The “Alternate” Academy Award Nominees

Welcome to a fun little exercise that I like to do every year. The day after the Academy Award nominees are announced, I like to look at what the alternate version of the nominations would be. Imagine a Best Actor race headlined by Delroy Lindo for Da 5 Bloods, for example. Or, what about any of the below the line categories. Mostly, this just something fun to do the day after the agony and the ecstasy of the Oscar nominations. Here, Never Rarely Sometimes Always isn’t shut out, while Ben Affleck gets into Actor. Read on for my various other examples below!

Just to explain this a bit more, what you’re going to see is how the Oscar nominations would look in an alternate universe. Essentially, if you remove the actual nominees from each Academy Award category, what would it look like? Would any categories look better? In most years, the answer is usually yes. This year, however? I actually think the Academy largely made the right calls. You can see next and decide for yourself…

Here we go…the “alternate” Academy Award nominees:

BEST PICTURE

1. One Night in Miami…
2. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
3. News of the World
4. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
5. Another Round
6. Soul
7. Da 5 Bloods
8. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
9. The White Tiger
10. Emma.

BEST DIRECTOR

1. Aaron Sorkin – The Trial of the Chicago 7
2. Regina King – One Night in Miami…
3. Florian Zeller – The Father
4. Shaka King – Judas and the Black Messiah
5. Darius Marder – Sound of Metal

BEST ACTOR

1. Delroy Lindo – Da 5 Bloods
2. Tahar Rahim – The Mauritanian
3. Sacha Baron Cohen – Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
4. Ben Affleck – The Way Back
5. Tom Hanks – News of the World

BEST ACTRESS

1. Sophia Loren – The Life Ahead
2. Amy Adams – Hillbilly Elegy
3. Zendaya – Malcolm & Marie
4. Rosamund Pike – I Care a Lot
5. Sidney Flanigan – Never Rarely Sometimes Always

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. Chadwick Boseman – Da 5 Bloods
2. Jared Leto – The Little Things
3. Bill Murray – On the Rocks
4. Mark Rylance – The Trial of the Chicago 7
5. Bo Burnham – Promising Young Woman

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. Helena Zengel – News of the World
2. Jodie Foster – The Mauritanian
3. Ellen Burstyn – Pieces of a Woman
4. Dominique Fishback – Judas and the Black Messiah
5. Talia Ryder – Never Rarely Sometimes Always

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1. Mank
2. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
3. Palm Springs
4. Soul
5. Another Round

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

1. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
2. News of the World
3. First Cow
4. i’m thinking of ending things
5. The Mauritanian

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

1. The Croods: A New Age
2. Earwig and the Witch
3. The Willoughbys
4. On-Gaku: Our Sound
5. Trolls: World Tour

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

1. The Trial of the Chicago 7
2. Emma.
3. Mulan
4. Birds of Prey
5. Promising Young Woman

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. Cherry
2. Minari
3. Da 5 Bloods
4. Tenet
5. i’m thinking of ending things

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

1. The Trial of the Chicago 7
2. Birds of Prey
3. Promising Young Woman
4. The Prom
5. Judas and the Black Messiah

BEST FILM EDITING

1. Mank
2. Minari
3. Judas and the Black Messiah
4. Tenet
5. Da 5 Bloods

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

1. Birds of Prey
2. The Little Things
3. Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
4. The Glorias
5. One Night in Miami…

BEST SOUND

1. Tenet
2. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
3. The Trial of the Chicago 7
4. The Midnight Sky
5. The Invisible Man

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

1. Welcome to Chechnya
2. Mank
3. Soul
4. Birds of Prey
5. Bloodshot

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1. Tenet
2. The Midnight Sky
3. The Little Things
4. Mulan
5. The Invisible Man

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

1. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Wuhan Flu)
2. Minari (Rain Song)
3. All in: The Fight for Democracy (Turntables)
4. Sound of Metal (Green)
5. Mulan (Loyal Brave True)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1. Dick Johnson is Dead
2. Boys State
3. All In: The Fight for Democracy
4. Welcome to Chechnya
5. The Truffle Hunters

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

1. I’m No Longer Here
2. La Llorona
3. The Mole Agent
4. Night of the Kings
5. Two of Us

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments section!