Oscars 2016 Predictions: Is 'The Revenant' a Lock for Best Picture After BAFTA Win?
"The Revenant" surprised at the BAFTA awards, winning the Best Film of the year and gaining a good position in the Oscar race.
Alejandro González Iñárritu's film led the race with nine nominations and ended up taking home five awards, including Best Director and Best Actor. The film had previously won the at Golden Globes for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor, and it surprised at the Directors Guild of America. With all these wins, it now seems that the film is the front-runner to win at the Oscars in two weeks. However, it is important to look at the history of the BAFTA awards to see if the accolades really correlate with Oscars wins.
The BAFTA is an important organization because 500 Academy members are among the 6,000 voters, which is about the same number of voters for the Oscars. Additionally, the award show has predicted many Oscar wins that no other organization had before. So is "The Revenant" likely to repeat at the Oscars? That remains a question.
From 2008 until 2013 the BAFTA had coincided with the Academy on Best Picture winners, giving the award to "Slumdog Millionaire," "The Hurt Locker," "The King's Speech," "The Artist," "Argo" and "12 years a Slave." Before that, the Academy and the BAFTA coincided in 2000 with "Gladiator" and in 2003 with "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."
However, over the past 15 years, the BAFTA has diverged more with the Oscars. Last year the BAFTA gave the award to "Boyhood" and in 2007 it awarded "Atonement" Best Film. Both of those films also won the Golden Globe but not the Academy Award. The BAFTA also diverged from the Academy Awards in 2006 by giving "The Queen" Best Film and in 2005 when "Brokeback Mountain" won. "The Aviator," "The Pianist" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" were also among BAFTA winners that did not win at the Oscars.
As a result, it is hard to take "The Revenant" BAFTA win as a sure sign of front-runner status at the Oscars, especially when the film has many things going against it. The film did not get nominated for the SAG ensemble award and was also not nominated at the Oscars for Screenplay. The last time a film won the Best Picture Oscar with no screenplay nomination was when "Titanic" won in 1997. Additionally, Iñárritu won last year for his work on "Birdman," making it even more difficult for him to win this year, as the Academy rarely gives consecutive wins.
However, rules can be broken, and it is definitely possible, especially after last year when "Birdman" won the Oscar without the coveted Best Editing nomination. Since "Ordinary People" in 1980, every Best Picture before "Birdman" had been nominated for Best Editing.
"The Revenant" is also nominated for the most Oscars and is also one of the highest grossing Best Picture nominees this year.
While "The Revenant" has a nice lead, the film could be threatened by "Spotlight," which has more than a Best Original Screenplay win secured after its performance at the BAFTA and the WGA awards. The BAFTA only nominated the film for three awards and the Golden Globes gave it little attention. But the Academy gave "Spotlight" a surprising six nominations, which few expected.
Then there is "The Big Short," which has the Best Adapted Screenplay award in the bag after it won the PGA. The film received five nominations at the BAFTA and the Academy Awards, and it has been surprising at Guilds.
Each of these two films could end up being the Best Picture winner, especially if the Academy looks to diverge from the BAFTA and the Golden Globes.
While the Best Picture race is definitely still up in the air, the BAFTA reinforced Leonardo DiCaprio and Brie Larson as front-runners for their performances in "The Revenant" and "Room." Both have already won Globes, BAFTA awards, Critics' Choice awards and SAG awards.
The Supporting performance categories are still a bit unpredictable, especially since these categories have seen several variations in every award ceremony. Kate Winslet won the Best Supporting Actress award for "Steve Jobs," adding to her Golden Globe win. However, on both occasions her biggest adversary in the Oscar race Alicia Vikander was nominated for "The Danish Girl" in the Lead category. Vikander was nominated for "Ex Machina" at the BAFTA and the Golden Globes, a performance that she was snubbed for at the Oscars. With Vikander nominated at the Oscars for "The Danish Girl" in the Supporting category, a performance she has already won the SAG and Critics' Choice for, Winslet will likely not repeat.
Meanwhile, Mark Rylance won best Supporting Actor at the BAFTA for "Bridge of Spies." At the beginning of the season, Rylance was thought to be the front-runner, but he eventually fell under the radar after Sylvester Stallone won the Golden Globe and the Critics' Choice. Stallone was not nominated for the BAFTA, giving Rylance a chance. However, at the SAG Awards, where Stallone was also not nominated, Rylance lost to Idris Elba, who is not nominated for the Oscars. With so much inconsistency, this category could go anywhere. Stallone is the presumed winner, but if the Academy wants to follow suit with the BAFTA and award every Best Picture nominee, then Rylance could win.
Finally, Best Director seems like a wide open race. Iñárritu won the award at the BAFTA, the Golden Globes and the DGA. But is the Academy willing to give the award to the same director two years straight? The DGA made history by awarding Iñárritu the prize two years in a row, and that organization has almost always correlated with the Academy.
Viewers will see how all of these races shake out in two weeks.