar voters.

We’ve gone over Best Picture and Best Director, now let’s just ram it all on through, shall we?  My Best Picture predictions match the Awards Daily contest entries so far, and they are…

Best Picture
(In order of contest entries)
1. Boyhood (For the win)
2. Birdman
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. The Imitation Game
5. The Theory of Everything
6. Selma
7. Gone Girl
8. Whiplash
9. American Sniper
10. Nightcrawler
I know it’s a big drama that I’m predicting my two favorites, Gone Girl and Selma, and that they are just as likely to get shut out. But you know what? I looked back at the Guru’s predictions and I found that if you look at individual predictions people get things wrong but the consensus seems to be right. Thus, I trust in that and am going with that.

Best Director
Richard Linklater, Boyhood (For the win)
Alejandro Inarritu, Birdman
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
David Fincher, Gone Girl
Alt. Morton Tyldum, Imitation Game
Wishful thinking/too good to be true: Ava DuVernay

Best Actor
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
David Oyelowo, Selma
Alt. Bradley Cooper, American Sniper

Best Actress
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Alt. Amy Adams, Big Eyes

Supporting Actor
JK Simmons, Whiplash
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood

Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Emma Stone, Birdman
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year

Original Screenplay
Alejandro Inarritu et al, Birdman
Wes Anderson, Grand Budapest Hotel
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler*
Paul Webb, Selma
Alt: Foxcatcher

Adapted Screenplay
Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Nick Hornby, Wild
Jason Hall, American Sniper
Whiplash
Alt. Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything

Editing
Boyhood
Birdman
Gone Girl
Whiplash
American Sniper
Alt. Imitation Game

Cinematography
Birdman
Mr. Turner
Grand Budapest Hotel
Unbroken
The Imitation Game

Costumes
Into the Woods
Imitation Game
Grand Budapest Hotel
Maleficent
Mr. Turner

Production Design
Grand Budapest Hotel
Mr. Turner
Into the Woods
Interstellar
The Imitation Game
Alt. Big Eyes

Sound Mixing
American Sniper
Into the Woods
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
Unbroken

Sound Editing
Guardians of the Galaxy
American Sniper
Interstellar
Unbroken
Birdman

Original Score
Gone Girl
Interstellar
Theory of everything
The Imitation Game
Mr. Turner
Alt. Grand Budapest Hotel

Foreign Language Feature
Fource Majeure
Ida (Poland)
Leviathan (Russia)
Timbuktu (Mauritania)
Wild Tales (Argentina)+

Documentary Feature
CitizenFour
Life Itself
Last Days in Vietnam
Virunga
Salt of the Earth

Animated Feature
The Lego Movie
Princess Kaguya
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Big Hero 6
The Box Trolls
Alt. The Book of Life

Visual Effects
Interstellar
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Hobbit
X-Men

Makeup
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
Foxcatcher

Song
“Big Eyes” (Big Eyes)*
“Glory” (Selma)*
“Mercy Is” (Noah)*
Everything is Awesome (Lego Movie)
Lost Stars (Begin Again)

Live Action Short 
Aya
My Father’s Truck
Baghdad Messi
The Phone Call
Carry On

Animated Short
The Bigger Picture
Feast
Duet
The Dam Keeper
Me and My Moulton

Documentary Short
The Lion’s Mouth Opens
Joanna
One Child
Our Curse
White Earth