‘West Side Story’ Oscar nominations predictions: 10 bids will include picture, Ariana DeBose, Steven Spielberg …
According to Gold Derby predictions, “West Side Story” will receive 10 Oscar nominations on the morning of February 8, 2022 (see below). 20th Century Studios’ remake of the 1957 Broadway musical and the 1961 feature film is dominating the current awards season, winning three Golden Globes (Best Musical/Comedy, Best Comedy Actress for Rachel Zegler and Best Supporting Actress for Ariana DeBose), earning multiple Critics Choice bids and contending at 10 different guilds. Can the movie from director Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner go all the way and win Best Picture?
Our Oscar racetrack odds are based on the combined forecasts of 7,800+ Gold Derby readers, including Experts we’ve polled from major media outlets, Editors who cover awards year-round for this website, Top 24 Users who did the best predicting last year’s nominations, All-Star Users who had the best prediction scores over the last two years, and the mass of Users who make up our biggest predictions bloc.
“West Side Story” Oscar nominations predictions:
Best Director (Spielberg)
Best Supporting Actress (DeBose)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Kushner)
The original “West Side Story” won the Best Picture Oscar for 1961, so a victory for this new version would make it the first remake to also prevail. Gold Derby currently has the film in third place to win, behind only “The Power of the Dog” and “Belfast.” Remember, this year there will be a guaranteed 10 slots in the Best Picture race.
Spielberg has won Best Director twice before — “Saving Private Ryan” (1998) and “Schindler’s List” (1993) — so could this be the film that earns him his third, tying him with Frank Capra and William Wyler on the all-time list? Kushner is a two-time Oscar nominee for screenwriting, both for Spielberg projects: “Munich” (2005) and “Lincoln” (2012). The filmmakers are both on the right track to Oscar glory, as they’ve been nominated at the Directors Guild and Writers Guild, respectively.
In terms of potential wins, DeBose is Gold Derby’s Oscar front-runner for Best Supporting Actress. The Broadway star plays Anita, a singing/dancing Puerto Rican woman who believes in the American Dream. Her production number of “America” midway through the picture absolutely steals the show, and reminds us of two other stand-out musical performances that won this category recently: Anne Hathaway‘s “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Misérables” (2012) and Jennifer Hudson‘s “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” from “Dreamgirls” (2006).
And the Best Sound category is currently neck-and-neck between “West Side Story” and “Dune.” Recent history tells us this trophy will either go to a movie chock-full of music (like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Whiplash” and “Les Misérables”) or a big budget epic (like “1917,” “Dunkirk” or “Mad Max: Fury Road”). This category used to be split into Sound Mixing and Sound Editing, but last year it was combined together with “Sound of Metal” prevailing.
PREDICT the 2022 Oscar nominees through February 8
Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?