 Bet the Oscars
The Academy Awards celebrate their 80th anniversary this Sunday and odds are posted for each of the major categories.
The Coen brothers’ dark movie No Country for Old Men is the front runner in some of the more significant categories. No Country for Old Men and Will There be Blood lead all contenders with eight nominations, but critics and pundits agree that ‘No Country’ will hail as the big winner this Sunday.
“The Coen brothers have a masterpiece on their hands” says Peter Childs, lead oddsmaker for Belmont.com. “From the opening scene, they suck you into a brutally dark thriller that takes place in a border town in Texas. We’ve installed No Country for Old Men as a significant favourite at -300 for Best Picture and the Coen brothers are -450 to take home the Best Director nomination.”
While there are other nominations in the running for Best Picture and Director, there is no question which actors are going to take home the golden statues. Daniel-Day Lewis is -1500 for the Best Actor nomination, while Javier Bardem is -1200 to win Best Supporting Actor.
Lewis’s portrayal of an oil tycoon obsessed with making his fortune in the early 1900s is mesmerising.
“I just can’t see how Lewis cannot get this award,” says Childs. “Will there be Bloo’ is a terrific movie and a character driven movie. Lewis carries this film with his intense and larger than life portrayal of a man driven to make his riches in oil.”
Lewis has won every significant Best Actor award leading up to the Oscars, including the Golden Globe and the SAG Award, which are very solid indicators for Oscar success.
Like the Best Actor award, Best Supporting Actor is also as good as sewn up. Javier Bardem’s portrayal of Anton Chigurh is a masterful performance and he dominates the movie with his presence.
Anton Chigurh, “is more than a monster or a villain — he's a singular force of nature: powerful, inexplicable and capable of anything. He's the devil incarnate,” No Country for Old Men co-star Josh Brolin said of the film.
As much as the Actor nominations are foregone conclusions, the opposite can be said for ladies competition. The race for Best Actress and Supporting Actress is wide open.
Leading the way for the nomination of Best Actress is Julie Christie for her portrayal of Fiona Anderson in Away from Her. She plays a woman who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and after her husband puts her in a nursing home, she falls for another man. It’s a gripping story of love and coping with the debilitating disease of Alzheimer’s.
Christie is currently listed at -200 for Best Actress and while Childs notes she’s deserving of the nomination, he thinks there’s a sleeper in this category.
“She received all the early money and we were forced to increase her odds. But I think Nova Scotia native Ellen Page from the comedy Juno has some value at 4-1. She gives a great performance and makes light of a very serious subject, teenage pregnancy. She definitely wins my vote for Best Actress.”
As for Best Supporting Actress, it appears to be a two- person race between Amy Grant of Gone Baby Gone and Cate Blanchett of I’m Not There.
“This race is a complete toss up, and so far the money coming in reflects that. We’re booking similar action on both actresses,” says Childs.
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