What prizes do the leading best picture contenders need to take to be sure they will score that top award?
In olden times, part of the fun in watching the Oscars via this medium we used to call TV was parsing the early awards given during the show and imagining how they were creating a narrative and, perhaps, forecasting which movie would win the ceremony’s last prize.
Nowadays, it’s a battle just to get all the awards to be presented on air, and many viewers pay closer attention to the body language and forced smiles of the attendees than to the awards themselves. If it was guaranteed that Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck would reprise their Grammys audience act at the Oscars, ratings would skyrocket. Could the film academy brass make this happen by offering them a lifetime supply of Dunkin’ donuts? Perhaps… though let’s be real: J. Lo probably hasn’t eaten an apple fritter in decades. (Hey… more for Ben!)
But the Oscar clues are still there for those who care enough to pay attention. What prizes do the leading best picture contenders need to take to score that top award? Grab a cruller and let’s take a look!Everything Everywhere All at Once
Optimal Oscars evening: Ke Huy Quan completes his supporting actor awards season sweep, and filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (professionally known as Daniels,) prevail for directing and original screenplay. And to be extra greedy, perhaps a film editing win, upsetting Top Gun: Maverick.
Oscar it needs: Daniels earned three nominations – picture, director and original screenplay. To clear the way to the podium for the grand prize, it would be helpful if they win one of these Oscars, and it really doesn’t matter which one. (The duo won the Directors Guild honor Saturday.)
A Quan win combined with Daniels taking screenplay would put the movie on the same best picture path that CODA traveled last year. If only Quan wins before the final envelope, the filmmakers might feel like they’re on the precipice of entering that Everything Bagel – an abyss, but one that can, as we know from the movie, be overcome.
