Oscars 2019: Lady Gaga, Timothée Chalamet, and other contenders on the horizon

Which movies should be on your Oscar radar?

With just over six months to go until Oscar night, there's plenty to look forward to as the awards race heats up with major contenders set to drop highly anticipated projects in the stretch ahead. From works by Lady Gaga and Barry Jenkins to Viola Davis, Rami Malek, Robert Redford, Melissa McCarthy, Steve McQueen, and Nicole Kidman, here are several likely above-the-line Oscar contenders to look out for between now and the end of the year.

Destroyer (dir. Karyn Kusama)

Release date: TBD 2018

Distributor: Annapurna

Categories to look out for: Best Actress (Nicole Kidman)

If you thought Nicole Kidman’s Emmy victory for Big Little Lies capped the end of the Kidmanaissance, think again. Though her career trajectory spiked after her 2016 Oscar nod for Garth Davis’ emotionally wrought drama Lion, the Aussie actress has since turned in some of the most interesting work of her career with a wide range of filmmakers, namely in projects like Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled, John Cameron Mitchell’s How to Talk to Girls at Parties, and Jane Campion’s TV drama Top of the Lake: China Girl. Before she heads to the depths of the DC Universe in Aquaman at the top of 2019, she’ll venture to the underbelly of L.A. crime in Karyn Kusama’s Destroyer as a detective sifting through the ghosts of her mysterious distant past as an undercover operant. Kusama’s pictures have been hit or miss with critics over the years (Aeon Flux flopped, The Invitation was an underground hit), but it’s difficult to imagine that Kidman would sign on to anything short of a meaty role at this point in her professional resurgence. Here’s hoping Destroyer gives the actress — and Oscar voters — a delectable feast of performative bravura to sink their teeth into. —Joey Nolfi

A Star Is Born (dir. Bradley Cooper)

Release date: Oct. 5, 2018

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Categories to look out for: Best Picture, Best Director (Bradley Cooper), Best Actress (Lady Gaga), Best Actor (Bradley Cooper), Best Cinematography, Best Original Song, Best Sound Mixing

Teaming with lead actress Lady Gaga and a powerful industry legacy (this marks the fourth adaptation of the age-old Hollywood romance about a budding ingénue’s passionate bond with an experienced performer) could prove to be a winning combination for first-time director Bradley Cooper. With several acting nominations to his credit, Cooper makes the jump behind the camera with a score of Oscar-verified talent in tow: Cooper and Gaga are prior nominees, as are cinematographer Matthew Libatique and sound designer Steve Morrow — meaning the film is primed to rack up points with the Academy’s craft branches, too. A Star Is Born stands to flex real muscle, however, with the all-important precursor guilds like SAG and the DGA, both made up of entertainers who love recognizing stories about their industry, produced within their industry (Birdman, Chicago, and The Artist, anyone?). That sounds like the framework for an awards season success story written in the stars to us. —Joey Nolfi

Beautiful Boy (dir. Felix Van Groeningen)

Release date: Oct. 12, 2018

Distributor: Amazon Studios

Categories to look out for: Best Picture, Best Actor (Steve Carell), Best Supporting Actor (Timothée Chalame), Best Director (Felix Van Groeningen), Best Adapted Screenplay (Luke Davies)

At April's CinemaCon in Las Vegas, an early look at a scene from Beautiful Boy between Steve Carell and Timothée Chalamet left many audience members teary-eyed. Based on the memoir of the same name by David Sheff about his son Nic's struggle with addiction, Beautiful Boy pairs two well-loved actors to play out the heart-wrenching journey of the Sheff family. Carell and Chalamet each have an Oscar nomination under their respective belts, while Luke Davies was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2017 for Lion, and could just be the right formula for awards voters who gravitate towards an emotional real-life drama. —Piya Sinha-Roy

If Beale Street Could Talk (dir. Barry Jenkins)

Release date: TBD

Distributor: Annapurna

Categories to look out for: Best Picture, Best Director (Barry Jenkins), Best Actress (Kiki Layne), Best Adapted Screenplay

