Oscars 2020 Predictions: Who Will Win Best Picture, Actor and Actress

Original Score

✓ “Joker,” Hildur Gudnadottir

“Little Women,” Alexandre Desplat

“Marriage Story,” Randy Newman

“1917,” Thomas Newman

“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” John Williams

Thomas Newman has been nominated in this category 14 times without a win, and though “1917” could earn the most Oscars of the night, I don’t think its score will triumph. At least Newman won’t lose to his cousin Randy, the composer for “Marriage Story”: Instead, both Newmans will probably fall to the Golden Globe and BAFTA winner Gudnadottir, whose striking compositions for “Joker” give a voice to the main character’s madness.

Original Song

✓ “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” “Rocketman”

“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away,” “Toy Story 4”

“I’m Standing With You,” “Breakthrough”

“Into the Unknown,” “Frozen 2”

“Stand Up,” “Harriet”

“Let It Go” triumphed in this category seven years ago, but can the new Idina Menzel power ballad from “Frozen 2” win the same Oscar? It will face strong competition from Elton John’s end-credits “Rocketman” song, sung with the film’s star, Taron Egerton. Their duet, “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” has already won the Golden Globe, and the snub of “Frozen 2” in the animated-film category suggests that voters aren’t eager to rubber-stamp a retread. In a close race, I’d give this one to Elton.

Production Design

✓ “1917”

“The Irishman”

“Jojo Rabbit”

“Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”

“Parasite”

This is one of the night’s trickiest three-way races. “Parasite” gave us the most memorable location of the year with the ultramodern Park house, but contemporary films only win in this category when they’re impressively futuristic (“Black Panther”) or self-consciously retro (“La La Land”). “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” masterfully recreates 1969 Los Angeles, but the film seems to have lost awards momentum. “1917” turns every new location into a striking set piece and the camera’s constancy allows plenty of time to explore those sets, so that’s my pick, even though I hope “Parasite” can pull it off.

Cinematography

✓ “1917,” Roger Deakins

“The Irishman,” Rodrigo Prieto

“Joker,” Lawrence Sher

“The Lighthouse,” Jarin Blaschke

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Robert Richardson

For more than two decades, Deakins was one of Oscar’s most famous bridesmaids, but now that he’s in, he’s really in: After winning his first Academy Award, for “Blade Runner 2049,” just two years ago, the veteran cinematographer will earn a second statuette, for his fluid work on “1917.” If all those complicated long takes weren’t enough to clinch it for Deakins, the bravura nighttime sequence halfway through the film surely would be.

Costume Design

✓ “Little Women”

“The Irishman”

“Jojo Rabbit”

“Joker”

“Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”

With the recent exception of the world-building winners “Black Panther” and “Mad Max: Fury Road,” this Oscar almost always goes to a period film set in the distant past. That nixes “Joker,” “The Irishman” and “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” as films set in the 1960s and ’70s haven’t scored here since … well, the 1960s and ’70s. In the face-off between the colorful “Jojo Rabbit,” which won with the Costume Designers Guild, and BAFTA’s choice, “Little Women,” I’m picking the latter: When in doubt, go with the one that has the most frocks.

Makeup and Hair

✓ “Bombshell”

“Joker”

“Judy”

“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”

“1917”

It’s the first time that this category has expanded the number of nominees to five from the traditional three, but that hardly makes the contest any less of a blowout: “Bombshell” is guaranteed to win for its uncanny, prosthetics-aided transformation of Charlize Theron into the angular Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.