The Awardist podcast tackles realism, fantasy, and the Best Picture race

The Best Picture race is the biggest of the bunch — and on this week's EW podcast for The Awardist, we zoom way, way out to look at the big picture.

Are the Academy Awards more likely to honor movies that help us escape the world, or is a particular brand of realism (the more heroic or higher-stakes, the better) more likely to persuade Oscar voters?

The Awardist podcast is part of our comprehensive awards coverage, hosted by EW digital director Shana Naomi Krochmal and featuring senior film writer Piya Sinha-Roy. EW deputy editor Bill Keith also joins us this week.

Will we see Oscar nominations for the tragic, sweeping love story of A Star Is Born, the nostalgic memories of Roma, the twisted nightmare of The Favourite, or the vibrant world of Black Panther, all escapist stories, overshadow films grounded in realism, such as Green Book, First Man, BlacKkKlansman, and Beautiful Boy?

To answer that question, we looked back to recent history, starting with 2010, when the Best Picture category expanded to allow up to 10 nominees (though it has yet to actually hit that number). Read Piya's full year-by-year breakdown, and listen to the longer discussion below — or on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Plus: If we're going to talk about awards in November, we should be willing to make some bold predictions for what will happen in January and February. Listen to the podcast to hear Shana, Piya, and Bill's picks for who deserves a nomination and which as-yet-unreleased film we're most excited for fans to get to see. <iframe src="https://art19.com/shows/chasing-emmy/episodes/5f4cee68-14ee-4098-ab26-c367ea68f3e7/embed" scrolling="no" width="100%" height="460" frameborder="0" class="" allowfullscreen="" resize="0" replace_attributes="1" name=""></iframe>ã½<åÿ;m¿6ž¹yîûm÷ëÜá·_Ó·µkwZ

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