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With the 94th Academy Awards around the corner, the 2022 awards season is finally about to come to a close. Now that the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards and British Academy Film and Television Awards (BAFTAs) are in the rearview, audiences around the world are actively anticipating the Oscars’ outcome. Will Ariana DeBose and Will Smith complete their respective sweeps in this year’s awards circuit? Will Jane Campion make history as the third woman to win best director?

Here are The Daily Orange’s choices for who will take home a golden statue on Sunday, predicted by three of our Screentime columnists:

Best Picture

Nate Lechner: “The Power of the Dog”
This has been the best picture frontrunner since the beginning of the awards cycle, and I don’t see the pattern breaking. Campion delivered a sprawling Western featuring a beautiful story, led by remarkable performances from its four lead actors, Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Although rather drawn-out at times, it’s a tremendous accomplishment by Campion and will be the film to deliver Netflix its first best picture award.

Samuel Rivo: “CODA”
A 2021 Sundance Film Festival selection that sold for a festival record $25 million, “CODA” is a coming-of-age drama about a child of deaf adults — or “CODA” — who’s balancing her aspirations of becoming a singer with her family obligations. I think Hollywood’s hesitancy to give Netflix a best picture Oscar in the past could help “CODA” go from dark horse candidate to the ultimate winner this year, as the Academy may prefer to reward a smaller tech company turned film distributor called — *checks notes* — Apple.

Henry O’Brien: “CODA”
Sian Heder’s “CODA” has picked up a lot of steam as of late, winning the Darryl F. Zanuck Award at the 2022 Producers Guild Awards. This award has served as a good indicator of who will win the award in years past. In fact, seven of the award’s last 10 winners went on to win best picture at the Oscars. With this in mind, I feel that this heart-warming and powerful story about the wonderful Rossi family will shock many and win the biggest prize in Hollywood.

Best Director

Rivo: Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”
The slow burn Western follows a domineering rancher who finds himself at a crossroad when his brother brings home his new wife and her son to their ranch in 1920s Montana. Led by a career-best performance from Cumberbatch, Campion uses her muse to highlight themes of toxic masculinity. Campion’s clear attention to detail and precision may lead her to victory.

O’Brien: Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”
Campion became known to the world with 1993’s “The Piano,” which presented her with the first Oscar nomination of her career. However, I believe that with her most recent masterpiece, she will become the second female director to win in two years (after Chloé Zhao in 2021). Campion subverts the Western genre with her trademark themes in her latest project, creating one of the finest films of 2021.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Rivo: Sian Heder, “CODA”
In a film that relies on both American Sign Language and English to tell the story, “CODA” features a script that is designed for its actors and makes the audience laugh, cry and feel good throughout. Although I think a movie like “Drive My Car” could pull off the upset here, I expect “CODA” to win easily in this category.

O’Brien: Sian Heder, “CODA”
Like best picture, I feel this award could go either for this film or “The Power of the Dog.” But in most award shows that feature a relatively similar voting base — such as the Writers Guild Awards, where it won best adapted screenplay — voters have clearly taken a liking to Heder’s work.

Best Original Screenplay

O’Brien: Adam McKay, “Don’t Look Up”
I’m going to be perfectly honest, I don’t think this is a very good movie, and I know I’m not alone. But this film’s screenplay has been winning many awards, including the WGA’s best original screenplay award. So as much as I want Paul Thomas Anderson to win for “Licorice Pizza,” McKay’s funny dialogue in this below-average allegory of climate change will take home the award.

Officially one week away until the 94th #Oscars…but who’s counting 😉

A photo posted by theacademy

Best Actor

Lechner: Will Smith, “King Richard”
The time has come. After more than 30 years of being in the public eye, featuring a career in hip-hop, television and film acting, Smith is in line to receive his first Academy Award for acting. In his role as Richard Williams, the father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams, Smith shows real humility and emotion in what is easily his best acting to date. Following wins at the SAG Awards and BAFTAs, it seems very clear that Smith will take home the best actor award come Sunday.

