Ahead of Sunday’s 92nd Academy Awards, Associated Press Film Writer Jake Coyle shares his predictions for a ceremony with a lot of locks but the potential for a few surprises.

BEST PICTURE

The Nominees: “Ford v Ferrari,” “The Irishman,” “Jojo Rabbit,” “Joker,” “Little Women,” “Marriage Story,” “1917,” “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” “Parasite”

Will Win: “Parasite”

Should Win: “Parasite”

Should Have Been a Contender: “The Last Black Man in San Francisco”

The last-arriving contender, Sam Mendes’ World War I film “1917,” has seemingly, fittingly run away with it. The top-prize winner of the Producers Guild, the Directors Guild and the BAFTAs, “1917” is the clear favorite. But I think Bong Joon Ho’s universally beloved “Parasite” could pull off an upset that would rank alongside the underdog win of “Moonlight” three years ago. Taking best ensemble from the Screen Actors Guild showed that “Parasite” has perhaps the most important vote in the actors (they make up the largest percentage of the film academy), and academy membership has also grown more international in recent years. The time may be right for the first foreign-language film to win best picture, and “Parasite” deserves it.

BEST ACTRESS

The Nominees: Cynthia Erivo, “Harriet”; Scarlett Johansson, “Marriage Story”; Saoirse Ronan, “Little Women”; Charlize Theron, “Bombshell”; Renee Zellweger, “Judy

Will Win: Renee Zellweger

Should Win: Saoirse Ronan

Should Have Been a Contender: Alfre Woodard, “Clemency”

Zellweger is already a winner for “Cold Mountain” in 2004. But her fragile yet powerhouse performance as Judy Garland in “Judy” is that irresistible thing: a comeback story. The part reverberates with Zellweger’s own history; she and Garland are both former American sweethearts. She’s a fine choice, but the verve and velocity of Ronan’s great performance in “Little Women” shouldn’t be overlooked. Formidable as this category is, it would have been better with Woodard’s fully inhabited, devastatingly still performance as a prison warden in the spare “Clemency” — not to mention Lupita Nyong’o’s ferocious double act in “Us.”

BEST ACTOR

The Nominees: Antonio Banderas, “Pain and Glory”; Leonardo DiCaprio, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”; Adam Driver, “Marriage Story”; Joaquin Phoenix, “Joker”; Jonathan Pryce, “The Two Popes”

Will Win: Joaquin Phoenix

Should Win: Adam Driver

Should Have Been a Contender: Andre Holland, “High Flying Bird”

After several years of lethargy, best actor is the year’s most competitive category. The next five options — including Adam Sandler (“Uncut Gems”) and Eddie Murphy (“Dolemite Is My Name”) — are equally good. Phoenix, like all of this year’s acting favorites, has been the clear front-runner for some time, for his morose yet limber Joker. But Driver’s performance in “Marriage Story” is the real show-stopper here; a more nuanced and rewarding performance that culminates beautifully in song and tears. A shout-out also to the exceptional Holland, whose guileful, fast-talking NBA agent in “High Flying Bird” felt like a thrilling fast break.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

The Nominees: Kathy Bates, “Richard Jewell”; Laura Dern, “Marriage Story”; Scarlett Johansson, “Jojo Rabbit”; Florence Pugh, “Little Women”; Margot Robbie, “Bombshell”

Will Win: Laura Dern

Should Win: Laura Dern

Should Have Been a Contender: Zhao Shuzhen, “The Farewell”

Dern has won every precursor award ahead of the Oscars, and is poised to win her first Academy Award. That’s cause for celebration. Dern has been one of the finest actresses in Hollywood for decades, and her fearsome divorce attorney in “Marriage Story” is indelible, particularly her fabulous monologue on the double-standards of modern marriage. But this category is also missing some worthy actresses, including Jennifer Lopez (“Hustlers”) and Shuzhen, who played the grandmother unaware of her own cancer diagnosis in Lulu Wang’s tender family drama “The Farewell.”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Will Win: Brad Pitt

Should Win: Brad Pitt

Should Have Been a Contender: Wesley Snipes, “Dolemite Is My Name”

Nothing is more certain this year than Pitt’s win for “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” a movie that perfectly showcases Pitt’s sly charisma. His march toward his first acting Oscar has been fun, too, in a string of acceptance speeches (thanks to an apparent joke writer helping him out) filled with memorable one-liners. The talent in this category is extraordinary — Pesci or Hanks would win most years — but it’s still a shame there wasn’t room for Snipes’ irresistible prima donna actor-turned-director in “Dolemite Is My Name” or Rob Morgan’s powerful death row inmate in “Just Mercy.”

