Cinematography

The race for cinematography is shaping up to be between two large format releases. Hoyte van Hoytema will be looking for his first Academy Award for his fantastic work on Christopher Nolan‘s epic biopic “Oppenheimer”. The well respected cinematographer uses IMAX lenses to explore the landscape of faces; namely, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) himself, in his own colour format, and adversary Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), in a contrasting black-and-white monochromatic film.

The man standing between van Hoytema and that elusive first Oscar is Greig Fraser. Fraser previously won the award in 2022 for his work on sci-fi epic “Dune“, collaborating with director Denis Villeneuve. He will be looking for a repeat performance as both he and Villeneuve return for the highly anticipated “Dune: Part Two”.

The other contenders will most likely be making up the numbers to fill up the five nomination slots come the awards in March. These contenders include Rodrigo Prieto and Dan Laustsen, both of which will be hoping to receive a double nomination. Laustsen worked behind the camera on the upcoming adaptation of “The Colour Purple” as well as producing some beautiful work in “John Work: Chapter 4” earlier in the year. Prieto is the more likely to get a double nomination, as he has worked alongside both Martin Scorsese and Greta Gerwig on two of the biggest contenders of the year, “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Barbie”.

Here are my predictions as of 31st July 2023:

Strong Contenders

1. Dune: Part Two (Greig Fraser)
2. Oppenheimer (Hoyte van Hoytema)
3. Killers of the Flower Moon (Rodrigo Prieto)
4. The Zone of Interest (Lukasz Zal)
5. Poor Things (Robbie Ryan)

Possible Contenders

1. El Conde (Edward Lachman)
2. The Killer (Erik Messerschmidt)
3. The Colour Purple (Dan Laustsen)
4. Barbie (Rodrigo Prieto)
5. Asteroid City (Robert Yeoman)

Outsiders

1. Saltburn (Linus Sandgren)
2. Maestro (Matthew Libatique)
3. John Wick: Chapter 4 (Dan Laustsen)
4. May December (Christopher Blauvelt)
5. Napoleon (Dariusz Wolski)