Mia (Emma Stone) and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) in LA LA LAND.           Photo Credit: Dale Robinette

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Article by Marcus Siu

LOS ANGELES, FEBRUARY 24, 2016:  Just barely a year ago, immediately after the “Oscars So White” movement denounced the lack of diversity of minorities for the Academy Award nominations, the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences (AMPAS) announced it would double the number of women and diverse members by the year 2020.

Their “movement belief” was that if hiring reflected the U.S. population, Oscar voters would have weighed 150-plus films directed by women, 45 directed by blacks, 50 by Hispanics, and dozens of movies by directors who are Asian-American, LGBT individuals, people with disabilities and members of other minorities. Of course, the actual tallies were a fraction of those numbers.

During June of last year, the Oscar-granting organization has issued 683 invitations to prospective new members this year, with 46% being women and 41% being people of color. Even with those numbers, there are close to 90% white and 83% men enlisted in the Academy.

However, that seemed to have solved the diversity issue, at least for this year, as six out of the ten acting nominees are non-white and are vying for an Academy Award this weekend.

“Moonlight” has two of those nominations in the supporting actor categories for first time nominees, Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris, “Fences” has two for Denzel Washington and Viola Davis in the lead actor categories,  “Loving”‘s Ruth Negga and “Hidden Figures” Octavia Spencer.

This may be the year that will be remembered when diversity broke out.

Here are MLS Entertainment’s predictions for this years Academy Awards.

BEST PICTURE:

“La La Land”
“Moonlight”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Lion”
“Hidden Figures”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”

If La La Lands’ 14 nominations, which is tied for the most nominations ever in the history of the Academy Awards, isn’t a big enough indicator that it will win Best Picture, then nothing is.  The other three movies that were nominated for 14 awards, (“All About Eve”, “Titanic”, and “The Lord of the Rings – Return of the King” eventually took Best Picture.

If another movie wins, then my guess is that the balloting was hacked by cyber terrorists and we should stage a protest and march to Los Angeles and demand the Academy to ask the auditors at Price-Waterhouse to do a re-count.

Prediction: La La Land

Denzel Washington plays Troy Maxson in Fences from Paramount Pictures. Directed by Denzel Washington from a screenplay by August Wilson.

BEST ACTOR:

Ryan Gosling, “La La Land”
Casey Affleck, “Manchester by the Sea”
Denzel Washington, “Fences”
Andrew Garfield, “Hacksaw Ridge”
Viggo Mortensen, “Captain Fantastic”

Bringing August Wilson’s play “Fences” from stage to screen was a pure consummate project for Denzel Washington.  As the film’s director (and co-producer), he chose to be true to the stage play as he possibly could by keeping the Tony Award winning original 2010 Broadway cast intact.  According to Washington, the star of the movie is the screenplay and August Wilson’s words. With Viola Davis by his side, you couldn’t find a better acting duo this year alongside each other, as both have each won Tony Awards for their work for their respective roles. As a director/actor, he made this film to be an actor’s movie that showcased Wilson’s screenplay. Since most of the Academy are actors, they certainly did appreciate his choice.

Contender Casey Affleck, on the other hand took home the Golden Globe Award and the BAFTA for Best performance by an Actor in his role as a guardian to his brother’s nephew in “Manchester by the Sea”, but I think the edge will still go to Washington, as he took this year’s SAG award for Best Actor and also since this may be his proudest work as the “total filmmaker”.  If he does win, he will have won his third Oscar, which is a feat only accomplished by six other actors since the statuettes were given out.

As for the other three Best Actor nominees; they were all fantastic.  Especially “Captain Fantastic’s” Viggo Mortensen, whose character, as a father of six, unconventionally raises them like no other parent could ever imagine.  Mortensen received the loudest ovation at the SAG luncheon, so he definitely has his share of admirers. Returning two-time Oscar nominee, Ryan Gosling, certainly deserves special recognition for actually playing jazz piano in “La La Land” without stunt doubles or tricky film editing techniques to assist him.  Yes, that’s really him playing.  Lastly, first time nominee, Andrew Garfield had a super exceptional year, as well, and gave us two very “religious” experiences;  his nominated real-life role as Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector and medic in Mel Gibson’s brutal “Hacksaw Ridge”, and also a 17th Century Jesuit priest in Martin Scorcese’s “Silence”.

Prediction: Denzel Washington

Emma Stone stars as ‘Mia’ in LA LA LAND. Photo Credit: Dale Robinette

BEST ACTRESS

Natalie Portman, “Jackie”
Emma Stone, “La La Land”
Isabelle Huppert, “Elle”
Meryl Streep, “Florence Foster Jenkins”
Ruth Negga, “Loving”

Second time nominee, Emma Stone, should have her acceptance speech ready by now.  She has basically won virtually every major award for her role as Mia in “La La Land”.  Her drive and dedication for her role included months of rehearsals of singing and dancing, with the first six weeks dedicated to tap and ballroom dancing with Mandy Moore as choreographer.  She is not afraid of taking risks or challenges given to her by La La Land’s director Damien Chazelle and is likely to be around for years to come.

