Predictions For Oscar 2020: What Can We Expect From The Eight Major Categories About The Winners
By  anonymous
Jul. 07, 2024


封面via Google / harpersbazaar.com


For better or worse, it seems like the winners are no-brainers at this point.

If it feels like the Oscars have come around alarmingly fast this year, congratulations, your imagination has come into reality. This year's ceremony is set for Sunday, February 9, which is happening a lot earlier than usual and is now less than a week away. When several of the major categories remained truly unpredictable down to the very last hour, most of the 2020 winners seem relatively locked down compared to last year. Although the same films and actors have a widespread desire for more diversity across the board, they have been sweeping their categories this season. Let’s take a look at our predictions on Oscar 2020.


1. Best Picture: 1917


1917UNIVERSAL PICTURES


A surprise front-runner for the night's biggest prize might be Sam Mendes's acclaimed World War I epic. In spite of its relative lack of buzz early in awards season, the kind of upset from 1917's Golden Globe win can change everything. Besides, the coveted top Producers Guild Award is considered to be the best predictor of Best Picture, it has since picked up award after award. In order to give the appearance of being one continuous, unbroken shot, an enthralling technique which—based on Birdman's win a few years ago—Academy voters are keen on, 1917 is filmed in lengthy takes and edited together.


2. Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)


JOKERWarner Bros.


Since its October release, Joaquin Phoenix's performance as the troubled, Divisive though Todd Phillips gritty take on the Batman villain has been mistreated. Arthur Fleck has been universally acclaimed. Phoenix, who is a four-time Oscar nominee, is overdue for an award having lost out for his extraordinary performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, and he's already taken home armfuls of awards including the SAG best actor prize for Joker And typically, the Academy doesn’t reward comic book movies in major categories, but the Joker has been made an exception for before.


3. Best Actress: Renée Zellweger (Judy)


judy20th Century Fox


Zellweger, like Phoenix for Joker, emerged as the front-runner early on for her widely beloved performance in a film that was otherwise met with a muted response. Zellweger, a four-time nominee who won in 2004 for her performance in Cold Mountain, brings nuance to the role of Judy Garland, depicted here in the final year of her life. She'll be hard to beat after winning the SAG and Globe


4. Best Director: Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)


parasiteCJ Entertainment


To be honest, Parasite probably deserves to sweep every single category. In addition to Bong Joon-ho's dizzyingly sharp, surprising blend of social satire and psychological horror, the director himself has been an incredibly popular presence on the awards circuit. Traditional wisdom may suggest this prediction is wishful thinking—Sam Mendes won the Directors Guild prize, for instance—but we're Team Bong all the way.


5. Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood)


once-upon-hollywood-pitt-qualleySony


It seems that Brad Pitt's been enjoying the resurgence this year, between his acclaimed roles in Ad Astra and Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, a handful of truly excellent awards season jokes, and that much buzzed-about reunion with Jennifer Aniston at the SAG Awards. one of the great pleasures of Tarantino's OUATIH is his performance as driver/stuntman/laconic hunk Cliff Booth, and he would probrably be the one to beat in this category.


6. Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern (Marriage Story)


marriage storyNETFLIX


Dern is up against her double-nominated Marriage Story costar Scarlett Johansson, who's competing here for her turn in Jojo Rabbit, so the predicting of the four acting categories is the least easy. But Dern's performance, and particularly that searing monologue, has been one of the most consistently praised elements of the divisive divorce drama Marriage Story, and this feels like her time after two prior nominations.


7. Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood)


once hollywoodSony


When some were predicting when it came out in summer, Quentin Tarantino's revisionist fairy tale about Old Hollywood no longer feels like a front-runner for Best Picture. However, it's still a favorite among industry folks, and as a two-time winner in this category (for Django Unchained and Pulp Fiction). Although it’s very likely for Tarantino to make it a hat trick at Sunday's ceremony, he's far from a sure thing. At the WGA Awards last weekend, Bong Joon-ho's screenplay for Parasite won the equivalent prize, though it's important to note that Tarantino wasn't eligible.


8. Best Adapted Screenplay: Greta Gerwig (Little Women)


little womenSony


Once again, the Academy failed to nominate a single female director, and one of the most glaring omissions was Gerwig. it was a predictable but exhausting disappointment this year. But she is very likely to take home the Best Adapted Screenplay Award for her incredibly thoughtful and innovative retooling of the Louisa May Alcott classic.