Without regard to my personal favorites or staunchly held opinions, here are my predictions in all 24 categories based on where I think the Academy will lean. I may make a few amendments as the Oscars approach on Sunday February 22.
BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
American Sniper
Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan, Producers
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole, Producers
✪ Boyhood
Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland, Producers
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson, Producers
The Imitation Game
Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman, Producers
Selma
Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers
The Theory of Everything
Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten, Producers
Whiplash
Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster, Producers
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Steve Carell in Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper in American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game
✪ Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Robert Duvall in The Judge
Ethan Hawke in Boyhood
Edward Norton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Mark Ruffalo in Foxcatcher
✪ J.K. Simmons in Whiplash
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones in The Theory of Everything
✪ Julianne Moore in Still Alice
Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon in Wild
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
✪ Patricia Arquette in Boyhood
Laura Dern in Wild
Keira Knightley in The Imitation Game
Emma Stone in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Meryl Streep in Into the Woods
ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
✪ Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
Big Hero 6
Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli
The Boxtrolls
Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight
✪ How to Train Your Dragon 2
Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold
Song of the Sea
Tomm Moore and Paul Young
The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya
Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
✪ Ida (Poland)
Leviathan (Russia)
Tangerines (Estonia)
Timbuktu (Mauritania)
Wild Tales (Argentina)
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
American Sniper
Written by Jason Hall
✪ The Imitation Game
Written by Graham Moore
Inherent Vice
Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything
Screenplay by Anthony McCarten
Whiplash
Written by Damien Chazelle
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
✪ Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo
Boyhood
Written by Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher
Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
Nightcrawler
Written by Dan Gilroy
ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Emmanuel Lubezki
✪ The Grand Budapest Hotel
Robert Yeoman
Ida
Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
Mr. Turner
Dick Pope
Unbroken
Roger Deakins
ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Milena Canonero
Inherent Vice
Mark Bridges
✪ Into The Woods
Colleen Atwood
Maleficent
Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive
Mr. Turner
Jacqueline Durran
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
✪ CitizenFour
Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky
Finding Vivian Maier
John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
Last Days in Vietnam
Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester
The Salt of the Earth
Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier
Virunga
Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
✪ Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
Joanna
Aneta Kopacz
Our Curse
Tomasz Sliwinski and Maciej Slesicki
The Reaper (La Parka)
Gabriel Serra Arguello
White Earth
J. Christian Jensen
ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
American Sniper
Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach
Boyhood
Sandra Adair
✪ The Grand Budapest Hotel
Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game
William Goldenberg
Whiplash
Tom Cross
ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Foxcatcher
Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard
✪ The Grand Budapest Hotel
Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier
Guardians of the Galaxy
Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White
ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SCORE)
✪ The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat
The Imitation Game
Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar
Hans Zimmer
Mr. Turner
Gary Yershon
The Theory of Everything
Jóhann Jóhannsson
ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Everything Is Awesome” from The Lego Movie
Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson
✪ “Glory” from Selma
Music and Lyric by John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn
“Grateful” from Beyond the Lights
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glen Campbell…I’ll Be Me
Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
“Lost Stars” from Begin Again
Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois
ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN
✪ The Grand Budapest Hotel
Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
The Imitation Game
Production Design: Maria Djurkovic; Set Decoration: Tatiana Macdonald
Interstellar
Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Gary Fettis
Into the Woods
Production Design: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Mr. Turner
Production Design: Suzie Davies; Set Decoration: Charlotte Watts
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
✪ The Bigger Picture
Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper
Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Feast
Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed
Me and My Moulton
Torill Kove
A Single Life
Joris Oprins
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Aya
Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
✪ Boogaloo and Graham
Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Butter Lamp (La Lampe Au Beurre De Yak)
Hu Wei and Julien Féret
Parvaneh
Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
The Phone Call
Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
American Sniper
Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Martín Hernández and Aaron Glascock
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
✪ Interstellar
Richard King
Unbroken
Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
✪ American Sniper
John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga
Interstellar
Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
Unbroken
Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee
Whiplash
Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley
ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist
Guardians of the Galaxy
Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould
✪ Interstellar
Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer
