Possible Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director (Wes Anderson), Best Actor (Ralph Fiennes), Best Original Screenplay (Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness), Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling As an unabashed Wes Anderson fan, nothing would make happier than to see one of Anderson's movies finally receive the level of recognition from the Academy that it deserves. Thus far in his career, Anderson hasn't received many plaudits from the Academy's (two nominations for co-writing the screenplays of The Royal Tenebaums and Moonrise Kingdom, and one nomination for The Fantastic Mr. Fox), but The Grand Budapest Hotel may finally be the film that lets Wes Anderson break into the Academy in a major way. Receiving rave reviews, The Grand Budapest Hotel has some advantages in terms of awards potential that Anderson's other films lacked. Namely, while all of Anderson's previous films have been more or less contemporary-set movies, The Grand Budapest Hotel is (at least relatively speaking) a period piece, meaning the film could receive significant recognition in the craft categories. The craft branches may then consider the film more seriously when it comes time to fill out their Best Picture ballots. If the praise that has been heaped on Ralph Fiennes' rare comedic turn materializes into Oscar buzz,the Actors may support the film too. Despite all these factors though, I'm still skeptical of the movie's chances. The film's March release, and the Academy's notoriously short memories, mean The Grand Budapest Hotel will be facing an uphill battle. Regardless of what happens though, I will be cheering for Anderson, and if the awards season isn't too competitive, he may be in prime position to strike.
A film fanatic at a very young age, starting with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and gradually moving up to more sophisticated fare, at around the age of ten he became inexplicably obsessed with all things Oscar. With the incredibly trivial power of being able to chronologically name every Best Picture winner from memory, his lifelong goal is to see every Oscar nominated film, in every major category, in the history of the Academy Awards.
