Over the years, one of my favorite things that my mom and I do together is watch all of the major award shows. Seeing all of the celebrities in their beautiful gowns and get-ups created a permeable excitement for my mom and I while we awaited the results of who would be the winners of the biggest categories. So with this year’s Academy Awards coming up on Sunday, what better thing to do than share my predictions for who I believe will win the major categories in this year’s cycle. *Disclaimer: I am nowhere near a professional when it comes to this sort of thing. This is just who I believe is going to take home the major Oscar’s this year from personal viewings of the films and performances.
- Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose for West Side Story
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This was the easiest prediction I had to make. So far for her portrayal of Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (2021), DeBose has taken home every single best supporting actress award at all of the major shows. She has won the BAFTA, Golden Globe, SAG award and Critics’ Choice Award so far — and for good reason. My mother double majored in dance and theatre in college and passed her love of musicals down to me. Ariana DeBose’s portrayal of Anita was by far the best part of this movie adaptation. The other extremely talented actresses nominated in this category include Jessie Buckley for The Lost Daughter, Judi Dench for Belfast, Kirsten Dunst in The Power of the Dog and Aunjanue Ellis in King Richard, but I can very confidently state I believe DeBose has a great chance of sweeping the award circuit this year.
- Best Supporting Actor: Kodi Smit-McPhee for The Power of the Dog
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This was one of the harder categories for me to make a prediction for a number of reasons. Throughout this year’s award cycle thus far, the winner of this category has been split between Kodi Smit-McPhee — for his role in The Power of the Dog, and Troy Kotsur — for his role in CODA. Kotsur won the SAG award, the BAFTA and the Critics’ Choice award in this category. Smit-McPhee won the Golden Globe Award. This makes for an interesting battle for this year’s Oscar for supporting actor.
Both actors put out unique and remarkable performances that led them to being nominated and winning the various other awards, but I think the main determining factor on who goes home with the Oscar will be which movie wins Best Picture, another category that has been split. If CODA wins best picture, then Troy Kotsur will take home this award and vice versa for Kodi Smit-McPhee and The Power of the Dog. Other actors nominated in this category include J.K. Simmons for his role in Being the Ricardos, Ciarán Hinds in Belfast and Jesse Plemmons for his role in The Power of the Dog. Based on who I believe has the best chance of winning for Best Picture, I believe that Kodi Smit-McPhee will take home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, but wouldn’t be surprised to see Troy Kotsur walk away with the award at the end of the night.
- Best Actress: Jessica Chastain for The Eyes of Tammy Faye
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So far in this year’s award cycle, Jessica Chastain has taken home both the Screen Actors Guild Award (SAG) and Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of titular character Tammy Faye Bakker — American evangelist, singer, author and talk show host. Chastain completely transformed herself for this role to the point where I had to look up who played her because she was unrecognizable. Her portrayal of this once iconic symbol of The PTL Club on the PTL network — better known as Praise the Lord — deserves all of the recognition she has been receiving. Other talented actresses nominated in this category include Olivia Colman in The Lost Daughter, Kristen Stewart in Spencer, Nicole Kidman in Being the Ricardos and Penelope Cruz in Madres Paralelas. If anyone was to beat out Chastain for this award it would be Nicole Kidman for her portrayal of Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos, but I think it’s safe to say that Chastain has the best chance of taking home the Oscar for Best Actress.
- Best Actor: Will Smith for King Richard
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Like some of these other categories, I think this one is already set in stone. Will Smith put on a phenomenal performance in King Richard for his portrayal of tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams’ father, Richard Williams. He not only starred in the film, but produced it as well. This movie was raw, emotional and allowed for Smith to show his range as an actor. He has been rewarded as such, having received the BAFTA, the Critics’ Choice Award, the SAG Award and the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama for this role. However, he has strong competition for this Oscar with Andrew Garfield’s portrayal of Jonathan Larson in Tick, Tick…Boom!. Garfield debuted his ability to not only act phenomenally, but sing as well, earning him the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy. Smith also has competition in that of Benedict Cumberbatch for his role in The Power of the Dog — which has a good chance of taking home Best Picture. Other contenders for this award include Javier Bardem for his role in Being the Ricardos and Denzel Washington in The Tragedy of Macbeth. While I predict that Will Smith will be going home with the Oscar at the end of the night, I wouldn’t be surprised if Andrew Garfield pulled out an upset.
- Best Picture: the Power of the Dog
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This was by far the hardest category to make a prediction for. 10 films are nominated for this award this year including Nightmare Alley, Don’t Look Up, Dune, Drive My Car, Belfast, Licorice Pizza, The Power of the Dog, West Side Story (2021), King Richard and CODA. In my opinion there are a couple top contenders for this award including CODA, The Power of the Dog, Drive My Car, Dune and King Richard. But I believe when it comes to Sunday night, The Power of the Dog has the best chance of winning and taking home the Oscar.
Overall, with COVID restrictions being lifted and award shows finally getting to happen in person, Sunday night will prove to be nothing less than exciting. I look forward to seeing if my predictions are right and reminisce about the award shows I watched with my mom growing up. Plus, seeing some absolutely fabulous fashion will be exciting too.