And the Oscar goes to...
GLAMOUR's guesswork on who'll be getting the Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Film Oscar come next February - and the films you need to watch if you want to be in the know.
The Danish Girl
Tom Hopper’s emotional biopic about artist Lili Elbe, the first recipient of male-to-female gender reassignment in the 1920s is likely to be a big contender across the board. The subject matter feels topical and the film is dripping with talent: Eddie Redmayne (who plays Elbe), Matthias Schoenaerts, Ben Whishaw and rising star Alicia Vikander.
2015 Universal PicturesSteve Jobs
Could it be time for a tech film to win the top prize? The Social Network may have missed out on Best Picture in 2011 but the story of Apple’s inspirational co-founder, written by the same writer, Aaron Sorkin, and directed by Danny Boyle may be in the running for Oscar glory. Danny Boyle could also be up for Best Director and Michael Fassbender, who plays Jobs for Best Actor.
GettySuffragette
The first feature film to tell the inspiring and emotional story of the fight for women’s rights stars such talented actresses as Carey Mulligan, Meryl Streep, Helena Bonham Carter, Romola Garai and Anne-Marie Duff. We can’t believe it won’t be in the running. Directed by Sarah Gavron, it’ll also be a fitting tribute if she wins in the ‘boys club’ Best Director category.
NetflixBeasts Of No Nation
This gritty, harrowing tale of a young West African boy recruited as a guerrilla fighter by a renegade commandant (played by Idris Elba) is an original film produced by Netflix – not a name that one would have predicted to be in the Oscars line-up. Some say the film could get a nomination for Best Picture, others predict politics will intervene and the award be denied to a production house that threatens to draw audiences away from cinemas.
2015 Universal PicturesEverest
The big budget movie based on two 1996 Everest expeditions and the fight for survival at the mountain’s summit opened the Venice Film Festival, often a sure-fire predictor of a film gaining an Oscar nomination. It could be this year’s Gravity but it’s got some tough competition, and reviews so far suggest it doesn’t quite cut it for the win.
KERRY HAYESSpotlight
Last year saw Michael Keaton garner a nomination for his sterling performance in Birdman. This year he takes the lead in Spotlight, a film about the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer-prize winning team of journalists who uncovered the story of widespread child abuse by Catholic priests in a village in Massachusetts. Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams also star in this powerful drama that the Academy is bound to love.
The Hateful Eight
Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction lost to Forrest Gump in 1994, Inglorious Bastards lost to The Hurt Locker in 2009 and Django Unchained lost to Argo in 2012. Could this finally be the year that the famed director picks up a Best Picture award? The Hateful Eight is a Western, set in Wyoming after the American Civil War. The story revolves around eight key characters who meet when they seek shelter in a stagecoach during a blizzard. Samuel L Jackson, Channing Tatum, Tin Roth, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kurt Russell all star.
FlynetEddie Redmayne
The British actor could follow his Best Actor win for the Theory of Everything with another award for The Danish Girl, in which he plays the role of transgender artist Lili Elbe. If Eddie does win, he’ll join the ranks of Tom Hanks and Spencer Tracy, the only other actors to win the top award two years consecutively.
2015 Twentieth Century FoxLeonardo DiCaprio
Could this FINALLY be the year that Leonardo DiCaprio scoops an Oscar? We hope so. He’s whispered to be in the running with his leading role in The Revenant, the true story of an explorer in the American Wilderness. We’re yet to see the high-production epic but when has Leo not been Oscar-worthy?
Rex FeaturesJohnny Depp
Johnny Depp received rave reviews at Venice for his performance in Black Mass. He plays Irish/American Boston gangster Whitey Bulger, complete with prosthetic nose and receding hairline; just watching the trailer sends shivers down your spine.
Getty ImagesMichael Fassbender
Michael Fassbender has a chance of grabbing the Best Actor award for either one of his two films this year, although his role as Steve Jobs is likely to trump him as Macbeth, after numerous plaudits tipped him for the prize at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado.
Rex FeaturesDon Cheadle
The actor directs himself as Miles Davis in the biopic, Miles Ahead. If he’s nominated for his highly-praised performance, it’ll be his second nomination in the Best Actor category. Cheadle lost out for Hotel Rwanda in 2014.
Tom Hanks
Could the veteran award winner gain another Best Actor Oscar for his role in Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies? Some think so. The Cold War thriller sees Hanks play James B. Donovan, a lawyer recruited by the CIA to defend a Soviet spy in order to negotiate the release of a captured U-2 pilot in East Berlin.
PA PhotosCarey Mulligan
Miss Mulligan plays Maud, a factory worker, wife and mother who joins the underground Suffragette movement. If she makes the list it’ll be the second time the actress has been nominated; she was previously given the nod for her break-out role in An Education in 2009.
Getty ImagesLily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin’s turn as a feisty septuagenarian in Grandma could provide a little light relief to the line-up. The film, which tackles the contentious subject of abortion, has done well on the indie film festival circuit and Tomlin’s witty performance could lead to Oscar glory.
Jennifer Lawrence
J-Law stars alongside Bradley Cooper in another David O Russell film, Joy. The comedy-drama follows the true story of single-mother, Joy Mangano, as she builds her business empire, having invented The Miracle Mop. Law won a Best Actress Academy Award for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook in 2013 and a best supporting actress nomination for American Hustle, both O Russell films so it’s looking hopeful.
PA PhotosAlicia Vikander
Newcomer Alicia Vikander has been touted as one to watch, following roles in Testament of Youth and Ex Machina, but could her role as the wife of transgender artist Lili Elbe really get her noticed? We think it should, whether as Supporting Actress or Lead.
Rex FeaturesCate Blanchett
The Academy loves Miss Blanchett, the actress has already scooped two Oscars and her performance in Carol could win her a third. The question is whether she will be nominated in the Best Actress or Best Supporting category. Blanchett plays the title role in the film about a 1950s department store girl who is seduced by an older married woman, but it was Rooney Mara, who plays the shop girl who received the Best Actress accolade at Cannes. Both could be a contender for the coveted gong.
2015 Universal PicturesKate Winslet
Kate Winslet’s been off our screens for a while but the much-loved British actress could be credited by the Academy for her supporting role as Joanna Hoffman in the Steve Jobs biopic. Her last Oscar nomination was in 2009 when she won the Best Actress award for The Reader.
Rex FeaturesSaoirse Ronan
Saoirse Ronan came out of Sundance Festival as a strong contender for awards season glory with her performance in Brooklyn. The actress plays Eilis Lacey, a young Irish woman who, after leaving to start a new life in America in 1952 and falling in love with an American man, has to return home following a family tragedy. Ronan has said that the film’s story particularly resonated with her, her parents having made the same move from America back to Ireland when she a child.
