The nominations are in, but how will Canada actually do on Oscar night?
To be honest, the lack of a Best Actor nom for Ryan Gosling had us pretty much writing off the entire evening, but Canadians are well represented at this year's Academy Awards. While the number of Great White North Oscar nominations isn't quite as high as the number of Golden Globe noms we had this year, our chances of winning an Academy Award are fairly good across a number of categories.
And, thanks to British betting giant William Hill, here are the actual odds of Canadians winning big on Oscar night. Not that we endorse gambling, of course. These probabilities are provided for entertainment purposes only.
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer for "Beginners" — Of all the acting nominees at this year's Oscars, legendary Canadian thesp Christopher Plummer is about as close to a sure bet as you can get. Plummer's performance as an dying man who comes out of the closet to his son (Ewan McGregor) was one of 2011's best, and has already earned the veteran actor Golden Globe, BAFTA and SAG awards. Odds: 1-33
Best Foreign Language Film: "Monsieur Lazhar"/"In Darkness" — While Iran's "A Separation" is the odds-on favourite this year (literally), an upset by Quebec's "Monsieur Lazhar" or the Canada-Poland-Germany co-production "In Darkness" (Poland's submission) is a definite possibility. With "Lazhar," Philippe Falardeau's moving tale of an Algerian substitute teacher who helps a group of students come to terms with a terrible tragedy will likely win Canada's top film prize — a Genie — this year; however, an Oscar win is not guaranteed. And while the Second World War drama "In Darkness" has a slightly better chance of winning than "Lazhar," Iran's Foreign Language entry seems to have the category all but locked up. Odds: 16-1/8-1
Best Original Score: Howard Shore for "Hugo" — Canadian musician and composer Howard Shore has some stiff competition at the Academy Awards this year. Shore's original score for "Hugo" is up against legendary composer John Williams (nominated twice for "War Horse" and "The Adventures of Tintin") and fave Ludovic Bource ("The Artist"), who picked up the equivalent prize at the Golden Globes last month. Odds: 10-1
Best Sound Mixing: David Giammarco for "Moneyball" — Welland, Ontario's David Giammarco scored his second Oscar nomination in the Best Sound Mixing category for his work on the sports epic "Moneyball." Giammarco was previously nominated for the sound mixing in the western "3:10 to Yuma." Sadly, lesser categories like Sound Mixing aren't high profile enough to get betting odds, but "Moneyball" is up against the seriously dense soundscapes of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Hugo." Our odds: Not the best.
Best Animated Short Film - Patrick Doyon for "Dimanche" and Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby for "Wild Life" — Again, a supposedly lesser category like Best Animated Short Film sadly wasn't given official odds by the bookmakers, but that doesn't make the films nominated any less worthy. Especially when two of the five films nominated are Canadian! Our odds: A 2 out of 5 chance that a Canadian short film will take home Oscar gold.
The 84th annual Academy Awards air Sunday, Feb. 26 at 8:30 p.m. ET on CTV and ABC.
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