Specials Preview 19/02/2015: Academy Awards 2015, Sunday 22nd February 2015

This Sunday is the biggest night in Hollywood, as the stars align for the 87th Academy Awards. Here at Spreadex we are offering fixed odds on the four major categories: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and the biggie, Best Picture.

First up is Best Actress, and as awards season has continued, one frontrunner has pulled away from the rest of the pack. Julianne Moore’s heart wrenching turn as a professor diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer’s in ‘Still Alice’ saw Moore receive her 5th Oscar nomination and 3rd for Best Actress. She has already won the BAFTA and the Golden Globe – Drama, and is at an amazing 1/100 to take home the bald-headed man. If anyone is going to challenge Moore, it will be Reese Witherspoon for ‘Wild’; a former winner for ‘Walk the Line’, Witherspoon has largely been bested by Moore this season, but could pull off a surprise at 20/1. Another former winner, Marion Cotillard, has a rare foreign-language nomination for ‘Two Days One Night’, and is at 50/1 to win the gold. Two first timers round out the category: Felicity Jones’ turn as Jane Wilde Hawking in ‘The Theory of Everything’ sees her at 66/1; whilst Rosamund Pike’s disturbing performance in ‘Gone Girl’ has her at 40/1.



Before the awards season began many were predicting a battle of the posh-English-biographies for Best Actor; however, Eddie Redmayne’s portrayal of Stephen Hawking has left Benedict Cumberbatch’s turn as Alan Turing in the dust. Redmayne’s performance is the kind of display the Academy lap up, and he has already won the BAFTA and the Golden Globe – Drama. This leaves Eton-boy Eddie at 2/7, whilst the ‘Sherlock’ star languishes at 50/1. Redmayne’s closest rival will be Michael Keaton for ‘Birdman’; the one thing the Academy love as much as syrupy biopics is a career-revitalising turn from an actor with a long and storied career. Keaton won the Golden Globe – Musical or Comedy and could cause a minor upset at odds of 13/5. Finishing off the group is Bradley Cooper at 18/1 for his mumbley-turn in ‘American Sniper’, whilst funnyman Steve Carell’s performance as a psychotic millionaire in ‘Foxcatcher’ sees him at 150/1.

Over in the Best Director race, Morten Tyldum for ‘The Imitation Game’ (100/1) and Bennett Miller for ‘Foxcatcher’ (80/1) have both faded this awards season, whilst Wes Anderson’s delightful direction of ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ stands an outside chance at 28/1. This leaves Alexandro G. Inarritu and Richard Linklater to duke it out for the crown. The other ceremonies have presented a split picture: Inarritu won the Director’s Guild award, whilst Linklater won the Golden Globe and the BAFTA. Inarittu’s ‘Birdman’ is the flashier, more direction heavy of the two, whilst Linklater’s ‘Boyhood’ has the staggering feat of being filmed over 12 years. The odds are currently giving it to Inarritu, at 4/7 compared to Linklater’s 6/5.



Best Picture, looks set to follow the same pattern as Best Director. ‘Selma’, the controversial nomination-sparse MLK biopic, is at 100/1; Clint Eastwood’s ‘American Sniper’ is at 50/1, with ‘The Imitation Game’, ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, ‘Whiplash’ (whose JK Simmons is a lock for Best Supporting Actor) and ‘The Theory of Everything’ at 40/1. This leaves just two: ‘Birdman’and ‘Boyhood’. ‘Boyhood’ won the BAFTA and Golden Globe, but ‘Birdman’ and its meta-tale about Hollywood may appeal to the nostalgia-loving old white men that make up the majority of the Academy’s voters. This has given ‘Birdman’ the edge ahead of Sunday, at 4/7 to the 7/5 fixed odds for ‘Boyhood’.