DIRECTOR

The Nominees: Martin Scorsese, “The Irishman”; Todd Phillips, “Joker”; Sam Mendes, “1917”; Quentin Tarantino, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”; Bong Joon Ho, “Parasite”

Will Win: Sam Mendes

Should Win: Martin Scorsese

Should Have Been a Contender: Marielle Heller, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”

Mendes appears the favorite here for the technical acumen of his seemingly-one-take “1917.” The pristine command of Bong would be a better choice but so would the colossal achievement of Scorsese in “The Irishman.” He has won best director only once before. And in 2019, Scorsese not only produced a career-crowning masterwork but mounted a passionate defense for the future of cinema. Greta Gerwig deserved to be among the nominees here for her thrillingly vibrant “Little Women,” but so did Marielle Heller (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”), whose talent with texture, performance and authenticity doesn’t announce itself, and can go underappreciated.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Nominees: “Knives Out,” Rian Johnson; “Marriage Story,” Noah Baumbach; “1917,” Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns; “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” Quentin Tarantino; “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho, Jin Won Han

Will Win: “Parasite”

Should Win: “Marriage Story”

Should Have Been a Contender: “Pain and Glory,” Pedro Almodovar

A screenplay win for “Parasite” would signal a real chance for a best-picture victory. But also worthy here are two deeply personal scripts: Baumbach’s stirring portrait of divorce “Marriage Story” and Almodovar’s unfortunately overlooked “Pain and Glory,” a sublime, autobiographical work.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Nominees: “The Irishman,” Steven Zaillian; “Jojo Rabbit,” Taika Waititi; “Joker,” Todd Phillips, Scott Silver; “Little Women,” Greta Gerwig; “The Two Popes,” Anthony McCarten

Will Win: “Jojo Rabbit”

Should Win: “Little Women”

Should Have Been a Contender: “The Laundromat,” Scott Z. Burns

Waititi’s clever, poignant script for the Nazi Germany coming-of-age romp “Jojo Rabbit” appears to have the edge here. There is understandably wide respect for Waititi’s idiosyncratic and daring sensibility. Yet, Gerwig’s script inventively pulled apart Louisa May Alcott’s much-adapted novel —only to put it back together again.

DOCUMENTARY

The Nominees: “American Factory,” Julia Rieichert, Steven Bognar; “The Cave,” Feras Fayyad; “The Edge of Democracy,” Petra Costa; “For Sama,” Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts; “Honeyland,” Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov

Will Win: “American Factory”

Should Win: “Honeyland”

Should Have Been a Contender: “Maiden,” “Rolling Thunder Revue”

The sheer number of great documentaries being made today can hardly be accommodated by one category. Just for starters the snubs here include the uplifting “Maiden,” about an all-female crew in a worldwide 1989 yachting race; Scorsese’s fiery Dylan documentary “Rolling Thunder Revue” and the enthralling archival project “Apollo 11.” “American Factory,” the first film released by Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions, is the most likely winner. But “Honeyland,” about a singular Macedonia beekeeper, is exquisitely intimate and yet resonates with global environmental allegory.

INTERNATIONAL FILM

The Nominees: “Corpus Christi,” Jan Komasa; “Honeyland,” Tamara Kotevska, Ljubo Stefanov; “Les Miserables,” Ladj Ly; “Pain and Glory,” Pedro Almodovar; “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho

Will Win: “Parasite”

Should Win: “Honeyland”

Should Have Been a Contender: “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”

This will be an easy win for “Parasite,” with potentially bigger awards to come. But little in this awards season was more disappointing than the lack of attention for Celine Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” The period French romance, my favorite film of 2019, narrowly missed out on being France’s submission. (France instead chose the muscular police procedural “Les Miserables.”) Audiences will at least have a chance to catch up to Sciamma’s sensational film when it properly opens in theaters next week.

