The Hollywood awards season reaches its glittering climax at the Oscars on Sunday with “La La Land,” a starry-eyed love letter to the glamor of Old Hollywood, tipped for glory.
Millions of viewers around the world will tune in for Tinseltown’s biggest night, with Damien Chazelle’s romantic musical pinning its hopes on 14 nominations, tied with “Titanic” (1997) and “All About Eve” (1950) for the most ever.
“When you mention those movies, it makes my head spin even more than it’s spinning. I’m a little speechless,” Chazelle, 32, told trade magazine Variety when the nominations were announced in January.
With voting among the Academy’s 6,000-plus members closed since Tuesday, the frenzied and at times schmaltzy campaigning that perennially marks the awards merry-go-round can no longer impact the results.
Analysts are backing “La La Land,” which stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as an aspiring actress and a struggling jazz musician who fall in love in Los Angeles, to win most of the awards for which it is nominated.
However, it is expected to fall short of the record 11 statuettes achieved by “Ben-Hur” (1959), “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” (2003).
Gold Derby, a site that collates the awards predictions of experts and members of the public, has “La La Land” as a clear favorite in 10 categories, including best film, director, actress, score and song.
Stone, who has dominated the awards season, is expected to bag her first statuette despite late momentum for France’s Golden Globe winner Isabelle Huppert, nominated for thriller “Elle.”
“I think (Stone) will win but if she doesn’t, it’s because she makes it look so easy and because you don’t see her putting on an accent, putting on a fake nose, all those things,” Stephen Galloway, editor-in-chief of weekly trade paper The Hollywood Reporter, told AFP.
“People like to see the acting. You don’t with her. That is actually why she is so great.”
Stone also faces competition from Natalie Portman (“Jackie”), Ruth Negga (“Loving”) and Meryl Streep, 67, who earned her record-breaking 20th nomination for “Florence Foster Jenkins.”
Gosling is expected to lose out in the best actor category, however, to Casey Affleck (“Manchester by the Sea”) or Denzel Washington (“Fences”), who are seen as neck-and-neck in the show’s closest race.

Source: Arab News