Oscars 2017: Best Supporting Actress Predictions (April)

Since it's been a month since I made my predictions for Best Supporting Actress, I figured I'd make a few updates as there are some contenders that I think have a strong chance at making it in despite it being early in the race. Let's take a look:

Jennifer Aniston, The Yellow Birds: She was a likely 6th for Best Actress when she missed out for Cake. Playing the struggling mother of a young war hero should get her inches closer for the nomination she's working for.

Laura Dern, The Founder: She did land a surprise nod in this category for Wild and she's got Harvey Weinstein at her corner. Plus, she's playing the wife of the founder of McDonald's and if there is one thing this category has a hard on for, it's supportive wife roles.

Naomie Harris, Moonlight: She's got both Moonlight and the ensemble piece Collateral Beauty under her belt for this year. Moonlight, which is a depiction of gay black youth and drug trading, seems pretty baity on paper. It's also being distributed by A24 who just won three Oscars. So they're on a roll right now.

Jennifer Jason Leigh, LBJ: She finally scored a nomination. Now that she's joined the club, could they be inclined to keep rewarding her down the line? She is playing Lady Bird Johnson and as I've mentioned before, one of this category's biggest hard-ons is the supportive wife role.

Michelle Williams, Manchester By The Sea: The film was the critical darling of Sundance and she's a previous 3-time nominee. Personally, I think she's about one or two nominations from having a trophy on her mantle.


Dark Horses:

Shohreh Aghdashloo, The Promise: Previous nominee in a period piece by Terry George who guided Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo to nominations for Hotel Rwanda.

Nicole Kidman, Lion: Name factor plus Harvey Weinstein plus "supportive mother" role.

Aja Naomi King, Birth Of A Nation: The film will likely get in across the board. But how much across the board?

Lupita Nyong'o, Queen of Katwe: A way to welcome her back into live-action filmmaking?

Margot Robbie, Suicide Squad: Every once in a while, there's a wild card entry.

Kristen Stewart, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk: She's on the fringes of joining the club. But for which movie since she's got a good amount of films coming out this year.

Rachel Weisz, The Light Between Oceans: Could they find a way to honor her prolific year?

Kate Winslet, Collateral Beauty: She did just score her 7th nomination and since both her and Harris are in the same film, they can easily double dip which Supporting Actress often does.