Oscars Academy Awards
Last year's Best Supporting Actress and Actor winners Lupita Nyong'o (R) and Christoph Waltz. Reuters

Silly season – or as it is more commonly called, awards season – is about to begin. This Friday the Bafta nominees will be announced before the Golden Globes on Sunday will get the ball rolling properly as all of Hollywood tarts themselves up for a glamorous night out.

At the end of it all is the Oscars, the nominees for which will be announced on 15 January ahead of the awards ceremony on 22 February.

Yes, it certainly is an overblown festival of back-slapping, but it can also be a showcase for real talent deserving of merit no matter how rich or famous the recipient might be.

Here's who we think will be nominated in each of the main categories.

Best Picture

This category can have between five and ten nominees depending on Academy voting. Last year nine films were nominated so we'll use that as a base.

  • Birdman
  • Boyhood
  • Foxcatcher
  • The Theory of Everything
  • The Imitation Game
  • Gone Girl
  • Selma
  • The Grand Budapest Hotel
  • Wild
Birdma
Riggan is haunted by the gravelly-voiced Birdman. Fox Searchlight

Best Director

  • Alejandro González Iñárritu – Birdman
  • Richard Linklater – Boyhood
  • David Fincher – Gone Girl
  • Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
  • Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher

Best Actor

  • Michael Keaton – Birdman
  • Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
  • Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything
  • David Oyelowo – Selma
  • Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game

Best Actress

  • Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
  • Julianne Moore – Still Alice
  • Reese Witherspoon – Wild
  • Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
  • Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Whiplash
Miles Teller (left) drums for JK Simmons' bullying teacher in Whiplash. Sony Pictures

Best Supporting Actor

  • JK Simmons – Whiplash
  • Edward Norton – Birdman
  • Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
  • Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
  • Tom Wilkinson – Selma

Best Supporting Actress

  • Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
  • Emma Stone – Birdman
  • Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year
  • Rene Russo - Nightcrawler
  • Meryl Streep – Into The Woods

Best Original Screenplay

  • Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris & Armando Bo - Birdman
  • Richard Linklater - Boyhood
  • Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness - The Grand Budapest Hotel
  • Dan Gilroy - Nightcrawler
  • Paul Webb - Selma

Best Adapted Screenplay

  • Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl
  • Graham Moore - The Imitation Game
  • Anthony McCarten - The Theory of Everything
  • Damien Chazelle - Whiplash
  • Nick Hornby – Wild
The Lego Movie
Lead character Emmet in The Lego Movie. Warner Bros

Best Animated Feature

  • The Lego Movie
  • Big Hero 6
  • How To Train Your Dragon 2
  • The Book of Life
  • The Wind Rises

Best Foreign Language Film

  • Ida (Poland)
  • Force Majeure (Sweden)
  • Timbuktu (Mauritania)
  • Tangerines (Estonia)
  • Leviathan (Russia)

Best Original Score

  • Hanz Zimmer – Interstellar
  • Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Gone Girl
  • Antonio Sanchez - Birdman
  • Johann Johannsson - The Theory of Everything
  • Mica Levi – Under the Skin
Gone Girl
Ben Affleck stars alongside Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl Sony

Best Cinematography

  • Emmanuel Lubezki - Birdman
  • Roger Deakins - Unbroken
  • Hoyte Van Hoytema – Interstellar
  • Jeff Cronenweth - Gone Girl
  • Benoit Delhomme - The Theory of Everything

Best Documentary

  • CitizenFour
  • The Case Against 8
  • Life Itself
  • Last Days In Vietnam
  • The Kill Team

Best Original Song

  • Everything Is Awesome – The Lego Movie
  • Glory - Selma
  • Lost Stars – Begin Again
  • Yellow Flicker Beat - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
  • Something So Right – Muppets Most Wanted
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