Oscars 2018: 10 Movies That Could Win Best Picture Next Year
2. The Kidnapping Of Edgardo Mortara
The Film
Steven Spielberg always seems to flit between big genre work and more prestige drama, so after The BFG and while he gets Ready Player One ready, we're getting this tale of a young Jewish boy from Bologna. Taking place in the 1800s, he's secretly baptised by a nun and forcibly raised as a Christian, leading to a scandal that goes right up to the Papacy.
Mark Rylance, a now regular Spielberg collaborator, will play Pope Pius IX, with Oscar Isaac playing the father of the kidnapped Edgardo. The screenplay comes from Tony Kushner, who worked with Spielberg on Munich and Lincoln.
Why It Could Win
When he's in this territory, Spielberg tends to get Oscar nominations, and there's little in the story of this that suggests it'll be any different. It should provide a strong, emotional tale, and have some modern parallels.
The script is likely to get some recognition, it's got a great period setting to play with, and Rylance - as mentioned - is a recent Oscar winner on a strong run of form, while it could be the film that gets Oscar Isaac a well-deserved Oscar nomination.
The biggest hurdle right now seems to be the fact that it doesn't have a release date, and hasn't even started filming; that means there's a chance it won't get here until 2018. If it does make the cut-off point, though, then expect this one to be a major frontrunner.