We’ve heard from a number of anonymous academy voters about they picked for this weekend’s Oscars. This time it’s an actress. She understands the importance of a weighted Best Picture category but only picked three for her ballot. So we started at the top.
What did you do for Best Picture?
“Because it’s preferential there were a couple of films I didn’t want to see win. I read the screenplay for ‘Green Book’ and I thought it was a terrific screenplay. I voted for ‘Green Book’ and I voted for ‘Roma’ second, again, because it’s a good screenplay. And third was ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ I didn’t put any of the other films down. The ballot just says it’s a preferential ballot. And I felt there are a couple of anomalies on the ballot. I don’t care if ‘Roma’ or ‘Green Book’ wins. Those are my top two. And it’s gonna be one of those and I don’t care which one it is.
“But ‘Roma’ is also listed for Best Foreign Film and I voted for ‘Cold War.’ So if you think about it ‘Roma’ could actually win two categories for Best Film. I hated ‘Vice’ so much that it appears nowhere on my ballot. I thought it was a ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketch. And I’ve liked Adam McKay’s other work, but I thought he just went off the deep end.”
Since she picked “Green Book” as her top film, she was disappointed Peter Farrelly wasn’t nominated for Best Director. That led her to a wild card for Best Director.
“I voted for Pawel Pawlikowski for ‘Cold War.’ I liked it.”
And her choice for Best Actress had nothing to with who she actually likes.
“Best Actress was a hard one because I don’t particularly care for Glenn Close. But I succumbed to the idea that Olivia Colman is going to be around for a long time to win a bunch of awards and Glenn Close I’ve really liked in a couple of other things she’s done and she didn’t win so I voted for her. Isn’t that crazy?”
For Best Actor she had a favorite, but again it didn’t top her ballot.
“I really wanted Willem Dafoe. I like him as an actor so much, but I voted for Rami Malek because I think he really did a great job.”
For Best Supporting Actor she left Mahershala Ali alone in the back seat of her favorite movie. Instead, she voted for …
“I thought Richard E. Grant was fabulous. Melissa McCarthy would not have been as great as she was if it hadn’t been for him. That’s why I picked him.”
And for Best Supporting Actress, again the movie didn’t matter. It was the performance.
“I voted for Regina King. I didn’t like the movie, but I thought she really pulled it off.”
Be sure to check out how our experts rank this year’s Oscar contenders. Then take a look at the most up-to-date combined odds before you make your own Oscar predictions. Don’t be afraid to jump in now since you can keep changing your predictions until winners are announced on February 24.
