A look at the Oscar favorites

Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos has been nominated 10 times for his English-language drama, "The Favourite," a film about scheming at the English royal court in the 18th century. Olivia Colman plays Queen Anne, and she is also in the race for best actress.

"The Favourite" has a major competitor, however: the Mexican Netflix production "Roma," which has also been nominated 10 times. The film has already won many awards, and is one among eight movies nominated in the most important Oscar category, Best Picture of the Year. "Roma" is about the life of a nanny in a Mexican middle-class family in the 1970s.

There is not a woman in sight in this category this year. Alfonso Cuaron ("Roma") and Yorgos Lanthimos have been nominated, as well as US directors Spike Lee ("BlacKkKlansman") and Adam McKay ("Vice"), and Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski (photo, "Cold War"). Two Europeans and a Mexican up for this award at the 2019 Oscars — that is a novelty.

The race is wide open in the best actress category. Nominees include Lady Gaga ("A Star is Born," photo) , Glenn Close ("The Wife"), Melissa McCarthy ("Can You Ever Forgive Me?"), Olivia Colman ("The Favourite") and Yalitza Aparico ("Roma"). Most experts would probably like to see 71-year-old Glenn Close finally get an Oscar after six unsuccessful attempts.

There is a clear favorite this year for the best actor award: Christian Bale for his role as former US Vice President Dick Cheney. A hardly recognizable Bale gained 20 kilograms to alter his appearance. The other contenders for the award are Bradley Cooper ("A Star Is Born"), Willem Dafoe ("At Eternity's Gate"), Rami Malek ("Bohemian Rhapsody") and Viggo Mortensen ("Green Book").

The evening promises to be exciting for the women nominated in the best supporting actress category, too: Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz (photo) were nominated for their performances in "The Favourite." The other nominees are Regina King ("If Beale Street Could Talk"), Amy Adams ("Vice") and Marina de Tavira ("Roma").

Golden Globe-winner Mahershala Ali (photo, right) is one of the nominees in the best supporting actor category for his performance as a pianist in the drama "Green Book." His competitors: Adam Driver ("BlacKkKlansman"), Richard E. Grant ("Can You Ever Forgive Me?"), Sam Elliott ("A Star Is Born") and Sam Rockwell ("Vice").

Two of the 24 Oscar categories are reserved for authors, and perhaps this year, Paul Schrader will win one of them, namely for best original screenplay. The director and writer is nominated for his screenplay for "First Reformed," which he also directed. Born in Michigan in 1946, the author of "Taxi Driver" is a US movie legend.

Multi-talented Alfonso Cuaron took on different jobs in his movie "Roma," including director, producer and cameraman. Cuaron was nominated in the category best camera. Another novelty: "Roma" is also in the running in the categories best film and best foreign language film.

"Roma" faces off in this category with Germany's Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's controversial artist drama "Never Look Away" (photo). The other international works in the line up are Japan's "Shoplifters," Poland's "Cold War" and the Lebanese "Capernaum."

In the best musical score category, French-Greek composer Alexandre Desplat, nominated for his score for Wes Anderson's "Isle of Dogs," competes against three US composers and a colleague from Sweden. Desplat already has two Oscars and seven other nominations under his belt.

Apart from Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, three other Germans can hope for an Oscar: Berlin producers Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme and Tobias N. Siebert are in the race for the best documentary film award for "Of Fathers and Sons" by director Talal Derki. The movie describes two years in the life of a radical Islamist family.