Adapted from the 1974 novel by beloved writer James Baldwin, Barry Jenkins’ highly anticipated directorial follow-up to Moonlight is poised to cement Jenkins’ status as a vital voice in American cinema — if the film can live up to its predecessor’s quality, that is. Where Jenkins and Moonlight broke ground for LGBT films at the Oscars, Beale Street also stands to make even more headway for films by and about people of color amid the Academy’s ongoing diversity initiatives. On those counts, expectations for Jenkins’ first post-Moonlight offering are astronomically high, but the upside is Jenkins has already proven he has the chops to deliver. And with a stellar cast — including Regina King, Colman Domingo, Aunjanue Ellis, Diego Luna, Finn Wittrock, Brian Tyree Henry, and Dave Franco— in his corner, the film already has an in with the Academy’s largest (and most influential) branch. —Joey Nolfi

Bohemian Rhapsody (dir. Bryan Singer/Dexter Fletcher)

Release date: Nov. 2, 2018

Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Categories to look out for: Best Actor (Rami Malek)

The journey of British rockers Queen and particularly the band's idiosyncratic frontman and queer icon Freddie Mercury has all the hallmarks of a tale ripe for the awards race. But the film faces some complications. Midway through production, director Bryan Singer was fired and replaced with Dexter Fletcher, and once the first trailer premiered and showed numerous scenes with Mercury and women, some critics were concerned the film would not explore Mercury's life as a gay man. Still, Malek's transformation into Mercury is already garnering awards buzz and the music may just rock the voting audience. —Piya Sinha-Roy

Peterloo (dir. Mike Leigh)

Release date: TBD 2018

Distributor: Amazon

Categories to look out for: Best Picture, Best Director (Mike Leigh), Best Original Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Cinematography

Under immense industry pressure to diversify its ranks, the Academy deserves credit for swiftly inviting more women and people of color into its active membership in recent years. Still, AMPAS remains a mostly white, mostly male gathering of traditional industry voters with enduringly Anglophile tastes (how else do you explain last year’s overwhelming support for Darkest Hour?). U.K. filmmaker Mike Leigh, a perennial Oscar favorite whose last four films have been nominated for at least one statuette, will likely gun for that demographic once again when his latest historical drama drops later this year. Amazon is reportedly eyeing a fall festival run for the film, which is based on the real-life titular massacre during which a peaceful protest in the name of parliamentary reformed quickly snowballed into a government-backed slaughter in 1819. The distributor also has likely awards players like Suspiria, Beautiful Boy, and Life Itself waiting in the wings, but Peterloo has all the period dressings and traditional Academy markers to land square in the wheelhouse of Oscar’s older set — with a celebrated icon of British cinema steering the ship, of course. —Joey Nolfi

Boy Erased (dir. Joel Edgerton)

Release date: Sept. 28, 2018

Distributor: Focus Features

Categories to look out for: Best Picture, Best Actor (Lucas Hedges), Best Supporting Actor (Russell Crowe), Best Supporting Actress (Nicole Kidman), Best Adapted Screenplay (Joel Edgerton)

Joel Edgerton recruited his close friends Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe to add star power to this heart-wrenching true story of a young man sent to gay conversion therapy by his religious parents, based on Garrard Conley's memoir of the same name. After star supporting turns in Oscar movies Manchester By the Sea, Lady Bird, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Lucas Hedges finally takes center stage, while Kidman and Crowe portray his parents in a film where Edgerton tackles a timely topic with a close-knit family that have to rethink their beliefs. Watch out for Hedges' other starring role this Oscars season, playing a troubled young man in Ben Is Back, alongside Julia Roberts. —Piya Sinha-Roy

Widows (dir. Steve McQueen)

Release date: Nov. 16, 2018

Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Categories to look out for: Best Picture, Best Director (Steve McQueen), Best Actress (Viola Davis)

