Final 2023 Oscar Predictions: Best Picture and Best Director

BEST PICTURE

I love it when the biggest award of the night is the easiest to predict. This year has been the story of Everything Everywhere All at Once’s dominance. From its premiere at South by Southwest on March 11 last year, the Daniels-directed film has been building steam, racking up award after award in the process. It’s a film that has restored many in Hollywood’s faith that word-of-mouth successes can still exist when the film industry is moving so rapidly away from theaters. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” is a fantastic film that has touched such a large swathe of people and it is undeniably deserving of Best Picture this year.

Nominees:

Everything Everywhere All at Once – PGA, SAG, DGA, CCA, WGA

The Banshees of Inisherin – GG (Comedy/Musical)

All Quiet on the Western Front – BAFTA

The Fabelmans – GG (Drama)

Tar

Elvis

Top Gun: Maverick

Women Talking – WGA

Triangle of Sadness

Avatar: The Way of Water

Pick: Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST DIRECTOR

While the tagline “Steven Spielberg makes a film about his burgeoning childhood interest in filmmaking” sounds like prime bait for a category like Best Director, the Daniels have already won the Directors Guild Award, one of the best barometers of who will win Best Director. Park Chan-Wook or Charlotte Wells would have also been deserving picks, yet were snubbed here. Wells’ exclusion is especially notable because it meant that no female-identifying filmmaker was nominated for Best Director.

Nominees:

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All at Once – CCA, DGA

Steven Spielberg – The Fabelmans – GG

Todd Field – Tar

Martin McDonagh – The Banshees of Inisherin

Ruben Ostlund – Triangle of Sadness

Pick: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All at Once