happened. Much secrecy surrounds the 81st Oscar ceremony except for a couple of details. Hugh Jackman will be the host, and the presenters will mostly remain secret until the big reveal on Sunday night.
Some things aren’t going to be surprising. The Oscar race this year seemed to have been locked up a few weeks back but for a few categories here or there. So how might it go? The question is just how many Oscars will Slumdog Millionaire win. With a box office of $87 million already, the Indian love story has been sprinting through green lights since the season began in late November.
The only film that might have given Slumdog a run for its money would have been the wildly popular comic book movie, the Dark Knight, but since it wasn’t even nominated, Slumdog had it made. Let’s on with the predictions, shall we?
Best Picture — Slumdog Millionaire will win. It has won almost every other award it’s been nominated for, including the Golden Globe, the Directors Guild, Writers Guild, Producers Guild, and SAG Ensemble award. It can’t lose.
Best Director — Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire. No other director can beat Boyle.
Best Actor — One of the few coin tosses. It’s said to be between Sean Penn for Milk and Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler. I will choose Mickey Rourke but just barely.
Best Actress — It’s about time Kate Winslet won this and she has delivered her best performance to date in Revolutionary Road. Though she is nominated for The Reader, she will still win.
Best Supporting Actor — Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight seems to be the one to beat, though it is no easy feat winning a posthumous Oscar. If it isn’t Ledger, it will be Robert Downey, Jr. for Tropic Thunder.
Best Supporting Actress — Penelope Cruz is the favorite to win this but I’m going to go with Viola Davis for no reason in particular.
Best Original Screenplay — This should be Milk’s one big award, though something tells me Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon are threats for Wall-E, and Courtney Hunt could be the dark horse winner with Frozen River.
Best Adapted Screenplay — Slumdog Millionaire’s Simon Beaufoy wins this in a cake walk.
Animated Feature – it had better be Wall-E.
Foreign Film — it’s between Waltz with Bashir and The Class. Hopefully, Waltz with Bashir will win but one never knows with those crazy voters.
Documentary Feature — Man on Wire
Visual Effects – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Editing – Slumdog Millionaire
Sound Mixing – Slumdog Millionaire
Sound Editing – The Dark Knight
Cinematography – Slumdog Millionaire
Art Direction – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Costumes – The Duchess
Score – Slumdog Millionaire
Song – Down to Earth by Peter Gabriel for Wall-E
Makeup – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Live Action Short – The Pig
Animated Short – PrestoDocumentary Short – The Final Inch
