One Last Moment for Our Biggest Oscar Hopes
Monday, January 22, 2018 at 9:00PM 
Chris here, with our last moments before the Oscar nominations are announced in the morning. Naturally, my mind is lingering on my highest hopes for nominations just on the buble of happening instead of the sure things. My fingers are most tightly crossed for one contender I've gone at length about here: Tiffany Haddish for Best Supporting Actress in Girls Trip.
Strangely, Haddish will be reading the nominations tomorrow morning along with Andy Serkis. While other awards shows have had potential contenders present their nominations in the past (and even resulted in nominations, he said as he lit another prayer candle), this remains an odd and inappropriate choice to have her hopes dashed in real time before our eyes. As if hearts won't already be breaking should she not make the final five, we'll have to watch her get the news. But to block that bummer thought from our brains, we have a clip of Haddish on the upcoming season of Drunk History to remind us of all the joy she brought to 2017. Here she tells the story of Rose Valland and the Monuments Men which you'll remember from... the George Clooney film that yielded no Oscar nominations.
Let's take a final moment and share our biggest hopes for the nominations. What on the bubble contenders would make you happiest to see announced tomorrow morning?
Reader Comments (50)
Meryl Streep for her continued outstanding work and best performance in at least 10 years.
I have been to the mountaintop and seen the Best Live Action Short. Get it, Tiffany! Be a doubly-Oscared multi-hyphenate!
Gerwig and Peele, Stuhlbarg, Ronan And Hawkins, no Franco...
I would be really happy to see (in each category):
Best Picture - "Mudbound"
Best Director - Sean Baker, "The Florida Project"
Best Actor - Jake Gyllenhaal, "Stronger"
Best Actress - Jessica Chastain, "Molly's Game" (for her outstanding non-Oscar nominated works like The Disappearance of Eleanor Rugby, A Most Violent Year or Miss Sloane)
Best Supporting Actor - Lucas Hedges, "Lady Bird"
Best Supporting Actress - Tatiana Maslany, "Stronger"
Best Original Screenplay - "The Big Sick"
Best Adapted Screenplay - "The Lost City of Z"
Meryl Streep- 21 Oscar nominations!!!
Ed--ITA about Chastain. She deserves that fifth spot over Streep. Jess shoulda been nominated for Eleanor and AMVY. We saw The Post over the weekend. Meryl does her best work since Julie & Julia. But it's not nomination-worthy. It's absurd that Jess has only two nominations.
PFEIFFER for "MOTHER" :)
I think I posted this elsewhere, but evidence that we can keep our hopes up for last-minute nominee incousions. Since 2000, here's a list of everyone who had no SAG nom + no Golden Globe nom, but managed to get Oscar nom:
2000: Marcia Gay Harden – Pollock (Supporting Actress) – WON OSCAR
2000: Ed Harris – Pollock (Lead Actor)
2003: Marcia Gay Harden – Mystic River (Supporting Actress)
2003: Samantha Morton – In America (Lead Actress)
2003: Djimon Hounsou – In America (Supporting Actor)
2003: Shohreh Aghdashloo – House of Sand & Fog (Supporting Actress)
2004: Clint Eastwood – Million Dollar Baby (Lead Actor)
2004: Alan Alda – The Aviator (Supporting Actor)
2005: William Hurt – A History of Violence (Supporting Actor)
2007: Tommy Lee Jones – In the Valley of Elah (Lead Actor)
2007: Laura Linney – Savages (Lead Actress)
2008: Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road (Supporting Actor)
2009: Maggie Gyllenhaal – Crazy Heart (Supporting Actress)
2010: Javier Bardem – Biutiful (Lead Actor)
2011: Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Lead Actor)
2011: Max von Sydow – Ext. Loud & Incredibly Close (Supporting Actor)
2012: Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild (Lead Actress)
2012: Emmanuelle Riva – Amour (Lead Actress)
2012: Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook (Supporting Actress)
2013: Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street (Supporting Actor)
2014: Bradley Cooper – American Sniper (Lead Actor)
2014: Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night (Lead Actress)
2014: Laura Dern – Wild (Supporting Actress)
2015: Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years (Lead Actress)
2015: Tom Hardy – The Revenant (Supporting Actor)
2015: Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight (Supporting Actor)
2016: Michael Shannon – Nocturnal Animals (Supporting Actor)
PFEIFFER for "MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS" :)
Stulberg (CMBYN) for supporting actor and, because I’m petty, McDonagh snubbed in director...
Really hope Gerwig gets in.
And also yay for the going back to the live announcement format. I still have PTSD from that weird video announcement they did last year.
I'd love Brooklyn Prince to sneak in there. Sorryboutit fifth slot.
Just as much love as possible for Lady Bird and Call Me By Your Name, my two favorite films from last year.
And a nomination for the always wonderful Holly Hunter, who’s been away from the party for far too long.
