The Academy Awards may have just been last night, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to predict that Interstellar will be the front-runner for Best Picture at next year’s Oscars.
Related: Oscars 2014: Complete winners list
A lot of things will have to go right in between now and then, but last night’s Oscars may have set the stage for Interstellar to take the top prize next year.
It’s been known for years that the Academy doesn’t usually recognize science fiction, but with Gravity losing Best Picture, the chatter will now be louder than ever. Gravity was probably the closest any science fiction film has ever come to winning Best Picture, but the Academy looked elsewhere, again.
Only eight of the 512 films that have been nominated for Best Picture in the history of the Academy Awards have fallen under the science fiction genre. The eight films are A Clockwork Orange (1971), Star Wars (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Avatar (2009), District 9 (2009), Inception (2010), Gravity (2013), and Her (2013).
With two of those nominations coming in the past year and over half of them coming in the last five, it seems that there’s a growing sense in the Academy that it’s time.
The idea of it being time is something that we predict will be felt with a great presence after Gravity‘s loss last night. Yes, 12 Years a Slave was a very worthy and deserving recipient. But Gravity was perhaps the most accessible science fiction film of all time, and it still was not able to win.
It’s time for a science fiction film to win.
Next year, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar will be eligible for the Oscars. While a Nolan is not a sure bet to be recognized, Inception, his last non-Dark Knight franchise film, was nominated for eight Oscars, and it won four of them.
From all accounts so far, it appears that Interstellar will be a film that uses science fiction in its best form. It looks like it will have something important to say about humanity.
It also boasts a stellar cast that got even more impressive last night. With Matthew McConaughey’s Best Actor win, the film will have a bonafide superstar as its lead, and the actors around him are impressive as well. Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Casey Affleck, Ellen Burstyn, Wes Bentley, Mackenzie Foy, Bill Irwin, Topher Grace, David Oyelowo and John Lithgow all star in the film. Even Matt Damon will have a small role in the film.
From all accounts, it appears that Nolan’s Interstellar will be as important as it is great. The only question that remains is this: Will the Academy finally allow a science fiction film to win Best Picture?
It’s time.