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2012 Oscar® Predictions–“The Artist” to win 5 Oscars - complete list by category

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Movie Awards Examiner

On Sunday, February 26th The Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences will present the 84th Academy Awards®. The elite of Hollywood, filmmakers and stars, will converge on this, the most prestigious day of the year for the film industry. This year the Academy Awards® will hosted by Billy Crystal and is being telecast around the world from Hollywood’s (known previously as the) Kodak® Theater.

Predicted Winners are:

BEST PICTURE:

The Artist- Thomas Langmann, Producer

This silent film, made by a French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicious' homage to the films made before him has taken the world by storm. During its run it has won the hearts of critics and fans alike and proved that even a silent film (in the days when special effect films run amuck) can become the best film of the year.

Other Nominees include:

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BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:

George Clooney in The Descendants

Jean Dujardin for The Artist has been cleaning up in this category. He won a Golden Globe® Award, a SAG® Award and just recently the British version of the Academy Award®. But George Clooney still has a very good chance of pulling off a win in this category. I think voters will note that The Artist will do very well on Oscar® night and will vote for Clooney for best actor. His stirring performance of a man trying to cling to life, making a decision that will affect his extended family’s future and say a final goodbye to his wife is definitely is his best performance to date.

Other Nominees Include:

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

Christopher Plummer in Beginners

At first, like many of my colleagues the winner for this category seemed very clear early in the movie season. Although not nominated, I felt that Albert Brooks in Drive seemed the clear favorite and a great way to recognize this filmmaker for his other contributions to the film industry. But as the award season progressed, Brooks’ performance seemed to lose steam and Christopher Plummer was right there for his wonderfully charming, yet very emotional performance in Beginners. He has won just about every award up to the Oscar®, and I can’t imagine this actor so endeared to fans for his performance in The Sound of Music, not having a moment to be honored by his peers.

Other Nominees Include:

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:

Viola Davis in The Help

Viola Davis for The Help and Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady have been dueling for this award during award season. Meryl Streep won the Golden Globe® Award and the BAFTA® Award, while Davis won the SAG® Award. Since SAG members make up a great deal of the Academy voting members, I think that Viola will be become victorious in the end. According to Viola in an interview earlier this year “one thing about the Oscars®, people migrate towards flashy performances.” I would love for Viola to learn for herself that thoughtful and intimate performances are just as worthy.

Other Nominees Include:

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

Octavia Spencer in The Help

Octavia Spencer is absolutely the front runner for this award. She has won just about every award during award season as the strong-willed maid Minny. Her on-screen relationships with Viola Davis and co-nominee Jessica Chastain in The Help are beautiful examples of friendship, love and standing up for the righteous.

Other Nominees Include:

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:

Rango, Gore Verbinski

Rango is a clear favorite for winning in this category. Except for the Golden Globe Award® that was won by The Adventures of Tin Tin, Rango has won just about every award including the prestigious Best Animated Feature Film award at the Annie Awards®. With the The Adventures of Tin Tin excluded from the nomination list, it appears Rango is clear to win.

Other Nominees Include:

  • Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Feliciolifor A Cat in Paris
  • Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal for Chico & Rita
  • Jennfer Yoh for Kung Fu Panda 2
  • Chris Miller for Puss in Boots

BEST ART DIRECTION:

Hugo, Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

Hugo is often referred to as an animated film, and it clearly is not. But I can see how this misinterpretation is easily assumed. If watching a clip or trailer from the film it is inconceivable that the scenes in the film are real, but they were. Director of Hugo, Martin Scorses, is more than happy to proclaim the genius of Dante Ferretti’s set design in Hugo. No detail was left out as Ferretti recreated an entire train station inside a London sound stage. The film depicts the workings of several clocks and the clockworks connected and all these specifically designed props were not only mesmerizing to see, but indeed were working clocks.

Francesco Lo Schiavo, working as set decorator had the task of adding in all the details. Add in the table settings of the café, the toys at the toys store and the flowers displayed at the flower stand – to just name a few – it is clear that her work contributed to the small world in which Hugo called home.

Other Nominees Include:

BEST CINEMATOGRAPY:

The Tree of Life, Emmanuel Lubezki

In The Tree of Life, the age old debate of nature verses nurture is explored. Lubezki’s beautifully crafted imagery is set against the tale of a family’s three sons. Lubezki combines shots of natural beauty with that of images that recreate the beginnings of our own planet. It is an amazing showcase of his work.