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Source: Associated Press – JAKE COYLE

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Kirk Douglas, the intense, muscular actor with the dimpled chin who starred in “Spartacus,” “Lust for Life” and dozens of other films, helped fatally weaken the blacklist against suspected Communists and reigned for decades as a Hollywood maverick and patriarch, died Wednesday, his family said. He was 103.

“To the world, he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to,” his son Michael said in a statement on his Instagram account.

Kirk Douglas’ death was first reported by People magazine.

His granite-like strength and underlying vulnerability made the son of illiterate Russian immigrants one of the top stars of the 20th century. He appeared in more than 80 films, in roles ranging from Doc Holliday in “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” to Vincent van Gogh in “Lust for Life.”

He worked with some of Hollywood’s greatest directors, from Vincente Minnelli and Billy Wilder to Stanley Kubrick and Elia Kazan. His career began at the peak of the studios’ power, more than 70 years ago, and ended in a more diverse, decentralized era that he helped bring about.

Always competitive, including with his own family, Douglas never received an Academy Award for an individual film, despite being nominated three times — for “Champion,” “The Bad and the Beautiful” and “Lust for Life.”

But in 1996, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded him an honorary Oscar. His other awards included a Presidential Medal of Freedom and a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute.

He was a category unto himself, a force for change and symbol of endurance.

In his latter years, he was a final link to a so-called “Golden Age,” a man nearly as old as the industry itself.

In his youth, he represented a new kind of performer, more independent and adventurous than Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy and other giants of the studio era of the 1930s and 1940s, and more willing to speak his mind.

Reaching stardom after World War II, he was as likely to play cads (the movie producer in “Bad and the Beautiful,” the journalist in “Ace in the Hole”) as he was suited to play heroes, as alert to the business as he was at home before the camera. He started his own production company in 1955, when many actors still depended on the studios, and directed some of his later films.

A born fighter, Douglas was especially proud of his role in the the downfall of Hollywood’s blacklist, which halted and ruined the careers of writers suspected of pro-Communist activity or sympathies. By the end of the ’50s, the use of banned writers was widely known within the industry, but not to the general public.

Douglas, who years earlier had reluctantly signed a loyalty oath to get the starring role in “Lust for Life,” provided a crucial blow when he openly credited the former Communist and Oscar winner Dalton Trumbo for script work on “Spartacus,” the epic about a slave rebellion during ancient Rome that was released in 1960. (A few months earlier, Otto Preminger had announced Trumbo’s name would appear on the credits for “Exodus,” but “Spartacus” came out first.)

“Everybody advised me not to do it because you won’t be able to work in this town again and all of that. But I was young enough to say to hell with it,” Douglas said about “Spartacus” in a 2011 interview with The Associated Press. “I think if I was much older, I would have been too conservative: ‘Why should I stick my neck out?’”

Douglas rarely played lightly. He was compulsive about preparing for roles and a supreme sufferer on camera, whether stabbed with scissors in “Ace in the Hole” or crucified in “Spartacus.”

Critic David Thomson dubbed Douglas “the manic-depressive among Hollywood stars, one minute bearing down on plot, dialogue and actresses with the gleeful appetite of a man just freed from Siberia, at other times writhing not just in agony but mutilation and a convincingly horrible death.”

Douglas’ personal favorite was the 1962 Western “Lonely are the Brave,” which included a line of dialogue from a Trumbo script he called the most personal he ever spoke on screen: “I’m a loner clear down deep to my very guts.”

The most famous words in a Douglas movie were spoken about him, but not by him.

In “Spartacus,” Roman officials tell a gathering of slaves their lives will be spared if they identify their leader, Spartacus. As Douglas rises to give himself up, a growing chorus of slaves jump up and shout, “I’m Spartacus!”

Douglas stands silently, a tear rolling down his face.

As Michael Douglas once observed, few acts were so hard to follow. Kirk Douglas was an acrobat, a juggler, a self-taught man who learned French in his 30s and German in his 40s.

