Critics will push Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza” this awards season. The film will need it. If it does get a Best Picture nomination then it will be one of the strangest nominees in recent years. Absolutely nothing about this film spells “Oscar Bait.” It’s a free-flowing statement from PTA, with eccentric narrative structuring and barely any story in its second half. With that being said, I’ve added it into my predictions:
King Richard
The Power of the Dog
Belfast
Dune
CODA
Licorice Pizza
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Don’t Look Up
The Last Duel
West Side Story? Nightmare Alley?
Bradley Cooper also stands a good chance of getting a Supporting Actor nod for what is essentially an 8-minute cameo. PTA will most certainly get a writing nod from the more adventurous writers block of the academy. The cinematography, although mesmerizing, might get snubbed.
Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)
Richard Jenkins (The Humans)
Ciaran Hinds (Belfast)
Bradley Cooper (Licorice Pizza)
Jon Bernthal (King Richard)
Jamie Dorman (Belfast)
Jason Isaacs (Mass)
Jared Leto (House of Gucci)
Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog)
JK Simmons (Being the Ricardos)
As much as I loved Cooper’s gonzo performance, Smit-McPhee deserves to win this category, which might just be the weakest of the four acting categories.
As mentioned, Cooper is on-screen for a little less than 10 minutes (someone needs to clock it). It wouldn’t be a total abnormality if he gets in, as you can see from the below, there have been Oscar nominees and winners who have had similar minimalist screentime:
Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs) 16 minutes
Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables) 15 minutes
Ingrid Bergman (Murder on the Orient Express) 14 minutes
Ruby Dee (American Gangster) 10 minutes
Gloria Grahame (The Bad and the Beautiful) 9 minutes
Judi Dench (Shakespeare In Love) 8 minutes
Anthony Gunn (Lust For Life) 8 minutes
Viola Davis (Doubt) 8 minutes
Ned Beatty (Network) 5 minutes
Beatrice Straight (Network) 5 minutes
Hermione Baddeley (Room at the Top) 2 minutes
I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of looking forward to the “Michael” sequel. Whether Vantoine directs it or John Logan, it doesn’t matter—it’s an inevitable sh*tshow that will result from its making and release.