But you have to try to justify the win in the context of those years!

My picks are Michael Fassbender and Gena Rowlands.

Fassbender is my personal winner in both 2012 for Shame. I would’ve given him the win over Dujardin that year, and i think he’s better than all the other nominees. And in 2016, he gets a second win for Steve Jobs. He gets the win here over Leo for sure, but in this alternate universe, Leo already won in 2014 for Wolf of Wall Street.

Rowlands takes the oscar in 1975 for Woman Under the Influence. She’s way better than Ellen Burstyn that year, so i give her the award, but Burstyn would’ve already won the year before for The Exorcist. Also, in 1978, Rowlands gets the oscar for Opening Night over Diane Keaton in Annie Hall (in this alternate universe, unfortunately Diane Keaton is a four-time nominee with no competitive win. she gets an honorary oscar down the line though, but joins all the other veteran actors that people complain should’ve gotten an award lol)

What are your picks?

• Anthony Hopkins number 2 for The Father (2020)
• Frances McDormand number 3 for Nomadland (2020)
• Emma Stone number 2 for Poor Things (2023)
• Adrien Brody number 2 for The Brutalist (2024)
• Sean Penn number 3 for One Battle After Another (2025)

Kerry Condon is one my favorite performances in The Banshees Of Inisherin. She was excellent and give a standout performance. She is the one who should’ve won Best Supporting Actress in 2023 at the oscars. She deserved an Oscar. But happy she won BAFTA award though which she deserves it. Her character did quiet scenes in the movie. Loved her character too. I wish she won. it would be a well deserved win. So what you think of her performance in The Banshees Of Inisherin?

I’ve seen people say this will sweep the oscars but I’m really skeptical !is this being overhyped?

I Just watched Bugonia. Wow it’s terrifying and the ending… wow. The perforomances were excellent especially Jesse Plemons. God, he should’ve got nominated for that. He only has GG, SAG, and BAFTA nominations. Not the Oscar which he deserved it. Emma Stone is great too. Also the score is haunting and was masterful. I enjoyed it. The Oscar Nominations it has are Best Picture, Best Actress (Emma Stone), Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score. I rate the movie 8/10. So what you think of Bugonia?

1. Lewis Milestone - 2 Arabian Knights (1927/1928) and All Quiet on the Western Front (1929/1930)
2. Frank Lloyd - The Divine Lady (1928/1929) and Cavalvade (1932/1933)
3. Norman Taurog* - Skippy (1930/1931)
4. Frank Borzage* - Bad Girl (1931/1932)
5. Frank Capra* - Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and You Can't Take It with You (1938)
6. Leo McCarey* - The Awful Truth (1937)
7. Michael Curtiz* - Casablanca (1943)
8. Joseph Mankiewicz* - A Letter to 3 Wives (1949)
9. George Stevens* - A Place in the Sun (1951) and Giant (1956)
10. John Ford* - The Quiet Man (1952)
11. Vincente Minnelli* - Gigi (1958)
12. Billy Wilder* - The Apartment (1960)
13. David Lean* - Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
14. Tony Richardson* - Tom Jones (1963)
15. Robert Wise* - The Sound of Music (1965)
16. Mike Nichols* - The Graduate (1967)
17. John Schlesinger* - Midnight Cowboy (1969)
18. George Roy Hill - The Sting (1973)
19. John Avildsen* - Rocky 1 (1976)
20. Sydney Pollack* - Out of Africa (1985)
21. Oliver Stone* - Platoon (1986) and Born on the 4th of July (1989)
22. Bernardo Bertolucci - The Last Emperor (1987)
23. Kevin Costner** - Dances with Wolves (1990)
24. Steven Spielberg* - Schindler's List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998)
25. Mel Gibson** - Braveheart (1995)
26. James Cameron - Titanic (1997)
27. Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings 3 (2003)
28. Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Life of Pi (2012)
29. Martin Scorsese* - The Departed (2006)
30. Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
31. Kathryn Bigelow - Hurt Locker (2009)
32. Alfonso Cuarón - Gravity (2013) and Roma (2018)
33. Alejandro Iñárritu* - Birdman (2014)
34. Guillermo del Toro - The Shape of Water (2017)
35. Bong Joon Ho - Parasite (2019)
36. Jane Campion* - The Power of the Dog (2021)