Other Nominees include:

BEST COSTUME DESIGN:

The Artist, Guillaume Schiffman

Oscar® fanatics often like to talk about the Oscar® sweep. Some films in Oscar® history have enough good performances along with technical and artic mastery that one film just “sweeps” through most of the awards. There are three films that tie for the most Oscars®: Ben-Hur (1959), Titanic (1997) and The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003). All three of these films won eleven Oscars®. This year the film with enough gusto to sweep other awards into the win section is The Artist. This film with its flapper look has all the appeal to win in this category. Take note, if The Artist does win in this category, it will be the first black and white film to be honored for an Oscar® for Best Costume Design since the category was merged from seperate color category and a black and white categories in 1967.

Other Nominees Include:

  • Sandy Powell for Hugo
  • Michael O’Connor for Jane Eyre
  • Adrianne Phillips for W.E.
  • Lisy Christl for Anonymous

BEST DIRECTING:

The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius

Vision: it is the Director’s vision of a film that propels it through its various stages until it becomes a completed film. To say that Hazanavicius’ vision of making a silent, black and white film (when the rest of filmmakers are working hard to outdo each other with visual and sound effects) was thought of being absurd is a huge understatement. Co-star of The Artist, Penelope Ann Miller stated at an interview that when she was approached to work in the film she thought “well if no one sees it, I will go unscathed.” The director’s vision along with adding the contributions of all the other actors and crew is a difficult and sometimes arduous job. No better way to say to this French filmmaker – mission accomplished – than by bestowing him with Oscar® gold.
 

Other nominees Include:

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky

This is the third documentary focusing on the Memphis three, teenagers convicted of murdering three eight year-old little boys. This third documentary examines the whole time line which eventually lead to the three convicts address the court, state their innocence and yet plead guilty to the crime – which allowed them to go free. There were many Hollywood stars that helped to pay the Memphis three’s defense and this story may be of more interest to Academy voters.

  • Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel for Pina
  • TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Rich Middlemas for Undefeated
  • Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner for Hell and Back Again
  • Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman for If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT:

Saving Face, Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

This documentary, short subject explores the plight of women in Pakistan that are punished by family members with throwing acid on their faces. The documentary follows plastic surgeon, Dr. Muhammad Jawad, as he works to heal women from this disfiguring violence.

Other Nominees Include:

  • Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen for The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
  • Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin for The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
  • Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson for God Is the Bigger Elvis
  • James Splone for New Baghdad

BEST FILM EDITING:

The Artist, Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius

Often the film that wins Best Picture will win for Best Film Editing. Many pundits are favoring Thelma Schoonmaker for Hugo, but I am going with the Best Picture favorite The Artist. This award most likely will be part of The Artist’s sweep of awards.

Other Nominees Include:

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

A Separation, Iran

A Separation has been winning all the awards for Foreign Language Film categories this year and has the best chance to win the Oscar®.

Other Nominees Include:

  • Bullhead from Belgium
  • Footnote from Israel
  • In Darkness from Poland
  • Monsieur Lazhar from Canada

BEST MAKEUP:

The Iron Lady, Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Makeup has been a very difficult to determine since visual effects have been used more widely in place of makeup effects. So difficult to discern the Academy has required films to submit video proof of makeup application in order to qualify for a nomination. My pick is The Iron Lady for the aging of Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher.

Other Nominees Include:

  • Albert Nobbs – Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin

BEST MUSIC – ORIGINAL SCORE:

The Artist, Ludovic Bource

Musical scores are incredibly important for a film to be complete. Can you imagine Jaws without the music that was included? Or even Star Wars? Well, both of those films had musical scores written by John Williams. He is nominated here for two films, both by Director Stephen Spielberg. And I just love his score for War Horse, but I have to favor the score for The Artist. Ludovic Bource’s score is even more important due to the fact that this silent film depends greatly on the score to set the pace, tone and overall mood.

Other Nominees Include:

BEST MUSIC – ORIGINAL SONG:

“Man or Muppet,”from The Muppets -Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

This category is interesting in that the Academy only selected two films to nominate for Best Song. The song in a film should match the mood and content of the film and it is even better if the song helps to tell the story also – which is the case for “Man or Muppet,”from The Muppets. “Real in Rio,” plays at the beginning and ending of the film Rio and although entertaining, does not play as integral part of that of song from The Muppets.

