With award season in full swing in the world of cinema, the biggest ceremony of them all, the Academy Awards is right around the corner, and just over a month away on March 27. Last year’s ceremony was hugely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and was held away from the Dolby Theatre for the first time since it had been built in 2001, with organisers opting to hold it at Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles, with parts of the event filmed at The Dolby Theatre, and there were even ‘satellite hubs’ dotted around the world so non-Americans could collect their awards, including one of the BFI Southbank in London, England. This year presents a return to normality for the Academy, with the Oscars back in his rightful home of Dolby Theatre and no doubt the red carpet will be teeming with stars from all over eager to make up for a lost year. On February 8 this year, the nominations came in, and the talking point that came from that was the incredible ten nominations for Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” the most ever for a film directed by a woman. Here we look at the big favourites with the bookies to win an Academy Award in all the big categories.
Best Picture
This year’s ceremony has ten nominees for the Best Picture category, and according to odds collected by Compare.bet, there is a clear favourite: “The Power of the Dog,” which was released by Netflix in December 2021. Campion’s dark psychological western drama set in Montana in 1925 has an all-star cast including Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit McPhee. Odds are currently as low as 8/13 for “The Power of the Dog” to win the award, but with still over a month until the ceremony, much could change. Campion’s film’s biggest competition comes in the shape of “Belfast” and “West Side Story.” Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical coming of age drama “Belfast” follows the tale of a child growing up in Northern Ireland’s capital at the beginning of The Troubles in 1969. The film is seen as the second favourite with the bookies, with odds as low as 17/5 in some places, while the remake of the 1961 Steven Sondheim classic “West Side Story” is third at 9/1. “West Side Story” is a modern adaptation of one of the most successful films in the history of the Academy Awards, as the original won 10 awards in 1961. This version is directed by Steven Spielberg, and his golden touch is clear to see throughout this film, with truly gorgeous cinematography.
Best Actor
Bookmakers also sense this category is a bit of a foregone conclusion, with low odds of 8/15 for the favourite Will Smith for his role as the father of tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams in “King Richard.” Many cinema fans feel Smith is long overdue an Oscar, having been previously nominated twice for this award for his roles in “Ali” (2002) and “The Pursuit of Happyness” (2006). However, it should be noted that at last year’s ceremony in this same category, Chadwick Boseman was an extremely heavy favourite going into the ceremony, with an implied probability of over 90% and failed to win the award, with the Oscar going to Anthony Hopkins, for his role as Anthony in “The Father.” So despite Smith’s narrow odds, don’t be surprised if one of the outsiders takes home the award. His biggest rival for the award are Benedict Cumberbatch for his role as Phil Burbank in “The Power of the Dog,” with odds at 7/2, and the dark horse for the award could well be Andrew Garfield, who has odds of 36/5 to win the award for his role as Jonathan Larson in “Tick, Tick… Boom!”
Best Actress
Like last year, the award for Best Actress is the hardest one to call for the bookmakers. There are four women with odds as narrow as 7/1, showing quite how open this one is. Nicole Kidman is the current frontrunner, with her odds at 11/8 to win the Oscar for her role as Lucille Ball/Lucy Ricardo in “Being the Ricardos”, while Kristen Stewart is 9/2 for her role as Diana, Princess of Wales in “Spencer”, Olivia Colman is 11/2 for her role as Leda Caruso in “The Lost Daughter,” and Jessica Chastain, who played Tammy Faye Bakker in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” is 7/1.
Best Supporting Actress/Actor
Both of these awards have runaway favourites with the bookies. In the men’s category, Kodi Smit-McPhee, who played Peter Gordon in “The Power of the Dog” has odds as low as 1/2 to win the award, while Ciaran Hinds (38/5), who played Pop in ‘Belfast’ and Troy Kotsur (100/30), who played Frank Rossi in ‘CODA’ are both seen as having an outside chance at the award. The favourite in the women’s category is Ariana Dubose, who is the 3/10 favourite for her role as Anita in “West Side Story,” with Kirsten Dunst, who played Rose Gordon in “The Power of the Dog,” her only real competition at 28/5.
Best Director
With “The Power of the Dog” being the most nominated film at the entire ceremony, and the massive favourite to win Best Picture, it should come as no surprise that Jane Campion is odds on to win the award for Best Director (1/6). If this happens as expected, Campion would become just the third woman to win the award in Oscars history, after Kathryn Bigelow’s win for “The Hurt Locker” in 2010, and last year’s winner Chloe Zhou for “Nomadland.” With this nomination, Campion became the first woman to be nominated for this award twice, after “The Piano” (1994).
