With the 95th Academy Awards® right around the corner, we are starting to see more and more predictions for whose names will be called when the envelope is opened for the top five categories — Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Actor and Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor — during the upcoming ceremony.
Not wanting to be left out of participating in one of the most fun games in the eyes of movie lovers around the world, we have put together a list of our predictions, as well as runners-up, for the 2023 Oscars®. Here are the films, directors, actors and actresses we think will be taking home the gold in a few short weeks.
Best Picture: Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Banshees Of Inisherin
Nominated for 11 Oscars, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE centers on Evelyn Quan (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese American immigrant who’s struggling with the various relationships in her life when she learns she is the key to defeating an all-powerful multiversal being could destroy the very fabric of reality across all universes.
There is a lot working in favor of EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE taking home the Oscar for Best Picture, including its thought-provoking, heartfelt, and all around fun and inventive story, the amazing cast and dynamic presentation that pushed the boundaries of the medium. It also doesn’t hurt that the movie has been dominating at other awards shows.
There are, a couple of things that could work against EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, however, including recency bias, as the movie was released essentially a full year before the Oscars and the fact that it is rare to see a sci-fi movie like this win it all. Another obstacle that could get in the way is our runner-up, Martin McDonagh’s dramedy THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, which is up for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
You can see nine of the ten Best Picture Nominees as part of our AMC Best Picture Showcase. This year, the AMC Best Picture Showcase will celebrate the collection of the year’s Best Picture nominees from January 24th – March 12th.
Best Director: Steven Spielberg, The Daniels
Steven Spielberg has won the Academy Award for Best Director twice in the past, first for SCHINDLER’S LIST in 1994 and then five years later for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, and there’s a good chance he adds a third Oscar to his personal collection for his work on the semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story, THE FABELMANS.
Up for a total of seven Academy Awards, the movie tells the story of Sammy Fabelman, a 16-year-old boy living in Arizona with aspirations of one day becoming a decorated filmmaker. In addition to featuring some of Spielberg’s best and most personal work in years, another reason we think the beloved filmmaker will take home the Oscar is the fact that four of the past five directors named Best Director at the Golden Globes went on to win the same category at that year’s Academy Awards ceremony. There’s a good chance the 2023 Golden Globe winner will keep that trend alive in a few weeks.
However, there could very well be a major upset with The Daniels’ work on EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE making a strong case for the young visionary directors to beat Spilelberg and the other nominees.
Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh, Cate Blanchett
The clear frontrunner in the Best Actress category at the 2023 Oscars is Michelle Yeoh, who put on the best performance of her career with her portrayal of Evelyn Quan in EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE. Her fierce, nuanced, and emotionally raw performance in one of the most talked about movies of 2022 was the film’s anchor and helped turn it into an all-time classic.
Surprisingly enough, this is the Malaysian actress’ first Academy Award nomination, which could mean she would join the club of winning an Oscar on her first attempt if she were to win. And there’s reason to believe that will be the case for Yeoh, who took home the Golden Globe for Best Actress - Motion Picture Comedy or Musical earlier this year.
However, there’s also a scenario where Cate Blanchett wins her third Oscar with her highly decorated performance in TÁR, for which she won the Golden Globe For Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama.
Best Actor: Colin Farrell, Brendan Fraser
Just like the Best Actress category, this year’s crop of Best Actor nominees is a talented bunch, but we’re going with Colin Farrell as our pick for the winner. Farrell’s portrayal of the likable but “dull” Pádraic Súilleabháin, whose life is thrown into disarray after his longtime best friend no longer wants anything to do with him, was nothing short of magical, albeit incredibly tragic.
Farrell won the Golden Globe for his role earlier this year, as well as countless other awards, so it’s hard to see the Oscars going any other way.
But, if someone else’s name is to be called at the 2023 Academy Awards, it wouldn’t be all that shocking or upsetting to see Brendan Fraser take home the gold for his beautiful and heartbreaking performance in THE WHALE.
Best Supporting Actress: Angela Bassett, Kerry Condon
Thirty years after receiving her first Academy Award nomination for her portrayal of Tina Turner in WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT, Angela Bassett is the clear frontrunner in the Best Supporting Actress category thanks to her scene-stealing performance in BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER. The way in which Bassett captured the grief of a mother and queen following the death of the King T’Challa was nothing short of amazing, and her strong and emotional performance was honestly one of the best things about the 2022 Marvel movie.
Though the rest of the actresses nominated for the award stand a chance of taking home the gold, Kerry Condon, who provided some of the best moments in THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, is the clear runner-up if the Academy doesn’t give the award to Bassett.
Best Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan, Brendan Gleeson
And then there is Ke Huy Quan, who can complete the comeback story of the century by taking home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE. The iconic ‘80s child actor who appeared in classics like INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM and THE GOONIES, had largely walked away from Hollywood prior to his turn as Waymond Wang in The Daniels’ genre-bending kung fu movie, but he didn’t miss a beat.
Considering the stiff competition in this year’s category, this should serve as a testament of Quan’s remarkable work in the massively successful action-drama. The actor with the second-best shot at winning it all is Brendan Gleeson, who put on one of his best performances in THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN. However, there’s a chance he and co-star Barry Keoghan end up taking votes away from one another.
Make sure to watch the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 12 to see if our predictions, as well as your own, come to fruition.