Other Nominee Is:

The other nominee was:

  • “Real in Rio,” music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown; Lyrics by Siedah Garrett featured in Rio

BEST SHORT FILM – ANIMATED:

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg

Imagine a library and mix it with a tornado from The Wizard of Oz and you will visualize a similar image to this animated short film that is just loads of fun. Short films are historically difficult to predict, so I just go with my favorite.

Other Nominees Include:

  • La Luna – Enrico Casarosa
  • A Morning Stroll – Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
  • Wild Life – Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
  • Dimanche/Sunday – Patrick Doyon

BEST SHORT FILM – LIVE ACTION:

The Shore,  Terry George and Oorlagh George

Again, short films are incredibly difficult to predict for Oscar® winners, so my favorite from this group is The Shore.

Other Nominees were:

  • Tuba Atlantic – Hallvar Witzø
  • Pentecost – Peter McDonald and Elmear O’Kane
  • Raju – Max Zahle and Stefan Gieren
  • Tim Freak –Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey

BEST SOUND EDITING:

War Horse, Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

This category is really a horse race between Hugo and War Horse. The Academy loves to honor war films for the Sound Editing Award and thus I chose War Horse.

Other Nominees Include:

  • Drive – Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Ren Klyce
  • Hugo - Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty

BEST SOUND MIXING:

Hugo, Tom Fleischman and John Midgley

Usually sound awards are awarded in pairs, but this year I think Hugo will get the Sound Mixing Award for the all the clock work gadgets and various train stations sounds from Hugo. The only upset could be from Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Although Transformers is a not a well-reviewed film, Greg P. Russell aka the Susan Lucci of Sound Awards has been nominated for this category fifteen times without a win.

Other Nominees Include:

  • War Horse- Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
  • The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo- David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
  • Moneyball - Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, David Giammarco and Ed Novick

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:

Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett

I was stunned at the mastery and creative elements to the visual effects in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2. But, it appears that Rise of the Planet of the Apes with the backdrop of San Francisco will win in this category.

Other Nominees Include:

  • Real Steel – Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Danny Gordon Taylor and Swen Gillberg
  • Hugo – Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 - Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson

BEST WRITING – ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Descendants, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash

Other Nominees Include:

The contest in this category is really between two of the most brilliant writers in Hollywood today – Alexander Payne for The Descendants and Aaron Sorkin for Moneyball. Payne brought a wonderfully touching and yet at times a humorous look at a father facing difficult choices with daughters in tow, while Sorkin took the statistics of baseball – a seemingly boring subject and wrote a compelling and entertaining film. Both writers are masters at their craft. Sorkin scored a win last year for The Social Network and since I would rate The Descendants as a better film overall (but not by much), my choice is for The Descendants.

Other Nominees were:

BEST WRITING – ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen

Many will choose The Artist mainly because it is a favorite to will Best Picture, but the lack of dialogue may make it a weak choice. My pick is for one of Woody Allen’s script for Midnight in Paris that features time travel and characters from 1920’s Paris including Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemmingway and Picasso. His carefully written dialogue scenes for each of these iconic artists is very impressive work and a mark of Allen's very gifted screenwriting skills.

Other Nominees Include:

  • A Separation – Asghar Farhadi
  • The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
  • Bridesmaids – Annie Mumolo and Kristen Wiig
  • Margin Call – J.C. Chandor

Check back here for a recap of the entire Academy Awards® ceremony including the winners and the fashion from the night.

For Up To Date News on the Oscars®, please see Kay's Facebook page: 84th Annual Academy Awards

Whatever your movie choice this week, please remember your movie theater etiquette: silence your cell phones & no texting, please don't talk during the film and remove your children if they become a distraction to other audience members. Don't forget that laughing, crying and cheering are always approved behavior and even encouraged. And please don't come to the movies ill, and please return when you are well!

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-Kay Shackleton is a film historian with special focus on Silent Films, see her work on SilentHollywood.com

2012 Oscar® Predictions–“The Artist” to win 4 Oscars - complete list by category
2012 Oscar® Predictions–“The Artist” to win 4 Oscars - complete list by category
Photo credit: 
Poster courtesy of AMPAS

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Kay Shackleton has been a film fan since she was a child when she watched Judy Garland strap on those ruby slippers for the first time. She has been an ardent fan of both new and classic films, but has a special fondness for silent films. She presents a unique perspective towards current films,...

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