Screen Scene Thursday: Best bets at the Oscars

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Best bets at the Oscars

Sam Vander Forest

Although the Oscars, the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Producers Guild of America aren’t all the same thing, they can be fairly good predictors of who will win big at the Oscars.

Just the other day, “Birdman” won the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for best movie at the Producers Guild of America Awards, topping the other Oscar nominees. This is a big deal because the PGA Awards have essentially successfully predicted the Best Picture at the Oscars 18 of 25 times, and more recently has predicted it every single year since 2007.

With many of the award shows behind us, let’s take a look at what the best bets will be for the major categories at the Oscars this February.

Best Picture:

Although “Boyhood” and “Grand Budapest Hotel” have won against “Birdman” in multiple categories at different award shows, “Birdman” will ultimately take the Oscar home after its late wins at the PGA Awards.

Best Actor:

Eddie Redmayne should, and most likely will, undoubtedly take home the Oscar for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything.” Having won at the SAG Awards, Redmayne is clearly the favorite.

Best Actress:

Although the playing field is vast and competitive with powerhouses like Marion Cotillard, Felicity Jones, Rosamund Pike, Reese Witherspoon and Julianne Moore, it’s likely that Julianne Moore will take it home for “Still Alice.” Like Redmayne, Moore’s character had to succumb to a disease — in this case Alzheimer’s — and she has been cleaning up in previous award shows.

Other major categories include Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Director. Look for Patricia Arquette (“Boyhood”), J.K Simmons (“Whiplash”), and Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Birdman”) to win respectively.