Life was just so many walls to crash through, like the stroke in his 70s that threatened — but only threatened — to end his career. He continued to act and write for years and was past 100 when he and his wife published “Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter, and a Lifetime in Hollywood.”

He was born Issur Danielovitch to an impoverished Jewish family in Amsterdam, New York. His name evolved over time. He called himself Isidore Demsky until he graduated from St. Lawrence University.

He took the name Kirk Douglas as he worked his way through the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, choosing “Douglas” because he wanted his last name still to begin with “D” and “Kirk” because he liked the hard, jagged sound of the “K.”

Douglas was a performer as early as kindergarten, when he recited a poem about the red robin of spring. He was a star in high school and in college he wrestled and built the physique that was showcased in many of his movies. He was determined, hitchhiking to St. Lawrence as a teen and convincing the dean to approve a student loan. And he was tough. One of his strongest childhood memories was of flinging a spoonful of hot tea into the face of his intimidating father.

“I have never done anything as brave in any movie,” he later wrote.

Beginning in 1941, Douglas won a series of small roles on Broadway, served briefly in the Navy and received a key Hollywood break when an old friend from New York, Lauren Bacall, recommended he play opposite Barbara Stanwyck in “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers.”

He gained further attention with the classic 1947 film noir “Out of the Past” and the Oscar-winning “A Letter to Three Wives.”

His real breakthrough came as an unscrupulous boxer in 1949′s “Champion,” a low-budget production he was advised to turn down.

“Before ‘Champion’ in 1949, I’d played an intellectual school teacher, a weak school teacher and an alcoholic,” Douglas once said in an interview with the AP. “After ‘Champion,’ I was a tough guy. I did things like playing van Gogh, but the image lingers.”

He had long desired creative control and “Champion” was followed by a run of hits that gave him the clout to form Bryna Productions in 1955, and a second company later.

Many of his movies, such as Kubrick’s “Paths of Glory,” “The Vikings,” “Spartacus,” “Lonely Are the Brave” and “Seven Days in May,” were produced by his companies.

His movie career faded during the 1960s and Douglas turned to other media.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he did several notable television films, including “Victory at Entebbe” and “Amos,” which dealt with abuse of the elderly.

In his 70s, he became an author, his books including the memoir “The Ragman’s Son,” the novels “Dance With the Devil” and “The Gift” and a brief work on the making of “Spartacus.”

“We are living in a town of make-believe,” he told The Associated Press in 2014. “I have done about 90 movies. That means that every time I was pretending to be someone else. There comes a time in your life when you say, well, `who am I?’” he said. “I have found writing books a good substitute to making pictures. When you write a book, you get to determine what part you are playing.”

Douglas also became one of Hollywood’s leading philanthropists. The Douglas Foundation, which he and Anne Douglas co-founded, has donated millions to a wide range of institutions, from the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to the Motion Picture & Television Fund.

In 2015, the foundation endowed the Kirk Douglas Fellowship — a full-tuition, 2-year scholarship — at the American Film Institute.

As a young man, Douglas very much lived like a movie star, especially in the pre-#MeToo era. He was romantically linked with many of his female co-stars and dated Gene Tierney, Patricia Neal and Marlene Dietrich among others.

He would recall playing Ann Sothern’s husband in “A Letter to Three Wives” and how he and the actress “rehearsed the relationship offstage.”

He had been married to Diana Dill, but they divorced in 1951. Three years later, he married Anne Buydens, whom he met in Paris while he was filming “Act of Love” (and otherwise pursuing a young Italian actress) and she was doing publicity.

He would later owe his very life to Anne, with whom he remained for more than 60 years. In 1958, the film producer Michael Todd, then the husband of Elizabeth Taylor, offered the actor a ride on his private jet. Douglas’ wife insisted that he not go, worrying about a private plane, and he eventually gave in. The plane crashed, killing all on board.

Douglas had two children with each of his wives and all went into show business, against his advice.

Besides Michael, they are Joel and Peter, both producers, and Eric, an actor with several film credits who died of a drug overdose in 2004.

Later generations came to regard Kirk as Michael’s father. Michael Douglas not only thrived in Hollywood, but beat his dad to the Oscars with a project his father had first desired.