Isabelle Huppert, this year’s Golden Globe Award winner for Best Actress in a Drama, has the best outside chance to beat Stone for the French language film, “Elle”.  She has been finally recognized by the Academy, but she, like Meryl Streep, has been churning out standout performances throughout her entire forty-year career, but mainly in Europe.  She deserves more of a Lifetime Achievement Award, but at least she will be honored with her first nomination for her daring portrayal in Paul Verhoeven’s powerful “rape revenge” film.

Meryl Streep, nominated again this year for a record breaking 20^th time in the title role of “Florence Foster Jenkins”. It could possibly be the world’s greatest actress playing the world’s worst opera singer. It’s too easy to break records when you’re Meryl Streep.  It’s also easy to want to break records if you have the name Florence Foster Jenkins on them. Natalie Portman’s portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy in “Jackie” and Ruth Negga’s “Loving”, also give strong impressive performances, but are unlikely to take the gold, as the voters didn’t quite give enough “loving” to those respective films.

Prediction: Emma Stone

Alex Hibbert and Mahershala Ali in MOONLIGHT Credit: Photo by David Bornfriend, courtesy of A24

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Mahershala Ali, “Moonlight”
Jeff Bridges, “Hell or High Water”
Lucas Hedges, “Manchester by the Sea”
Dev Patel, “Lion”
Michael Shannon, “Nocturnal Animals”

The indie film, Moonlight was a perfect vehicle and just in time for the “diversity” issue to kick in.  Writer, director, Barry Jenkins put together a near perfect film with an amazing ensemble of acting from the entire cast which took the Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Performance by a Cast this year.  The heart of that ensemble belonged to Mahershala Ali, who plays a smart street drug-dealer who tries to shape the life of a neglected boy (Alex Hibbert) who belongs to a crack addicted mother. A heart wrenching performance.

As good as the other four nominees are, they are no match for Ali.

Prediction: Mahershala Ali

Denzel Washington plays Troy Maxson and Viola Davis plays Rose Maxson in Fences from Paramount Pictures.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Viola Davis, “Fences”
Michelle Williams, “Manchester by the Sea”
Octavia Spencer, “Hidden Figures”
Naomie Harris, “Moonlight”
Nicole Kidman, “Lion”

Make note that this category has nominated a record three black actresses, creating Oscar history:  Viola Davis in “Fences”, Naomie Harris in “Moonlight” and Octavia Spencer in “Hidden Figures”.  Michelle Williams in “Manchester By the Sea” and Nicole Kidman’s “Lion” round out the impressive list of performances by a supporting actress.  As good as they all were, three-time nominee, Viola Davis is way long overdue to be awarded by the Academy.  Sharing scenes with Denzel along with the rest of the original 2010 Broadway cast just makes her shine even more, especially since she knows that role inside out after playing it on Broadway.  Where the other nominees were impressive, Davis was just downright phenomenal.

Prediction: Viola Davis

NOTES OF INTEREST:

Look for the Academy to give possibly give a second Oscar to Iranian director, Asghar Farhadi, for “The Salesman” for Best Foreign Language Film, who will not be able to pick up the award due to Trump’s Visa ban, if he wins.  It would be interesting to see if there will be a platform to speak out politically, as I am sure the stage will be set for may who choose to do so.  Especially with diversity as the theme of the evening.

32 year old, Damien Chazelle, will be the youngest director to ever win the Academy Award for “La La Land”.

AND THE REST OF THEM:

1. Best Picture: La La land
2. Actor in a Leading Role: Denzel Washington – Fences
3. Actress in a Leading Role: Emma Stone – La La Land
4. Actor in a Supporting Role: Mahershala Ali – Moonlight
5. Actress in a Supporting Role: Viola Davis – Fences
6. Directing: Damien Chazelle – La La Land
7. Adapted Screenplay: Moonlight – Barry Jenkins
8. Writing (Original Screenplay) – Manchester by the Sea
9. Cinematography: Linus Sandgren – La La Land
10. Costume Design: Madeline Fontaine – Jackie
11. Sound Mixing – Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee, Steven Morrow – La La Land
12. Film Editing: Tom Cross – La La Land
13. Sound Editing: Robert Mackenzie, Andy Wright – Hacksaw Ridge
14. Visual Effects: The Jungle Book
15. Makeup and Hairstyling: Star Trek Beyond
16. Music (Original Song) – Justin Hurwitz – City of Stars
17. Music (Original Score) – Justin Hurwitz – La La Land
18. Short Film (Animated) – Piper
19. Short Film (Live Action) – Ennemis Interieurs
20. Documentary Short Subject: Joe’s Violin
21. Documentary Feature: O.J. Made in America
22. Foreign Language Film: The Salesman
23. Animated Feature Film: Zootopia
24. Production Design: La La Land