Hollywood doesn’t have much time to reel after today’s, somewhat shocking, Oscar nominations as tonight they need to get all dolled up and head to the Critics' Choice Awards. We predict who will be the big winners of the night...
We now know that Jennifer Aniston will **not **be in with a chance of taking home an Academy Award this year, despite being heavily tipped for a nod for her role in Cake. However, not all hope is lost as she could still defy the odds and be the Critics' Choice Best Actress if she can beat out the ladies who did get Oscar noms: Marion Cotillard, Felicity Jones, Julianne Moore, Rosamund Pike and Reese Witherspoon. Julianne Moore has already scooped the Golden Globe for her performance in Still Alice so the odds are in her favour (excuse the Hunger Games pun) but we’ll keep our fingers crossed for Jen.
The cast and crew of Selma are also hoping to prove the Academy wrong; the civil rights film received only two Oscar nominations but is up for five CC Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor for David Oyelowo and Best Acting Ensemble. The Critics' Choice Awards are known for often going against the grain and we predict that Oyelowo could steal Best Actor from favourite, and fellow Brit, Eddie Redmayne, however, Birdman’s Michael Keaton could also prove the one to beat.
Birdman, Boyhood, Gone Girl, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Selma, The Theory of Everything and Whiplash will battle it out in the Best Picture category and our money’s on Birdman or The Grand Budapest Hotel. The films are up for 13 and 11 awards respectively and are sure to be the stars of the evening.
In other categories, Richard Linklater’s 12-year labour of love Boyhood looks set to land him Best Director as well as Best Supporting Actress for Patricia Arquette. Meanwhile fans of J.K. Simmons can expect him to triumph as Best Supporting Actor for his turn as a sadistic music teacher in Whiplash and in the Best Animation category, The Lego Movie is looking like the favourite.
The 2015 Critic’s Choice Awards take place tonight at The Hollywood Palladium in LA, with Kevin Costner, Ron Howard, and Jessica Chastain all receiving special awards during the ceremony.
You can see the full list of nominees here.
by Laura Donaldson. Follow Laura on Twitter @lauradonaldson_