Final 2017 Academy Award Nomination Predictions
Tomorrow, ladies and gents, is the big day. The day we’ve all been waiting for: the announcement of nominations for the 2017 Academy Awards. This is my Christmas, perhaps my favorite day of the year. So I will now lay down who will be nominated and what films will fill the slots for each category with a couple of alternates.
Best Live Action Short Film
Bon Voyage
Nocturne in Black
Sing
Timecode
The Way of Tea
For those wondering, yes, there is a separate short film this year that also happens to be called Sing. It’s not the animated film. Anyways, Silent Nights and The Rifle, the Jackal, the Wolf and the Boy have also generated some buzz in this category.
Best Documentary Short Film
Close Ties
Joe’s Violin
The Mute’s House
Watani: My Homeland
The White Helmets
While I don’t go out of my way to see these shorts, these five have all generated some buzz. I’ll list Extremis and The Other Side of Home as alternates.
Best Animated Short Film
The Head Vanishes
Inner Workings
Pearl
Piper
Sous Tes Doigts
These five seem pretty solid. Don’t count out Borrowed Time or Blind Vaysha in this category, though.
Best Documentary Feature
13th
The Eagle Huntress
I am Not your Negro
The Ivory Game
O.J.: Made in America
This category will prove to be a competitive one this year. In addition to these five I’ll say Cameraperson and Weiner as possible nominees tomorrow.
Best Foreign Language Film
A Man Called Ove
Land of Mine
Paradise
The Salesman
Toni Erdmann
For the alternates in this category, I’ll put down My Life as a Zucchini and The King’s Choice, though I’m pretty confident in these five.
Best Visual Effects
Arrival
Deepwater Horizon
Doctor Strange
The Jungle Book
Star Wars: Rogue One
For the most part, these are the expected nominees tomorrow. I’ll say Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Captain America: Civil War also have a chance of getting onto the list.
Best Sound Editing
Arrival
Deepwater Horizon
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Star Wars: Rogue One
These five sound pretty good to me. I’ll also put down The Jungle Book and Silence as other possible nominees.
Best Sound Mixing
Arrival
Deepwater Horizon
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Star Wars: Rogue One
While it’s kind of a risky move putting the same five down for both sound categories, I’m just not confident enough to predict anything else. For alternates, I’ll put down The Jungle Book and Silence as well.
Best Film Editing
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
These five are pretty solid, but don’t count out Hell or High Water or Silence.
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Deadpool
Florence Foster Jenkins
Star Trek Beyond
These three are the odds-on-favorites for tomorrow, and honestly they all make sense. I will say, though that A Man Called Ove and Hail, Caesar! also stand a chance.
Best Production Design
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hail, Caesar!
Jackie
La La Land
Silence
There are actually many other possibilities in this category, but the two that stand the best chance are Arrival and The Jungle Book.
Best Costume Design
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them
Florence Foster Jenkins
Jackie
La La Land
Silence
For the most part, these five are solid, though for the alternates Allied and Hidden Figures both have good shots.
Best Cinematography
Arrival
La La Land
Moonlight
Nocturnal Animals
Silence
Again these five all stand good chances, but there’s many possible nominees, and dwindling those down to two likely competitors, I’ll go with Jackie and Hell or High Water.
Best Original Song
“Audition” from La La Land
“Can’t Stop the Feeling” from Trolls
“City of Stars” from La La Land
“How Far I’ll Go” from Moana
“Try Everything” from Zootopia
This is always a weaker category for me, but I feel okay with these five. There are two songs, though, that stand a solid chance of ruining this lineup: “Drive it Like You Stole It” from Sing Street and “Runnin'” from Hidden Figures.
Best Original Score
Jackie
La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
Star Wars: Rogue One
I think these five will be okay, but I’ll also put down Hidden Figures and Florence Foster Jenkins as the two most likely to take any of these down.
Best Animated Feature
Finding Dory
Kubo and the Two Strings
The Little Prince
Moana
Zootopia
These five I think just about everybody has down, but I’ll say The Red Turtle and Sing have the best shots of being included here.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Arrival
Hidden Figures
Lion
Moonlight
Nocturnal Animals
While there’s an obvious alternate here that many other people have in, I feel these five are stronger competitors. In case you can’t tell, Fences is the script I’m talking about, and Hacksaw Ridge also has a possibility of getting in.
Best Original Screenplay
20th Century Women
Hell or High Water
Jackie
La La Land
Manchester by the Sea
I think these five are pretty solid, but I’ll list Captain Fantastic and Zootopia as alternates.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Viola Davis, Fences
Naomi Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
These five are perhaps the most solid five I have predicted for tomorrow. The chances are slim, but these two ladies still have a chance: Janelle Monae for Hidden Figures and Greta Gerwig for 20th Century Women.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel, Lion
While initially I was cool with these five, I’m not gonna deny there’s a few different routes that can be taken here. Both Aaron-Taylor Johnson and Michael Shannon have shots at getting nominated for the same movie: Nocturnal Animals.
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Amy Adams, Arrival
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
This has been the toughest category to predict this year. We have these five, then a couple more to consider: Annette Bening for 20th Century Women and Emily Blunt for The Girl on the Train.
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences
This is probably the second easiest to predict tomorrow for the acting categories, and I will say the two following could crash the party: Jake Gyllenhaal for Nocturnal Animals and Tom Hanks for Sully.
Best Director
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Denis Villeneuve, Arrival
This category will haunt me tomorrow. While four of these directors seem very safe, that last spot or possibly even one of the safe ones could easily go to Martin Scorsese for Silence or Garth Davis for Lion.
Best Picture
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Nocturnal Animals
As we know, they can go up to ten, so I’ll put these ten in. For alternates, I’ll list Jackie and Silence.
So there you have it. I will be pretty busy tomorrow, so I’ll have a blog up as soon as I possibly can, but it might not be until mid-afternoon CST. You can check other sources if the blog isn’t up yet, but when mine does go up, I’ll list who or what got nominated and how well I did. To any and all others also predicting tomorrow, best of luck and cheers! Let the nominations come!
