Oscars Best Picture nominee profile: ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ is a dark horse looking to repeat Golden Globes success

John Benutty
·4 min read
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If there’s going to be a surprise win in Best Picture at this year’s Oscars, look no further than “The Banshees of Inisherin.” Aside from its Golden Globe win for Best Film Musical/Comedy, “Banshees” failed to take the top prize with any major group this season, but that didn’t stop it from mounting upsets in other key categories. If the dark horse spirit that earned it major Globe and BAFTA wins continues into Oscar night, director/writer/producer Martin McDonagh could find himself with his first Oscar statuette in a feature film category.

McDonagh is already an Oscar winner for his 2006 live-action short “Six Shooter,” but he came up short for his work on the feature films “In Bruges” in 2009 and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” in 2018. He was nominated in Best Original Screenplay for both films and then in Best Picture as a producer of the latter, marking three feature nominations and three losses. This year he has doubled that nomination count with three more bids, including his first in Best Director, as well as a third as a writer and a second as a producer.

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SEEAfter BAFTAs, ‘Banshees of Inisherin’ overtakes ‘Everything’ in Oscar odds for Best Original Screenplay

The season of surprise wins for “Banshees” began at the Golden Globes when it took home three trophies from its eight overall nominations. That night it triumphed over “Everything Everywhere All at Once” to take the top award in musical/comedy, showing that at least some voters have a preference for no fingers over hot dog fingers. McDonagh also repeated in the Best Screenplay category, following his win for “Three Billboards” in 2018, and Colin Farrell collected his first, and only, major win as the lead actor in the film. McDonagh missed out in Director to Steven Spielberg for “The Fabelmans” and Carter Burwell succumbed to Justin Hurwitz for the score to “Babylon.” “Banshees” also lost all three of its bids in the supporting acting categories.

The “Banshees” supporting players rebounded in February with surprise BAFTA wins. Both Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan unseated the Oscar frontrunners Angela Bassett and Ke Huy Quan in their respective fields, serving as early signs in the telecast that “Banshees” might have a very big night with the British academy. The film went on to win just two others, though: Best Original Screenplay and Best British Film. Farrell was largely predicted to take Best Actor, but couldn’t bring it home despite the support for Condon and Keoghan. “Banshees” wound up losing many of its races, including Best Film, to “All Quiet on the Western Front” which set a new BAFTA record for non-English language films with seven overall wins.

SEEBrendan Gleeson (‘The Banshees of Inisherin’): ‘I’m chuffed’ over first career Oscar nomination [Complete Interview Transcript]

Following the acting wins at BAFTA, “Banshees” hoped to repeat its success at the Screen Actors Guild, but fell once again to a record-setting film. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” took home four SAG prizes, besting “Banshees” in three of them, including best ensemble cast. The “Everything” wins set a new record for the most SAG Awards for any film in history. The film also bested “Banshees” for the top prize from the Producers Guild and Directors Guild in February, making it a clear frontrunner for the Oscar prize.

Heading into Oscar night, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “All Quiet on the Western Front” will be the biggest hurdles for “Banshees” to overcome in its hopes of mounting a surprise Best Picture win. “Everything” is the current frontrunner in our combined odds, but “Banshees” is a close second. And the two films are also tightly competitive with one another for Best Original Screenplay; writing is frequently linked to Best Picture these days, so don’t underestimate “Banshees” for the top prize. Though “All Quiet” might be the biggest threat to “Banshees” for the British vote within the American academy, which it will need in order to secure the ultimate dark horse win.

This article is a part of Gold Derby’s “Oscar nominee profile” series spotlighting the 2022 Best Picture nominees. 

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