Gulf News readers have spoken online. And they want the Clint Eastwood adaptation American Sniper to win the Oscar’s Best Motion Picture of the Year. In our poll on gulfnews.com, 37 per cent of readers chose the drama, based on a memoir by the late Chris Kyle, a Navy Seal sniper credited with the most confirmed kills in American military history. Bradley Cooper, who is also nominated for a best actor award for his role, plays Kyle.
Coming in second on the poll is another film based on another memoir: The Theory of Everything, written by iconic cosmologist Stephen Hawking’s first wife Jane. Eddie Redmayne, who plays the scientist, is also nominated for a best actor. A close third, picked by 12 per cent of voters, is The Grand Budapest Hotel, director Wes Anderson’s fanciful tale of a hotel concierge and his protege who embark on a series of misadventures. Ralph Fiennes, who plays the bumbling concierge, was famously snubbed in the best actor category.
The sweeping Boyhood, Richard Linklater’s coming-of-age drama, is fourth on the list, with 11 per cent. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Birdman, starring Michael Keaton, and The Imitation Game, based on the life of British mathematician Alan Turing, both share fifth place with 10 per cent of voters picking the films.
Selma got 4 per cent of voters while the break-out film Whiplash comes in last with 3 per cent of voters.
By Sunday — early morning on Monday for us in the UAE — we will find out if Gulf News readers got it right.
Five of the eight best picture nominees are still showing in UAE cinemas: American Sniper, Whiplash, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything and Birdman. Check tabloid! listings for timings.
In the UAE, the Oscar awards will air live on OSN Movies Festival HD at 5.30am on Monday, January 23.
