My NAFCA Ballot

 


The first ever slate of awards will be handed out by the North American Film Critics Association tonight. Please join us live at 8 p.m. EST as we all vote on the winners. Below are the nominees for our first slate along with the votes I'll be giving tonight. I'm honored to be a part of this group and the work we've done to get here over the last year. I'm excited to share my picks and see who ends up coming out on top!

Best Picture  
Mass 
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Dune 
The Power of the Dog
Belfast

My Pick:  Three of my Top 5 films of the year are on this list. It's a strong and diverse group, but I have to go with Mass. It's such a powerful story.      

Best Director
Kenneth Branagh, Belfast     
Denis Villenueve, Dune         
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Joel Coen, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Ridley Scott, The Last Duel

My Pick: An interesting group of nominees, but it's an easy choice for me here. I loved Branagh's work with Belfast. 

Best Actor   
Denzel Washington, Macbeth
Andrew Garfield, tick, tick..boom
Bradley Cooper, Nightmare Alley     
Will Smith, King Richard       
Hidetoshi Nishijima, Drive My Car

My Pick: Some great performances here but nothing topped Bradley Cooper in Nightmare Alley for me.

Best Actress 
Jessica Chastain, Tammy Faye       
Kristen Stewart, Spencer       
Emilia Jones, Coda   
Jodie Comer, The Last Duel 
Penelope Cruz, Parallel Mothers

My Pick: Five good performances but it comes down to Chastain and Jones for me. I loved both so much. My heart says Jones because CODA was such a beautiful film, but I think Chastain's performance is the better of the two, so I'm going with her.                 

Best Supporting Actor       
Jamie Dornan, Belfast           
Jason Isaacs, Mass   
Troy Kotsur, CODA   
Colman Domingo, Zola         
Mike Faist, WSS

My Pick: I wish we could have more than one winner. It's heart-breaking to choose here, but ultimately I'm going with Dornan for Belfast.  

Best Supporting Actress   
Ann Dowd, Mass       
Ruth Negga, Passing
Caitriona Balfe, Belfast         
Martha Plimpton, Mass         
Ariana DeBose, WSS

My Pick: This is as loaded for me as the Best Supporting Actor race, but I'm going with Martha Plimpton for Mass.

Screenplay   
Mass   
C’mon C’mon       
The Last Duel
The Worst Person in the World         
Swan Song  

My Pick: This was a relatively easy choice for me. I'm going with Mass.

Best Cinematography        
Dune 
The Tragedy of Macbeth         
Spencer         
The Hand of God       
The Power of the Dog 

My Pick: Some beautifully shot films here, but I'm voting for The Tragedy of Macbeth          

Best Costume Design        
Cruella
The Eyes of Tammy Faye     
Coming 2 America     
Spencer         
Dune

My Pick: Dune wasn't my favorite film, but the production values are incredible. It gets my vote here.

Best Film Editing     
The Power of the Dog
Don’t Look Up
Dune 
The Lost Daughter     
Mass  

My Pick: I'm going with Mass again.

Best Production Design     
Dune 
Nightmare Alley         
The Tragedy of Macbeth       
Spencer         
The Eyes of Tammy Faye

My Pick: Nightmare Alley is fantastic, it gets my vote here.   

Best Sound   
Dune 
A Quiet Place Part Two         
No Time To Die         
The Humans 
Belfast

My Pick: Maybe it feels a bit weird, but I'm going with Belfast.            

Best VFX       
Spider-Man: No Way Home 
Dune 
The Eternals   
Don’t Look Up
Shang-Chi

My Pick: Look out world, going slightly off script and going with Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings.              

Best Original Score
The Power of the Dog
Dune 
Don’t Look Up
Spencer         
Spider-Man: No Way Home

My Pick: I'm going with the score from Dune here.

Best Animated         
The Mitchells vs the Machines           
Sing 2
Encanto         
Raya and the Last Dragon   
Luca 

My Pick: I'm going with Sing 2.            

Best Documentary   
Flee   
Summer of Soul       
The First Wave         
The Rescue   
Tina  

My Pick: I loved The Rescue, so it gets my vote here.

Best Foreign Film   
Drive My Car 
Titane
Parallel Mothers         
Flee   
The Hand of God 

My Pick: There are a couple options I like here, but I'm going with Parallel Mothers, the same vote I am casting for the Independent Spirit Awards.      

Best Stunts   
Shang-Chi     
No Time To Die         
Spider-Man: No Way Home   
Dune  
Nobody

My Pick: I'm going with No Time to Die here.          

Best Streaming Movie         
Don’t Look Up
Zack Snyder’s Justice League           
Tick Tick Boom         
The Harder They Fall
The Power of the Dog

My Pick: I'm going with Zack Snyder's Justice League

Best Blockbuster     
Spider-Man: No Way Home 
Dune 
F9       
The Suicide Squad   
Black Widow  

My Pick: There's only one choice here, Spider-Man: No Way Home            

Best Comedy Movie
Don’t Look Up
Shiva Baby   
Free Guy       
The Suicide Squad   
Barb and Star 

My Pick: This is a tough category for me, but I'm going with Shiva Baby.           

Best Horror Movie   
Malignant       
The Night House       
Candy Man   
Last Night in Soho     
Titane

My Pick: This is honestly rough. I didn't love any of these. I am going with Last Night in Soho.

Best Independent Movie     
Mass 
Shiva Baby   
C’Mon C’Mon
Nine Days     
Pig

My Pick: It's Mass for me.   

Hidden Gem
Old Henry     
Pig     
Nine Days     
The Night House       
Boxing Day

My Pick: I loved Nine Days and I wish more people saw it. It gets my vote.

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