We Have an Oscar Front-Runner
“Atonement,” the movie adaptation of Ian McEwan’s 2001 novel set in 1930s and 1940s England, has just opened the Venice Film Festival. Most of the reviews are rapturous, including this one from Variety. Can the film go all the way to the 2008 Oscar winner’s circle? Here are some thoughts about that subject from my friend Rex Okpodu.
Rex says: “Can we not already guess the trajectory for this movie? It wins or is a runner-up at Venice. It does well with critics, gets a Golden Globe nomination, and possibly wins the GG for drama. Come January, the movie will be a front-runner, and will get an Oscar nod for Best Picture, along with other noms. Then it will fall to a prestige American movie such as ‘American Gangster’ or something else. Keira Knightley (pictured here) may even get an Oscar nom for Best Actress, which she will not win. (Helen Mirren won last year, and the Academy will not give Best Actress to Brits two years in a row.) James McAvoy will possibly get a nod for Best Actor. Of course, it will get a Screenplay nom for Adaptation, which it could win. And Joe Wright, whose last movie was ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ could get a nomination for Best Director.”
