87th Oscar Supporting Actress Updates (2014-2015 Awards Season) (5/25/2014)

I find the supporting categories particularly difficult to predict in advance, especially for films that aren’t direct adaptations of previous work. But predict we must, so I’ll try my hand anyway. Some of these actresses also appear on my Lead Actress predictions, since it is often difficult to know who will have the bigger roles -- and more importantly, who will get the bigger campaigns.

For the moment I’m going with Emma Stone for the win, since she has three films out this year and could fit the mold of the “American Sweetheart” that Oscar often rewards. We’ll see how close I get when the nominations come out in January!

1. Emma Stone in Birdman (Predicted Winner)

2. Anna Kendrick in Into The Woods

3. Viola Davis in Get On Up

4. Jessica Chastain in A Most Violent Year

5. Kristin Scott Thomas in Suite Francaise

Alternates:

6. Emily Blunt in Into The Woods

7. Julianne Moore in Maps To The Stars

8. Keira Knightley in The Imitation Game

9. Annette Bening in The Search

10. Meryl Streep in Suffragette

11. Rooney Mara in Carol

12. Laura Dern in Wild

13. Naomi Watts in St. Vincent De Van Nuys

14. Patricia Arquette in Boyhood

15. Marion Cotillard in Macbeth

16. Katherine Waterston in Inherent Vice

17. Rooney Mara in Trash

18. Marisa Tomei in Love Is Strange

19. Octavia Spencer in Get On Up

20. Felicity Jones in Theory Of Everything

21. Jacki Weaver in Magic In The Moonlight

22. Naomi Watts in Birdman

23. Judy Greer in Men, Women And Children

24. Krysten Ritter in Big Eyes

25. Vanessa Redgrave in Foxcatcher

26. Shohreh Aghdashloo in Rosewater

27. Jena Malone in Inherent Vice

28. Helena Bonham Carter in Suffragette

29. Anika Noni Rose in Half Of A Yellow Sun

30. Marcia Gay Harden in Magic In The Moonlight

31. Lesley Manville in Mr. Turner

32. Nicole Kidman in The Railway Man

33. Samantha Morton in Miss Julie

34. America Ferrera in Cesar Chavez

35. Carrie Coon in Gone Girl

36. Meryl Streep in The Homesman

37. Noomi Rapace in Child 44

38. Reese Witherspoon in Inherent Vice

39. Jessica Chastain in Interstellar

40. Octavia Spencer in Black And White

41. Rosemary DeWitt in Kill The Messenger

42. Andrea Riseborough in Birdman

43. Sophie Okonedo in War Book

44. Anne Hathaway in Interstellar

45. Susan Sarandon in Tammy

46. Indira Varma in Exodus: Gods And Kings

47. Rosario Dawson in Cesar Chavez

48. Cate Blanchett in The Monuments Men

49. Emma Watson in Noah

50. Cameron Diaz in Annie

As always, check the Tracker Pages in the upper right hand corner of this blog for the most updated predictions in all categories!

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Final Oscar Predictions! (86th Oscars: 2013-2014 Awards Season)

Because I’ve been working so hard on The Academy Members Project this year, I’ve admittedly spent less time writing about this year’s Oscar race. But I have been diligently watching a great many of the nominated films -- including all the contenders for the top 8 categories and all 15 Oscar nominated shorts -- and reading all the news, reviews, buzz and gossip that I can find. So that qualifies me to opine on which films will win, right?

Best Picture: 12 Years A Slave

Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity

Lead Actress: Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine

Lead Actor: Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club

Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years A Slave

Supporting Actor: Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club

Original Screenplay: American Hustle

Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years A Slave

Animated Feature: Frozen

Animated Short: Get A Horse

Cinematography: Gravity

Costume Design: The Great Gatsby

Documentary Feature: 20 Feet From Stardom

Documentary Short: The Lady In Number 6: Music Saved My Life

Film Editing: Captain Phillips

Foreign Language Film: The Great Beauty

Live Action Short: Helium

Makeup And Hairstyling: Dallas Buyers Club

Production Design: The Great Gatsby

Score: Gravity

Song: “Let It Go” from Frozen

Sound Editing: Gravity

Sound Mixing: Gravity

Visual Effects: Gravity

Let me know where you think I’ve got it right -- or wrong -- in the comments!

