Hollywood prepares for Oscars night with a twist

Hollywood’s biggest stars were set to hit the red carpet Sunday for the Oscars, with the 7,900-odd voting academy members faced with a broad array of choices.

The stage is set at the Dolby Theatre, in a ceremony that will be beamed around the world to millions of showbiz fans.

This year, for the first time in three decades,there will be no host. The Academy took the risk after comedian Kevin Hart withdrew from the gig amid controversy over past tweets that were slammed as homophobic.

Another difference in this year’s ceremony is there is no singular front runner for the much-coveted Best Picture Academy Award.

A foreign-language winner?

Alfonso Cuaron’s black-and-white cinematic remembrance of childhood in Mexico, “Roma,” is among the favorites.

Should it win, “Roma” would be the first foreign-language film — and the first from streaming giant Netflix — to earn the honor.

However, the biographical comedy-drama “Green Book” is also seen as a likely winner. Pundits say it might benefit most from the preferential ballot system used to select Best Picture. The system sees voters rank films in order of preference rather than simply choose a favorite.

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  A look at the Oscar favorites

  10 nominations for ‘The Favourite’

  Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos has been nominated 10 times for his English-language drama, “The Favourite,” a film about scheming at the English royal court in the 18th century. Olivia Colman plays Queen Anne, and she is also in the race for best actress.

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  A look at the Oscar favorites

  10 nominations for ‘Roma’

  “The Favourite” has a major competitor, however: the Mexican Netflix production “Roma,” which has also been nominated 10 times. The film has already won many awards, and is one among eight movies nominated in the most important Oscar category, Best Picture of the Year. “Roma” is about the life of a nanny in a Mexican middle-class family in the 1970s.

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  A look at the Oscar favorites

  Five in the running for best director

  There is not a woman in sight in this category this year. Alfonso Cuaron (“Roma”) and Yorgos Lanthimos have been nominated, as well as US directors Spike Lee (“BlacKkKlansman”) and Adam McKay (“Vice”), and Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski (photo, “Cold War”). Two Europeans and a Mexican up for this award at the 2019 Oscars — that is a novelty.

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  A look at the Oscar favorites

  Open bets for best actress

  The race is wide open in the best actress category. Nominees include Lady Gaga (“A Star is Born,” photo) , Glenn Close (“The Wife”), Melissa McCarthy (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”), Olivia Colman (“The Favourite”) and Yalitza Aparico (“Roma”). Most experts would probably like to see 71-year-old Glenn Close finally get an Oscar after six unsuccessful attempts.

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  A look at the Oscar favorites

  A favorite for best actor

  There is a clear favorite this year for the best actor award: Christian Bale for his role as former US Vice President Dick Cheney. A hardly recognizable Bale gained 20 kilograms to alter his appearance. The other contenders for the award are Bradley Cooper (“A Star Is Born”), Willem Dafoe (“At Eternity’s Gate”), Rami Malek (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) and Viggo Mortensen (“Green Book”).

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  A look at the Oscar favorites

  Two nominees from ‘The Favourite’ for best supporting actress

  The evening promises to be exciting for the women nominated in the best supporting actress category, too: Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz (photo) were nominated for their performances in “The Favourite.” The other nominees are Regina King (“If Beale Street Could Talk”), Amy Adams (“Vice”) and Marina de Tavira (“Roma”).

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  A look at the Oscar favorites

  Up for best supporting actor

  Golden Globe-winner Mahershala Ali (photo, right) is one of the nominees in the best supporting actor category for his performance as a pianist in the drama “Green Book.” His competitors: Adam Driver (“BlacKkKlansman”), Richard E. Grant (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”), Sam Elliott (“A Star Is Born”) and Sam Rockwell (“Vice”).

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  A look at the Oscar favorites

  A first Academy Award nomination for a legend

  Two of the 24 Oscar categories are reserved for authors, and perhaps this year, Paul Schrader will win one of them, namely for best original screenplay. The director and writer is nominated for his screenplay for “First Reformed,” which he also directed. Born in Michigan in 1946, the author of “Taxi Driver” is a US movie legend.

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  A look at the Oscar favorites

  Allround talent Alfonso Cuaron

  Multi-talented Alfonso Cuaron took on different jobs in his movie “Roma,” including director, producer and cameraman. Cuaron was nominated in the category best camera. Another novelty: “Roma” is also in the running in the categories best film and best foreign language film.

