With the 2012 Oscar nominations announced Tuesday, all the fun of predicting who will be nominated has disappeared. So with that mind it's NEVER too early to look ahead to 2013 when we'll have a whole new crop of movies to pore through and analyze.
Of course, it's ludicrous to prognosticate awards winners when one hasn't even seen any of the movies, but with the help of a little friend called the Internet, there is plenty of information about the coming year's films to make some guesses.
Best Picture
The Dark Knight Rises
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Lincoln
Moonrise Kingdom
Les Miserables
Gravity
The Master
Django Unchained
Great Expectations
Anna Karenina
Steven Spielberg's Lincoln seems to be a virtual lock for Oscar night 2013. He has the source material (Doris Kearns Goodwin's book, Team of Rivals) and talented cast the Academy tends to love. Biopics are always held in high regard and when they're done right, Oscar usually comes calling. Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first of a two part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein's novel. An Unexpected Journey is expected to be as well done as The Lord of the Rings and that spells a Best Picture Christian Bale on The Dark Knight Rises set.
nomination. Christopher Nolan's final Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, is almost guaranteed to be the top-grossing film of 2013, but will the Academy like it? Probably. Paul Thomas Anderson and Wes Anderson's films are always great and The Master and Moonrise Kingdom will be no exceptions. Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained has the year's most impressive cast. He never makes a movie that's not worth seeing.
Best Director
Steven Spielberg - Lincoln
Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight Rises
Tom Hooper - Les Miserables
Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity
Paul Thomas Anderson - The Master
The King's Speech director Hooper has another awards darling for 2012 in Les Miserables. Nolan deserves some recognition for his Batman franchise and the Academy has been known to reward final films in a series (see: Lord of the Rings). Cuaron will, hopefully, be the first-time nominee the Academy tends to look for. His Children of Men was one of the best films of 2006 and Gravity is a sci-fi thriller which is set in outer space. Cuaron is an exceptional talent and the setting may bring the best out in him. Spielberg would have to go overboard on sap to screw up Lincoln, and Nolan and Anderson are just two of the best, so chances are, their films will be critically acclaimed.
Leonardo+DiCaprio in Leonardo DiCaprio on Set for 'Gatsby'
Leonardo DiCaprio and the cast of Baz Luhrmann's 'The Great Gatsby' film driving scenes on location.
Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
Adrien Brody - Detachment
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Great Gatsby
Michael Douglas - Liberace
John Hawkes - The Surrogate
Other likely contenders: Philip Seymour-Hoffman - The Master, Brad Pitt - Cogan's Trade, Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables, Johnny Depp - Dark Shadows, Bill Murray - Hyde Park on Hudson, Jamie Foxx - Django Unchained
Day-Lewis is simply the finest living actor in my humble opinion and his role as Abraham Lincoln is built for Oscar night. He is the front-runner today and probably a year from today. This is a strong field, as always, and even looking at it this early, one can see some of the usual suspects emerging. DiCaprio as the iconic Gatsby seems like easy Oscar bait, ditto for Douglas as the famous pianist Liberace (assuming the film is released in 2012). Word out of Sundance is Hawkes' performance in The Surrogate is Oscar-worthy and one need only watch the trailer for Brody's Detachment to see his performance has serious legs.
Actors John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy pose for a portrait during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival at the Getty Images Portrait Studio at T-Mobile Village at the Lift on January 23, 2012 in Park City, Utah.
Best Actress
Keira Knightley - Anna Karenina
Helen Hunt - The Surrogate
Uma Thurman - Savages
Viola Davis - Won't Back Down
Sandra Bullock - Gravity
Other likely contenders: Meryl Streep - Great Hope Springs, Laura Linney - Hyde Park on Hudson, Julianne Moore - What Maisie Knew, Amanda Seyfried - Lovelace, Rachel McAdams - Untitled Terence Malick Project
No first-time nominees here but obviously, other contenders will emerge. Knightley will portray the title role in Anna Karenina and will probably garner serious consideration. Karenina is one of the greatest novels ever written so there are high hopes for the adaptation. Bullock is, reportedly, in nearly every shot of Gravity and this is a surprising project for her, so again: off-type equals critics' love. Plus, The Academy loves her, awarding her Best Actress in 2010 for a completely pedestrian role in The Blind Side, a terrible film.
Best Supporting Actor [Picture]
Tobey Maguire - The Great Gatsby
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
Tom Hardy - The Dark Knight Rises
Alexander Skarsgard - What Maisie Knew
Leonardo DiCaprio - Django Unchained
Best Supporting Actress
Amanda Seyfried - Les Miserables
Carey Mulligan - The Great Gatsby
Tilda Swinton - Moonrise Kingdom
Helena Bonham Carter - Great Expectations
Sally Field - Lincoln
The supporting categories are anyone's guess as of now so I just made educated assumptions based on the projects of each prospective candidate. Some of these may even be leading performances, but nevertheless. Here's hoping Hardy gets some serious love a la Heath Ledger for his Batman villain, Bane. Gatsby and Lincoln figure to be fire-hosing Oscar candidates so I'm guessing an actor from each film will be nominated here. DiCaprio likely won't be nominated in two categories so we're hedging our bets, but Django will be his first film as a villain. Field has the female lead in Lincoln and is always good in period dramas. Lastly, Swinton, who is always amazing, gets a chance to shine in a Wes Anderson film, something she was born for.
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