And the Oscar goes to...
With the 85th annual Academy Awards just around the corner, Verge editors Tracy Nyhan, Kellie Morrissey, Fergal Carroll and Editor-in-Chief Kevin O’Neill give their verdict on who will triumph in this year’s exciting ceremony.
Best PictureTracy Nyhan (TN): The award for Best Picture this year is not an obvious choice and certainly is not unanimous among us at the Express. Last year, the acclaimed not-entirely-silent-movie, The Artist took the award which was no surprise to those who predicted the outcome of that particular category. From its release, I’ve been gunning for Lincoln but I’m tempted to back Argo on this one. It’s not everyone’s obvious winner, especially taking Lincoln’s twelve nominations into account but Argo scooped the Best Picture equivalents at the Golden Globes, the PGAs, DGAs and SAGs which leads me to believe that Argo’s popularity will triumph at the Oscars this year.
Arts and Literature Editor Julie Daunt (JD) disagrees, however, preferring to opt for Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained: “The film blew me away. Foxx played a brilliant character and for the first time I actually hated Di Caprio in a film. His dedication to the character can be seen in the unscripted part when he slams his hand on the table and breaks a glass. Blood pouring from his hand, he still maintains character and just casually picks pieces of glass out of his hand. Outstanding! However, I can see Les Mis possibly winning this mainly because of its sheer spectacle”. Gaming editor, Fergal Carroll (FC) reckons that Lincoln will take the award due to the Academy’s “very particular taste” but his heart lies with Django Unchained or Beasts of the Southern Wild to win it. A man can dream.Film and TV Editor, Kellie Morrissey (KM) backs another nominee to scoop the award; Michael Haneke (Amour) because he is “head and shoulders above any of the other nominees and I think clearly the best film among them, it would be a travesty to see anything other than Amour scoop Best Picture. It's unlikely, however”.Editor Kevin O’Neill (KON) shares the sentiment of Fergal Carroll, picking Beasts of the Southern Wild, referring to it as a “whimsical and wholly different proposition to all the other nominees, something all too often lacking in the Academy Awards”. The realist in him, however, pinpoints Lincoln as the eventual winner, with Argo or Les Miserables as the only alternatives. Best Actor in a leading role
TN: Daniel Day Lewis for his role in Lincoln, simple as. Any “surprises” here would be entirely inappropriate considering Day Lewis’s performance surpassed those of the other nominees, which was no mean feat this year. It’s a unanimous decision among the editorial team with Kellie describing him as “eclectic, as always” and Julie agrees, from the pattern of the Golden Globes but had she her own way, “it would be Jamie Foxx. He had me at “Hey there, troublemaker”’.FC: “If anyone beats Daniel Day Lewis in this category I’m literally going to quit college, move to Hollywood and introduce the Academy to ‘the guns’. The only thing that I can see going against Lewis is the fact that he won it five years ago. They might want to give someone else a chance, which is rubbish”.KON: “Joaquin Phoenix is the only one to hold a candle to Daniel Day Lewis this year and, given his anti-Academy outbursts last year, it’s very unlikely he’ll have any chance.” Best Actress in a leading role:FC: “In my mind, there is only one possibly winner for this award. Nine year old Quvenzhané Wallis who played Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild. SHE IS NINE! Imagine her speech! I’m sure she has no chance of winning though, the Academy will think that a nomination is enough.” (note: She is actually far younger on screen – the filming culminated with Wallis yet to celebrate her 7th birthday)
TN: “Like Fergal, I’d love to see the youngest nominee in the history of the Academy Awards, Quvenzhané Wallis, take the award but my head tells me to back Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty, as Julie is doing, or Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook. Considering I have yet to see Zero Dark Thirty, I’ll settle on Jennifer Lawrence who has already picked up the Golden Globe.”KM: “I beg to differ and am backing Emmanuelle Riva (Amour) for an incredibly difficult and touching performance in a very hard-to-watch film”.KON: “Jennifer Chastain is a fantastic actress but her single handed pursuit of Bin Ladin is her weakest performance yet for me. Jennifer Lawrence deserves this, though it would restore my faith in Hollywood if Quvenzhane Wallis walks away with a statuette as tall as she is on the night.” Best actor in a supporting role:TN: “Like Kellie, I was disappointed that Leonardo Di Caprio or Samuel Jackson weren’t credited in this category but based solely on the fact that I admire him, I’d love to see Christoph Waltz get the award for Django Unchained. Similarly, Julie’s adoration for Django determines her favourite but she reckons Philip Seymour Hoffman might get this for The Master.”Fergal backs Hoffman, too: “In my opinion you really can’t beat ‘The Hoff’, that is Philip Seymour Hoffman for the unknowing, though. He has been fantastic in everything I’ve ever seen him in (and that includes Along Came Polly), so I’ll be rooting for him”.
KON: “I’m finding it impossible to even choose my favourite of the nominees, let alone the eventual winner. Eyes closed, throw a dart at a series of pictures and pick the winner that way… Alan Arkin and Christoph Waltz have both won recently so, most likely, won’t. I think this is de Niro’s for the taking. Or maybe Tommy Lee Jones. Or Philip Seymour Hoffman. Or…”Best actress in a supporting role:Should be renamed the Anne Hathaway Award this year. Only Fergal Carroll deviates from the unanimous calls for her victory, suggesting Amy Adams as an alternative. Best Director: 
TN: “The thing that strikes me most about this list of nominees is the obvious omissions; Ben Affleck (Argo), Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), Tom Hooper (Les Miserables) and Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) were all denied a place here. I could see either Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) or Ang Lee (Life of Pi) taking this award with ease but Michael Haneke (Amour) is another plausible winner if there’s going to be somewhat of a surprise at this year’s ceremony. Considering the five nominations for Amour this year and the international critical acclaim it has acquired (an amazing result for a foreign film), it may just be Haneke’s night.”Similarly, Kevin bemoans a number of absent nominees. “The two obvious candidates to win the award didn’t even make the shortlist as far as I can see – Ben Affleck (Argo) and Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master) outshone anything that made the final cut. Excluding Benh Zeitlin, that is.” Julie is undecided but thinks that Spielberg will emerge victorious “although I'd vote for Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild) or Michael Haneke (Amour). Or Tarantino if I really had the choice!” Kellie opts for Michael Haneke (Amour); “It's the standout for me this year, although I would have liked to have seen Tarantino acknowledged. Maybe next time.”