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  A look at the Oscar favorites

  A German work in the spotlight

  “Roma” faces off in this category with Germany’s Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s controversial artist drama “Never Look Away” (photo). The other international works in the line up are Japan’s “Shoplifters,” Poland’s “Cold War” and the Lebanese “Capernaum.”

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  A look at the Oscar favorites

  Whose original score is best?

  In the best musical score category, French-Greek composer Alexandre Desplat, nominated for his score for Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs,” competes against three US composers and a colleague from Sweden. Desplat already has two Oscars and seven other nominations under his belt.

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  A look at the Oscar favorites

  Another German chance for an Oscar: best documentary film

  Apart from Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, three other Germans can hope for an Oscar: Berlin producers Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme and Tobias N. Siebert are in the race for the best documentary film award for “Of Fathers and Sons” by director Talal Derki. The movie describes two years in the life of a radical Islamist family.

  Author: Jochen Kürten (db)

Also up for the big prize are Spike Lee’s race drama “BlacKkKlansman,” superhero movie “Black Panther,” and musical romance remake “A Star Is Born.”

Top acting contenders

Two biopics — “Vice,” about former US Vice President Dick Cheney, and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” about Freddie Mercury and Queen — complete the list of contenders.

Christian Bale’s transformation into Cheney gave him the early lead as best actor, and Rami Malek won respect from his peers for his turn as late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.

The best actress race has a clear favorite in Glenn Close, who will be hoping to clinch the award on her seventh attempt. In “The Wife,” she plays a woman on the edge when her author husband wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Lists of nominations

Best picture:

“Black Panther”
“BlacKkKlansman”
“Bohemian Rhapsody”
“The Favourite”
“Green Book”
“Roma”
“A Star Is Born”
“Vice”

Best director:

Spike Lee, “BlacKkKlansman”
Pawel Pawlikowski, “Cold War”
Yorgos Lanthimos, “The Favourite”
Alfonso Cuaron, “Roma”
Adam McKay, “Vice”

Best actor:

Christian Bale, “Vice”
Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born”
Willem Dafoe, “At Eternity’s Gate”
Rami Malek, “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Viggo Mortensen, “Green Book”

Best actress

Yalitza Aparicio, “Roma”
Glenn Close, “The Wife”
Olivia Colman, “The Favourite”
Lady Gaga, “A Star Is Born”
Melissa McCarthy, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”

Best supporting actor

Mahershala Ali, “Green Book”
Adam Driver, “BlacKkKlansman”
Sam Elliott, “A Star Is Born”
Richard E. Grant, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
Sam Rockwell, “Vice”

Best supporting actress

Amy Adams, “Vice”
Marina de Tavira, “Roma”
Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Emma Stone, “The Favourite”
Rachel Weisz, “The Favourite”

Best foreign language film

“Capernaum” (Lebanon)
“Cold War” (Poland)
“Never Look Away” (Germany)
“Roma” (Mexico)
“Shoplifters” (Japan)

Best animated feature

“Incredibles 2”
“Isle of Dogs”
“Mirai”
“Ralph Breaks the Internet”
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”

Best documentary feature:

“Free Solo”
“Hale County This Morning, This Evening”
“Minding the Gap”
“Of Fathers and Sons”
“RBG”

Best original screenplay

“The Favourite” – Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara
“First Reformed” – Paul Schrader
“Green Book” – Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly
“Roma” – Alfonso Cuaron
“Vice” – Adam McKay

Best adapted screenplay

“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” – Joel and Ethan Coen
“BlacKkKlansman” – Spike Lee, Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” – Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty
“If Beale Street Could Talk” – Barry Jenkins
“A Star Is Born” – Bradley Cooper, Eric Roth and Will Fetters

Best original score

“Black Panther” – Ludwig Goransson
“BlacKkKlansman” – Terence Blanchard
“If Beale Street Could Talk” – Nicholas Britell
“Isle of Dogs” – Alexandre Desplat
“Mary Poppins Returns” – Marc Shaiman

Best original song

“All The Stars” from “Black Panther”
“I’ll Fight” from “RBG”
“The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns”
“Shallow” from “A Star Is Born”
“When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”

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