Oscar Nominees Wish List

As I’ve said before, I don’t make predictions. It’s a lot more fun to invent the perfect world. So, that is what follows here. This is my dream list of Oscar nominees. Some of these are not possible under Academy rules, but here, we play by my rules, of which there is only one-- if I saw it last year, it is fair game.

In alphabetical order…

Picture:

In Bruges; Let the Right One In; Rachel Getting Married; Synecdoche, NY; The Visitor

Director:

Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire); Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight); Jonathan Demme (Rachel Getting Married); Martin McDonagh (In Bruges); Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road)

Actor:

Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road); Philip Seymour Hoffman (Synecdoche, NY); Richard Jenkins (The Visitor); Sean Penn (Milk); Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Actress:

Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married); Angelina Jolie (Changeling); Kristin Scott Thomas (I’ve Loved You So Longed); Meryl Streep (Doubt); Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road)

Supporting Actor:

Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges); Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt); Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight); Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire); Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road)

Supporting Actress:

Hiam Abbass (The Visitor); Amy Adams (Doubt); Rosemarie Dewitt (Rachel Getting Married); Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona); Samantha Morton (Synecdoche, NY)

Original Screenplay:

Woody Allen (Vicky Cristina Barcelona); Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, NY); Jenny Lumet (Rachel Getting Married); Thomas McCarthy (The Visitor); Martin McDonagh (In Bruges)

Adapted Screenplay:

Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire); Andrew Davies (Brideshead Revisited); John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let the Right One In); Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight); John Patrick Shanley (Doubt)

Cinematography:

Blindness; The Dark Knight; Let the Right One In; Revolutionary Road; Slumdog Millionaire

Editing:

The Dark Knight; Frost/Nixon; In Bruges; Milk; Slumdog Millionaire

Art Direction:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Doubt; Milk; Revolutionary Road; Synecdoche, NY

Sound Editing:

Australia; The Dark Knight; Iron Man; Slumdog Millionaire; Wall-E

Sound Mixing:

The Dark Knight; Iron Man; Rachel Getting Married; Slumdog Millionaire; Wall-E

Costume Design:

Brideshead Revisited; Changeling; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Other Boleyn Girl; Revolutionary Road

Make-Up:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Let the Right One In; Synecdoche, NY

Original Score:

Changeling; In Bruges; Revolutionary Road; Slumdog Millionaire; Synecdoche, NY

Original Song:

“Jai-ho” (Slumdog Millionaire); “Little Person” (Synecdoche, NY); “The Wrestler” (The Wrestler)

Visual Effects:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Dark Knight; Speed Racer

Animated Feature:

Kung Fu Panda; Wall-E; Waltz with Bashir

Documentary:

Man on Wire; Trouble the Water; Pray the Devil Back to Hell; Standard Operating Procedure; Encounters at the End of the World

Foreign Language Film:

City of Men; The Class; I’ve Loved You So Long; Let the Right One In; Waltz with Bashir