Director: Del Toro, Nolan, Peele, Gerwig, and Guadagnino - a lineup that would be historic and hold up. Call me for cinematography -- such a gorgeous film. Dunkirk, Phantom Thread and Shape of Water for screenplay over 3 billboards and Tonya.
I would be happy to see:
Haddish over Blige
Nolan for best director
Hanks over Franco
The predicted five for best actress (all are deserving)
The Florida Project for best picture
Best Actor- it is not going to happen but I would be thrilled to see Renner nominated in best actor. He is very deserving this year.
My biggest concern is that Get Out will be snubbed in all categories but screenplay. It’s just the type of film they would do that to. It needs Picture + Director, anything else would be a travesty.
Supporting - Holly Hunter, Ray Romano, Sylvia Hoeks, Betty Gabriel and Catherine Keener would all be beyond wonderful surprises.
Main categories- Any love towards War for the Planet of the Apes, Thor or Baby Driver would not be unwelcome as they are among the years very best.
Although I have not seen her film, I always root for Diane Kruger. You go girl.
CMBYN for Best Pic. It needs all the help it can get.
Renner is even better on rewatch
Glad to see other Renner fans here, even though he has no shot at an Oscar nod. He was #1 on my TFE ballot for best actor.
I, true, am hoping for the Lady Bird love to continue, and that The Post does better than the precursors are suggesting it will.
Hope Greta Gerwig gets a Director's nod.
Sean Baker for Director also. And Jordan Peele as well.
M. Stuhlbarg for Best Supporting Actor would be lovely.
Lesley Manville for Supporting Actress would make me very happy.
Call Me By Your Name for BP!
Hope doesn't happen:
Mary J. Blige for supporting (she was just fine but it was nothing awards-worthy - the support for this performance strongly reminds me of Rachel McAdams getting a nod for her just-fine-nothing-more work in Spotlight).
M Donagh for Director. That movie is just not sitting well with me.
I'm not a PT Anderson fanatic, but I just loved PHANTOM THREAD (more than I thought I would) and hope he gets a directorial nod (but not at the expense of Del Toro, Gerwig, or Peele.)
Mudbound and Wonder Wheel for cinematography,
Bodes well for Haddish, right?
A small circle of decision-makers know who the nominees are at this moment. They have to prepare a teleprompter, graphics, etc. Those people would have signed off on Haddish as a presenter.
I don't think anyone benefits if Tiffany is out there presenting the nominees and she gets left out. The optics would be a nightmare for AMPAS. But the payoff, if she makes the cut, is great television.
I think she's almost definitely in. I don't see why the Academy would risk that bad press when they could have gotten any actress.
Michelle Williams for Best Actress
Lucas Hedges for Best Supporting Actor (Lady Bird)
The Florida Project anywhere and everywhere
CMBYN for cinematography.
Gerwig, Peele, and Guadagnino for director.
Stuhlbarg and Hunter in supporting.
I want:
Lost City of Z - Adapted Screenplay. Best Picture too, but never gonna happen. :(
A Ghost Story - Original Song, Score
Call Me By Your Name - Original Song, Cinematography, Director
Baby Driver - Editing
Holly Hunter - Best Supporting Actress
And then I would love for 3 Billboards to stay the heck out of directing and screenplay.
Call Me By Your Name in Cinematography and Best Director
Daniela Vega in Best Actress for A Fantastic Woman
Either Catherine Keener, Betty Gabriel, or Allison Williams in Best Supporting Actress for Get Out
The Big Sick for Best Picture
Ray Romano, just as deserving as Holly Hunter.
I wish that was true Hayden in this case, but I don’t think there is any connection. They can’t guarantee someone a nomination for announcing the nominations.
Annette Bening for the 5th spot. Ain't gonna happen, but she's more deserving than Chastain or Streep.
Stuhlberg for SOMETHING.
Three Billboards misses, pretty please.
Betty Gabriel.
Logan citations.
Get Out editing.
Luke Evans supporting. ONE COULD DREAM.
Since all things Sacred Deer seem impossible I'll go with: 1) Armie, 2) CMBYN for Best Pic, 3) Greta & Luca
if i could force Jake Gyllenhaal into the Best Actor lineup (i dont care who has to go so long as it's not Chalamet) i would.
also michelle pfeiffer Mother! though that's not really on the bubble (sigh)
I don't see it as a quid pro quo so much as...smart planning. Maybe I'm way off base.
It also looks like some other stars (Salma Hayek, etc) will be on hand to announce the awards. So maybe Haddish won't even be in the frame when Best Supporting Actress is announced.
Actress: Kate Winslet / Wonder Wheel
Supporting Actor: Michael Stuhlbarg / Call Me By Your Name
Original Screenplay: The Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Meyerowitz Stories
Cinematography: Wonder Wheel
Armie and Stuhlberg and Romano for Supporting,
Holly and Tiffany for Supporting,
Baby Driver in Editing.
Not Meryl but yes to Hanks.