*We have a new record. 21 of the 36 directors of this list (7/12 of it) did direct at least 1 movie that did win acting awards (either movies that won Best Director that aren't mentioned here or movies that didn't even win Best Director). Only 15 directors of this list never directed a movie that won an acting award

**Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson also acted in those movies. Kevin Costner is however the only one of the 2 who was nominated for acting

We’ve finished 2024, so we’re now moving on to 2025.

For anyone joining the game for the first time, we’re doing all four acting categories for one year together, with the results decided over two rounds.

You can see all of the previous lineups here: Alternate Oscars - Reddit Game

ROUND ONE — NOMINATIONS

For each category, rank your five favourite performances from the year from 1–5.

Your rankings will be worth:

1st — 5 points
2nd — 4 points
3rd — 3 points
4th — 2 points
5th — 1 point

The five performances with the most points in each category will become the official nominees.

You do not have to name five if you don’t want to. If you only want to vote for three performances, for example, they’ll receive 5, 4 and 3 points respectively.

Please make sure your choices are ranked — order matters in this round.

You can vote in as many or as few of the four categories as you like.

ROUND TWO — WINNERS

Once the nominations have been determined, I’ll make a second thread containing the five nominees in each category.

In that round, simply choose ONE nominee per category to win.

There will be no preferential voting or points in Round Two. Each vote counts equally, and whoever receives the most votes wins.

So essentially:

Round One = Who should be nominated?
Round Two = Who should win?

ELIGIBILITY

Performances will be eligible according to the year in which their film was eligible at the real-life Academy Awards.

So, rather than going strictly by festival premiere or first release date, a performance belongs to whichever Oscar year the film itself competed in with the Academy.

If you’re unsure whether a film was eligible for a particular year, this Academy reminder-list archive is a good place to check eligibility.

A few other rules:

• Maximum of five ranked choices per category.
• Anything listed after your fifth choice won’t be counted.
• Honourable mentions won’t count as votes.
• Please include both the actor and film so there’s no ambiguity.
• In cases where there may be disagreement or confusion over whether a performance is lead or supporting, your vote will count only in the category in which you place that performance. Points will not be transferred or combined between categories.
• A performer cannot receive two nominations in the same acting category for different films. If that happens, their higher-scoring performance will be kept and the next eligible performance will move into the top five.
• If there’s a tie for the final nomination spot, I’ll break it by comparing #1 votes first, then #2 votes, #3 votes, etc.

For example:

Actor

1. Person A — Film A
2. Person B — Film B
3. Person C — Film C
4. Person D — Film D
5. Person E — Film E

That ballot would give them 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points respectively.

The idea is that Round One rewards performances with broad support across people’s ballots, while Round Two gives everyone a straight choice between the five nominees.

Previous Lineup — 2024

Actor

Adrien Brody — The Brutalist
Kieran Culkin — A Real Pain
Colman Domingo — Sing Sing (winner)
Ralph Fiennes — Conclave
Sebastian Stan — A Different Man

Actress

Marianne Jean-Baptiste — Hard Truths
Nicole Kidman — Babygirl
Mikey Madison — Anora (winner)
Demi Moore — The Substance
Fernanda Torres — I’m Still Here

Supporting Actor

Yura Borisov — Anora
Clarence Maclin — Sing Sing
Adam Pearson — A Different Man
Guy Pearce — The Brutalist (winner)
Jeremy Strong — The Apprentice

Supporting Actress

Michele Austin — Hard Truths
Danielle Deadwyler — The Piano Lesson
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor — Nickel Boys
Ariana Grande — Wicked (winner)
Margaret Qualley — The Substance

