(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The red carpet is rolled out in Hollywood. The stars are getting ready. The Oscars are tonight. And our critics here at NPR have been honing their predictions for weeks. Aisha Harris is co-host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. She's here with me now. Welcome to the program.
AISHA HARRIS, BYLINE: Hello to my fellow Aisha.
RASCOE: I know. It's attack of the Ayeshas.
HARRIS: (Laughter).
RASCOE: And I think that would be a great movie. But it's not made yet. So let's start with the best picture. I won't hold you to this, but who do you think is going to take home the top prize tonight?
HARRIS: I think it's always important to remember that the Oscars are voted on through rank choice voting. So a movie won't necessarily win because everyone put it at the top of their list. It could win because just a lot of people coalesced around it as, like, a second choice or even possibly a third choice. So there's a lot of, like, variability there.
And this year there are 10 nominees, including "The Brutalist." That's the 3 1/2 hour-long architectural epic. You've also got "Conclave, " about the secretive process of picking a new Pope. And there's, of course, the Bob Dylan biopic, "A Complete Unknown." Now, what I think will win and should win is "Anora," which is Sean Baker's kind of screwball dramedy about a whirlwind marriage between an enterprising sex worker and the spoiled son of Russian oligarchs.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ANORA")
MARK EYDELSHTEYN: (As Ivan Zakharov) If I get married to an American, I wouldn't have to go back to Russia.
MIKEY MADISON: (As Anora Mikheeva) OK. So who would you marry?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) And do you, Anora, take this handsome devil...
EYDELSHTEYN: (As Ivan Zakharov) You're my wife, man (ph).
MADISON: (As Anora Mikheeva) We got married.
HARRIS: I put my money on that in part because since 2010, every movie that has won best picture at the Producers Guild of America Awards has also won best picture with just, like, three exceptions. So "Anora" won at the PGA Awards this year, and I think it seems to be the front-runner at this moment.
RASCOE: Can we talk about the acting categories? Is Demi Moore finally going to take home an Oscar tonight?
HARRIS: I think the odds seem pretty well in her favor. She's also won many of the major awards, including the Screen Actors Guild Award. Similar to the best picture category, there's a lot of overlap between those who vote for the Screen Actors Guild Award and the Oscars. So I think there's a strong indicator that that's going to happen. Also there's just a lot of goodwill towards her. She's been doing this for years, decades, and everyone seems to love her, so I can see her winning, for sure.
RASCOE: Remind me about the best actor contenders. Who's up for that?
HARRIS: Well, you've got Timothee Chalamet for his role as Bob Dylan in "A Complete Unknown." You've also got Ralph Fiennes for "Conclave." Sebastian Stan - he played a young Donald Trump in "The Apprentice." Adrien Brody's in "The Brutalist," and then Colman Domingo in "Sing Sing." He's playing an incarcerated playwright who's leading a theater group in prison.
My take is that Timothee Chalamet is probably going to win. Like Demi Moore, he won the SAG award in this category, and the Academy really loves when actors play real people. But I'd love for the win to go to Colman Domingo. I think he's just so strong in a role that could easily be very hackneyed, very - tugging on your heart strings in ways that feel manipulative, and he avoids that in a movie that is way better than it has any business being.
RASCOE: Before you go, can you remind folks how they can watch tonight?
HARRIS: It's going to be on ABC and Hulu at 7 p.m. Eastern, and I will be tuning in, of course.
RASCOE: That's Aisha Harris, co-host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. Thanks for speaking with us today.
HARRIS: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF KEITH MANSFIELD'S "TOP SCORE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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