The LSL's 2016 Oscars Predictions

     By far the most interesting aspect of the 2016 Academy Awards, is the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Left and right, people are asking who will skip the ceremony? Will the Academy comment on the systematic marginalization of minorities? What will the host, comedian Chris Rock do? No one actually seems to be talking about the nominees this year. But just because the nomination pool isn’t nearly as interesting as past years and #OscarsSoWhite has taken over much of the media coverage, doesn’t mean that we still can’t have some fun predicting who the Academy voted for. 

     Right now, The Best Picture race is definitely the most competitive. There are three frontrunners at the moment, The Big Short, Spotlight, and The Revenant. At the start of January, Spotlight seemed poised to take home the golden statue, even after losing to The Revenant’s Golden Globe win. But the Producer’s Guild Awards on Jan.23 gave their award of best picture to The Big Short. And factoring in the PGA’s have a 70% rating on awarding the film that goes on to win best picture, I’d say that The Big Short has a much bigger edge now. Without a doubt, this will be the hardest category to predict, but this is how is will probably shake down:

Will Win: The Big Short

Should Win: Spotlight
Robbed: Carol & Straight Outta Compton

     Next, is Best Director. Similarly to the Best Picture category, there are two major frontrunners – Alejandro Innaritu for The Revenant and George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road. The fact that Innatritu won tons of awards in last years award season, and also for Best Director and Best Picture last year at the Oscars for Birdman, some people might assume that the academy wouldn’t award him a second year in a row. But I wouldn’t put it past the academy. What is most likely to be the deciding factor in deciding the winner of this category, is that Leonardo DiCaprio is basically a shoe in for Best Actor, while this is the best shot for Mad Max: Fury Road to win a big award. And with the added factor of George Miller being a first time nominee at the age of 70, makes it that much harder to call.

Will Win: Alejandro Innaritu, The Revenant

Should Win: George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Robbed: Ridley Scott, The Martian

     Both the Best Actor and Best Actress categories have basically been locked in a this point. Leonardo DiCaprio will finally get his Oscar after four previous nominations. And relatively fresh faced, Brie Larson will most certainly collect for Room.
Will Win: Leo DiCaprio, Brie Larson
Should Win: Michael Fassbender or Matt Damon, Brie Larson
Robbed: Michael B. Jordan, Creed

     Comparative the other acting categories, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress are infinitely more interesting to try and call. The biggest problem with trying to predict the winner of Best Supporting Actor is that the person who had the best performance this year is not in fact nominated. But because Idris Elba is not in the race this year, another has rised in front, wining most of the other awards this season and that’s Sylvester Stallone. He’s been widely acclaimed for return to his most famous role. There also is some scandal happening with the Best Supporting Actress category as well. Both Rooney Mara for Carol and Alicia Vikander for Danish Girl received nominations in a category that most would argue are not accurate. Mara and Vikander, though stunning in their roles, served more as second leads in their films rather than supporting characters. But because their category scam was allowed in this year’s awards, the race is definitely between the two of them.

Will Win: Sylvester Stallone, Alicia Vikander
Should Win: Mark Rylance, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Robbed: Idris Elba, Tessa Thompson

      Though this isn’t the most interesting list of nominees in recent years, and they themselves have taken a backseat to the much larger conversation about diversity in Hollywood and The Oscars, on February 28^th regardless of it all, they will suit up and many of them will take home a coveted gold statue. 

- Tyler Salinas, Managing Editor