Oscars 2010: A form guide

7 Mar 2010, 4:55 pm   -   Source: AFP/SBS
0 Comments
Share This
+ Comment
0
The preparations for Sunday's Academy Awards are in full swing in Hollywood (AP/AAP)

The preparations for Sunday's Academy Awards are in full swing in Hollywood (AP/AAP)

This year's Academy Awards feature one of the closest-fought Best Picture battles in years. Check out our guide to the likely winners and losers.

RELATED

This year's Academy Awards feature one of the closest-fought Best Picture battles in years. Check out our guide to the likely winners and losers.

Best Picture

Favourite: The Hurt Locker
Dark Horse: Avatar

Expanded to 10 films this year from the usual five, the race for best picture honours appears to be a shoot-out between Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker and science-fiction blockbuster Avatar. 

If successful, The Hurt Locker will be the lowest-grossing best picture winner in Oscars history, with earnings of around 15 million dollars. By contrast James Cameron's Avatar is the highest grossing film of all-time with more than two billion dollars in earnings.

The introduction of a preferential voting system could possibly help Inglourious Basterds score what would be a monumental upset, but The Hurt Locker remains on pole position despite a slew of controversies which have engulfed the film in the final week of campaigning.

Best Director

Favourite: Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
Dark Horse: James Cameron (Avatar)

After virtually ignoring woman directors at 81 previous editions of the Oscars - only four women have ever been nominated for best director - the Academy is finally set to honor a female film-maker, Kathryn Bigelow.

The 58-year-old behind The Hurt Locker has already made history by becoming the first woman to win best director prizes at the Directors Guild of America Awards and BAFTAS.

Adding spice to the contest is the presence of Bigelow's ex-husband James Cameron on the list of five nominees, leading somem to dub the category as the "Battle of the Exes."

Other nominees include Jason Reitman for Up in the Air, Quentin Tarantino for his bloody World War Two revenge fantasy Inglourious Basterds and Lee Daniels for his grim drama Precious.

Best Actor

Favourite: Jeff Daniels (Crazy Heart)
Dark Horse: George Clooney (Up in the Air)

Nearly 40 years after the first of his five career Oscar nominations, Jeff Bridges is widely predicted to finally get his hands on one of the famous gold statuettes. 

The popular 60-year-old has swept the awards season honors this year, winning Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards for his portrayal of the alcoholic country singer struggling to rebuild his life in the independent drama Crazy Heart.

It will be a major upset if Bridges fails to add an Oscar to his trophy haul, although the ever-popular George Clooney remains a long shot for his performance in Up In the Air.

Other nominees include Britain's Colin Firth for A Single Man, Morgan Freeman for Invictus and Jeremy Renner for The Hurt Locker.

Best Actress

Favourite: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
Dark Horse: Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)

Sandra Bullock's performance in The Blind Side, where she plays a feisty southern matriarch who mentors a troubled teenager, helped the film rewrite box office history by becoming the first movie carried by a female lead to earn more than 200 million dollars. It is also likely to earn Bullock an Oscar.

However the best actress race is reported to be the closest of the major categories, with evergreen Meryl Streep nominated for a record 16th occasion for her performance in Julie & Julia.

Streep, chasing her third Oscar, leads a pack of challengers to Bullock which also includes young British star Carey Mulligan (An Education) and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe (Precious). 

The fifth nominee is 2007 winner Helen Mirren, regarded as a long shot as her film The Last Station is not nominated in the best picture race.


 

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube

Join the Discussion

Name
City / Suburb E.g. Artarmon, Sydney
Title
Comment
You have characters remaining.
Validation
What's this?
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.
All submitted comments become the property of SBS. They are moderated, so we reserve the right to edit comments and remove HTML tags. Not all submitted comments will be published. Publication does not mean we endorse the opinions expressed. Please read our terms and conditions for more information.