Kirk Douglas tried for years to make a film out of Ken Kesey’s cult novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

In the 1970s, he gave up and let Michael have a try. The younger Douglas produced a classic that starred Jack Nicholson (in the role Kirk Douglas wanted to play) and dominated the Oscars, winning for best picture, director, actor, actress and screenplay.

“My father has played up his disappointment with that pretty good,’’ Michael Douglas later told Vanity Fair. “I have to remind him, I shared part of my producing back-end (credit) with him, so he ended up making more money off that movie than he had in any other picture.”

“And I would gladly give back every cent, if I could have played that role,” the elder Douglas said.

Kirk Douglas’ film credits in the ’70s and ’80s included Brian De Palma’s “The Fury” and a comedy, “Tough Guys,” that co-starred Burt Lancaster, his longtime friend who previously appeared with Douglas in “Seven Days in May,” “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” and other movies.

A stroke in 1996 seemed to end his film career, but Douglas returned three years later with “Diamonds,” which he made after struggling to overcome speech problems.

“I thought I would never make another movie unless silent movies came back,” he joked.

In 2003, Douglas teamed with son Michael; Cameron Douglas, Michael’s 24-year-old son; and ex-wife Diana Douglas, Michael’s mother, for “It Runs in the Family,” a comic drama about three generations of a family, with a few digs worked in about the elder Douglas’ parenting.

In March 2009, he appeared in a one-man show, “Before I Forget,” recounting his life and famous friends. The four-night show in the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City was sold out.

“I’ve often said I’m a failure, because I didn’t achieve what I set out to do,” Douglas told the AP in 2009. “My goal in life was to be a star on the New York stage. The first time I was asked by Hal Wallis to come to Hollywood, I turned him down. ‘Hollywood? That trash? I’m an actor on the Broadway stage!’”

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Source: Associated Press – HILLEL ITALIE

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Justin Bieber appeared to forget his shoes as he stepped out in Los Angeles on Tuesday, shortly after revealing the unorthodox measures he takes to beat anxiety and cleanse his body after years of drug abuse.

Dressed in a baggy hooded top emblazoned with an image of cartoon character Spongebob Squarepants, the singer looked relaxed as he made his way across the sidewalk in his socks.

Bieber, 25, added to his look with a pair of loose-fitting blue jogging bottoms as he made a rare appearance without model wife Hailey.

The Canadian star’s outing comes after he revealed in his Seasons docuseries that he uses a hyperbaric chamber and endures IV infusions to rid his body of toxins following years of drug abuse.

Justin explained that he’s been ‘struggling with a lot of anxiety’ as he climbed into his own personal chamber during the 14-minute clip.

‘I’ve abused my body in the past and now I’m just in the recovery process trying to make sure I’m taking care of my body and taking care of the vessel that God’s given me,’ he said.

His unique treatment plan also includes anti-depressants which help him ‘get outta bed in the morning.’

Justin sat inside of a plastic, deflated contraption as he explained how the hyperbaric chamber worked.

‘It fills up with oxygen,’ he said. ‘I really have been struggling with a lot of anxiety. You get more oxygen to your brain so it decreases your stress levels. It’s pretty cool.

‘Mental health is so important to get on top of If you have ADHD if you have … something and you don’t want to take medicine, I strongly believe in it.’

Bieber heavily relies on the hyperbaric chamber, a treatment which encourages healing through pure oxygen in various air pressure levels.

In addition, the Love Yourself singer receives NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) infusions through an IV drip to give him energy, a process generally used to treat Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

‘Basically, what it does is it’s going to flush out some of the toxins,’ he said.

Bieber revealed that he first tried marijuana when he was just 13 after rocketing to fame as a child when he was discovered on YouTube.

After becoming dependent on weed, Justin began to drink lean — a narcotic substance often called purple drank or sizzurp — as well as taking pills, doing Molly, and trying mushrooms.

Speaking about his addictions in an episode of his YouTube Premium documentary, he said: ‘It was just an escape for me. I was young. My experience was in front of cameras and I had a different level of exposure.’

SOURCE: Daily Mail, Jason Chester

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