Oscar's Acting Categories Take Shape. Or Do They?
Friday, November 14, 2014 at 3:45PM
NATHANIEL R in Best Actor, Best Actress, David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jessica Chastain, John Goodman, Oscars (14), Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Tom Wilkinson, gender politics

If you're an Oscar chart junkie, you'll see some key shifts on all four acting charts which are now updated. The biggest switcheroo is Jessica Chastain moving to Supporting Actress (the original prediction back in April) which shakes that field up more than it creates a vacuum with the Best Actress race and both Foxcatcher men dropping out of the predicted lead actor shortlist.

Papa, how can I be too high in rank to dine with the servants and too low to dine with my family?

Best Actress has been hard to suss out beyond two sure things: Julianne Moore as a professor with early on-set Alzheimers and Reese Witherspoon as a woman trying to forgive herself and start anew by hiking the PCT. Both of those films are major star vehicles in that they put their leading actress and her considerable gifts front and center without obstructed views. Gone Girl and The Theory of Everything also look somewhat likely to produce nominees but those are definitely two-lead films which Pike and Jones must share with their screen hubbies. On the podcast this weekend we'll talk more about this race because the field still seems wide open beyond those four names. And, if past years are any indication, one of them could surprisingly drop out. There are a lot of viable women hoping to unseat them, which makes "where are the best actress candidates?" articles in major outlets like THR and The Washington Post absolutely mystifying or ignorant or sexist or something. Something not right is the point. Particular maddening is that THR article which claims two dozen viable Best Actor candidates beyond the presumed frontrunners but will even list the most longshot of longshots like Eller Coltrane (Boyhood) and Al Pacino (The Humbling) and Kevin Costner (Black and White) -- none of which have any heat -- as "credible" contenders but can't think of ANY slightly under the radar women other than Jenny Slate (Obvious Child)? That's wearing some serious blinders to support your thesis. [more...]

You just have to look ever-so-slightly beyond traditional Oscar bait and you'll see a big swath of fine performances that would not be embarrassing were they to land Oscar nominations. Hell, you don't even have to look beyond traditional bait if you want to consider people like Swank (The Homesman), Adams (Big Eyes) or Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle). Several acclaimed women have a helluva lot better shot at it than Kevin Costner, you know? You can see plenty of them on the chart. Asking "where are the best actresses?" this late in a good film year is like shouting... "I never see 'women's pictures!' Gross"

Mine eyes have seen the glory! Glory glory glory...

Best Actor was shaken up, as I suspected it would be for a long time (I stupidly dropped him from my predicted list in October but otherwise he was there most of the year) by David Oyelowo's great orator mimicry in Selma. If they love the film - which I very much think they will - they'll nominate his MLK, no matter how tight the Best Actor race is. If you see beautiful Ava DuVernay crashing the usual old white man Best Director category, he could even win.

Watch out, Eddie! 

-Let's just deal with this like gentlemen who understand each other please?
-NO. I need for us to treat each other like we're not gentlemen and that we're very very stupid." 

Supporting Actor is clear to an extent. But not clear at all once you get past the obvious contenders (just like in Best Actress). My predicted field could be right on the mark but who knows? Beyond Norton & Simmons, anything might happen with a brilliant campaign from someone in some film. Tom Wilkinson in Selma is kind of my "why not, nothing else is happening" choice at the moment, since he has multiple exasperated President scenes and a really endearing character moment near the end. I'd put money on John Goodman's very showy supporting gig (what other kind does he get?) in The Gambler IF I thought the film had heat anywhere else. But John Goodman hasn't caught on with voters despite a lot of these showy supporting roles recently, sometimes in films with way more to recommend them than this one.   Eager to hear your thoughts on this race in particular!

-What do you have?
-Something I'm fairly certain you'll be excited about. 

Supporting Actress is just as cloudy since supporting races are so dependent on campaigns and overall Best Picture heat.  I think it's going to be Arquette, Chastain, Knightley, Stone, and Streep but, honestly, pundits like myself are making a lot of assumptions about what might turn voters on if they claim certainty about the supporting categories. All it would take to really throw the presumptions out of whack is for Wild to gain steam when it opens (for Laura Dern's lovely maternal ghost), audiences and critics to be all over the place about who is "best" in Into the Woods (it could very well be Anna Kendrick), or for Jake Gyllenhaal or Julianne Moore or Selma's campaign's to win so much traction that they have surprise coattails (pulling Rene Russo, Kristen Stewart, or Carmen Ejogo in).

And so on...

It's always good to remember that a lot of the films expected to do well are either not open or just now hitting theaters (despite months of conversation in our weird award season distribution model), and no precursors have yet handed out their prizes. There are still many ways that the acting fields can be disrupted dramatically, or shift just enough to reveal that it didn't ever look like what people assumed they were seeing to begin with.

What's your craziest theory in any category?
What questions would you ask the podcast panel for this weekend's Best Actress chat?

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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