The Oscar Forecast: The Acting Catgories

There’s one dead-sure lock for the acting Oscars and one that’s almost sure. You can bet the mortgage on Jennifer Lawrence winning the best actress Oscar and I’m just about positive Philip Seymour Hoffman is a shoe-in for best supporting actor.

The best actor race is interesting, pitting Daniel Day Lewis against Joaquin Phoenix. Lewis is already a two-time winner, but Oscar voters love to give Oscars to actors playing real people and the Academy could be concerned about Phoenix’s behavior.

There are four certain nominees in the supporting actress category — with Anne Hathaway right now holding a comfortable lead over (in descending order) Amy Adams, Helen Hunt and Sally Field. Who the fifth nominee might be is anybody’s guess. I’m just taking a blind stab at the fifth entry here.

Anyway, here are my predicted nominees in the acting categories (listed in alphabetical order):

ACTOR
Bradley Cooper, The Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
Keira Knightley, Anna Karenina
Jennifer Lawrence, The Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin, Argo
Russell Crowe, Les Miserables
Robert DeNiro, The Silver Linings Playbook
Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Kerry Washington, Django Unchained