Marking part two of my predictions for this year’s Academy Awards, this piece will cover six different categories: Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Cinematography, and the two screenplay categories: Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay. After covering mostly technical categories in the last post, we are finally creeping into the top categories of the ceremony which are also strangely some of the most fluid in that no clear frontrunner has been established yet, particularly for the two screenplay categories.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

Kicking off the list as one of the numerous technical categories the Academy Awards flaunts each year, it seems pretty clear that Bombshell, which has otherwise been a sore stalemate during this year’s awards season, will win the category, marking what would be most likely its only award of the night. It is slightly strange that Bombshell has been shut out so many times, especially since it presents itself as a 2019-bound version of Vice which was nominated in eight different categories and also winning in Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Some things never change with the Academy it seems.

Best Film Editing:

Conventional wisdom may say that the James Mangold high-octane joyride Ford v. Ferrari will take the Best Film Editing category, but as I mentioned in the previous post, I am a firm believer that Parasite will actually come short on February 9^th, only taking a handful of wins, and one of them I predict will be this category. The Irishman may be my personal hope to win, but Parasite is such a raw feat of cinema that the Academy will have to award it in some category other than its almost guaranteed Best International Film win.

Best Costume Design:

Little Women is such a lovable industry darling that it would be hard to see the Greta Gerwig penned and directed feature to walk away without a single golden statue like the female director’s previous efforts in Lady Bird. However, much like other Best Picture nominees Ford v. Ferrari and Marriage Story, the film’s wins may be regulated to one or two at best. In Little Women’s case, Best Costume Design may be its best bet as it just took a massive hit to its Best Adapted Screenplay chances at the WGAs on February 1^st.

Best Cinematography:

Just like all of the acting races, this category is nearly guaranteed to go to Roger Deakins for 1917. Not much more really needs to be said, unless The Academy really rallies behind Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood or Joker.   

Best Original Screenplay:

Before the WGA Awards on February 1^st, I thought there was a solid bid for Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story to take this category as it has Netflix’s backing as the awards season juggernaut it should be. However, even without Tarantino, Baumbach couldn’t quite strike the right rhythm with voters as the writers guild named Parasite as their winner for this year. Despite having some of the strongest releases out of any distributor this year (The Irishman, Marriage Story, and The Two Popes), Netflix will likely walk away with only two statues at best. This random assortment of competitors may give Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood the perfect opportunity to sneak in a win.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Similar to the Original Screenplay race, Little Women seemed like a strong contender, but its chances have also taken a crushing blow as Taika Watiti’s Jojo Rabbit was the one to reign supreme at the WGAs. The reason the guild awards are so important to determine which film will ultimately win the Oscar is that the winners of the guild awards set a precedent, one that actual Academy voters may feel uncomfortable to sway from.

The Oscars will premiere in about a week, and the final part of my Academy Awards predictions will go up shortly before on that Saturday. Until then, make sure you see at least one of the many excellent nominees of this year’s Oscars ceremony. Each one is truly special and deserving in their own right, particularly the strong lineup of short films both animated and live-action.