Academy Award Nominee Predictions, 1999

PREDICTIONS

Best Picture:
Beloved
Elizabeth
Saving Private Ryan
Wild Cards:
American History X
Primary Colors
Wilde

Best Actor:
Tom Hanks, "Saving Private Ryan"
Geoffery Rush, "Elizabeth"
John Travolta, "Primary Colors"
Wild Cards:
Stephen Fry, "Wilde"
Mike Meyers, "54"
Ben Stiller, "Your Friends And Neighbors"

Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth"
Christina Ricci, "The Opposite Of Sex"
Oprah Winfrey, "Beloved"
Wild Cards:
Salma Hayek, "54"
Vanessa Redgrave, "Wilde"

Best Supporting Actor:
Sir Richard Attenborough, "Elizabeth"
Matt Damon, "Saving Private Ryan"
Cuba Gooding Jr., "What Dreams May Come"
Wild Cards:
Anthony Hopkins, "The Mask Of Zorro"
Martin Landau, "The X-Files"
Brad Renfro, "Apt Pupil"

Best Supporting Actress:
Kathy Bates, "Primary Colors"
Thandie Newton, "Beloved"
Catherin Zeta-Jones, "The Mask Of Zorro"
Wild Cards:
Joan Allen, "Pleasantville"
Christina Ricci, "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas"
Reese Witherspoon, "Pleasantville"

Best Original Screenplay:
David McKenna, "American History X"
Michael Hirst, "Elizabeth"
Robert Rodat and Frank Darabont, "Saving Private Ryan"
Wild Cards:
Dan Roos, "The Opposite Of Sex"
Andrew Niccol, "The Truman Show"
Neil LaBute, "Your Friends And Neighbors"

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Akosua Busia, Richard LaGravanese and Adam Brooks, "Beloved"
Elaine May, "Primary Colors"
Julian Mitchell, "Wilde"
Wild Cards:
Brandon Boyce, "Apt Pupil"
Terry Gilliam, "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas"

Best Director:
Jonathan Demme, "Beloved"
Shekhar Kapur, "Elizabeth"
Steven Spielberg, "Saving Private Ryan"
Wild Cards:
Tony Kaye, "American History X"
Mike Nichols, "Primary Colors"
Brian Gilbert, "Wilde"

Best Original Score:
David Hirschfelder, "Elizabeth"
Harry Gregson-Williams, Rupert Gregson-Williams, Stephen Schwartz and Hans Zimmer, "The Prince Of Egypt"
Debbie Wiseman, "Wilde"
Wild Cards:
Rachel Portman, "Beloved"
Randy Newman, "Pleasantville"
Phillip Glass and Burkhart von Dallwitz, "The Truman Show"

Best Cinematography:
Tak Fujimoto, "Beloved"
Remi Adefarasin, "Elizabeth"
Martin Fuhrer, "Wilde"
Wild Cards:
Tony Kaye, "American History X"
Phil Meheux, "The Mask Of Zorro"
Peter Biziou, "The Truman Show"

Best Film Editing:
Jil Bilcock, "Elizabeth"
Michael Bradsell, "Wilde"
Joel Plotch, "Your Friends And Neighbors"
Wild Cards:
Alan Heim, "American History X"
Andy Keir and Carol Littleton, "Beloved"
William Goldenberg, "Pleasantville"

Written by DAVID KEYES

January 4, 1999

So this is how we close a year.

This is how we honor our best movies; how we challenge our opinions and concepts of the year�s greatest films: the Academy Award predictions. Just attempting to touch the subject is likely to brew up some mischief among critical opinions. The 1998 year closed with a record-breaking number of great films; how can you try to pick which ones will and will not get nominated?

Half the time, the Acadmey likes to shut out some of its deserving contenders in the nominations. They demonstrated that earlier this year when they failed to nominate movies like "The Ice Storm" for deserving categories. Last year, "Evita" was shut out of some of its most merited effort. The list of complaints, of course, goes on and on, but what can you do?

This year, it�s fairly obvious that some of the better movies might not even be considered by the Academy as great acheivements; in fact, almost half of the year�s good movies will be overlooked for some of the year�s more mediocre ones. But, of course, the three best films of the year, "Beloved," "Wilde," and "Elizabeth," are entitled to any nominations they get. Actually, these three films might be the biggest competitors, though "Wilde" was released earlier this year and may have a poorer chance at the trophy than the other two.

The predictions for Academy Award nominations are as follows. Listed in each of the given categories are the six of the strongest contenders for this year--three of which are the year�s most assured nominees, and three of which are wild cards that are potential finalists, but not likely to get the nominations. Therefore, the wild card choices listed are personal favorite considerations, which I hope get final recognition, even though it seems unlikely. These choices, of course, are all really deserving nominees, but as we all know, the Academy enjoys nominating films and giving cold shoulders to others despite what we critics think. Therefore, these predictions are just the obvious choices, speaking in terms of the Academy, of course. One of the great movies of the year was "Deep Impact," but do you think that the Academy would consider major category nominations for it?

Our opinions will be more reflected in a show like the Golden Globes, which is a discussion all by itself.

� David Keyes, CINEMA 2000. To keep the content of these pages at near-perfect quality, please e-mail the author here if the above review contains any spelling or grammar mistakes.