CMBYN for Picture, Cinematography and Director and Song for stuck-in-my-head "Mystery of Love".
Get Out for Picture, Director, Screenplay.
Andy Serkis surprise bonus Honorary Oscar.
Harrelson instead of Rockwell for Supporting.
Wonder Woman for Picture.
Just surprise us, and be imaginative.
Nathaniel...mother! Got nominated for a bunch of razzies today so maybe it is on the bubble :)
Tiffany Haddish for Best Supporting Actress.... that is what I want to see.
I want to see The Beguiled nominated for costume design, art direction, cinematography, and Adapted Screenplay.
Gal Gadot for Best Actress for Wonder Woman and a Best Adapted Screenplay nod for the film.
My Best Director wishlist: 2 masters in Guillermo del Toro and Christopher Nolan, Martin McDonough, a woman director: Greta Gerwig, Sofia Coppola, or Patty Jenkins, and Jordan Peele.
It needs to be more interesting.
No Martin McDonagh in Director (or Original Screenplay but boy is that a pipe dream.....)
Tom Hanks replacing James Franco in Lead Actor (what a great moral stand that would be!)
Lesley Manville and Tiffany Haddish in Supporting Actress
Michael Stuhlbarg and Ray Romano in Supporting Actor
Paul Thomas Anderson in Original Screenplay
I don't know, Nathaniel. I feel like Tiffany will be like your infamous Michael Shannon/Revolutionary Road prediction, where no one had him on the radar, and you took him off of yours at the last minute, only for him to score a nod.
Granted, Haddish has less traction than Shannon did at the same point, but at this rate, I'm not sure anything would surprise me in the morning. Best of luck, everyone!
Three Billboards is fabulous. I find backlashes each year so damn wearisome and petty and ridiculous.
I would do backflips to see Sylvia Hoeks nominated for Supporting Actress, Blade Runner nominated for Picture, and Villeneuve for Director.
Would also be splendid to see Judi Dench nominated for Acress.
I realize I'm blowing the bubble to the limit of bursting with most of these, but here are my wishes:
Best Pic — Mudbound
Best Director — Rees
Best Actor — Hugh Jackman, Logan
Best Actress — Salma Hayek
Best Supporting Actor — Jason Mitchell
Best Supporting Actress — Hong Chau
Happy Oscarmas Eve, everyone.
Pic: both The Florida Project n The Big Sick make it!
Dir: Baker gets in over McDonagh. Rest o 4 same as DGA
Actress: Chastain over Queen Meryl
Actor: Gyllenhaal over Franco
Supp Actress: Manville sneaks in, Hong Chau maint her spot.
Supp Actor: I'm ok w Hammer n Harrelson filing up the last 2 slots. But Hedges or Letts fr Lady Bird wld b a nice surprise
Org Screenplay: The Big Sick n Phantom Thread over 3BB
Cinematography: Call Me n Wonder Wheel.
Multiple nominations for "The Florida Project", including Pic, Director, Supporting Actress (Bria Vinaite) and eventually a win for Willem Dafoe in Supporting Actor
Vicky Krieps for "Phantom Thread"
Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg and Octavia Spencer for "The Shape of Water"
I'm generally an Allison Janney admirer - but definitely not in "I, Tonya". Hope some last minute voting shift halts this particular victory march.
Michelle Williams for Best Actress (over Robbie or Streep)
No Franco, instead Tom Hanks for Best Actor
Lesley Manville and Tiffany Haddish in BSActress.
Michael Stuhlberg for BSActor.
And I seriously seriously hope they don't snub Gerwig in Best Director because I will be mad if that happens.
On a side note, I'm not predicting Chastain for Molly's Game but boy, I just recently watched Miss Sloane and if there was ever an underrated performance, that's the one. How was she or the film overlooked? Bad marketing? Great thrilling film and spectacular work from her.
Annette Bening for Film Stars don't die in Liverpool. And a huge bunch of noms for CBYN
I want DUNKIRK to get nominated in every category it's eligible in, including surprise Supporting Actor and Original Screenplay noms please!
forever1267: "Mystery of Love" is stuck in my head too! I really hope it gets nominated (the song, not my head).
My main wishes: Call Me By Your Name in as many categories as possible, Dunkirk for Picture and Directing (Nolan deserves it), Tiffany Haddish, Rachel Morrison, mother! for Sound Mixing, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets for Costume Design and Visual Effects.
Happy Oscar nomination day, everyone!
In a Heartbeat for Animated Short
Two shocking nominations for the supporting actress line up: Betty Gabriel (Get Out!) and Ana de Armas (Blade Runner 2049). Also Diane Kruger for Best Actress and both Hammer and Stuhlbarg for supporting actor. Some love for The Beguiled would be fine, too.
I only need Greta Gerwig in to be a happy man.
I would only need Julia Roberts in the supporting category to be the happiest man on earth, but I am afraid that making difficult tasks look effortless is undervalued.