My Oscar predictions

Tomorrow is the big day!  The Academy Award nominations announcement will begin at 7:30 CT with the tech-y noms first, and then approximately eight minutes later the big ones will be revealed.  I've decided to list my predictions for the acting nominations with those I feel most likely to be nominated listed first.  Some of the categories, particularly Best Actor, are going to be tough.  Here we go!

Best Actor in a Leading Role
1. Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)
2. Michael Keaton (Birdman)
3. Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)
4. David Oyelowo (Selma)
5. Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)

*Bradley Cooper (America Sniper)
*Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
*Steve Carell (Foxcatcher)

I'm really only confident in the first three.  Honestly, any of the alternates wouldn't surprise me, but I would love to see Steve Carell recognized.

Best Actress in a Leading Role
1. Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
2. Reese Witherspoon (Wild)
3. Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)
4. Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)
5. Amy Adams (Big Eyes)

*Jennifer Aniston (Cake)

My hope is that Aniston replaces either Adams or Jones.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
1, J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
2. Edward Norton (Birdman)
3. Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)
4. Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)
5. Robert Duvall (The Judge)

*Tom Wilkinson (Selma)

Simmons is taking this so everyone else is basically going to be an also-ran anyway.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1. Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
2. Emma Stone (Birdman)
3. Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)
4. Meryl Streep (Into the Woods)
5. Renee Russo (Nightcrawler)

*Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)

Again, I'm confident in the top three, and I do think Meryl will get in, but she's not locked.  I wouldn't mind if Chastain made it in, but I just have a feeling the Academy likes Nightcrawler, Russo would be a first time nominee and she did just get a BAFTA nod last week.  A surprise nom for Carmen Ejogo in Selma, Laura Dern in Wild or even Tilda Swinton in Snowpiercer would not be completely out of  left field.  Do I even dare bring up Naomi Watts in St. Vincent?.  This and Best Actor will be the most fun categories to watch.

The live telecast can be streamed online here.

Globes aftermath

Well, as expected, Patricia Arquette took home the trophy last night at the Golden Globe Awards in Meryl's category.  Despite the loss, Meryl looked amazing and created quite the Twitter buzz when Margaret Cho, dressed as a North Korean army general, posed for a picture with her during the telecast.



Nice little attempt at photobombing by Ben Cumberbatch.  Oscar nominations will be announced Thursday!

My Golden Globe predictions

The Golden Globe Awards are of course tomorrow night.  Typically I'll throw in my two cents and list my predictions.  This year is no different.  I'll rank Meryl's category and then just list who I think will win in some other major film races.

Actress in a Supporting role
1. Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
2. Emma Stone (Birdman)
3. Meryl Streep (Into the Woods)
4. Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)
5. Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)

Best Picture Drama:  Boyhood
Best Picture Musical/Comedy:  Birdman
Best Director:  Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
Best Actress Drama:  Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
Best Actor Drama:  Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)
Best Actress Musical/Comedy:  Julianne Moore (Maps to the Stars)
Best Actor Musical/Comedy:  Michael Keaton (Birdman)
Best Supporting Actor:  J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

This is probably Meryl's only chance at an award this season, and it's a long shot, but stranger things have happened.  I'd love to see Emily Blunt take home the trophy for Musical/Comedy Actress, but I'm predicting Julianne Moore to take BOTH lead acting categories.  Has that ever happened?  Kate Winslet won Drama Actress and Supporting Actress six years ago, but I'm not sure anyone has won both leads.  If Florence Foster Jenkins somehow gets released by the end of next year could we see Meryl in Moore's place for both Florence and Ricki and the Flash?  Never know!

Oh, and anyone think HBO has hired a new director for Master Class?!?!  I'm probably the only person in the world who's holding on to that one, but until I hear confirmation otherwise or Meryl starts filming a different project, I'll carry the torch of hope.  Enjoy the Globes.  

No BAFTA nod for Streep

As I expected, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts has overlooked Meryl for a nomination for her supporting role in Into the Woods.  I'm really hoping that despite this snub we'll see her recognized next week for the big one, giving us back to back years of her nominated in all televised award shows (Golden Globes, SAGs, BFCA and Academy Awards), without the BAFTA.  The nominees in Meryl's category include:

1. Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
2. Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)
3. Renee Russo (Nightcrawler)
4. Imelda Stuanton (Pride)
5. Emma Stone (Birdman)

Into the Woods was recognized in both the Costume Design (Colleen Atwood) and Hair/Makeup (Peter Swords King and J. Roy Helund--Meryl's personal hair/makeup man) categories, not surprisingly.

The full list of nominees can be seen here.

Couple interesting things I noticed: Steve Carell in supporting for Foxcatcher?  Amy Adams sneaked in for Big Eyes as did Ralph Fiennes for The Grand Budapest Hotel.  Congrats to all.

The BAFTAs will be awarded on February 8.

"Into the Woods" UK premiere press conference

More fantastic insights from our girl.  I just love how she communicates the intricacies of the themes in the film.  She also sheds some light on Russel Crowe's recent comments that many interpret to be sexist.  Enjoy.

Taping of the Graham Norton show is probably already complete, so hopefully we'll have access to that soon. I believe it airs Friday in the UK, the same day as the BAFTA nominations.    

New featurette for "Into the Woods"

Yesterday a sort of "making of" featurette was released for Into the Woods. 



The film continues to slay at the box office.  In its second weekend it grossed another $19 million for second place, and currently stands at about $92 million domestically.

 BAFTA nods come out on Friday and I'm not optimistic for Meryl, although Emily Blunt may have a good shot at a lead nom.  If either of them happens to pick up a Golden Globe Award this weekend, it could obviously boost the box office draw.

Looking ahead for 2015

Happy New Year! Another great year for Word on the Streep. I would like to thank any and all readers/commenters for your viewership. It makes maintaining this blog worth it when I know my posts are actually read on occasion. I truly appreciate all your insights and enthusiasm!

This should be a pretty busy year for Ms Meryl.  Into the Woods is currently slaying at the box office.  The Golden Globe Awards are next weekend, Oscar nominations come out four days later, then SAGs at the end of January.  I'm still hoping beyond hope that by some miracle Master Class still gets made, as it was set to begin filming this month.  Florence Foster Jenkins is scheduled for filming in May (still think it's a possibility for a 2015 release).

Over the past week, several sources have been now listing an updated release date for Ricki and the Flash,which has apparently been pushed back from June 26 to August 7.  The August date is similar to both Julie & Julia and Hope Springs.  Considering Wikipedia, Box Office Mojo and an article in The Atlantic now list the new date, I've gone ahead and changed it on the countdown.

You can see I've also added a countdown for Suffragette, as there's finally a believable release date for the film of September 11 in the U.K.  No word yet on its U.S. date, but as it's a British film, I don't imagine it will be before the 11th.  

Finally, with the recent news from FilmNation, we may see Meryl re-teaming with Bob De Niro in the fall to film The Good House.  It's likely Meryl will take some time off after this year, but hopefully it's not more than a year between projects.  I prefer when she has at least one picture released every calendar year.

Cheers to Meryl, the new year and to all contributors on this site!