Who/What Were the Sixth Place Finishers at the Oscar Nominations?

Dear readers, the Oscar nominations have been sitting in our minds for a few days now. Often, I like to wait a bit before I do some of these kinds of pieces. On the one hand, it can make some of the immediate emotions feel less fresh. On the other hand, however, it allows for perhaps a bit more rational thinking. So, I’ve split the difference, doing a piece last week and presenting another one today. To that end, I wanted to once again play around with an exercise to see who and what just missed on an Academy Award nomination. Imagine if, in most categories, we had six nominees instead of five? What would nomination morning have looked like? To some degree, this is an expansion of the annual “alternate” Oscar nominations piece (found here most recently) that I do, as well as a follow-up to last year’s experiment here. Hopefully, it’s fun, and as always, it’s a clear invitation to submit your own picks/discuss who or what would have taken that final position.

As always, some categories are always pretty cut and dry. Others, however, are far from obvious. Plus, below the line is harder to figure out, as we all know, but most of them have one or two fairly clear probabilities. Mostly, it’s just a fun little exercise, especially as you see how much better something you like might have done, if only one or two more things would have broken their way.

Obviously, I’m going to want you all to chime in, but first…my picks are up. Here now are the sixth (or in one case, eleventh) place Oscar finishers, in my humble opinion:

BEST PICTURE: A Real Pain

BEST DIRECTOR: Edward Berger – Conclave

BEST ACTOR: Daniel Craig – Queer

BEST ACTRESS: Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Margaret Qualley – The Substance

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Challengers

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Dune: Part Two

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Moana 2

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: A Complete Unknown

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Conclave

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Dune: Part Two

BEST FILM EDITING: Dune: Part Two

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING: The Apprentice

BEST SOUND: Gladiator II

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Mufasa: The Lion King

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Challengers

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: The Wild Robot (Kiss the Sky)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Daughters

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE: Kneecap

Who and what did you think were next in line for Oscar nominations? Let us know!