Well, The Oscars are upon us, and for 2022. As usual, there’s controversy. This time, it’s over the plan to have some awards taped rather than part of the main broadcast. And it’s over the call for The President of Ukraine, faced with Russian invasion, so give a speech to the worldwide Oscars audience. And, sadly, it’s over the call for attempts to have a more inclusive and diverse Oscars.
Some had problems with this language from the 2020 press release:
Oscars
The Academy will encourage equitable hiring practices and representation on and off screen in order to better reflect the diversity of the film community. To ensure more diverse representation, and in collaboration with the Producers Guild of America (PGA), the Academy will create a task force of industry leaders, appointed by David Rubin and that will include governor and A2020 Committee chair DeVon Franklin, to develop and implement new representation and inclusion standards for Oscars eligibility by July 31, 2020. Eligibility for films in consideration for the 93rd Academy Awards® (2020) will not be impacted.
Beginning with the 94th Academy Awards (2021), the Best Picture category will be set at 10 nominees, rather than a fluctuating number of nominations from year to year. The Academy will also implement a quarterly viewing process through the Academy Screening Room, the streaming site for Academy members, also starting with the 94th Academy Awards. By making it possible for members to view films released year-round, the Academy will broaden each film’s exposure, level the playing field, and ensure all eligible films can be seen by voting members.
Governance and Membership
This past January, the current Board of Governors participated in unconscious bias training. Moving forward, this training will be mandatory for all Academy governors, branch executive committee members and Academy staff on an annual basis. All 9,000+ members will be offered an opportunity to participate in training as well.
Additionally, the Board of Governors passed a resolution to amend the Academy bylaws to enact maximum governor term limits. Once the amendment takes effect, governors will be allowed to serve on the board for up to two three-year terms (consecutive or non-consecutive), followed by a two-year hiatus, after which eligibility renews for up to two additional three-year terms, for a lifetime maximum of 12 years. The previous limit was three consecutive three-year terms, with a one-year hiatus, and no lifetime maximum.
These term limits affect newly elected governors starting with the 2020-2021 board term, as well as sitting governors returning for 2020-2021 in their first or second term. Those returning governors in their third term during 2020-2021 will be allowed to complete their nine-year service, before an obligatory two-year hiatus, after which eligibility renews for one additional and final three-year term, for a maximum of 12 years. For governors who have already served multiple terms exceeding 12 years, they will be limited to one additional term. Branch executive committees will also have a term limit of six years and a two-year hiatus, with a maximum of 12 years.
The Academy will host a series of panels called “Academy Dialogue: It Starts with Us” for members and the public, with conversations about race, ethnicity, history, opportunity, and the art of filmmaking. Programs will include a conversation hosted by Academy governor Whoopi Goldberg on the lasting impact of racist tropes and harmful stereotypes in Hollywood films. The Academy will also present conversations on the systemic changes that need to occur in areas such as casting, screenwriting, producing, directing, financing and greenlighting of movies in order to afford opportunities to women and people of color and to help create a new narrative for recovery.
Personally, I think the problem would be solved by better public financing of film as product. But that’s a discussion for after the Oscars. What remains as the single constant is that we have an Oscars Awards Show, and with that, comes predictions of who will win. Here’s my list, and not based on what movie I saw and liked, but what I think the Academy will do.
The Nominees List For The 94th Academy Awards – And My Predictions Marked By “My Pick”
Actor in a Leading Role
Nominees
Javier Bardem
Being the Ricardos
Benedict Cumberbatch
The Power of the Dog
Andrew Garfield
tick, tick…BOOM!
Will Smith – MY PICK
King Richard
Denzel Washington
The Tragedy of Macbeth
This is Will Smith’s year. He got the right role, at the right time. Personally, I still think he was robbed of Best Actor for how he played his character Muhammed Ali in the 2001 Michaal Mann movie simply titled “ALI”. But, 21 years later, this Oscar should make up for that mistake.
Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominees
Ciarán Hinds
Belfast
Troy Kotsur – MY PICK
CODA
Jesse Plemons
The Power of the Dog
J.K. Simmons
Being the Ricardos
Kodi Smit-McPhee
The Power of the Dog
I would be shocked if Troy did not walk away with this one. He’s been the toast of awards season, along with Will Smith.
Actress in a Leading Role
Nominees
Jessica Chastain – MY PICK
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Olivia Colman
The Lost Daughter
Penélope Cruz
Parallel Mothers
Nicole Kidman
Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart
Spencer
Jessica Chastain got the Screen Actors Guild Award. Hard to go against that precursor.
Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominees
Jessie Buckley
The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose – MY PICK
West Side Story
Judi Dench
Belfast
Kirsten Dunst
The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis
King Richard
Ariana DeBose FOR THE WIN. This has been her year!
Animated Feature Film
Nominees
Encanto – My Pick
Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer
Flee
Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie
Luca
Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Kurt Albrecht
Raya and the Last Dragon
Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho
Encanto took the world by storm upon release. It’s hard for me see it not win.
Cinematography
Nominees
Dune – My Pick
Greig Fraser
Nightmare Alley
Dan Laustsen
The Power of the Dog
Ari Wegner
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Bruno Delbonnel
West Side Story
Janusz Kaminski
Costume Design
Nominees
Cruella
Jenny Beavan
Cyrano
Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran
Dune
Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan
Nightmare Alley – My Pick
Luis Sequeira
West Side Story
Paul Tazewell
For some reason West Side Story could emerge but I think it’s going to be Nightmare or Dune.
Directing
Nominees
Belfast
Kenneth Branagh
Drive My Car
Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Licorice Pizza
Paul Thomas Anderson
The Power of the Dog – My Pick
Jane Campion
West Side Story
Steven Spielberg
Jane Campion by a mile, even though she insulted the Williams Sisters in an unintentionally racist, drunken rant she apologized for.
Documentary (Feature)
Nominees
Ascension
Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell
Attica
Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry
Flee
Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) – MY Pick
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein
Writing with Fire
Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh
I think Questlove takes this one.
Documentary (Short Subject)
Nominees
Audible
Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean
Lead Me Home
Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk
The Queen of Basketball – My Pick
Ben Proudfoot
Three Songs for Benazir
Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei
When We Were Bullies
Jay Rosenblatt
The Queen of Basketball is about the first and only woman to be drafted by the NBA. I am going by feeling, so I could be way wrong here. A hard subject to guess, historically.
Film Editing
Nominees
Don’t Look Up
Hank Corwin
Dune – My Pick
Joe Walker
King Richard
Pamela Martin
The Power of the Dog
Peter Sciberras
tick, tick…BOOM!
Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum
Here’s where Dune starts taking awards: technical area.
International Feature Film
Nominees
Drive My Car
Japan
Flee
Denmark
The Hand of God – My Pick
Italy
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
Bhutan
The Worst Person in the World
Norway
No sound reason here.
Makeup and Hairstyling
Nominees
Coming 2 America
Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer
Cruella
Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon
Dune
Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh
House of Gucci
Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras
Music (Original Score)
Nominees
Don’t Look Up
Nicholas Britell
Dune – My Pick
Hans Zimmer
Encanto
Germaine Franco
Parallel Mothers
Alberto Iglesias
The Power of the Dog
Jonny Greenwood
Hans Zimmer is an iconic music composer. My feeling is he gets the nod here for that reason.
Music (Original Song)
Nominees
Be Alive
from King Richard; Music and Lyric by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
Dos Oruguitas
from Encanto; Music and Lyric by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Down To Joy
from Belfast; Music and Lyric by Van Morrison
No Time To Die – My Pick
from No Time to Die; Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
Somehow You Do
from Four Good Days; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
James Bond movies under Daniel Craig never miss in the music category at The Oscars
Best Picture
Nominees
Belfast
Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas, Producers
CODA
Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger, Producers
Don’t Look Up
Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers
Drive My Car
Teruhisa Yamamoto, Producer
Dune
Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve and Cale Boyter, Producers
King Richard
Tim White, Trevor White and Will Smith, Producers
Licorice Pizza
Sara Murphy, Adam Somner and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers
Nightmare Alley
Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Bradley Cooper, Producers
The Power of the Dog – My Pick
Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier, Producers
West Side Story
Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers
Ok, The Power Of The Dog is the runaway favorite here. Nuff said.
Production Design
Nominees
Dune
Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos
Nightmare Alley
Production Design: Tamara Deverell; Set Decoration: Shane Vieau
The Power of the Dog
Production Design: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Amber Richards
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Production Design: Stefan Dechant; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
West Side Story
Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo
DUNE. Gotta be Dune, here.
Short Film (Animated)
Nominees
Affairs of the Art
Joanna Quinn and Les Mills
Bestia
Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz
Boxballet
Anton Dyakov
Robin Robin
Dan Ojari and Mikey Please
The Windshield Wiper
Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez
Short Film (Live Action)
Nominees
Ala Kachuu – Take and Run
Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger
The Dress
Tadeusz Łysiak and Maciej Ślesicki
The Long Goodbye – My Pick
Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed
On My Mind
Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson
Please Hold
K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse
Sound
Nominees
Belfast
Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri
Dune
Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett
No Time to Die
Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor
The Power of the Dog
Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb
West Side Story
Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy
Visual Effects
Nominees
Dune – My Pick
Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer
Free Guy
Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick
No Time to Die
Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Nominees
CODA – My Pick
Screenplay by Siân Heder
Drive My Car
Screenplay by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe
Dune
Screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth
The Lost Daughter
Written by Maggie Gyllenhaal
The Power of the Dog
Written by Jane Campion
Writing (Original Screenplay)
Nominees
Belfast
Written by Kenneth Branagh
Don’t Look Up – My Pick
Screenplay by Adam McKay; Story by Adam McKay & David Sirota
King Richard
Written by Zach Baylin
Licorice Pizza
Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
The Worst Person in the World
Written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier