If the buzz is to be believed, Natalie Portman's unstable Swan Queen and Colin Firth's stuttering King George VI will be crowned Oscar winners at tonight's Academy Awards. But there may well be some surprises and upsets in other categories, including a tough race among the best supporting actress contenders and, amazingly, a fierce battle for best picture as well.
Director David Fincher's birth-of-Facebook drama "The Social Network" was widely regarded as a shoo-in to win best picture when it arrived on the scene last September. But then came a British Invasion of sorts: "The King's Speech" masterfully built on its rave reviews from the Telluride and Toronto International Film Festivals to emerge as a potential challenger to "Network." Now, it may very well triumph over it, having already made more money at the box office than "Network" and, apparently, striking more of an emotional chord with audiences. In difficult Oscar races, it is often the film that people take to heart that wins the gold (remember "Ordinary People" winning over "Raging Bull"? "Dances With Wolves" over "Goodfellas"?).
Firth and Portman are all but sure things -- although Annette Bening's champions are insisting she may get a final push across the finish line, it doesn't look likely -- and Christian Bale could have taken home the best supporting actor Oscar after the first screenings of "The Fighter" last fall.
Best supporting actress is harder to determine. Initially, the winner was thought to be Melissa Leo, for her performance as the fire-breathing mom in "The Fighter." But each of her rivals has considerable support now, including her co-star, Amy Adams, who's been nominated previously for "Junebug" and "Doubt." Veteran British actress (and all-around class act) Helena Bonham Carter could easily capitalize on the "King's Speech" mania to claim the prize, or long-shot Jacki Weaver -- also playing a hard-driving mother -- might parlay her critics' awards for "Animal Kingdom" into an Oscar win. But the real upset for Leo will almost certainly come from 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld, who is the engine of the Coen Brothers' "True Grit" and does sensational work in her first screen role. "Grit" has become a surprise smash and much of its success is due to Steinfeld's strong personality and the way she holds her ground against Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon.
If you want a few more predictions, scroll down the list: In many categories, I have noted a "personal pick" or a "pick to win"; in some categories in which I'm not familiar with all the nominees, I have only made a "pick to win."
The Academy Awards begin tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC, with hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway. (Since the show always runs at least three hours or so, let's hope for some unexpected victories.)
I will be Tweeting comments and analysis throughout the presentation tonight at twitter/jamessanford, if you want to follow along.
Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in Biutiful
Jeff Bridges in True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network
Colin Firth in The King's Speech (personal pick and pick to win)
James Franco in 127 Hours
Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in The Fighter (personal pick and pick to win)
John Hawkes in Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner in The Town
Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech
Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman in Black Swan (personal pick and pick to win)
Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine
Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter in The King's Speech (personal pick)
Melissa Leo in The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit (pick to win)
Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom
Animated Feature Film
How to Train Your Dragon - Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
The Illusionist - Sylvain Chomet
Toy Story 3 - Lee Unkrich (personal pick and pick to win)
Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland - Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara (pick to win)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 - Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
Inception - Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat (personal pick)
The King's Speech - Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
True Grit - Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh
Cinematography
Black Swan - Matthew Libatique
Inception - Wally Pfister (personal pick)
The King's Speech - Danny Cohen
The Social Network - Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit - Roger Deakins (pick to win)
Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland - Colleen Atwood (pick to win)
I Am Love - Antonella Cannarozzi (personal pick)
The King's Speech - Jenny Beavan
The Tempest - Sandy Powell
True Grit - Mary Zophres
Directing
Black Swan - Darren Aronofsky
The Fighter - David O. Russell
The King's Speech - Tom Hooper
The Social Network - David Fincher (personal pick and pick to win)
True Grit - Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Documentary (Feature)
Exit through the Gift Shop - Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz (pick to win)
Gasland - Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic (personal pick)
Inside Job - Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
Restrepo - Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
Waste Land - Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley
Documentary (Short Subject)
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up (pick to win)
The Warriors of Qiugang
Film Editing
Black Swan - Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter - Pamela Martin
The King's Speech - Tariq Anwar
127 Hours - Jon Harris (personal pick and pick to win))
Foreign Language Film
Biutiful - Mexico
Dogtooth - Greece (pick to win)
In a Better World - Denmark
Incendies - Canada
Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi) - Algeria
Make-Up
Barney's Version - Adrien Morot (pick to win)
The Way Back - Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Wolfman - Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
Music (Original Score)
How to Train Your Dragon - John Powell
Inception - Hans Zimmer (personal pick)
The King's Speech - Alexandre Desplat
127 Hours - A.R. Rahman
The Social Network - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (pick to win)
Music (Original Song)
Coming Home from Country Strong - Music and lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
I See the Light from Tangled - Music by Alan Menken/lyric by Glenn Slater
If I Rise from 127 Hours - Music by A.R. Rahman/lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
We Belong Together from Toy Story 3 - Music and lyric by Randy Newman (pick to win)
Best Picture
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception (personal pick)
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech (pick to win)
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone
Short Film (Animated)
Day & Night (personal pick and pick to win)
The Gruffalo
Let's Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)
Short Film (Live Action)
The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe (pick to win)
Wish 143
Sound Editing
Inception - Richard King (personal pick and pick to win)
Toy Story 3 - Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy - Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit - Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable - Mark P. Stoeckinger
Sound Mixing
Inception - Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick (personal pick and pick to win)
The King's Speech - Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
Salt - Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
The Social Network - Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
True Grit - Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland - Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 - Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter - Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Inception - Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb (personal pick and pick to win)
Iron Man 2 - Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
127 Hours - Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network - Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin (personal pick and pick to win)
Toy Story 3 - Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit - Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter's Bone - Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
Writing (Original Screenplay)
Another Year - Written by Mike Leigh
The Fighter - Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception - Written by Christopher Nolan (personal pick)
The Kids Are All Right - Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King's Speech - Screenplay by David Seidler (pick to win)
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