2023 Oscars Shortlist Predictions

Seven pieces of the Oscar speculation puzzle become clearer tomorrow when shortlists are submitted in various feature length races. We will learn the final 15 contenders in International Feature Film, Documentary Feature, Original Score, and Original Song. Additionally, the 10 finalists for Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound, and Visual Effects will be revealed.

With history as our guide, I can reveal there will likely be surprises. There’s usually an out of nowhere song or doc or Makeup & Hairstyling hopeful that emerges.

I’ll have a post up tomorrow with my quick take on my picks and analysis. Here is my forecast for those seven shortlists with an alternate selection in each!

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Predicted Shortlist (10):

Barbie

Golda

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Killers of the Flower Moon

Maestro

Napoleon

Nyad

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Priscilla

Alternate: The Color Purple

Best Sound

Predicted Shortlist (10):

Barbie

The Color Purple

Ferrari

The Killer

Killers of the Flower Moon

Maestro

Napoleon

Oppenheimer

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

The Zone of Interest

Alternate: The Creator

Best Visual Effects

Predicted Shortlist (10):

The Creator

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Godzilla Minus One

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Killers of the Flower Moon

Poor Things

Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire

Society of the Snow

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Alternate: Barbie

Best Original Score

Predicted Shortlist (15):

Barbie

The Boy and the Heron

Carmen

Elemental

Ferrari

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

The Killer

Killers of the Flower Moon

Nyad

Oppenheimer

Past Lives

Poor Things

Society of the Snow

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

The Zone of Interest

Alternate: Origin

Best Original Song

Predicted Shortlist (15):

“Addicted to Romance” from She Came to Me

“Camp Isn’t Home” from Theater Camp

“Dance the Night” from Barbie

“Dear Alien Who Art In Heaven” from Asteroid City

“The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot

“For the First Time” from The Little Mermaid

“I’m Just Ken” from Barbie

“It Never Went Away” from American Symphony

“Keep It Movin” from The Color Purple

“Peaches” from The Super Mario Bros. Movie

“Quiet Eyes” from Past Lives

“Road to Freedom” from Rustin

“This Wish” from Wish

“Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon

“What Was I Made For?” from Barbie

Alternate: “Gonna Be You” from 80 for Brady

Best International Feature Film

Predicted Shortlist (15):

20 Days in Mariupol

About Dry Grasses

Fallen Leaves

Godland

Io Capitano

The Monk and the Gun

The Peasants

Perfect Days

The Promised Land

The Settlers

Society of the Snow

The Taste of Things

The Teachers’ Lounge

Tótem

The Zone of Interest

Alternate: Concrete Utopia

Best Documentary Feature

Predicted Shortlist (15):

20 Days in Mariupol

American Symphony

Apolonia, Apolonia

Beyond Utopia

Bobi Wine: The People’s President

The Deepest Breath

The Eternal Memory

Four Daughters

Kokomo City

The Mission

The Mother of All Lies

Orlando, My Political Biography

The Pigeon Tunnel

Stamped from the Beginning

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Alternate: Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros

The L.A. Critics Are In The Zone

Since 2009, every Best Film winner from the LA Film Critics Association has nabbed a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars with the exception of 2020’s Small Axe (which wasn’t eligible for Academy consideration). Five, including last year’s Everything Everything All at Once, went on to win. And this is why today’s announcement that Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest is the recipient of the big prize feels important. Zone is looked at as a coin toss for making the BP cut and victories like today help (I currently have it ranked 8th in the standings). The Holocaust drama also took Director and Music/Score and I have it receiving Oscar noms in both of those derbies as well.

The L.A. branch doesn’t differentiate between genders in their acting races and they name two winners in both lead and supporting. Sandra Hüller took a lead trophy for both Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest alongside Emma Stone for Poor Things. Both are expected to make plays in Best Actress at the Oscars (Hüller for Anatomy).

In Supporting, Rachel McAdams (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret) and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers) were the selections. The latter is widely expected to be among the Supporting Actress quintet of hopefuls. The former seems to be rising and I placed her in fifth earlier today in my latest round of predictions.

All of Us Strangers is your SoCal Screenplay winner. It hopes to make the list in Original Screenplay at the Oscars, but competition is fierce.

Other prizes:

Cinematography: Poor Things

Editing: Anatomy of a Fall

Production Design: Barbie

Film Not in the English Language: Anatomy of a Fall

Documentary/Non-Fiction Film: Menus-Plaisirs: Les Troigros

Animation: The Boy and the Heron

Keep an eye on the blog for major precursor news as we move closer to Oscar nomination morning!

The NY Critics Make a Killer Pick

The New York Film Critics Circle revealed their best of selections for the year as precursors will be coming fast and furious in the days ahead. Critics from the Big Apple doled out two awards each for Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, and Todd Haynes’s May December.

It was Killers that took Best Film while Nolan was your Best Director (Oppenheimer also won Cinematography). Those titles (with Oppenheimer first and Killers second) have been 1-2 in my BP predictions for weeks. Eight of the last ten NYFCC Best Film winners ended up on the Oscar BP list and you can expect that trend to continue here.

In Best Actress, Lily Gladstone (Flower Moon) was the pick as she should make the Academy’s quintet in a competitive field. As for Best Actor, New York made a surprise selection in Franz Rogowski for Passages. While the picture drew acclaim as did the performance, he is not expected to be a factor in the Oscar derby. If more critics prizes come, who knows? But it’s doubtful.

Da’Vine Joy Randolph, widely expected to be a factor in Supporting Actress, was successful here for her work in The Holdovers. In Supporting Actor, Charles Melton is now 2 for 2 with Gotham and NYFCC trophies. His inclusion at the Oscars is looking more and more solidified. The Supporting Actor race recipient here has made the Academy’s quintet nine out of the last ten years (more than any other major competition).

A week after taking Best Feature at Gotham, Celine Song’s Past Lives was named Best First Film as its slot in the Oscar BP lineup is looking fairly safe.

May December, in addition to Melton, took Best Screenplay (I have it currently in fifth for Original Screenplay).

In what could be a seesaw battle for critics prizes, The Boy and the Heron was the Animated Film victor over Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Anatomy of a Fall, despite not being France’s selection for International Feature Film at the Oscars, is New York’s winner. I have it nabbing a BP spot at the moment, but it’s a question mark.

For Non-Fiction Film, this branch went with the four-hour culinary doc Menus-Plaisirs-Les Troisgros. It has not been on my radar screen for Academy attention.

As for contenders that received no love, NY didn’t give any hardware to Poor Things, Maestro, or The Zone of Interest.

Keep an eye on this blog for all the Oscar precursor activity!