With the Academy Awards scheduled for Sunday night, here’s my predictions for the non-acting awards. I likely have seen very few of these movies, so I will mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth.
Best Original Screenplay
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
I haven’t seen any of these films yet. If I had to guess, which I guess I do, I would think it will come down to either Birdman or Boyhood, and I’m going to go with the crew from Birdman.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Jason Hall, American Sniper
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Another category where I have not seen any of the nominated work. I have heard nothing but good things about Whiplash, mostly from Balb Bryan of the Adam Carolla Show, so I will go with that.
Best Animated Feature
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How To Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
Obviously, The Lego Movie will take home this prize. Wait, what? It wasn’t nominated? In that case, I’ll take a shot in the dark and say Big Hero 6 will take home the statue.
Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
Robert Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Łukasz Żal and Ryszard Lenczewski, Ida
Dick Pope, Mr. Turner
Roger A. Deakins, Unbroken
I haven’t even heard of a few of these, so I’m going to guess that The Grand Budapest Hotel will get some love here.
Best Costume Design
Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Mark Bridges, Inherent Vice
Colleen Atwood, Into the Woods
Anna B. Sheppard, Maleficent
Jacqueline Durran, Mr. Turner
I’m thinking Into the Woods will deliver a fairytale ending for Ms. Atwood.
Best Documentary Feature
Citizenfour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga
Finding Vivian Maier is the only one of these that I have heard of, so this guess has very little behind it.
Best Documentary Short Subject
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper (La Parka)
White Earth
This is a total guess for a category that I know nothing about.
Achievement in Film Editing
Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach, American Sniper
Sandra Adair, Boyhood
Barney Pilling, The Grand Budapest Hotel
William Goldenberg, The Imitation Game
Tom Cross, Whiplash
My initial thought was for American Sniper, but then I figure that Boyhood is going to clean up, so I may as well go with that.
Best Foreign Language Film
Ida, Poland
Leviathan, Russia
Tangerines, Estonia
Timbuktu, Mauritania
Wild Tales, Argentina
I guess if a film shares a name with your mother, you should pick it to win something.
Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard, Foxcatcher
Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou and David White, Guardians of the Galaxy
This is a category where movies like Guardians of the Galaxy should be recognized, but I don’t feel that the academy is quite there yet. Foxcatcher seems like the safe choice.
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
My initial choice was going to be The Grand Budapest Hotel, but then I figured that Alexandre Desplat fans would end up splitting the vote between his two fils, so I ended up with the recognizable name from Interstellar.
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 Legend and Common
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
The sentimental choice would be to go with Everything is Awesome, giving The Lego Movie and Tegan & Sara some recognition. But, given the “outrage” over Selma‘s lack of nominations in the top categories, I’m thinking it will win out here.
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
I’m going with Wes Anderson’s tale of The Grand Budapest Hotel to take home the prize.
Best Animated Short Film
The Bigger Picture, Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper, Robert Kondo and Daisuke 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
These picks are based on nothing but pure alchemy.
Achievement in Sound Editing
American Sniper, Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Birdman, Martin 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
Nothing says sound editing like a sniper taking out Iraqi enemies.
Achievement in Sound Mixing
American Sniper, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, and Walt Martin
Birdman, 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
A complete guess, but I’m going with Interstellar.
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
Hey, I’ve actually seen three of these movies. I’m going out on a ledge and saying the Captain America will bring home the prize.