The red carpet has been rolled out at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, meaning there are only a few hours left until the 96th edition of the Oscars begins. The various nominees and guests await the announcement of the winners of the 23 categories in the event hosted once again by comedian Jimmy Kimmel.
The big favorite to win Best Picture continues to be "Oppenheimer." The film directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Cillian Murphy is reigning in the awards season and has won the Best Picture award at the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes and the People's Choice Awards, among others. All this seems to indicate, according to Variety, that the Oscars be no exception and will once again name "Oppenheimer" as the best film of 2023, over other big movies like "Killers of the Flower Moon" and "Poor Things."
It doesn't seem like "Barbie" has a shot either. The highest-grossing film of last year has not seen the same success this awards season, standing out only at the People's Choice Awards. However, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences may recognize the film, specifically in the category of Best Song, where the song performed by Billie Eilish, "What Was I Made For?" is one of the favorites. The movie could also win the Oscar for Costume Design, thus beating other nominees such as "Killers of the Flower Moon," "Napoleon," "Oppenheimer" and "Poor Things."
Best Director
The direction category is another of the heavyweights of the night. Once again, it seems that here Christopher Nolan has every chance of being the one chosen for his work in "Oppenheimer." He would thus defeat the legendary Martin Scorsese, who is nominated for "Killers of the Flower Moon." If Nolan wins the award, he would also have to beat out Justine Triet, Yorgos Lanthimos and Jonathan Glazer, who are nominated for, respectively, "Anatomy of a Fall," "Poor Things" and "The Zone of Interest."
With only these two awards, "Oppenheimer" would become the big winner of the night. However, they are not the only categories the film is nominated for. It is also one of the favorites in four other categories: Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Sound, and Best Original Score.
Best actor and actress
Also notable are the performances of Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., who, according to predictions, could win, in the categories of Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively. Their performances in "Oppenheimer" as Dr. Robert Oppenheimer and the American politician and businessman Lewis Strauss, were well worth the applause of both critics and the public, and they have been two of the most recognized faces throughout the awards season.
The category where "Oppenheimer" was looked over was Best Actress, where, in fact, it did not receive a nomination. The favorite to win this award is Emma Stone, who delighted audiences with her spectacular performance as Bella Baxter in "Poor Things," for which she won Best Actress at the BAFTAs. However, at the Oscars, the fight could be a little closer, since the performance of Lily Gladstone as Mollie Burkhart in "Killers of the Flower Moon" is also generating buzz. Gladstone won the Best Actress award at the SAG Awards, given out by film critics days before the Oscars take place.
Other possible winners at the Oscars
In the category of Best Supporting Actress, everything seems to indicate that the winner will be Da'Vine Joy Randolph, whose performance as Mary Lamb in "The Holdovers" is fueling critical praise months after the film was released, remaining well above the rest of the nominees such as Emily Blunt in "Oppenheimer," Danielle Brooks in "The Color Purple," America Ferrera in "Barbie" and Jodie Foster in "Nyad."
The Best Animated Film category also seems to have a clear candidate to win the Oscar. All signs point to the Sony Entertainment film, "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," although the Spanish film, "Robot Dreams," could be a dark horse to snatch the Oscar away.
The nomination for Best International Film is much more contested. All the ballots assure that the award would go to the British film, "The Zone of Interest," which was a winner at the BAFTAs and is also nominated for Best Picture. However, another Spanish production is emerging and gaining the public's favor, "Society of the Snow," directed by Juan Antonio Bayona. It would be his first Oscar. This and all other doubts will be resolved in just a few hours when the 96th edition of the Oscars begins.
