Pencils down. Nomination voting for the 95th Academy Awards ended on January 17, and now we await the nominations announcement on Tuesday morning, January 24. On this episode of the award-winning Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, it’s a mega Roundtable edition, as we dissect final predictions for key categories.
That includes predictions for best picture, best director, best actor, best actress, the supporting categories and then, of course, the best song field. Film frontrunners remain “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “The Fabelmans” and “Top Gun: Maverick,” with other projects including “Elvis,” “Tár,” “Women Talking,” “The Whale,” “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Triangle of Sadness” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” also in the hunt.
Variety’s Clayton Davis, Jenelle Riley, Jazz Tangcay and Michael Schneider go through those key categories and catch you up on the ongoing headlines coming out of the campaign trail. Also check out the 2023 Oscars Hub: Awards Predictions, Columns and News Archives for Davis’ up-to-date predictions on key races.
Also on this episode: Crafting the sequel to “Black Panther,” the biggest challenge Ryan Coogler and the team behind “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” faced was how to return to the franchise star Chadwick Boseman passed away in 2020.
The podcast recaps Variety’s recent “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Artisans Screening Series conversation, in which senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay talked to Coogler, producer Nate Moore, screenwriter Joe Robert Cole, composer Ludwig Goransson and cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw.
“Chadwick would’ve wanted us to go back to Wakanda and revisit the place that he helped to put on the map,” Moore said. “He helped to breathe life into that because to some degree, I think Chadwick more than all of us knew what Wakanda meant for especially kids.”
Variety’s “Awards Circuit” podcast, produced by Michael Schneider, who also co-hosts with Clayton Davis, is your one-stop listen for lively conversations about the best in film and television. Each week “Awards Circuit” features interviews with top film and TV talent and creatives; discussions and debates about awards races and industry headlines; and much, much more. Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts. New episodes post weekly.