It’s that time of year again—the biggest and most high-stress event in Hollywood is upon us. With the Oscars just around the corner, here are our predictions for who will take home the gold.
To help us we reached out to our friends Anelle Dehghani who is the head of sales at The Coven (Terrifier 2 and 3) and screenwriter/ film critic Mark Palermo. Mark is also the co-host of the Movie and Chaos podcast.
Best Actress
Cynthea Erivo: (Wicked), Karla Sofia Garcon (Emilia Perez), Mikey Madison (Anora), Demi Moore (The Substance) and Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here).
For Best Actress, Scott is going with Demi Moore “This is her first-ever nomination, and I don’t see the Academy passing up the opportunity to honour her long and accomplished career.” Anelle and Kris both think Mikey Madison will win for her role in Anora, but Kris thinks it should go to Marks choice Fernda Torres for I’m Still Here.
Best Actor
Adrien Brody (The Brutalist), Timothée Chalemet (A Complete Unknown), Colman Damingo (Sing Sing), Ralph Fiennes (Conclave), Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice)
For Best Actor, everyone except Mark believes this is Adrien Brody’s award to lose. The Brutalist is an epic film with an extensive runtime, and Brody is in nearly every scene. Mark thinks its going to Timothée Chalemet.
Best Director
Sean Baker (Anora), Brady Corbet (The Brutalist), James Mangold (A Complete Unknown), Jacque Audiard (Emilia Perez), Coralie Farget (The Substance)
For Best Director, Kris picked Sean Baker winning because “he won at the Directors Guild and that’s going to put him just over Brady Corbet.” That said he thinks Corbet directed the better film. Anelle and Scott also choose The Brutalist director, with Scott noting “He crafted a compelling, immersive experience that makes its three-and-a-half-hour runtime feel effortless—even with an intermission.” Mark ever the outlier is going with Coralie Farget for the body horror film The Substance.
Best Picture
Anora, The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part 2, Emilia Perez, I’m Still Here, Nickel Boys, The Substance and Wicked
For the biggest prize of the night Anelle and Kris are in agreement that its going to be Anora with Kris again using the recent Directors Guild, Producers Guild, and Writers Guild wins as his logic. Mark picks Conclave and Scott thinks its going to be a wild card win from Dune: Part Two. He feels “Like CODA, a film with little early awards buzz could surprise everyone and take home the top prize.”
We covered these films in detail as well as Best Animated Feature, Best International Feature and the Emilia Pérez controversy all on our main show which is available wherever you get your podcast.
The 2025 Oscars are Sunday at 7 p.m.