Oscar winners 2022

In the aftermath of this year’s Oscars, few people were talking about who won what, and no one could have predicted that the biggest news of the night would be an on-stage violent altercation between two Hollywood A-listers. But as far as the awards themselves were concerned, there arguably weren’t that many surprises, although the Best Picture winner was something of a last-minute upset. Overall, the sci-fi epic Dune won the most awards with six Oscar wins, but as these were mainly in the “technical” categories, many consider CODA to be the biggest winner on the night with three wins in the “main” categories. But I know the real question on everyone’s lips is – how many of my predictions did I get correct?!

When the smoke cleared, I got 9 out of 10 correct, which is probably my (tied) best ever result.

Best picture winner – CODA

My Prediction – The Power of the Dog

 Although I said that CODA could potentially stage a last-minute upset, I still went with The Power of the Dog in the end … and I was wrong!

Best actress winner – Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)

My Prediction – Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)

Jessica Chastain’s transformative performance was not only enough to bag the Best Actress award, but The Eyes of Tammy Faye also won Best Make-Up & Hairstyling.

Best actor winner – Will Smith (King Richard)

My Prediction – Will Smith (King Richard)

Frontrunner Will Smith finally won his first Oscar, although that’s not the main thing people are talking about this morning.

Best supporting actress winner – Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)

My Prediction – Ariana DeBose (West Side Story)

The only Oscar for West Side Story went to Ariana DeBose, who had been the favourite in this category for some time.

Best supporting actor winner – Troy Kotsur (CODA)

My Prediction – Troy Kotsur (CODA)

CODA certainly struck a chord with Oscar voters, winning in all three of the categories it was nominated in, including Troy Kotsur’ Best Supporting Actor win.

Best director winner – Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)

My Prediction – Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog)

Ultimately, The Power of the Dog only won in one of the categories for which it was nominated, but 28 years after losing out on a directing Oscar for The Piano, Jane Campion took home the Best Director award.

Best adapted screenplay winner – CODA (Sian Heder)

My Prediction – CODA (Sian Heder)

Although I still think that Dune should have won, the Best Adapted Screenplay award marked CODA’s third Oscar win of the night.

Best original screenplay winner – Belfast (Sir Kenneth Branagh)

My Prediction – Belfast (Sir Kenneth Branagh)

After being nominated for an Oscar 8 times, Sir Kenneth Branagh finally has his first win for his personal, semi-autobiographical screenplay for Belfast.

Best cinematography winner – Dune (Greig Fraser)

My Prediction – Dune (Greig Fraser)

Although overlooked in the acting, writing and directing categories, Dune cleaned up in the “technical” categories, winning Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Production Design, alongside a Best Original Score win for Hans Zimmer, and the much-deserved Best Cinematography award for Greig Fraser. Dune’s six Oscars were the most won by any film this year.

Best costume design winner – Cruella (Jenny Beavan)

My Prediction – Cruella (Jenny Beavan)

Given that the theatricality and inventiveness of the costumes in Cruella were such an integral part of main plot of the film, this win was very well-deserved.

Other winners:

In the other categories, I stand by my assertion that, as good as Encanto was, The Mitchells vs. The Machines was more deserving of the Best Animated Feature win, so I was disappointed that the Oscar went to the more obvious/popular choice. That said, I was happy to see that Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell won in the Best Original Song category for No Time to Die, ahead of “Dos Oruguitas” from Encanto.