Awards season countdown

It's nearly the end of the year, so it's time for Hollywood silly season: that's right, it's awards time!

The big guns begin on 15 December with the announcement of the Golden Globe nominations, but some awards have already been made.

While it’s too early to pinpoint a clear favourite for any of the key Oscars, the main contenders are becoming clearer. All indicators suggest two films celebrating an earlier, more innocent age of cinema will be front and centre: The Artist and Hugo. The former (black and white, silent, and technically French) charmed Cannes in the spring, and has now won over the New York critics (best film and director), and the Boston critics (best film). Expect to see the film, its director and its two stars figure everywhere over the next 10 weeks.

Martin Scorsese’s Hugo is a 3D film thoroughly worthy of Oscar glory – and the legendary director’s best work since Goodfellas. The Boston critics crowned Scorsese best director, while he was runner-up among the LA critics. Expect to see the film nominated as well as the director, plus considerable potential for Ben Kinsgsley and all the lead crew for technical/craft awards.

Alexander Payne’s The Descendants will be in there pitching for Film, Director, Actor (for George Clooney), Writer and possibly supporting actress. From the New York critics, it has already secured the screenplay prize; and from the LA critics, best film.

With several key ‘worthy’ films still be seen – Spielberg’s War Horse and Daldry’s Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close to name just two – there’s plenty of room for both mainstream successes and art-house darlings to gain recognition: Brad Pitt’s Moneyball, female-led racial drama The Help, and Bridesmaids are among the former, and Take Shelter and We Need To Talk About Kevin are among the latter.

There follows the list of likely contenders in the four key categories and then the awards season timetable:

Film:
The Artist
The Help
Hugo
Moneyball
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse

Director:
Tomas Alfredson, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Terrence Malick, Tree of Life
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Steven Spielberg, War Horse

Actor:
Michael Fassbender, Shame
George Clooney, The Descendants
Demian Bichir, A Better Life
Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Ryan Gosling, The Ides Of March

Actress:
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn
Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia
Jodie Foster, Carnage
Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help

Awards timetable
15 December - Golden Globe noms
6 January – BAFTA longlist
10 January – National Board of Review Awards
15 January – Golden Globes
17 January – BAFTA noms
21 January – PGA
24 January – Oscar noms
29 January – DGA and SAG
12 February – BAFTAs
19 February – WGA
26 February - Oscars