The Oscars: Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Documentary betting

Best Director

Best bet

Bong Joon Ho
0.5pt 6-1 Ladbrokes

Sam Mendes, previously famed for his theatre work, won the Director gong with American Beauty on his film debut in 2000 and is 1-5 at best to bag the prize again with 1917.

Despite all its achievements, the film does have detractors, one critic writing that there’s “too much emphasis on spectacle and technicality” and called it “weirdly hollow”.

So it’s not a total shoo-in and Bong Joon Ho is rated a serious rival with Parasite.

The Korean director has created an amazing story of the con tricks dreamed up by a poor but far-from-stupid family living in squalor in Seoul to persuade a rich but naive one to replace current staff and give them jobs in their plush home.

Bong’s clever script comes partly from his own experience of being a poor maths tutor in a rich man’s employ after being recommended by a friend. That’s how domestic vacancies are filled in Korea, not through adverts but by word of mouth.

Bong’s odds vary from 3-1 to double that but if you can see a chink in Mendes’ armour - I can’t - then Bong represents value if you can get 5-1 or bigger.

Best Actor

Joker star Joaquin Phoenix at 1-20 to 1-50 won’t lose so don’t bother looking elsewhere. My idea of the best acting of the year came from Jonathan Pryce as Pope Benedict XVI but “best” doesn’t necessarily win and my 100-1 is a wasted bet.

It’s a scandal that Golden Globe winner Taron Egerton, wonderful as Elton John in Rocketman, is not even listed.

Perhaps someone could explain why Rami Malik won for Bohemian Rhapsody last year even though Freddie Mercury sound-alike Marc Martel did most of the vocals whereas Egerton brilliantly sang all Elton’s songs himself and did not even rate a nomination.

Best Actress

Renee Zellweger did her own singing too in Judy, and pretty well. We knew she could sing from the Oscar-winning musical Chicago.

She also captured everything else about tragic Judy Garland, all her nervous tics and her sad drink-and drug-fuelled decline in London, dead at 47. A once-in-a-lifetime part and Zellweger plays it for all it is worth in a career-defining performance. Quotes ranging from 1-12 to 1-40 tell the whole story.

It doesn’t look third time lucky for Irish-American star Saoirse Ronan, stunning as always in Little Women. Nominated in recent years for Brooklyn and Little Bird, she keeps finding one too good. Her turn must come but not this weekend.

Best Supporting Actor

Brad Pitt is in the driving seat as stunt double Cliff Booth in the Tarantino opus and looks untouchable at 1-20 to 1-50 even against strong opposition from Hopkins in Two Popes, Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood and Irishman gangsters Joe Pesci and Al Pacino, neither known for underplaying.

Best Supporting Actress

Scarlett Johansson has two chances of Oscar, Best Actress with Marriage Story and Best Support for JoJo Rabbit. The latter, as the German mother who hides a Jewish girl in her attic, represents the better opportunity but Laura Dern is hard to oppose.

Dern has been winning everything so far as Johansson’s tough-talking attorney in Marriage Story. Taking on a 1-18 chance looks rash so this is another no-bet race.

Wishing the best of British to Florence Pugh, captivating as Amy in Little Women. It’s a fine achievement for the young 20-1 shot just to get nominated.

Best Documentary

Best bet

For Sama
2pts 2-1 Ladbrokes

We’ve got to find a bet somewhere and For Sama, a heart-breaking story set in strife-torn Aleppo during the Syrian civil war, has just won a BAFTA. It could turn into a double at the expense of favourite American History.

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