1. Tom Hooper - The King’s Speech

2. Adam McKay - Vice

3. Todd Phillips - Joker

4. David O. Russell - American Hustle

5. Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris

6. Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild

7. Lenny Abrahamson - Room

8. Morten Tyldum - The Imitation Game

9. Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist

10. Mel Gibson - Hacksaw Ridge

11. David O. Russell - The Fighter

12. Ang Lee - Life of Pi

13. Alexander Payne - Nebraska

14. Alexander Payne - The Descendants

15. David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook

16. Adam McKay - The Big Short

17. Bennett Miller - Foxcatcher 

18. Martin Scorsese - Hugo

19. Steven Spielberg - Lincoln

20. Spike Lee - BlacKkKlansman

21. Greta Gerwig - Lady Bird

22. Tom McCarthy - Spotlight

23. Joel & Ethan Coen - True Grit

24. Guillermo Del Toro - The Shape of Water

25. Sam Mendes - 1917

26. Richard Linklater - Boyhood

27. Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave

28. Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel

29. Martin Scorsese - The Irishman

30. Paweł Pawlikowski - Cold War

31. Alejandro G. Iñárritu - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Yet another wacky elimination, what are you guys thinking?

I finally watched it just now (it was added to HBO Max in my country 3 weeks ago). It's probably one of the weirdest things I ever watched. I won't go as far as to say it deserved a Best Picture nomination but I wish it had been nominated for Best Actor for Robert Pattinson, Best Actress for Jennifer Lawrence (something I almost always wish whenever I watch stuff where Jennifer Lawrence appears), Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing

Which year do you choose and why? You can sit next to anyone you choose or just a seat in a specific area.

Unfortunately, front row at the Will Smith slap year comes to mind, but I think I’d go with a ceremony in the 1990s and might be too nervous to sit next to a star. “Seat filler” at the end of a front row seat would likely be my choice.

Digger

The Odyssey

Werwulf

Michael

Clayface

Likely winner: Odyssey/Werwulf

Spoilers. I didn't do pre 1970s mainly because I haven't seen most of them; I haven't seen most of these films period. This took way too long lol. Any help, what's your thoughts?

Also I'm not putting Natalie Portman in, it's never shown if she actually dies or not

Best Actor

Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather (via heart attack)

Jack Nicholson as Randle McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (via murder)

Peter Finch as Howard Beale in Network (via murder)

Ben Kingsley as Gandhi in Gandhi (via murder)

William Hurt as Luis Molina in Kiss of a Spider Woman (via murder)

Tom Hanks as Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia (via illness)

Nicolas Cage as Ben Sanderson in Leaving Los Vegas (via complications)

Roberto Benigni as Guido Orefice in Life is Beautiful (via execution)

Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham in American Beauty (via murder)

Russell Crowe as Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator (via murder)

Denzel Washington as Alonzo Harris in Training Day (via murder)

Sean Penn as Harvey Milk in Milk (via murder)

Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln in Lincoln (via murder)

Brendan Fraser as Charlie in The Whale (not sure if he dies or not, but it's heavily implied)

Michael B. Jordan as Smoke and Stack (only Smoke dies) in Sinner (via murder)

Best Actress

Meryl Streep as Sophie Zawistowska in Sophie’s Choice (via suicide)

Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes in Misery (via murder)

Hilary Swank as Brandon Teena in Boys Don’t Cry (via murder)

Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf in The Hours (via suicide)

Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuornos in Monster (via execution)

Hilary Swank as Maggie Fitzgerald in Million Dollar Baby (via assisted suicide)

Marion Cotillard as Édith Piaf in La Vie En Rose (via illness)

Emma Stone as Victoria Blessington in Poor Things (via suicide, revived)

Best Supporting Actor

Ben Johnson as Sam the Lion in The Last Picture Show (via stroke)

Christopher Walken as Nick Chevotarevich in The Deer Hunter (via suicide)

Melvyn Douglas as Ben Rand in Being There (via illness)

John Gielgud as Hobson in Arthur (via illness)

