Article by Marcus Siu

After Los Angeles had its horrible fires in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena in January, many big-name celebrities in the movie industry had lost their homes: ex-Oscar host Billy Crystal, Oscar winners Jeff Bridges, Anthony Hopkins, and Mel Gibson, as well as household celebrities including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Haley Joel Osment, Paris Hilton, Miles Teller, Leighton Meester and Adam Brody, and so many more in the industry that would take up this entire article.

When the air was cleared and the nominations were announced, the industry got back on its feet and it looked like the musical drama “Emilia Pérez” was going to be the runaway favorite for Best Picture with its record thirteen nominations; the most ever for an international film. It almost tied the record with “Titanic’s” 14 nominations.

Out of its 13 nominations for “Emilia Pérez”, two of those nominations are for “Best Original Song”. Ironically, the musical “Wicked” with its ten nominations and highest grossing of the Best Picture nominees was not nominated for any songs, since they all are from the original Broadway musical.

It’s quite unusual to have two musicals nominated in the Best Picture race (it was done last in 1968) and it would seem it would have been a great year to have the live performers on stage singing the original songs with this years lineup: Imagine Elton John & Brandi Carlile (“Never Too Late” from “Never Too Late”), Abraham Alexander & Adrian Quesada (“Like a Bird” from “Sing Sing”), H.E.R. (“The Journey” from “Six Triple Eight”) and Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña (“Mi Camino” and “El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez”) as performers.

Unfortunately, the producers decided it took too much time out of the show and realized they would rather feature the songwriters from the films rather than the performers at the Oscar ceremony by excluding the performers all together. Fortunately, to appease the musical crowd, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, the two Oscar-nominated stars of “Wicked,” are slated to take the stage at the Academy Awards, though the Academy has not yet announced which songs from their hit musical they will sing.

With Conan O’Brien hosting tonight’s Oscars, it sure is to be one big fun party.

Here are my Oscar predictions for the 97th Academy Awards; if you can get more than 65% right, you may still win your Oscar pool…it’s a super tough a year for predicting…

BEST PICTURE:

Now that “Emilia Pérez” seems to fall out of favor at the industry award shows thanks mainly to Karla Sofía Gascón’s controversial tweets that were discovered from a few years ago, it’s now become a three-way race between “Anora”, “Conclave”, and “The Brutalist”. It’s anyone’s guess which film will get the big prize.

“Anora”, the rags to riches to rags was the Producers Guild choice, “Conclave” was the BAFTA and SAG ensemble winner, and “The Brutalist” was the Golden Globes Best Picture Drama winner. There is an “Argo-like” feeling that “Conclave”could squeak out a win against its adapted screenplay counterparts, “Anora” and “The Brutalist”, but perhaps it’s too conservative a choice?

I believe if the Academy can choose “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once” as a “Best Picture”, then Sean Baker’s film might be right up their alley.

BEST ACTOR:

Adrien Brody, who in 2003, won as the youngest ever “Best Actor” recipient at the age of 29 for his role as Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish Jewish pianist, classical composer and Holocaust survivor in Roman Polanski’s, “The Pianist”. He is in the running again for his role as László Tóth, a Jewish-Hungarian architect and Holocaust survivor, in the “The Brutalist”. If he wins, he will be the first actor ever to have won in his first two nominations…and the first to win two awards playing Holocaust survivors.

However, “The Brutalist” has been somewhat controversial for its use of artificial intelligence (AI) to alter the accents of Adrien Brody, as well as co-star nominee, Felicity Jones. A.I. was the main reason why the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) went on strike in 2023 for four months in the first place; in part to demand better protection from the potential consequences of AI on their work. This may be the primary reason why Brody lost the SAG awards before sweeping everything else before the controversy was reported.

Dávid Jancsó, the film editor for “The Brutalist”, used AI software Respeecher to correct a sequence where a letter written by Adrien Brody’s character, László Tóth, is read aloud in order for Hungarian locals will be able to spot any difference with the accents, sparking controversy in the industry. “It is controversial in the industry to talk about AI, but it shouldn’t be” he said.

Brody’s director, Brady Corbet, has also suggested this is a non-issue. “The idea that this diminishes their performance in any way is quite silly — because that’s like saying that using a body double or a stunt double in a wide shot diminishes an actor’s performance because they didn’t actually do the stunt. They still had to do all the work, and [the AI] was only ever used with the Hungarian voice-over. Specifically, there is zero dialogue in English where we use the technology, period”.

Regardless of how minimal it was; it’s still cheating in the eyes and minds of SAG, just like what steroids are to professional sports, even if his speaking voice is used as an A.I. voiceover. However, unlike steroids, you can’t read positive by taking a blood test.

My feeling is that even though Brody deserves the award, so does Timothée Chalamet. The young Chalamet is a reckoning in the making and gives Hollywood hope for a better future. He may be exactly what Hollywood desperately needs for the industry to survive. An actor who is willing to take more risks than most most movie studios.

