Murtada here to continue the conversation about upcoming projects from actors who've just walked red carpets and absorbed whatever limelight got past the Leo coronation. We've dealt with the winners and the actresses, let's turn our attention to the men.
Christian Bale: Coming up first is The Promise with Oscar Isaac and Charlotte Le Bon (The Walk), a love triangle set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire. He recently signed on to star in Scott Cooper’s Western drama Hostiles.
Oscar Chances: Scott Cooper directed Jeff Bridges to an Oscar win and has tried to duplicate that high mark with diminishing returns on his last two pictures (Out of the Furnace and Black Mass). Possible but doubtful.
Bryan Cranston: He reprises his Tony winning play All the Way, in which he plays Lyndon B. Johnson, for HBO.
Oscar Chances: Another Emmy is likely unless an unknown juggernaut airs in the same season.
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Matt Damon: First up is this summer’s Jason Bourne, then the movie that caused the world to swoon for a ponytail, Zhang Yimou’s The Great Wall. Still in pre-production are George Clooney’s Suburbicon and Alexander Payne’s Downsizing.
Oscar Chances: Yes if we judge by Payne last movie, no if we judge by Clooney’s.
Michael Fassbender: The aforementioned The Light Between Oceans and X-Men: Apocalypse. He reteams with Macbeth director Justin Kurzel and co-star Marion Cotillard for the action game adaptation Assassin’s Creed. He’s currently shooting The Snowman with Rebecca Ferguson and Charlotte Gainsbourg from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’s Tomas Alfredson. He will then reprise his Prometheus android David in Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant.
Oscar Chances: Not immediately. He's heading for more commercial players after Steve Jobs.
Tom Hardy: Hardy set the internet on fire with his nakedness in the trailer for miniseries Taboo. Coming up is Christopher Nolan’s WW2 drama Dunkirk. He’s also attached to star in an Elton John biopic, which was announced 3 years ago so who knows if it will happen.
Oscar Chances: The internet will probably turn to Christopher Nolan as the next most overdue for an Oscar - and maybe Hardy gets swept up in that narrative like he was this year with Leo.
Eddie Redmayne: The Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Congrats on scoring a franchise, Eddie!
Oscar Chances: Unlikely.
Mark Ruffalo: Nothing that interesting if we are being honest. A sequel, Now You See Me 2 and more Marvel with Thor: Ragnarok. Ruffalo would be perfect casting for the role of the main character's husband in Where’d You Go Bernadette? Maybe he can plot a reunion with Cate Blanchett while they are on the set of Thor.
Oscar Chances: None.
Sylvester Stallone: No projects have been announced for Rocky Balboa himself.
Besides Bourne, what are you excited for?