The countdown to the 87th Academy Awards begins

There is a tough fight among directors with ‘Birdman’ (Inarritu), ‘Boyhood’ (Richard Linklater), ‘Foxcatcher’ (Bennett Miller), ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ (Anderson) and ‘The Imitation Game’ (Morten Tyldum) competing for the award.

The contenders for the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role are Steve Carell for ‘Foxcatcher’, Bradley Cooper for ‘American Sniper’, Benedict Cumberbatch for ‘The Imitation Game’, Michael Keaton for ‘Birdman’ and Eddie Redmayne for ‘The Theory of Everything’.

Those competing for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role trophy are Marion Cotillard for ‘Two Days, One Night’, Felicity Jones for ‘The Theory of Everything’, Julianne Moore for ‘Still Alice’, Rosamund Pike for ‘Gone Girl’ and Reese Witherspoon for ‘Wild’.

For the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Robert Duvall for ‘The Judge’, Ethan Hawke for ‘Boyhood’, Edward Norton for ‘Birdman’, Mark Ruffalo for ‘Foxcatcher’ and J K Simmons for ‘Whiplash’ are in the race, while the actresses in the same category include Patricia Arquette for ‘Boyhood’, Laura Dern for ‘Wild’, Keira Knightley for the ‘The Imitation Game’, Emma Stone for ‘Birdman’ and Meryl Streep ‘Into the Woods’.

The Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) nominees are ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ (Alexandre Desplat), ‘The Imitation Game’ (Desplat), ‘Interstellar’ (Hans Zimmer), ‘Mr Turner’ (Gary Yershon) and ‘The Theory of Everything’ (Johann Johannsson).

The Foreign Language Film nomination list has five entries – ‘Ida’ (Poland), ‘Leviathan’ (Russia), ‘Tangerines’ (Estonia), ‘Timbuktu’ (Mauritania) and ‘Wild Tales’ (Argentina).

The awards night will be hosted by ‘How I Met Your Mother’ actor Neil Patrick Harris while Adam Levine, John Legend and Tim McGraw are expected to perform live. One would also see special performances from Lady Gaga, Jack Black, Jennifer Hudson and Anna Kendrick.

While last year “selfie” officially entered the Academy Awards, this year the trend is expected to be continued. We surely do expect another round of selfies, and maybe another impromptu pizza party, or let’s try ‘pasta’ this time.

And, not to forget some of the fashionable moments at the red carpet that will surely set trends for many to follow.

The Oscars will be live at 5:30 am IST.

(With IANS Inputs)