People love watching famous people accept trophies. So, every so often, The Huffington Post’s Chris Rosen and Uproxx’s Mike Ryan will speculate about these trophies and which famous person might win one. It will be fun. Let’s talk some trophies! Today, we make our predictions for Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay while lamenting how sick we are of the Oscars.
Mike: Chris, we are, what, just a little more than two weeks away from the Academy Awards. FINALLY. I have to say, even more than in years past, there seems to be an honest to goodness fatigue in that I can’t believe we are still talking about these movies from 2014. I’m ready to move on — which I guess isn’t the best intro to a piece talking about who is going to win Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay. I still like the Oscars — trophies are, theoretically, fun! — but, oof, this “season” in particular has just drained all the “fun” out of all of this. Am I off base?
Chris: Nope! I was literally thinking the exact same thing when you texted me about doing Trophy Talk on Wednesday. Man, this is just so boring. It reminds me of the NBA season, which seems to last in perpetuity. It’s a two-fold problem. First, some of the movies we’re talking about — including both Boyhood and Whiplash, which feature the presumed supporting actor winners — are literally 13 months old. Second, because we all know how these races will play out, there’s no suspense. I love the battle between Michael Keaton and Eddie Redmayne (and maybe Bradley Cooper) as much as the next awards watcher, but it’s hard to get enthusiastic about an entire awards ceremony when so many of the big winners are already decided. Good for J.K. Simmons and Patricia Arquette, though. They’re still great.
Mike: I agree, they are great. And both of those people will win and I think that’s a great story for both of them. How will this affect their lives? Will there be a “bump”? Arquette has a new television series, CSI: Cyber, that will take a lot of her time. Do you think she regrets that? She’s going to have to pass on some post-Oscar offers because of this show — at least the post-Oscar offers before those go away and people forget like they always do. Does J.K. Simmons get more “leading” roles now? How happy do you think he is that his show got cancelled?
Chris: Arquette is an interesting case, because the biggest role of her career before Boyhood was already on TV: Medium. (I think my parents liked that show.) And let’s face it, because of Hollywood’s issues with women in general — but especially women over 40 — her post-Boyhood film roles would probably become some variation on “mom.” So, leading a TV show for CBS — even if it’s part of a franchise that might as well be white noise to people like you and me — is pretty good news. I doubt she has any regrets. Does J.K. get “lead” roles? No, I don’t think so. He’s always been a supporting actor, and now he’ll be a supporting actor with an Oscar. He’s probably got the Bryan Cranston part in Skull Island. It feels like he’s got a Christopher Nolan movie in his future. I’m sure he’ll make another comedy with either Jason Bateman or Allison Janney (or both). He’ll always be “that guy” even after Feb. 22.
Mike: Oh, I disagree he’s “that guy.” People know his name now. He just hosted SNL! He’ll never be “that guy” again. And I would say that Patricia Arquette’s most viewed character is the one she played on Medium, but her most popular role still has to be True Romance, right? (I will also accept A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.) I love how we are doing everything we can not to talk about the Oscars. Along with what you already said, I really think the Selma and American Sniper controversies went a long way to kill any joy this once provided.
Chris: It’s just so hard to get excited about movies that are two months old. Even Selma, which we both love, feels like “been there, done that.” This is what Oscar season does to movies. We saw it two years ago with Argo, too. Everyone loved Argo, then it became an Oscar front-runner and everyone hated it. Somehow, that hasn’t happened to Boyhood or Birdman yet — maybe because each had consistent detractors throughout the year? — but I expect it will once the ceremony is over. Especially Birdman. It feels like people are sharpening knives already to cut that one down. But I’m getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s talk about the one other category on our list for today: Adapted Screenplay. Might it be an actual race? The Imitation Game, Whiplash (lol that this is an “adapted screenplay”) and American Sniper all seem like legitimate options, with The Theory Of Everything hanging around too. (Sorry, Paul Thomas Anderson. You’re just happy to be there.)
Mike: Remember when you and I first saw The Artist? Remember how we laughed and laughed and laughed? Now, because it won Best Picture, we have to go to back alley support groups to admit that we liked that movie. People hate it now, because it had the audacity to win an award — beating movies like War Horse and Hugo. The nerve. OK, yes Adapted Screenplay is a race! And it is silly that Whiplash is in this category — it’s adapted from a short film that was only made to get the real film financed — but I’m going to predict that it wins. People like it, hence it’s sort of surprising Best Picture nomination. I think The Imitation Game is the sort of “Oscar movie” people are starting to get sick of about right now. I do not think American Sniper‘s box office success will carry over to the Oscars, in fact, I think it may hurt its chances. And The Theory of Everything will probably win Best Actor and that’s about it.
Chris: I kind of think Whiplash could win here too. People love that movie. But I’ve got a sneaky suspicion that The Imitation Game takes it, if only because this is the one category The Imitation Game could conceivably win. It isn’t getting Best Picture, Actor, Director or Supporting Actress, and people do love that movie too. (Our pal Kris Tapley has been on that beat for a while: the Academy hearts this movie.) So give me Graham Moore on account of that support and the usual Weinstein Company push, however garish this year’s version of that might be.
Mike: Well, I’m glad we figured that all out. And now we don’t have to talk about the Oscars again until next week, when we discuss the slightly more competitive Best Actor, the not-at-all competitive Best Actress and the kind of competitive Original Screenplay.
Chris: “Slightly more competitive.” Oscars fever, catch it!
Chris Rosen is the managing editor of Huffington Post Entertainment. You can reach him on Twitter. Mike Ryan is the senior entertainment writer at Uproxx. You can contact him directly on Twitter.
