Who’s going to win an Oscar?

Oscar voters can only vote on the movies that have been made, and even though they will always make bone-headed decisions – explain to me again how Carol didn’t land nominations for Best Picture or Best Director? – the Academy is only a reflection of the diversity issue, not the cause of it.

The scroll is meant to encourage more thoughtful speeches that go beyond quickly listing off names of management teams and executives, so this year’s Oscars could include far more interesting speeches than years past. Usually the best director and best picture are the same at the Oscars but there have been more anomalies than ever recently for this rule; consider: 2012: Best Picture Argo, Best Director Ange Lee for The Life of Pi, 2013: Best Picture 12 Years a Slave, Best Director Alfonso Curan for Gravity.

The 88th Academy Awards take place this Sunday, and will give members of the film world and fans alike a chance to celebrate a fantastic year in film.

In regards to this year’s awards, Willmott would not say who he believed would win only that they would definitely be white.

Only two directors have won back to back Oscars for Best Director before this, John Ford and Joseph L. Mankiewicz. And he’ll deserve it too, for The Revenant is truly a heroic feat of foolhardy movie directing, from its jaw dropping sequences to the real and artificially triggered avalanche towards the end of the movie. Who can have the biggest snowball effect and get the most people talking about them.

“I’m really more concerned with the people who are making movies, the people who have access to resources, and funds, and distribution deals to make movies”. DiCaprio faces Redmayne (“The Danish Girl“), Bryan Cranston (“Trumbo”), Matt Damon (“The Martian”) and Michael Fassbender (“Steve Jobs”).

“If we tell them right we’ll be able to tell more of them, and thankfully Netflix thought Nina Simone was a great story”. And of course, the fact that he’s won at the Golden Globes, the BAFTA and the SAG awards also helps. “The Big Short” has been gaining in momentum, and it’s my personal favorite among the eight nominees, but I think it will come up just short. The ceremony hosted by Chris Rock begins at 8:30 p.m. “So we know he’s going to do that”. Best actor nominee Eddie Redmayne and best supporting actress nominee Rooney Mara are also nominated for Razzie Awards, which will be given out this Saturday. Only a trio of National Football League telecasts-the Super Bowl, the Super Bowl postgame show and the AFC Championship Game-had larger audiences past year.

Gone are the days when you could gather around your Oscar pool sheet and truly wonder who was going to win the major categories, jolted by a win for Marlee Matlin or shocked by “Shakespeare in Love” beating “Saving Private Ryan”.