The Oscars 2016: Attitude’s predictions

This Sunday night, the great and good of Hollywood will be out in full force for the 88th Academy Awards, with names from Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett hoping to get their hands on the golden Oscar. It’s been a great year for movies – particularly for LGBT roles in The Danish Girl and Carol – and some of our favourite musicians (Sam Smith, Lady Gaga and The Weeknd) will be performing at the ceremony.

But who will win what? We took a look through the nominees of some of the night’s biggest awards, and give our predictions…

Best Picture

• The Big Short
• Bridge of Spies
• Brooklyn
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Room
• Spotlight

There is a high chance this could go to The Revenant, but Spotlight is the kind of ensemble movie, with an excellent original script, that could well sweep in and take the top prize – even if it doesn’t win any of the major acting awards.

Best Director

• Adam McKay – The Big Short
• George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
• Alejandro G. Iñárritu – The Revenant
• Lenny Abrahamson – Room
• Tom McCarthy – Spotlight

Mexican diretor Iñárritu took this prize last year for Birdman, and all indications show he’ll take it again for his historical epic The Revenant – a film which is considerably more impressive visually than its predecessor. The campaign to have The Revenant recognised as an epic production feat – snatching daylight where they could, on difficult location terrain, with limited CGI assistance – was second only to the cast of Les Miserables who told us with every breath that it had all been sung live. With this, we get the message: Iñárritu deserves the win.

Best Actor

• Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
• Matt Damon, The Martian
• Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
• Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
• Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

This is the one we’re all most interested in. Will Leo finally snag the big prize? It seems odd that as one of the greatest actors of his generation, he’s tipped to win for this great outdoor adventure drama, which is more action-based than more traditional dramatic roles he failed to win for, like The Aviator or The Wolf of Wall Street. However, most people are in agreement: we’ll take it where he can get it.

Best Actress

• Cate Blanchett, Carol
• Brie Larson, Room
• Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
• Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
• Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

This is really between Cate Blanchett and Brie Larson – a relative newcomer to the Hollywood big time, even though the 26 year old has been acting since she was 10. She’s been earning rave reviews as a mother held captive with her child who has never known life outside the one room they’re being held in. A Saoirse Ronan win would be surprising and left field, but a Jennifer Lawrence win for another essentially romantic comedy would be distinctly uninspiring.

Best Supporting Actor

• Christian Bale, The Big Short
• Tom Hardy, The Revenant
• Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
• Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
• Sylvester Stallone, Creed

There is a chance this could go to Tom Hardy or Mark Ruffalo, but we think British actor Mark Rylance will ultimately take the prize for his role as a real life Soviet intelligence officer in Spielberg film Bridge of Spies. A highly respected thespian, Rylance has reigned supreme on the West End and Broadway in Jez Butterworth’s play Jerusalem (among others) and it seems only natural that he will be equally lauded now that he has moved more seriously into film.

Best Supporting Actress

• Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
• Rooney Mara, Carol
• Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
• Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
• Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

Kate Winslet took the BAFTA in this category for her role as Steve Jobs’ Polish accomplice Joanna Hoffman, but we’re banking on the Swedish actress Alicia Vikander to stand out in this category, for her role in The Danish Girl. Certainly Eddie Redmayne was impressive as transgender painter Lili Elbe, but he was matched by Vikander, who played his wife Gerda Wegener. Many cinema-goers sympathised with her plight as much as they did with Redmayne’s character, and her sustained passion helped fuel his performance throughout.

Best Documentary – Feature

• Amy
• Cartel Land
• The Look of Silence
• What Happened, Miss Simone?
• Winter on Fire

Netflix have much to be proud of here, with their relatively recent foray into feature length, original documentaries being noted here with the powerful Nina Simone biopic, and their look at the Ukranian uprising, Winter on Fire. However, it was really Amy which captured not just popular attention this year, but overwhelming critical praise, and it’s likely that this somewhat controversial look behind the scenes of the tragic Camden girl’s life will be honoured.

Best Original Song

• Earned It – Fifty Shades of Grey
• Manta Ray – Racing Extinction
• Simple Song #3 – Youth
• Til It Happens to You – The Hunting Ground
• Writing’s on the Wall – Spectre

We really grew to like Sam Smith’s Bond theme, and obviously love The Weeknd’s Earned It too, but the stars seem to have aligned around Til It Happens to You – not least because it carries the songwriting credits of Ms Diane Warren and Lady Gaga. This is Warren’s eighth nomination for this award, and although this is arguably the least populist of them all, the added weight of Gaga – plus being attached to a powerful documentary about campus rape – means this could be the one she finally wins with. Also look out for Gaga’s performance, which will be introduced by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

The 88th Academy Awards take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles this Sunday 28 February.