86th Oscar Supporting Actress Updates (2013-2014 Awards Season) (12/9/2013)

If you want to boost the Oscar ratings and have the whole country break down in tears, then there’s really only one person who can win the Supporting Actress award. Just don’t do something foolish like giving it out at the beginning of the ceremony: Make us wait for it!

When Oprah Winfrey, the goddess of television, teams up with Harvey Weinstein, the god of Oscar campaigning, then you can be pretty sure where this race will be heading come March. I suspect that there will be tons of critics groups trying to draw attention to the other (entirely worthy) competitors before then, but at the end of the day the motion picture business is, in fact, a business. And no one knows how to work the business like Harvey and Oprah!

1. Oprah Winfrey in Lee Daniels’ The Butler (Predicting Winner)

2. Lupita Nyong’o in 12 Years A Slave

3. Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle

4. Julia Roberts in August: Osage County

5. June Squibb in Nebraska

Alternates:

6. Octavia Spencer in Fruitvale Station

7. Sally Hawkins in Blue Jasmine

8. Lea Seydoux in Blue Is The Warmest Color

9. Margo Martindale in August: Osage County

10. Naomie Harris in Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom

11. Sarah Paulson in 12 Years A Slave

12. Carey Mulligan in Inside Llewyn Davis

13. Melissa Leo in Prisoners

14. Emily Watson in The Book Thief

15. Jennifer Garner in Dallas Buyers Club

16. Scarlett Johansson in Her

17. Margot Robbie in The Wolf Of Wall Street

18. Melonie Diaz in Fruitvale Station

19. Amy Adams in Her

20. Eva Mendes in The Place Beyond The Pines

21. Cameron Diaz in The Counselor

22. Isla Fisher in The Great Gatsby

23. Juliette Lewis in August: Osage County

24. Julianne Nicholson in August: Osage County

25. Allison Janney in The Way Way Back

26. Toni Collette in The Way Way Back

27. Alfre Woodard in 12 Years A Slave

28. Kristin Scott Thomas in Only God Forgives

29. Viola Davis in Prisoners

30. Kristen Wiig in The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

31. Reem Abdullah in Wadjda

32. Emma Watson in The Bling Ring

33. Penelope Cruz in The Counselor

34. Kristin Scott Thomas in The Invisible Woman

35. Adepero Oduye in 12 Years A Slave

36. Scarlett Johansson in Don Jon

37. Elizabeth Debicki in The Great Gatsby

38. Maria Bello in Prisoners

39. Kaitlyn Dever in Short Term 12

40. Yolonda Ross in Go For Sisters

41. Joanna Scanlan in The Invisible Woman

42. Julianne Moore in Don Jon

43. Mickey Sumner in Frances Ha

44. Zoe Saldana in Out Of The Furnace

45. Vanessa Redgrave in Unfinished Song

46. Jodie Foster in Elysium

47. Angela McEwan in Nebraska

48. Angela Bassett in Black Nativity

49. Nicole Kidman in Stoker

50. Rooney Mara in Her

As always, check the Tracker Pages in the upper right hand corner of this blog for the most updated predictions in all categories!

See Supporting Actress predictions for other years HERE.

Or check out the Lead Actor, Lead Actress and Supporting Actor predictions.

See predictions for other categories at the 86th Oscars HERE.

Switch to another year:  87th,  88th,  89th  

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85th Oscar Supporting Actress Updates (1/9/13)

Ok. I admit it. I have included a “No Guts, No Glory” prediction for this category in the form of Ann Dowd’s performance in Compliance. My only rationale, aside from the reviews she has received, is that there are a great many members of the actors branch who understand what a nomination would mean to her, which is something that can’t be said of the other top contenders in this category who have already been welcomed into the nominations circle before.

More importantly, the supporting categories were originally created to spotlight the work of career actors exactly like Dowd, as opposed to superstars who happen to have a slightly smaller role than one or two other characters in their film. So even if the role in Compliance is more of a leading one, a nomination for her would actually be a return to form and a victory for all those Academy members who have been overlooked in the past.


1. Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables (Predicted Winner)
2. Sally Field for Lincoln
3. Helen Hunt for The Sessions
4. Amy Adams for The Master
5. Ann Dowd for Compliance

Alternates:
6. Judi Dench for Skyfall
7. Nicole Kidman for The Paperboy
8. Maggie Smith for Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
9. Samantha Barks for Les Miserables
10. Kerry Washington for Django Unchained
11. Jacki Weaver for Silver Linings Playbook
12. Emma Watson for The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
13. Lorraine Toussaint for Middle Of Nowhere
14. Kelly Reilly for Flight
15. Jennifer Ehle for Zero Dark Thirty
16. Pauline Collins for Quartet
17. Amanda Seyfried for Les Miserables
18. Rosemarie DeWitt for Your Sister’s Sister
19. Brit Marling for Sound Of My Voice
20. Frances McDormand for Promised Land
21. Susan Sarandon for Arbitrage
22. Isabelle Huppert for Amour
23. Doona Bae for Cloud Atlas
24. Olivia Colman for Hyde Park On Hudson
25. Olivia Williams for Hyde Park On Hudson


As always, check the Tracker Pages in the upper right hand corner of this blog for the most updated predictions in all categories!    
See Supporting Actress predictions for other years HERE.
Or check out the Lead Actor, Lead Actress and Supporting Actor predictions.
See predictions for other categories at the 85th Oscars HERE.
Switch to another year: 85th,  86th,  87th,  88th,  89th  
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LAMB Acting School 101: Samantha Morton

Each month, The LAMB has a series where bloggers get together to write reviews of a particular actor’s work. Here at Never Too Early Movie Predictions, I look forward instead of backward, so I thought it might be fun to look ahead at what the actor of the month has coming up on her calendar for the next several years.

This month’s actress is two-time Oscar nominee Samantha Morton. She was nominated for her supporting role in Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown in 2000, and again for her lead role in In America in 2004. So let’s see if she has any future prospects for the golden statue, shall we?



You may not have known it, but Morton actually has a film playing in theaters right now. She plays a green, motion captured character named Sola in Disney’s John Carter. Here is the John Carter trailer, just in case you have been living on Mars for the past six months and haven’t heard about it yet.

Morton’s next film is David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis. The film stars Robert Pattinson as a multi-billionaire who takes a strange trip across Manhattan that involves sex, violence, financial ruin, and a heavy dose of commentary on the modern world. The film also features Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti and Jay Baruchel, and is almost certain to premiere as part of the Cannes Film Festival in May. For those who want a taste of what we have in store, here is the Cosmopolis Trailer.

Morton’s next lead role will be Decoding Annie Parker, a film about a cancer survivor and a genetic researcher named Mary-Claire King who discovered a gene linked to breast cancer. Morton will play the cancer survivor and Helen Hunt will play the geneticist. The film is directed by Steven Bernstein, with Aaron Paul, Corey Stoll, Maggie Grace, Rashida Jones, Dermot Mulroney, RIchard Schiff, Alice Eve and Bradley Whitford filling out the cast. You can sign up for updates on the Decoding Annie Parker Facebook page.

The Mulo is a horror film directed by Matthew Thompson, and features Morton playing opposite … herself! That’s right, Morton will play twin sisters, long estranged, who reunite when one of their children goes missing. The title refers to a spirit from Roma folklore, who may be the reason the child has gone missing, or may simply be a cover that is being used by a human child murderer. Website for The Mulo.

Finally, there is an Untitled Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze Project that is rumored to be “a satire about how world leaders gather to figure out all the seismic events that will take place in the world, from oil prices to wars that will be waged.” I’m a huge fan of Kaufman’s screenplays, as well as previous Kaufman/Jonze collaborations that include Adaptation and Being John Malkovich. Even more exciting is that the preliminary casting for this one couldn’t be more perfect, with Morton, Amy Adams, Carey Mulligan and Joaquin Phoenix all rumored to take part.

So faithful readers, do any of these sound like they could bring Samantha Morton some more awards love? Which films are you most looking forward to? Let me know in the comments section.



You can keep track of Samantha Morton’s Oscar chances on my Lead And Supporting Actress page.
Read what my fellow LAMBS have written about Samantha Morton HERE.
Search for other actors featured in LAMB Acting School 101 HERE.
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