Ah, the glitz, the glamour, and the relentless buzz surrounding the Oscars!

As the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences marches towards the 96th annual Oscar ceremony on Sunday, March 10th 2024, the speculation over potential nominees for the most coveted categories – Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Director – has reached a fever pitch.

Here’s a glance into the crystal ball to discern who might grace the esteemed list of nominees. Oscar nominees will be announced on Tuesday, January 23rd at 5 a.m.

Best Picture

As we wrote yesterday, the leading contenders for the Best Picture Oscar are: Christopher Nolan’s hard-hitting biopic Oppenheimer; Greta Gerwig’s pastel-pink Mattel extravaganza Barbie; Martin Scorsese’s western gangster epic, Killers of the Flower Moon; Yorgos Lanthimos’ fantastical coming-of-age tale, Poor Things; Alexander Payne’s Christmas dramedy The Holdovers; Bradley Cooper’s biopic of composer Leonard Bernstein, Maestro; Cord Jefferson’s feature directorial début, American Fiction; and, writer / director Celine Song’s feature directorial début, the American romantic drama, Past Lives.

After that, who knows who will fill the 9th and 10th spots?

Best Actor

The Best Actor category often shines a light on performances that redefine the craft. Names already swirling in the Oscar conversation are …

Bradley Cooper. Maestro. Cooper’s portrayal of the sexually conflicted composer Leonard Bernstein in a film he wrote, directed and stars in, offers a performance poised to bring him his fifth acting Oscar nomination.

Leonardo DiCaprio. Killers of the Flower Moon. DiCaprio is in the running for his sixth performance under the direction of Martin Scorsese, in which he plays a simpleton who becomes part of a scheme to kill and rob the Osage community.

Colman Domingo. Rustin. In his first lead role, the Emmy-winning star of Euphoria has won universal raves. Domingo brings heart, mind and soul to the part of Bayard Rustin, a Black and gay civil rights activist who organized the 1963 March on Washington.

Paul Giamatti. The Holdovers. This veteran could land a Best Actor nomination — and at this point is actually the odds-on favourite to win Best Actor — 19 years after his prior collaboration with Alexander Payne in Sideways. He again plays a snob, this time a crusty boarding school instructor forced to stay on campus during Christmas break.

Cillian Murphy. Oppenheimer. The Irishman best known for the TV series Peaky Blinders has been doing notable work in film for more than 20 years. But never before has he played a part as widely seen or praised as that of J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic.

Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction. One of the most revered screen actors who’s never received an Oscar nomination, this Emmy winner arguably gives the performance of his career as a cranky college professor who writes books that nobody reads — until he writes one, of a very different sort, under a pen name.

Best Actress

Competition is heating up for the Best Actress Academy Award at Oscars 2024, with several great performances vaulting women into the awards race.

Margot Robbie. Barbie. The shining star of the movie, perfectly capturing Barbie’s toy-like looks and evolving her performance to fit with the movie’s exploration of Barbie’s empowering arc, this two-time Oscar nominee could take home the big prize this year.

Sandra Hüller. Anatomy of a Fall. Cannes Best Actress winner Hüller — who attempts to prove she is not responsible for her husband’s death, in this courtroom drama — carries the film on her shoulders and delivers an exceptional performance.

Carey Mulligan. Maestro. Mulligan plays Leonard Bernstein’s wife Felicia Montealegre, chronicling their heartbreaking, decades-spanning love story through all the highs and lows, in a role that could win her her first Academy Award.

Lily Gladstone. Killers of the Flower Moon. Scorsese’s film is expected to be a massive hit with Academy voters. Gladstone’s role as Mollie Burkhart is at the heart of the movie, and is essential to the film’s emotional core. Thus far in the Oscar race, Ms. Gladstone has picked up all of the critics, and last Sunday the Golden Globe, Best Actress prize.

Emma Stone. Poor Things. Stone’s dazzling, revelatory performance as a Frankenstein creature brought to life is the expected winner of the Best Actress 2024 Oscar.

Best Supporting Actor

Ryan Gosling. Barbie. Gosling is definitely Kenough to run away with this whole thing.

Robert Downey Jr. Oppenheimer. On the campaign trail, Downey reminds voters of his outstanding work as Louis Strauss, transforming his appearance and affect.

Robert De Niro. Killers of the Flower Moon. De Niro’s villainous turn as William Hale is a lock for a nomination.

Mark Ruffalo. Poor Things. Ruffalo plays a promiscuous reprobate who can’t deal with a sexually empowered woman in Poor Things. Ruffalo is definitely in the mix, as is Willem Dafoe in that same film as a disfigured mad scientist/father figure.

Charles Melton. May December. Vaulting from TV’s Riverdale to a fascinating role as a man seduced by a married woman (Julianne Moore) when he was in middle school has picked up all of the critics awards thus far.

Best Supporting Actress

This category promises an array of talent.

Juliette Binoche. The Taste of Things. As Eugénie, Binoche plays the personal cook to renowned gourmet Dodin Bouffant in his country home in 1889 France, the French reverence for the art of cuisine serving to define the film.

Emily Blunt. Oppenheimer. A formidable contender, potentially signaling a promising awards journey ahead.

Danielle Brooks. The Color Purple. Brooks and Taraji P. Henson, the standouts from Blitz Bazawule’s daring re-imagining of Alice Walker’s beloved novel are both vying for recognition in this fiercely competitive supporting actress race.

Penélope Cruz. Ferrari. Cruz fuels Oscar talk with her extraordinary turn in Michael Mann’s Ferrari biopic, as the scorching, melancholic heart of the film.

Jodie Foster. Nyad. Could this be Oscar #3 for Nyad scene-stealer Jodie Foster?

Da’Vine Joy Randolph. The Holdovers. The odds-on favourite in this category, Randolph delivers a standout performance in as Mary Lamb, a cafeteria worker mourning her son’s loss.

Best Director

The visionary minds behind the lens are poised for recognition.

Frontrunners

Christopher Nolan. Oppenheimer.
Greta Gerwig. Barbie.
Martin Scorsese. Killers of the Flower Moon.
Yorgos Lanthimos. Poor Things.
Jonathan Glazer. The Zone of Interest.

Major Threats

Cord Jefferson. American Fiction.
Celine Song. Past Lives.
Bradley Cooper. Maestro.
Alexander Payne. The Holdovers.
Todd Haynes. May December.
Blitz Bazawule. The Color Purple.
Ava DuVernay. Origin.