Though he forged a considerable path through 2013 with his awards juggernaut 12 Years a Slave, British director Steve McQueen has yet to unleash a follow-up awards-focused title onto the Oscar circuit. The jury’s still out on whether or not his upcoming female-gang flick Widows is another venture into prestige territory or instead a fusion of McQueen’s singular visionary style with studio material, but it looks like a hell of a ride either way. The film’s all-star ensemble features a popular supporting cast of past nominees (Liam Neeson, Daniel Kaluuya) as well as last year’s Best Supporting Actress champion Viola Davis leading the way in a buzzy tale about a band of women commandeering their dead husbands’ criminal endeavors, and it’s likely the sheer number of recognizable faces in the film will appeal to SAG voters right off the bat. Its Nov. 16 release date points to a fall festival buzz run before a bid for general audience dollars over the Thanksgiving frame, but the question remains whether 20th Century Fox is banking on this as an Academy play, a commercial-leaning thriller, or both. The strength of Davis’ track record married with the merits of McQueen means, at the very least, they’re already on the Academy’s radar. —Joey Nolfi

First Man (dir. Damien Chazelle)

Release date: Oct. 12, 2018

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Categories to look out for: Best Picture, Best Actor (Ryan Gosling), Best Supporting Actress (Claire Foy), Best Director, visual effects and technical categories

Fresh off his La La Land Oscar win, Damien Chazelle dives into the story of Neil Armstrong and the high-stakes 1960s space race, reteaming with Ryan Gosling as Armstrong and The Crown star Claire Foy as his wife Janet. At CinemaCon, Chazelle said he wanted to pay homage to the real challenges and devastating failures that paved the path for Armstrong's first steps on the moon, outlined in the first trailer. Given the star power of the project and the true story of an American hero, First Man is already generating strong awards buzz. —Piya Sinha-Roy

The Hate U Give (dir. George Tillman Jr.)

Release date: Oct. 19, 2018

Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Categories to look out for: Best Actress (Amandla Stenberg), Best Director (George Tillman Jr.), Best Adapted Screenplay (Audrey Wells)

Adapted from Angie Thomas' YA novel of the same name and led by a bright young cast including Amandla Stenberg and Riverdale heartthrob KJ Apa, The Hate U Give may just target a young adult audience, but the timely theme it explores could give it awards-level gravitas. Centered on a black teen caught between the two worlds of her home within the African-American community and her predominately white private school, her life changes when her black male friend is shot by police. While the film has to overcome its YA label, given the fractured race relations in America and the prevalence of the Black Lives Matter movement, The Hate U Give might find itself alongside movies such as BlacKkKlansman and Blindspotting during awards conversations. —Piya Sinha-Roy

The Sisters Brothers (dir. Jacques Audiard)

Release date: TBD

Distributor: Annapurna

Categories to look out for: Best Picture, Best Director (Jacques Audiard)

On the heels of You Were Never Really Here and Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot, Joaquin Phoenix continues his 2018 streak with Jacques Audiard's Western The Sisters Brothers, pairing up with John C. Reilly as the infamous assassin brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters during the 1850s Oregon gold rush. Riz Ahmed plays the delightfully named Hermann Kermit Warm, who is pursued by the Sisters brothers, and aided by Jake Gyllenhaal in this caper. Coming off Rust & Bone and Dheepan, The Sisters Brothers marks French filmmaker Audiard's most Hollywood project to date, and from the trailer, its starry cast and darkly comedic tone is likely to strike a chord with voters. —Piya Sinha-Roy

Ben Is Back (dir. Peter Hedges)

Release date: Dec. 7, 2018

Distributor: Roadside Attractions

Categories to look out for: Too early too tell

Cue the Juliassance, as the actress with the mega-watt smile re-enters the conversation with a buzzy new TV show, Homecoming, on Amazon and stars alongside Lucas Hedges in Peter Hedges' Ben Is Back. While it's very early to determine IF this film will get an awards season release given that it does not yet have a distributor and little is known about the plot, Roberts' involvement and Lucas Hedges' second lead role of this awards season (he's also starring in Boy Erased) could push Ben Is Back into the early awards conversation. —Piya Sinha-Roy

Shoplifters (dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda) and Girl (dir. Lukas Dhont)

Categories to look out for: Foreign film

The annual prize winners at the Cannes Film Festival often cement the foreign language feature contenders in Hollywood’s awards race. This year, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters, a story of a poor family taking in a little girl found in the freezing cold, won the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes. Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont’s Girl, the story of a young girl born into a boy’s body and who pursues her dream of being a ballet dancer, won the Camera d’Or and also received the Queer Palm award bestowed on LGBTQ-themed works. With strong critical praise and coveted Cannes hardware, both films are likely to progress in the foreign film race. —Piya Sinha-Roy

The Old Man & the Gun (dir. David Lowery)

Release date: Sept. 28, 2018

Distributor: Fox Searchlight

Categories to look out for: Best Actor (Robert Redford)

It's difficult to believe that Robert Redford, one of the most celebrated actors in Hollywood, has but a single Oscar nomination for acting, for 1973’s The Sting. His final big-screen performance ahead of an impending retirement could land him a long-overdue follow-up nod, regardless of the reception of the picture built around it. Capping a career like Redford’s with a gilded pat on the back is exactly the type of congratulatory statement the Academy loves to make. The Old Man & the Gun has the makings of a quality Western too, seeing as it’s helmed by critically lauded director David Lowery and features a top-notch cast of performers like Elisabeth Moss, Sissy Spacek, and John David Washington. — Joey Nolfi

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (dir. Marielle Heller)

Release date: Oct. 19, 2018

Distributor: Fox Searchlight

Categories to look out for: Best Picture, Best Actress (Melissa McCarthy), Best Supporting Actor (Richard E. Grant), Best Director (Marielle Heller), Best Adapted Screenplay

Melissa McCarthy, freshly minted Star Wars actor Richard E. Grant, and director Marielle Heller tackle the gloomy real-life story of writer-turned-literary-forger Lee Israel, who made thousands of dollars pawning fake letters mimicking the voice of dead icons. The Academy loves a genre-hopping performance, and McCarthy’s portrayal of Israel is shaping up to be one of the most surprising, type-defying turns in recent memory. Grant could also register as the standout here with his supporting turn as a queer drifter who goes in on Israel’s scam, as could Nicole Holofcener, who wrote the project's knockout script. — Joey Nolfi

Roma (dir. Alfonso Cuarón)

Release date: Dec. 14, 2018

Distributor: Netflix

Categories to look out for: Best Picture, Best Director (Alfonso Cuarón)

Alfonso Cuarón shot for the moon with his space-set thriller Gravity, which won seven of 10 total Oscar nominations back in 2014. His first feature since then lands back on earth without any major stars, but is grounded by a deep, semi-autobiographical connection to the Mexican auteur’s past. The black-and-white picture follows the daily lives of a working-class family in 1970s Mexico City, loosely adapted from the filmmaker’s upbringing. With Netflix taking the film to the major festivals (including Toronto, New York, Venice, and likely Telluride) before its Dec. 14 bow, the streaming giant is obviously hoping to perch Roma high atop awards voters’ list of late-season priorities. And it just might work if Cuarón delivers like he has in the past. — Joey Nolfi

Wildlife (dir. Paul Dano)

Release date: Oct. 19, 2018

Distributor: IFC Films

Categories to look out for: Best Actress (Carey Mulligan), Best Supporting Actor (Jake Gyllenhaal), Best Adapted Screenplay

Carey Mulligan reportedly carries the majority of Wildlife, actor Paul Dano’s directorial debut, which by the end of the year will have traveled the festival trail from Sundance and Cannes to Toronto and New York. While actors will likely turn out to support their own if Mulligan delivers a knockout turn as one half of a disintegrating couple in 1960s Montana, broad support for actors-turned-directors has been a hit-or-miss affair in years past. Names like Angelina Jolie and Barbra Streisand have gotten short shrift when it comes to the Academy seriously considering their talents behind the camera, but Dano’s work appears to be keeping a relatively low profile (definitely a good thing at this early stage) ahead of a potential breakout on the fall circuit. Supporting actor Jake Gyllenhaal could also get his long-awaited second Academy Award nod if his small role tickles the industry’s fancy too. — Joey Nolfi

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (dir. Joel & Ethan Coen)

Release date: Nov. 16, 2018

Distributor: Netflix

Categories to look out for: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay

As last year’s Mudbound demonstrated, Netflix might finally be finding its groove in above-the-line Oscar categories as the industry warms up to its graoundbreaking distribution model, which still favors streaming over theatrical bows. And, surprisingly, the Coen brothers have hitched a ride with the company for their upcoming Western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Billed as a drama-comedy anthology, the film stars an impressive cast (Tim Blake Nelson, Liam Neeson, Zoe Kazan) whose members could deliver some of the signature offbeat performances the Coens are known for coaching out of their actors. But the jury is still out on whether the film itself will be an enjoyable sideshow like Burn After Reading or an awards power player like Fargo. Keep an eye on how critics react to this one at the fall festivals. — Joey Nolfi

Suspiria (dir. Luca Guadagnino)

Release date: Nov. 2, 2018

Distributor: Amazon

Categories to look out for: Best Supporting Actress (Tilda Swinton), technical categories

Maverick visionary Luca Guadagnino proved last year he could hit a home run with the traditionally conservative Academy with his gorgeously wrought same-sex romance Call Me by Your Name, but his remake of Dario Argento’s bloody horror flick about a dance institution with a sinister secret, Suspiria, is shaping up to be another singular offering that will find likely its audience with or without the Academy’s help. Even if the subject matter proves to be too gruesome or intense for Academy members, Guadagnino’s aesthetic flair (as well as the craftspeople who help him achieve it) could score a handful of technical nods. The costumes on display in EW’s exclusive preview of the film here are worthy of a nomination on their own. — Joey Nolfi

Bad Times at the El Royale (dir. Drew Goddard)

Release date: Oct. 5, 2018

Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Categories to look out for: Supporting actor/actress, best screenplay

An early peek at this stylized period thriller set in a hotel that sits on the California and Nevada border pegs it as a possible dark horse contender in the awards race. With an ensemble cast playing an array of mysterious characters who each carry secrets, Bad Times at the El Royale could deliver some powerhouse performances from the likes of Cynthia Erivo and a story that could pique the interest of voters. —Piya Sinha-Roy

Colette (dir. Wash Westmoreland)

Release date: Sept. 21, 2018

Distributor: Bleeker Street

Categories to look out for: Best actress (Keira Knightley)

The tale of Colette, who became one of France's earliest female best-selling authors with the Claudine novels, is grounded in Keira Knightley's performance as the vivacious, curious, and witty titular character. The film traces Colette's journey from the French countryside to the bustle of Paris as she marries a French writer and explores her own sexuality and attraction to women, her capacity for writing, and becoming a Parisian trendsetter. Knightley mines the nuances of Colette throughout her extraordinary journey and delivers yet another performance that won her praise at Sundance. — Piya Sinha-Roy

The Front Runner (dir. Jason Reitman)

Release date: Nov. 21, 2018

Distributor: Sony Pictures

Categories to look out for: Best picture, best actor (Hugh Jackman), best supporting actress (Vera Farmiga), best adapted screenplay

In 1988, Senator Gary Hart emarked on his second attempt for the Democratic presidential nomination, for which he was the front-runner. This film traces the three weeks over which Hart, played by Hugh Jackman, goes from leading the race to dropping out of politics forever when he and his wife Lee (Vera Farmiga) and family come under intense public scrutiny over reports that he had an extramarital affair. While set 30 years ago, the film parallels closely to current issues of privacy within the public eye, freedom of press, and women's rights, and might resonate with voters looking for a timely political saga. — Piya Sinha-Roy