At 29 years, he is the actor of his generation and certainly a risk taker. What actor would even dare to play the legendary iconic Bob Dylan in a movie? Most likely, it seems implausible and your career could end with a Razzy award, but Chalamet did the near-impossible; portraying a musical live icon who is still alive and even getting a validation from him.

One advantage to Chalamet over the others is that the Academy likes to award Oscars to actors who play musical icons. One just has to look Oscar winners Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles, Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, or even Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf. However, those icons were never alive to approve their performances. Bob Dylan is alive and well and gave Chalamet his seal of approval.

Another major difference with Timothée Chalamet’s performance to the other past bio-pic Oscar winners is that Chalamet really did sing and play Dylan’s music in the film. With the excessive free time during the pandemic, he spent and researched everything he could about his subject, resulting in him learning forty songs from Dylan’s repertoire, as well as getting to sound “Dylanesque” by playing his own guitar and harmonica. For an actor who knew hardly anything of the icon, that’s dedication.

If Chalamet wins, it would be a shared acknowledgement for his other nominated co-stars of “A Complete Unknown” as both Ed Norton (Pete Seeger) and Monica Barbaro (Joan Baez) sang and played their own instruments, as well.

Kudos to Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”) as the first black actor to get back to back nominations. I’m sure we’ll see him receiving an Oscar in the near future. Also, don’t count Ralph Fiennes for his role in “Conclave” out of the race. Remember when Sir Anthony Hopkins won for “The Father” a few years ago…that surprised everyone, including himself.

Yes, times are a changing.

BEST ACTRESS:

There are a few possiblities of history making in the Best Actress category. Karla Sofía Gascón could be the first transgender to win an Oscar, if she wins for “Emilia Pérez”. Cynthia Erivo could be the youngest EGOT winner ever, if she wins for “Wicked”. Demi Moore would be the first actress to win an Oscar for a “body horror” movie for “The Substance”.

The most likely out of all those possibilities is with Demi Moore. She won The Golden Globe (Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy) and SAG for Best Actress. However, she wasn’t running against Golden Globe Winner (Best Actress in a Drama), Fernanda Torres for “I’m Still Here”, who wasn’t nominated in SAG. The other possible winner could be Mikey Madison, who lost to Moore at the Golden Globes. The race is between Moore, Madison and possibly, Torres.

What will probably happen is Demi Moore will be the first actress to ever win an Oscar for a “body horror” movie. Interestingly, I can only think of one other nominated “body horror” actor or actress. That would have been Jeff Goldblum in 1985 for David Cronenberg’s “The Fly”.

Brazil’s “I’m Still Here” starring Fernanda Torres will surprise and win Best International Feature Film upsetting “Emilia Pérez”, especially given that Mexico, the country nearest to the film industry, denounced the film with its political incorrectness being a racist and insensitive portrayal of the mexican culture. Hollywood tries to be politically correct and will make things right. Torres will get her recognition still, but probably won’t be able to beat Demi Moore.

Interestingly, all five nominated “Best Actress” nominees this year also had their respective films nominated for Best Picture. This hasn’t happened since 1977. It’s a reflection in Hollywood how far female driven stories have been gaining in movies over the years.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

If there is any category that is the “sure thing”, this is it. Kieran Culkin has swept every single “Best Supporting Actor” award out there during the Awards season. There isn’t anyone else even considered in this category, though his competition was quite admirable in each of their roles.

Even if his co-star, Jesse Eisenberg wasn’t nominated alongside Culkin, I still predict the Academy will most likely reward him for Best Original Screenplay to upset Sean Baker’s “Anora”.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Zoe Saldaña has swept every “Best Supporting Actress” award out there, as well as the Critics’ Awards. She was the heart of “Emilia Pérez”.

A possible upset is possible, however. I can imagine many voters wanting to give the Oscar to Isabella Rossellini, despite her less than eight minutes of screen time in “Conclave”, but for rewarding her for her illustrious career, as well as her life association with the late David Lynch.

MLS Entertainment’s Oscar Predictions:

Best Picture: “Anora”
Best Actor: Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown”
Best Actress: Demi Moore, “The Substance”
Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”
Best Supporting Actress: Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez”
Best Director: Sean Baker, “Anora”
Best Adapted Screenplay: Peter Straughan, “Conclave”
Best Original Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg, “A Real Pain”
Best Cinematography: “The Brutalist”
Best Costume Design: “Wicked”
Best Film Editing: “Conclave”
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: “The Substance”
Best Music (Original Score): “The Brutalist”
Best Music (Original Song): “El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez”
Best Production Design: “The Brutalist”
Best Sound: “A Complete Unknown” 
Best Visual Effects: “Dune: Part Two” 
Best Animated Feature Film: “The Wild Robot”
Best International Feature Film: “I’m Still Here”
Best Documentary (Feature): “No Other Land”
Best Documentary (Short Subject): “Death by Numbers”
Best Short Film (Animated): “Wander to Wonder”
Best Short Film (Live Action): “I’m Not a Robot”