Otis the Oscar Cat Predicts the Best Picture Winner

Meet Otis the Oscar Cat, Movieline's resident feline awards prognosticator. Like the majority of Academy members, he's white, male, and owns a black tie; his tastes tend toward the traditional, although he'll bite at the occasional tasty treat. To get an inside line on Sunday's Best Picture winner, we consulted Otis for his Oscar picks -- will the Academy Award go to The Artist, starring that rascally pup Uggie? Or perhaps War Horse, by a nose?

Presented with all nine Best Picture nominees -- The Artist, The Descendants, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, Tree of Life, and War Horse -- Otis weighed each film's merits. Treats were involved, but don't we all get a bit peckish when sorting out life's big questions? As he considered the nominees with care and deliberation, Otis went back and forth between his favorites before landing firmly, and with no outside influence, on his ultimate selection. Otis is sure that his peers in the Academy went through a similar process with their vote.

Otis the Oscar Cat considers the field of nominees.

He’s drawn to War Horse, but…

"The Descendants, man. I do so adore Alexander Payne."

"All the other cats loved The Help; it ruined chocolate pie for me forever."


"Hugo took me back to the whimsy of my youth, although those 3-D glasses are so very cumbersome."

"This is hard, isn't it, shadow?"

"Ooooh, Brad Pitt!"

In the end, there is no contest. Otis picks The Artist with two paws up!

"Berenice, mon amour!"


Bonus pick: A Cat in Paris for Best Animated Feature!

And with a beatific stare into the distance and a lock on this year's kitty Oscar pool, Otis the Oscar Cat bids adieu until next year.



Comments

  • j'accuse! says:

    This is the best writing on the Oscars yet. I'm just going to make this the last article I read about the subject before I go on my holiday this weekend, and hold on to the memories. Seriously...awesome. Though, I do suspect bribes were involved. Le chat blanc...j'accuse!

    • Jen Yamato says:

      Bribes? No, no, no... I mean, Harvey did stop by with a bag of chicken flavored Temptations (before the nominations were announced, of course), but I'm sure Otis kept an open mind...

      • Jen,
        You're sure the voting paper didn't have the smell,
        the taint, of canned cat food? Seems to make more
        sense for rancid-smelling cat food being used to pick
        out thosemovies which are dogs...
        BEST ACTOR DRINKING FROM THE TOILET GOES TO....

        Nice tie on the cat!
        Kris

        • Jen Yamato says:

          How dare you even suggest it! There was no taint of any kind anywhere near the voting area. (Our other cats, who usually comprise the Kitty Centipede with Otis, were in another room.)

        • Patrick Hallstein / McEvoy-Halston says:

          I think Kris is on to something ... in cooperating with expectations, the (surely wonderful!) thing did seem fixed.

  • The Winchester says:

    Was anyone else really hoping Otis would suddenly choose an out of nowhere Drive?

    • Jake says:

      Hahaha. Amen to that. Best film of the year by far.

      This was an awesome awesome awesome article to enjoy, Jen. Bravo.

      Jake

      • Jen Yamato says:

        Glad you liked it! Perhaps Otis can be persuaded to make an appearance during Sunday's Oscar live-tweet...

  • I HAVE CAT says:

    LOVED this post! Otis is a good looking and very smart kitty! I agree with his picks!

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