If you listened to The Triple Feature last night (and if you missed it, don’t worry – just subscribe to our feed on iTunes!) you’ll know that Gordon, Joe and I made our official Oscar picks in advance of the televised broadcast this Sunday. We decided to make it interesting by making a tiny wager. The two people with the least amount of correct predictions has to draw a guest strip for a winning artist. So if Gordon gets the most correct, Joe and I have to draw him a guest strip. Kind of fun, right?
Part of that agreement was that the three of us would post our marked Oscar ballots and submit them to public record. That way, it keeps everyone honest. No last minute changes before or during the broadcast.
My ballot is kind of large, so you’ll have to click here to view it. But it’s there for anyone who is interested.
I think most of the major categories are already sewn up. But I voted for a few dark horse contenders after looking at a few statistical averages and trends among Academy votes in the past. As far as the technical categories go, I have a theory that I’m hoping pays off. Where I get really lost is in the documentary and short film categories.
You’ll have to take a look at my ballot and tell me what you think. Do you think I have a shot at winning our little competition?
How could you not pick Heath Ledger, everyone knows dead people always get a sympathy vote?
Actually, that’s statistically untrue. Of the actors that have been nominated posthumously, only Peter Finch has won for his role in Network. Considering how the Academy has been using the Supporting Actor/Actress categories to promote new talent and that The Dark Knight doesn’t exactly fall into the demographic of the average Academy voter, I’m going out on a limb and picking Michael Shannon as a dark horse.
Yo, long time reader, first time commenter.
Couple thoughts. Your big picks seem close to mine (Picture, Adapted Screenplay, and Director, though those seem close to mine), and I keep wanting to lean to Rourke for Actor, but my gut has me going with Penn. My Best Supporting is actually Josh Brolin, since he’s been due for one for quite some time (still, I honestly think it may end up with Heath. Sympathy votes go a long way, and Heath seems to be this generation’s James Dean anyway; a win is quite likely).
I really thinking WALL-E will do better in the technical awards (I think it’s got the sound ones in the bag). Not sure on Benjamin Button (haven’t seen it yet), so at the moment I’m going with Iron Man and Hellboy II to take home their respective awards (Hellboy II certainly deserves Best Makeup for the Troll Marketplace alone). Some others for me: Dark Knight takes regular Editing, Art Direction, and Cinematography, In Bruges gets Best Original Screenplay (a longshot, but a sweet one all the same), Milk snags Best Costumes, the tribute to Stan Winston makes me cry, WALL-E Original Score, and Slumdog gets Original Song (I’m thinking Jai Ho, since it’s already got a nice dance number to go with it. Though I admit Down to Earth has a good shot, it being a good, safe fallback).
Whoops, meant to say that I see Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Director as a lock right now, not repeat ‘close to mine’. My bad.