Oscar Predictions: Best Makeup and Hairstyling

This year, Oscar nominations will be announced on Tuesday, January 22nd. I’ll be offering detailed predictions in most of the major categories.

Last year’s nominees: Darkest Hour, Victoria and Abdul, Wodner

My choices: Coming in February!

This year’s finalists: Vice, Bohemian Rhapsody, Black Panther, Border, Mary, Queen of Scots, Stan and Ollie, Suspiria

The rundown: The seven remaining contenders in this category were announced back in December. Odds aren’t so bad for any of them given that three will end up being nominated. The Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild has make-up, hair styling, and special make-up effects races, and all but “Border” and “Suspiria” earned two nominations, while those earned zero. Here, Vice seems like the surest thing in terms of makeup for transforming Christian Bale into Dick Cheney, while Bohemian Rhapsody is all about the hairstyling that made the actors look exactly like the real members of Queen. Beyond that, I’m betting on the scope and popularity of Black Panther to help it overtake the other four, though it doesn’t usually happen that way. Border missed the shortlist for Best Foreign Film, but there have been some random inclusions in the past that would make it being nominated unsurprising. Mary, Queen of Scots may or may not do well in other categories, while Stan and Ollie and Suspiria, two very different films, aren’t looking at likely nods in any other categories. This could go any number of ways, but I and everyone else in the world would be shocked if somehow “Vice” missed.

Forecasted winner: I say it goes to Vice.