Sean Connery as Jimmy Malone in The Untouchables (via murder)

Denzel Washington as Private Trip in Glory (via murder)

Joe Pesci as Tommy Devito in Goodfellas (via murder)

Jack Palance as Curly Washburn in City Slickers (via heart attack)

Gene Hackman as Little Bill in Unforgiven (via murder)

Martin Landau as Béla Lugosi in Ed Wood (via illness)

James Coburn as Glen Whitehouse in Affliction (via murder)

Michael Caine as Dr. Wilbur Larch in The Cider House Rules (via accidental overdose)

Chris Cooper as John Laroche in Adaptation (via crocodile attack)

George Clooney as Bob Barnes in Syriana (via terrorist attack)

Alan Arkin as Edwin Hoover in Little Miss Sunshine (via drug overdose)

Christopher Plummer as Hal Fields in Beginners (via illness)

Christoph Waltz as King Schultz in Django Unchained (via murder)

Jared Leto as Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club (via illness)

Mahershala Ali as Juan in Moonlight (unspecified)

Daniel Kaluyya as Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah (via murder)

Sean Penn as Steven J. Lockjaw in One Battle After Another (via murder)

Best Supporting Actress

Vanessa Redgrave as Julia in Julia (via murder)

Linda Hunt as Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously (via murder)

Peggy Ashcroft as Mrs. Moore in A Passage to India (via heart attack)

Rachel Weisz as Tessa Abbott in The Constant Gardener (via murder)

Anne Hathaway as Fantine in Les Miserables (via illness)

Amy Madigan as Aunt Gladys in Weapons (via murder)

Not necessarily the worst movie to ever win Best Picture, but the one where you genuinely believe another nominated film should have won instead.

I'm curious to see which wins people still disagree with years later.

For me, I think Crash winning over Brokeback Mountain in 2006 is one of the most questionable decisions in Oscar history.

What is your pick, and which film should have won instead?

Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

But obviously, as we all know, only one of those movies deserved to win the three awards it did. (Hint: It ain't Green Book.)

I am like 80% sure Laikas Wildwood wins this year. They never won the category, and this is a rather weak year for Animation, so the stars align. Tangles could pull a Flow though and take it.

Forgotten Island deserves a Nomination over both of the Pixar films. But knowing the Academy, that's not going to happen.

We have at least 1 foreign Nomination every year, mostly reserved to France or Japan. What do you think it will be this time?

Sorry for my last post i did some updating and the title name. Denis Villeneuve is acclaimed directors and made masterpieces like Dune, Arrival, Blade Runner 2099, and Sicardo. He should be winning an Oscar in near future. But I don’t see him winning for Dune 3. Hopefully Denis wins an Oscar one day in near future if he makes a stronger and better narrative movie. We will see what happens.

You have been given the power to travel back to any past Oscar ceremony, where you can introduce one new category.

What category is it, and at what year/ceremony do you introduce it?

I'll make a hypothetical winners list from your category.

We’ve completed the nomination round, and now it’s time to choose the winners.

The five performances with the most points in each category in Round One are now the official nominees.

ROUND TWO — WINNERS

This round is much simpler.

Vote for ONE nominee in each of the four acting categories.

That means your ballot should contain four names in total:

• 1 Actor
• 1 Actress
• 1 Supporting Actor
• 1 Supporting Actress

There are no rankings and no points system in this round. You are simply voting for the performance you think should win each category.

Each vote counts equally, and the nominee with the most votes in each category will become our Alternate Oscar winner for 2024.

Please only vote for the nominees listed below.

