Gary Oldman will win his first Oscar this weekend in a successful night for British filmmaking at the 90th Academy Awards, Bing has predicted.
The 59-year-old is expected to take home the prize for Best Actor for his portrayal of Sir Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour (below), which focuses on the early days of the Second World War.
Microsoft’s search engine gives Oldman, who was nominated for an Oscar for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in 2012 but has never won the award, a 56% chance of landing the Oscar. He is up against Daniel Day-Lewis, Denzel Washington, Timothee Chalamet and fellow Brit Daniel Kaluuya, but has already landed a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for his latest role.
However, Darkest Hour is expected to lose out to The Shape of Water for the coveted Best Picture Oscar. The fantasy drama about a janitor who forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature has a 30% chance of winning, ahead of crime drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (23%), comedy film Lady Bird (11%) and horror movie Get Out (10%).
Frances McDormand has a 56% chance of being named Best Actress for her role as a mother challenging local authorities to solve her daughter’s murder in Three Billboards (below). It would be the Chicago-born actress’s second Oscar after she took home the prize for Fargo in 1997. Saoirse Ronan (17%), Sally Hawkins (13%), Margot Robbie (8%) and three-time winner Meryl Streep (6%) are also in the running for this year’s award.
Bing expects American actor Sam Rockwell to pick up this year’s Oscar for Best Supporting Actor following his first ever nomination. The Three Billboards star has a 54% chance of winning, ahead of Willem Dafoe (21%), Christopher Plummer (10%), Richard Jenkins (8%) and Woody Harrelson (7%).
Allison Janney, known for her roles in TV series The West Wing and hit moves American Beauty and The Help, is predicted to win the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in I, Tonya. Her performance in the movie, which tells the story of ice skater Tonya Harding, has given Janney a 53% chance of taking home the top prize. She is up against Laurie Metcalf (27%), Octavia Spencer (9%), Lesley Manville (6%) and Mary J Blige (5%).
Guillermo del Toro will be named Best Director for The Shape of Water, ahead of Christopher Nolan.
However, there will still be plenty of winners from the UK. Bing has predicted that Roger Deakins will win Best Cinematography for Blade Runner 2049; Lucy Sibbick and David Malinowski will win the Best Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar for their work on Darkest hour; and Alex Gibson will take home the award for Best Sound Editing for Dunkirk.
Other Oscar winners will include:
- Best Adapted Screenplay: Call Me By Your Name
- Best Original Screenplay: Get Out
- Best Animated Feature Film: Coco
- Best Documentary: Faces Places
- Best Foreign Language Film: A Fantastic Woman
- Best Costume Design: Phantom Thread
- Best Original Score: The Shape of Water
- Best Original Song: Remember Me (from Coco)
The Oscars ceremony, hosted by comedian Jimmy Kimmel, will be held at the Dolby Theatre in the Hollywood & Highland Centre in Los Angeles on Sunday. In the UK, televised coverage starts at midnight.
