dear old Oscar is wiping his feet on the welcome mat as we speak, and my hair's still in curlers! is he early, or am i late?
of course, i blame the writers strike for stealing the Academy's thunder, and i couldn't be more grateful that it's finally over. now, we'll hopefully be treated to a production of mammoth proportions, one with all the glitz, excess, and frivolity that God intended. i'm ready for the 3+ hour broadcast tomorrow night, and i hope they don't skimp this time around.
bring on the overlong speeches, padded out with the hems and haws of false humility, interrupted by cutaways of the losers. welcome trusty ol' jon stewart, who will remain just this side of subversive while still managing to please college fanboys everywhere. and please don't forget the über-awkward red carpet interviews before the main event, which will be painful to watch but also oddly reassuring (however crappy your life may seem at times, be glad that you are not a professional celeb-fawner. lookin' at you, mr. oceanpeak*). point is, Academy, my already-uncomfortable couch will be pins and needles tomorrow night if you'll just bring the show that this girl looks forward to all year.
what follows is my personal list of predictions for tomorrow night's winners... erm, award recipients. i should mention that this is my very first time making such a list, and the simple reason is that i hate when i'm not right. but i am psychologically prepared for every one of these predictions to be proven wrong, and, as you'll see, i hope some of them are.
here are the categories that i feel comfortable guessing on. my predicted winners are in boldface, while my preferred winners are in italics.
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
George Clooney in "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood"
Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
Tommy Lee Jones in "In the Valley of Elah"
Viggo Mortensen in "Eastern Promises"
(can we all agree that the inclusion of any nominees other than mr. day-lewis is a mere formality, here? thanks. by the way, let's all create a mental picture of any one of these other men taking a second to jot down a few names on a piece of paper in the limo on the way to the kodak theatre, just in case. awww, how precious.)
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Casey Affleck in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men"
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War"
Hal Holbrook in "Into the Wild"
Tom Wilkinson in "Michael Clayton"
(okay, i loved javier, so i have to explain. in a movie that wasn't worthy of the accolades it got, holbrook broke my heart and made me cry.)
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie in "Away from Her"
Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose"
Laura Linney in "The Savages"
Ellen Page in "Juno"
(this one is really tough. christie was amazing and gut-wrenching. she will take it, as she's american and getting on in years. cotillard was simply incredible, though- fearless and a marvel to watch. please, God, i hope i'm wrong on this one and dear marion steals the statue.)
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee in "American Gangster"
Saoirse Ronan in "Atonement"
Amy Ryan in "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton"
(guess what? didn't even get to see GONE BABY GONE yet, but i'm sold on ryan, just based on the clips i've seen! whoa! we all know cate will take this one home, though, right?)
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
"Persepolis": Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
"Ratatouille": Brad Bird
"Surf's Up": Ash Brannon and Chris Buck
(ummm, how the heck did SURF'S UP get in here? is this a mistake?)
ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION
"American Gangster" : Art Direction: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
"Atonement": Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
"The Golden Compass": Art Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street": Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
"There Will Be Blood": Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson
(hmm, i have a weird feeling on this one and hope i'm wrong about the winner.)
ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford": Roger Deakins
"Atonement": Seamus McGarvey
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly": Janusz Kaminski
"No Country for Old Men": Roger Deakins
"There Will Be Blood": Robert Elswit
( i swear, i don't know what's going on here with the inklings. please, no ATONEMENT, people.)
ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
"Across the Universe" Albert Wolsky
"Atonement" Jacqueline Durran
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" Alexandra Byrne
"La Vie en Rose" Marit Allen
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" Colleen Atwood
ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", Julian Schnabel
"Juno", Jason Reitman
"Michael Clayton", Tony Gilroy
"No Country for Old Men", Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
"There Will Be Blood", Paul Thomas Anderson
(please, please give it to p.t.a.)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
"No End in Sight" : Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience" : Richard E. Robbins
"Sicko": Michael Moore and Meghan O'Hara
"Taxi to the Dark Side": Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
"War/Dance": Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine
(don't be fooled, Academy. SICKO wasn't nearly as good as it could have been. moore is getting even lazier, which i didn't think was possible.)
ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
"The Bourne Ultimatum": Christopher Rouse
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly": Juliette Welfling
"Into the Wild": Jay Cassidy
"No Country for Old Men": Roderick Jaynes
"There Will Be Blood": Dylan Tichenor
(since roderick jaynes= the bros themselves, let's give them even more props for a job well done. pieced together splendidly, indeed.)
ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
"La Vie en Rose" (Picturehouse) Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald
"Norbit" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount): Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (Walt Disney): Ve Neill and Martin Samuel
(ummm, yeah...)
ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE)
"Atonement" (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli
"The Kite Runner" (DreamWorks, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Participant Productions, Distributed by Paramount Classics): Alberto Iglesias
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.) James Newton Howard
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino
"3:10 to Yuma" (Lionsgate) Marco Beltrami
(refuse to predict since jonny greenwood is not nominated. do. not. care. who. wins.)
ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)
"Falling Slowly" from "Once" Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted" Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush" Music and Lyric by Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack and Tevin Thomas
"So Close" from "Enchanted" Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted" Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
(hopefully, all the ENCHANTED songs will cancel each other out, and falling slowly, which is beautiful, will win.)
BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
"Atonement": Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers
"Juno": Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers
"Michael Clayton": Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers
"No Country for Old Men": Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
"There Will Be Blood": JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers
(close call. i want TWBB to triumph, but we all know who'll win.)
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
"Atonement", Screenplay by Christopher Hampton
"Away from Her", Written by Sarah Polley
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
"No Country for Old Men", Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"There Will Be Blood", Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
(haha, can't pick, of course. and i haven't even seen THE DIVING BELL yet!)
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
"Juno", Written by Diablo Cody
"Lars and the Real Girl", Written by Nancy Oliver
"Michael Clayton", Written by Tony Gilroy
"Ratatouille", Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
"The Savages", Written by Tamara Jenkins
(you know what? i think LARS AND THE REAL GIRL's script was totally more boss.)
the end.
so what if i'm wrong?
we shall see tomorrow!
tune in, folks!
*not his real name.
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