The Best Picture Oscar race has reached a fever pitch, with The King’s Speech fast closing in on The Social Network following its near sweep at the BAFTA awards this week. After picking up the top awards at the Directors Guild of America awards, the Screen Actors Guild awards, and now the BAFTAs, The Social Network’s big night at the Golden Globes seems like a distant memory and our polling reflects this: The King’s Speech is now running nearly neck-and-neck with The Social Network and looks to surpass it next week.
Gallery: The Daily Beast’s Oscar Oracle
Other categories seem to be going more or less according to plan. Natalie Portman further cemented her shoo-in status with a BAFTA win over Annette Bening and appears to be a lock for Best Actress. Meanwhile, The King’s Speech’s Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter experienced heavy gains in the supporting categories thanks to their BAFTA wins, although they have a long way to go to catch The Fighter heavyweights Christian Bale and Melissa Leo.
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The race for Best Director is looking like it will go down to the wire. Although Black Swan helmer Darren Aronofsky is still tiptoeing along, with a slight edge over The Social Network’s David Fincher, the latter’s BAFTA upset win could land him a few more Academy friends in the coming days. Place your bets: Will The King’s Speech be crowned, or can The Social Network “friend” its way to the top? Read more about how the Oscar Oracle works here.