Rivo: Will Smith, “King Richard”
In his best performance since his Red Table Talk interview, Smith pulls out all the stops as Richard Williams to deliver a charismatic and complex character study about fathers, daughters and believing in who we are capable of being. It’s about time the Oscars “get jiggy wit it.”

O’Brien: Will Smith, “King Richard”
Smith’s unofficial Oscars campaign began back in November in Brooklyn. And so far, it has been pretty successful. His inspired performance has repeatedly won over voters this awards season, and it will do the same with the Academy.

Best Actress

Rivo: Olivia Colman, “The Lost Daughter”
Olivia Colman illustrates the unspoken role and struggles of motherhood as Leda in “The Lost Daughter.” Her performance is subtle, reining in her emotion as opposed to the more showy nominated roles, such as Jessica Chastain in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and Nicole Kidman in “Being the Ricardos.” After winning in this category for “The Favourite” in 2018, I expect Colman to win her second Oscar on Sunday night.

O’Brien: Jessica Chastain, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”
This category is stacked with some phenomenal performances, including Colman in “The Lost Daughter” and Kristen Stewart in “Spencer.” But Chastain’s performance as Tammy Faye Bakker elevated a mediocre film into a watchable one, which will help her get the credit she has deserved for a while now.

Best Supporting Actor

Lechner: Troy Kotsur, “CODA”
“CODA” is one of the most beautiful and touching films of the year, featuring an incredible performance by Troy Kotsur. The first deaf actor to ever be nominated for an Academy Award, Kotsur is able to project so much human emotion despite only having one speaking line in the film. Similar to Smith, previous wins at this year’s SAG Awards and BAFTAs seem to point to Kotsur making more history Sunday at the Oscars.

Rivo: Kodi Smit-McPhee, “The Power of the Dog”
Smit-McPhee puts on a poetically beautiful portrayal as Peter, who forms a “bond” with brooding rancher Phil in this subtle, meticulous performance that is filled with key character choices and captivating facial acting. Although I expect Smit-McPhee to win, don’t be shocked if “CODA’s” Kotsur takes the Oscar instead.

O’Brien: Troy Kotsur, “CODA”
While I explained that “CODA” would win best picture because of its success at other award shows, I didn’t explain why I liked the film. Kotsur as fisherman Frank Rossi, the family’s patriarch, was one of my favorite parts of the picture. His performance was hilarious and beautiful all at the same time, which will propel him to a win.

CODA is expanding to even more theaters across the country this week! So if you live in a city, it is probably playing near you. And if you can see it in a theater, please do!

A photo posted by codamovie

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Lechner: Ariana DeBose, “West Side Story”
Although Steven Spielberg’s remake was not very successful at the box office, DeBose’s performance as Anita has received the most acclaim since the film’s release. She does a great job of balancing the dramatic parts of the role while also crushing the musical elements of it. If she wins, DeBose will be following in the footsteps of acting legend Rita Moreno, who also won the best actress in a supporting role award for playing Anita in the 1961 version of “West Side Story.”

O’Brien: Ariana DeBose, “West Side Story”
Steven Spielberg’s rendition of the classic musical saw many noticeable differences — one of the biggest changes was with DeBose’s character Anita. In the newest version of “West Side Story,” Anita features much more depth and briefly addresses racism and colorism among the Puerto Rican community. DeBose brilliantly makes these differences well-known, making her one of the film’s best parts.

Best Original Score

Lechner: Hans Zimmer, “Dune”
Hans Zimmer has written some of the most unique and iconic film scores of all time, including “The Lion King,” “The Dark Knight” and “Dunkirk,” and his work on “Dune” is no exception. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Zimmer explained that he wanted the film to feature a score with many different tones and colors for all of the different characters and settings. In order to achieve this, Zimmer went so far as to create new instruments and sounds, and the finished score adds to the already grand spectacle of “Dune.” After decades of composing incredible scores, I think that it’s time for Zimmer to, once again, reach the pinnacle of Hollywood with an Academy Award win.

Published on March 23, 2022 at 10:33 pm