BEST ACTOR

• Adrien Brody — The Brutalist
• Kieran Culkin — A Real Pain
• Colman Domingo — Sing Sing
• Ralph Fiennes — Conclave
• Sebastian Stan — A Different Man

BEST ACTRESS

• Marianne Jean-Baptiste — Hard Truths
• Nicole Kidman — Babygirl
• Mikey Madison — Anora
• Demi Moore — The Substance
• Fernanda Torres — I’m Still Here

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Yura Borisov — Anora
• Clarence Maclin — Sing Sing
• Adam Pearson — A Different Man
• Guy Pearce — The Brutalist
• Jeremy Strong — The Apprentice

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Michele Austin — Hard Truths
• Danielle Deadwyler — The Piano Lesson
• Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor — Nickel Boys
• Ariana Grande — Wicked
• Margaret Qualley — The Substance

HOW TO VOTE

Simply post your four choices in the comments, for example:

Actor: [Name]
Actress: [Name]
Supporting Actor: [Name]
Supporting Actress: [Name]

One person per category. Four votes total.

Once voting closes, the performer with the most votes in each category will be declared the winner, and we’ll move on to 2025.

Previous lineups here.

1. William Wellman - Wings (1927/1928)
2. Harry Beaumont - The Broadway Melody (1928/1929)
3. Lewis Milestone - All Quiet on the Western Front (1929/1930)
4. Wesley Ruggles - Cimarron (1930/1931)
5. Edmund Goulding* - Grand Hotel (1931/1932)
6. Frank Lloyd - Cavalcade (1932/1933) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
7. Frank Capra* - You Can't Take It with You (1938)
8. Alfred Hitchcock* - Rebecca (1940)
9. Michael Curtiz* - Casablanca (1943)
10. Vincente Minnelli* - An American in Paris (1951) and Gigi (1958)
11. Cecile DeMile - The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
12. Michael Anderson - Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
13. Billy Wilder* - The Apartment (1960)
14. David Lean* - Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
15. Tony Richardson* - Tom Jones (1963)
16. Robert Wise* - The Sound of Music (1965)
17. Carol Reed - Oliver (1968)
18. John Schlesinger* - Midnight Cowboy (1969)
19. George Roy Hill - The Sting (1973)
20. John Avildsen* - Rocky 1 (1976)
21. Hugh Hudson - Chariots of Fire (1981)
22. Sydney Pollack* - Out of Africa (1985)
23. Oliver Stone* - Platoon (1986)
24. Bernardo Bertolucci - The Last Emperor (1987)
25. Kevin Costner** - Dances with Wolves (1990)
26. Steven Spielberg* - Schindler's List (1993)
27. Mel Gibson** - Braveheart (1995)
28. James Cameron - Titanic (1997)
29. Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings 3 (2003)
30. Paul Haggis - Crash (2005)
31. Martin Scorsese* - The Departed (2006)
32. Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
33. Kathryn Bigelow - Hurt Locker (2009)
34. Ben Affleck** - Argo (2012)
35. Alejandro Iñárritu* - Birdman (2014)
36. Tom McCarthy - Spotlight (2015)
37. Guillermo del Toro - The Shape of Water (2017)
38. Bong Joon Ho - Parasite (2019)

*Only 15 of the directors from this list did direct movies that won acting awards, either movies that didn't win Best Picture or other movies that did win Best Picture but also won acting awards. The other 23 directors never directed a movie that won an acting Oscar

**3 of the directors also acted in the movies with Kevin Costner being the only one to be nominated for acting in it

Listen I understand Diane Warren made that song from By Any Means but I‘m not impressed with it. And the Taylor swift song from Toy Story 5 is In my opinion okay.

These songs actually do something when I listen to them, and they have something Unique about them.

When I’m Home samples the majority of the score of the odyssey and samples lines used in the film, and the production is by Ludwig so that to me is an automatic bonus

The Snow is something special that I haven’t heard in a while. while my Spanish may not be that great I felt something listening to this song, emotions I really never experience watching a movie unless it’s a really good expression of true trauma. And the orchestra just amplifies the emotion in this song dramatically.

I don’t know as a producer and mixing engineer myself I just don’t feel anything else taking the cake.

What do y'all think?

I think these three actors would atleast make great nominees in that category:

(Pictured)

Denzel Washington as Malcolm X, in Malcolm X (1992)

Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhart, in Amelia (2009)

Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison, in The Doors (1991)