Final 2015 Oscar Nomination Predictions

Tomorrow morning, January 15, the 2015 Oscar nominations will be announced and I’ll be here to offer up the complete list and offer up my thoughts on the winners, losers, snubs and surprises, but before that time comes let’s take one final look at each category and offer up our predictions.

At The Grand Budapest Hotel — made my final list, perhaps, in that case, it’s best suited they sit at #1 and #2.

It’s been an odd year given the fact the major contender for Best Picture is a small, $2.4 million budgeted feature from IFC Films. A project pieced together over the course of twelve years is looking to best the Hollywood studio juggernauts and all their marketing might. Is it a story too good to be true? We won’t know that until the Oscars are handed out on Sunday, February 22, so for now let’s just stick with the predictions.

Just below are my final nomination predictions in all of the top 21 categories with a few thoughts on each before we get to the below-the-line categories. I would love to see your predictions in the comments below and I hope to see you all back here tomorrow morning for the final nomination announcement.

Best Picture

There are two films that I see having a chance of finding their way into the top nine (or ten) if there should happen to end up being that many nominees, those being Unbroken and Nightcrawler. Should Unbroken get the nomination it would be the Extremely, Loud and Incredibly Close scenario all over again while if Nightcrawler got the nom it would simply be a happy day for all, especially if it knocked out American Sniper (the runner-up Extremely Loud nom).

1. Boyhood
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel
3. Birdman
4. The Theory of Everything
5. The Imitation Game
6. Selma
7. Gone Girl
8. American Sniper
9. Whiplash

Click here for the complete list of rankings for this category.

Best Director

To leave Ava DuVernay (Selma) in or move her out of the top five? I’ve chosen to be optimistic, but the intrigue doesn’t end there as the likes of Clint Eastwood (American Sniper), Damien Chazelle (Whiplash), James Marsh (The Theory of Everything) and David Fincher (Gone Girl) wait in the wings.

1. Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
2. Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman)
3. Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
4. Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game)
5. Ava DuVernay (Selma)

Click here for the complete list of rankings for this category.

Best Actor

Another tough category, especially since I finally decided I had to move Bradley Cooper (American Sniper) into the top five, which meant bumping Steve Carell (Foxcatcher) out, but he’s on the outside looking in with the likes of Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler) and Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel) and I’m not feeling supremely confident leaving David Oyelowo (Selma). In the top five. Again, optimism, in some respects, wins the day.

1. Michael Keaton (Birdman)
2. Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)
3. Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)
4. Bradley Cooper (American Sniper)
5. David Oyelowo (Selma)

Click here for the complete list of rankings for this category.

Best Actress

I think this is pretty much all wrapped up with, obviously, Jennifer Aniston (Cake) being the lone question mark. The only replacement I can imagine is Amy Adams (Big Eyes), but who knows, maybe the Academy will slide Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night) in there. Doubtful, but who knows?

1. Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
2. Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)
3. Reese Witherspoon (Wild)
4. Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)
5. Jennifer Aniston (Cake)

Click here for the complete list of rankings for this category.

Best Supporting Actor

This seems all but a sure bet.

1. J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
2. Edward Norton (Birdman)
3. Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)
4. Robert Duvall (The Judge)
5. Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)

Click here for the complete list of rankings for this category.

Best Supporting Actress

For whatever reason I didn’t have Rene Russo (Nightcrawler) even on my list until just before putting my final predictions together. Either it slipped my mind or I am just shocked I’m able to include her, but she made my final five by a narrow margin and it’s a final five I feel rather confident in.

1. Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
2. Emma Stone (Birdman)
3. Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)
4. Meryl Streep (Into the Woods)
5. Rene Russo (Nightcrawler)

Click here for the complete list of rankings for this category.

Adapted Screenplay

I can’t, in good conscience, put Jason Dean Hall‘s screenplay for American Sniper into the top five. It might find its way in and I’ll deal with that when the time comes, but for now, it’s out.

1. Graham Moore (The Imitation Game)
2. Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything)
3. Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl)
4. Nick Hornby (Wild)
5. Damien Chazelle (Whiplash)

Click here for the complete list of rankings for this category.

Original Screenplay

I like the looks of my top five here, not a lot to really be too concerned with, though I would love to see Damian Szifron‘s Wild Tales screenplay sneak in there.

1. Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
2. Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo (Birdman)
3. Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
4. E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman (Foxcatcher)
5. Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler)

Click here for the complete list of rankings for this category.

Animated Feature Film

What a boring year in the animation race right? However, with How to Train Your Dragon 2 pulling out the Globe victory perhaps it’s picking up steam at just the right time to mount an Oscar win.

1. The Lego Movie
2. How to Train Your Dragon 2
3. Big Hero 6
4. The BoxTrolls
5. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Click here for the complete list of rankings for this category.

Documentary (feature)

I really have no idea what to do here, the top three I feel confident in and I’m, quite frankly, a little shocked at the lack of buzz for Keep On Keepin’ On, but I’m keeping it in there.

1. Citizenfour
2. Life Itself
3. The Overnighters
4. Finding Vivian Maier
5. Keep On Keepin’ On

Click here for the complete list of rankings for this category.