It’s time! The 83rd American Academy Awards kick off on Monday morning at 0100 GMT, so to celebrate the return of the world’s most significant film award ceremony we’ve compiled our Oscar predictions across each of the 24 categories. Bafta favourite the King’s Speech (2010) is widely expected to dominate proceedings with 12 nominations but may well find itself under significantly more pressure this time around from American efforts The Social Network (2010) and True Grit (2010). Follow our Twitter feed @CineVue for all the latest Oscar developments live!
Best Picture
The Social Network: The King’s Speech may have dominated at the Baftas, but Fincher’s classy drama is more than capable of stealing its crown.
Best Director
David Fincher – The Social Network: Fincher’s directorial touch is all over his latest film and more than deserves the Academy Award to add to his Bafta.
Best Actress
Natalie Portman – Black Swan: One of the night’s more obvious winners, Portman’s career defining performance as disturbed ballerina Nina Sayer is more than worthy of the award.
Colin Firth – The King’s Speech: Should be a dead cert to avenge last year’s ‘Best Actor’ defeat to Jeff Bridges.
Best Supporting Actress
Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit: At just 14 years of age, Steinfeld is already competing against seasoned performers such as Amy Adams and Helena Bonham-Carter. The only surprise here is that Steinfeld missed out on a ‘Best Actress’ nod, despite appearing in over 90% of True Grit’s scenes.
Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale – The Fighter: Bale should get the recognition he deserves for a superb performance in an otherwise ordinary film.
Best Foreign Language Film
Best Animation
Toy Story 3: Probably the category with the least potential for an upset, the superb Toy Story 3 already has one hand on the award.
Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland: A poor film by all accounts, but that will probably not prevent it from picking up some of the smaller visual awards.
Achievement in Cinematography
True Grit: Legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins more than deserves the nod for his fantastic work in visually realising the Coens’ adaptation of Charles Portis novel True Grit.
Achievement in Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland: Could well be the second of two awards for Tim Burton’s flawed adaptation. Bafta approved, and so may the Academy.
Best Documentary Feature
Restrepo: After a good year for documentaries, Iraq War film Restrepo may just have the right combination of style and substance to come out on top.
Best Documentary – Short Subject
Killing in the Name: Another politically engaging documentary which looks set to claim an accolade.
Achievement in Film Editing
127 Hours: Unlikely to challenge for the main awards, Boyle’s stylish effort is an adrenaline fuelled tour de force with a superb editing team.
Achievement in Makeup
The Way Back: A solitary nomination for an average film, The Way Back could potentially top a relatively weak group.
Best Original Score
The King’s Speech (Alexandre Desplat): Desplat has emerged as one of the most in demand composers of his generation, and his rousing score for The King’s Speech is sure to tug on the Academy’s heartstrings.
Best Original Song
We Belong Together from Toy Story 3: Very much an old school, Disney-style sing-a-long, We Belong Together is far and away the most popular song of the lineup – but will the Academy reflect this?
Best Animated Short Film
Day & Night: If you saw Toy Story 3 at the cinema, you will have seen Day & Night, a superb Pixar short that looks a certainty to claim the Best Animated Short award.
Best Live Action Short Film
Na Wewe: Ivan Goldschmidt’s Burundi genocide short has all the attributes to catch the Academy’s eye.
Achievement in Sound Editing
True Grit: A fantastic score from Coen regulor Carter Burwell is perfectly complemented by high quality sound design and editing.
Achievement in Sound Mixing
The Social Network: Fincher’s film is a true achievement in terms of both visual style and narrative storytelling, but no one should forget just how well the film’s intense dialogue is captured and presented.
Achievement in Visual Effects
Inception: One of the most visually groundbreaking films of the past few years. Surely a shoe in for the ‘Visual Effects’ Oscar.
Adapted Screenplay
The Social Network: Aaron Sorkin’s fantastic screenplay is one of The Social Networks’ major draws. Plus, his speeches are always well worth a watch.
Original Screenplay
The King’s Speech: David Seidler’s original screenplay may be rife with inaccuracies, but that doesn’t really detract from what is a great story.
What do you make of our predictions? Do you agree? Post your comments below!
Daniel Green
