Oscars 2021 preview: Nomadland looking set for a successful night

We’re just a few days away from the 2021 edition of the Oscars, with the 93rd staging of the Academy Awards taking place on Sunday.

With a number of the year’s hottest films, best actors and actresses and most talented directors up for an array of awards, we’ve taken a look at the odds for the biggest prizes on offer.

Best Picture

While there are eight films up for the Best Picture award, according to the odds there’s only set to be one winner come Sunday night. Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand, leads the way as the odds-on favourite at 1/6, telling the story of how a woman embarks on a journey through the American West after losing everything in the Great Recession. Nomadland’s closest threats appear to be The Trial of the Chicago 7 (6/1) – the story of a group of people on trial following the 1968 Democratic National Convention uprising – and Promising Young Woman (9/1), Emerald Fennell’s tale of a young woman (Carey Mulligan) traumatized by a tragic event in her past. Minari (12/1), Judas and the Black Messiah (20/1) and Mank (25/1) are among the outside bets.

Best Director

It looks set to be a big night for the aforementioned Nomadland, with Chloé Zhao also the odds-on favourite to take home the Best Director gong at 1/20. Zhao is known primarily for her work in independent U.S. films, but Nomadland looks to have launched her into the big time, with her follow-up film being the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Eternals.  Her nearest competitors in the betting are David Fincher (9/1) for his work on Mank – the biographical film about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his development of the screenplay for Citizen Kane – and Emerald Fennell (12/1) for Promising Young Woman. Elsewhere, Minari director Lee Isaac Chung is 16/1 with Thomas Vinterberg the outsider at 40/1 for Another Round.

Best Actress

While the odds suggest that the Best Picture and Best Director awards are foregone conclusions, the Best Actress gong looks to be far more hotly contested. Frances McDormand is looking to claim a stunning third Best Actress award following her wins for Fargo and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri after this year’s performance in Nomadland, yet at 7/2 she is not quite the favourite. That role belongs to Carey Mulligan (11/8) after her impressive work in Promising Young Woman, with Viola Davis a close second at 7/4 for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom for her performance in the title role about the influential blues singer. The United States vs Billy Holiday’s Andra Day (6/1) and Pieces of a Woman’s Vanessa Kirby (16/1) round off the betting.

Best Actor

As for the Best Actor award, according to the betting, there only looks like being one winner. Chadwick Boseman is the 1/16 odds-on favourite to win a posthumous award following his turn in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, where he played trumpeter Levee Green in his final film before his death last year. Anthony Hopkins, who won this award in 1992 thanks to his display in The Silence of the Lambs, is next in line in the betting at 7/1 for his starring role in The Father, which is based on the 2012 play Le Père. Also in the running for the award are Riz Ahmed (14/1) for Sound of Metal, Steven Yeun (25/1) for Minari and Gary Oldman (25/1) for Mank.

Check out all the latest Oscars betting odds at William Hill