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| The Academy Awards |
Today, on my newly minted Oscar predictions rundown series, we’re going to talk about one of
the most competitive Oscar races and one that is probably the most predictable one: the
actors races! Could there be any surprises in this lineup of nominees? Or should we
just go ahead and give it to Daniel Day-Lewis now? Let’s find out!
Best Supporting Actor
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| CBS News |
And the nominees are…
Willem Dafoe (The
Florida Project)
Woody Harrelson (Three
Billboards)
Richard Jenkins (The
Shape of Water)
Christopher Plummer (All
the Money in the World)
Sam Rockwell (Three
Billboards)
Who Will Win: Sam Rockwell
Who Should Win: Sam Rockwell
Who Should Have Been Nominated: Harrison Ford (Blade Runner 2049)
Look, this is
obviously the predictable one. Sam Rockwell has won pretty much every Supporting
Actor award from every major organization that gives out movie awards. However,
I want to take a moment to say some nice things about the other nominees, since
they were all actually pretty incredible. Willem Dafoe is sadly the only
nomination for The Florida Project, a
great yet criminally underseen little movie that deserved more. He’s great as
he always is, primarily because it's one of the few times in his career where he plays a
normal guy, but one with a lot of heart and heft in this story. Christopher
Plummer needs to get some kind of award for saving All the Money in the World, since Kevin Spacey was removed for
being a horrible, disgusting excuse of a human being, and Plummer did an
excellent job! The fact that he pulled off that performance in the span of ten days is just amazing. Harrelson is great in Three Billboards, but I’d say he was the weakest of the nominees,
and the one they should have instead put Harrison Ford in. Seriously, guys, he
was great in Blade Runner 2049! Best
performance of his in decades, decades I tell you!
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| The Real Chrissparkle
Live footage of Harrison during the nomination announcements.
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Anyways, if
there’s any real competition to Sam Rockwell it’s Richard Jenkins, who is just
incredible in The Shape of Water. As
the unwitting accomplice to the rescue the monster scheme (and one hiding his
own secrets from the world), Jenkins has a lot of great scenes that showcase
his considerable range, whether they make you laugh or break your heart. He’s
the anchor to reality that helps this film feel real, and despite the fish
banging going on I actually was always looking forward to seeing more of him. I
would be very happy to see him be the upset, but…
Sam Rockwell is
going to win this, guys. He’s won all the other major awards, he’s a veteran
character actor the Academy might want to award after so much time (think J.K. Simmons’ win for Whiplash), and he
just does a great job. I know this role has caused a lot of controversy, but
does that really have anything to do with his performance? His Dixon is a
terrible person, with the added bonus of being completely pathetic, but there’s
something about the way Rockwell plays him that’s just magnetic. Whether he’s
the butt of a joke, a frightening brute or even a man struggling to be good,
Rockwell pulls it all off like the master that he is. The guy has been overlooked
long enough by the Academy. He deserves to win, and I think he definitely will.
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| Sony Pictures Classic
Still haven't forgiven you for this, Academy!
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Best Actor
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| Gold Derby |
And the nominees are…
Timothée Chalamet (Call
Me By Your Name)
Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom
Thread)
Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out)
Gary Oldman (Darkest
Hour)
Denzel Washington (Roman
J. Israel, Esq.)
Who Will Win: Gary Oldman
Who Should Win: Gary Oldman
Who Should Have Been Nominated: Hugh Jackman (Logan)
Sorry Denzel, I
love you but you’re not winning. He was excellent in Roman J. Israel, but the movie just wasn’t that good. The Academy
loves him, so they nominated him. Of course. But besides him, this is a pretty
competitive little race. On the one hand you have the guy who’s won everything
so far, the lead of the upstart horror film that’s hung on since February, a
bright young talent with not one but two great performances this year, and one
of the greatest actors of all time, possibly the great living today. Tough
competition. Let’s narrow things down a bit.
As much as I’d
love to see Daniel Kaluuya get the win, I think that his work in Get Out just isn’t showy enough for the
Academy. He’s great, no doubt, but some of the other performers have more of
that actor-y feel to it, you know what I mean? Kaluuya’s Chris feels very much
like a real person, almost like someone was just asked to play themselves
experiencing a bad situation. I think that’s perfectly fine and more than
nomination-worthy, but the Academy tends to prefer something showier. Timothée
Chalamet is the same way, delivering a brilliant performance in Call Me By Your Name but honestly just
playing a kid that feels like a real kid. I loved him, but I was so surprised
when I saw people suggest that he was the greatest competition to Gary Oldman.
Both of these guys are still young, and they will definitely be on that stage
one of these days for something.
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| GIPHY
Yes it is, dude. Yes it is.
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While I think Gary
Oldman is going to take it, Daniel Day-Lewis is always a threat when it comes
to the Oscars. Daniel Day-Lewis could leave his house to get the paper and win
an Oscar, but Phantom Thread is
supposedly his last role, and is a great one for him. The role is very deep and
complex, and more than a little creepy, and really has all the ingredients to a
great, Oscar winning role there. He has a great track record with the Academy
as well, only losing the award two times, one to Tom Hanks for Philadelphia and another to Adrien Brody
for The Pianist. Tom was left out
this year and Adrien Brody has been banished for doing this garbage, so the
only competitors that have ever beaten Day-Lewis are out of the game.
And yet, this is
Gary Oldman’s time. Like Sam Rockwell he’s won pretty much every major award,
he’s a long-established actor with a legendary career that has only been
nominated once before, and he gave a physically transformative, powerful and
very show-y performance! What could the Academy not like about that? Oldman is
tremendous as Winston Churchill and disappears entirely into the role, giving
perhaps the best performance of his entire career. Gary Oldman has proven time
and time again that he’s a great actor and I think it would be a damn shame if
the Academy refused to recognize him for his work here, because I don’t know if
another role like this will come along again for him. This may well be his last
chance, and it’s high time they gave him the freaking trophy!
So that's today's look at the nominees for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. Who will take home the big prize? Tune in Sunday to find out! Tomorrow: the Actresses!
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| Whimn
One day, Hugh! One day!
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Hey guys, if you like this article please leave a comment or share this post so we can get the word out there! If you have any questions or comments you can find me at:
Twitter: @PresidentGlover
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