Some Thoughts on the Best Actor Race
Sunday, December 12, 2021 at 6:04PM by Eric Blume
While Nathaniel updates the Oscar charts over the next two days, I thought I'd chime on with some thoughts on one of the year's most packed-with-candidates categories, Best Actor. It's always good for TFE readers to talk about the big races, and I'm here to offer a perhaps unpopular take. Since the debut of King Richard at TIFF in September, many have crowned Will Smith as the runaway winner of this year's Oscar. Smith is a well-liked, bona fide movie star with twenty years of box office hits and solid performances. He may indeed be our victor. But after finally catching up with the film this past weekend, I'm going to put it out there that I don't think his victory as assured as so many do.
Sure, Smith gives a charismatic and spirited performance in the film, and his megawatt charm holds the picture together despite its weaknesses and cliches. But there's not much of an arc to this character, who finishes the picture right where he starts it...
The two "confrontation" scenes, one with wife Aujanue Ellis and one with coach John Bernthal, are obligatory at best, and don't offer much. nuance into his character (they're better for his co-stars). The filmmakers always find a way to rationalize Richard's behavior as okay, and there's no real acknowledgement that maybe Richard was a monster, or that there are any sort of complexities to him. He's always our valiant hero. This still from the film pretty much sums up Smith's performance:
...which is two hours and twenty minutes of Smith saying "World's Best Dad" over and over again. In short, there's not a lot of depth. He may win in the same way Rami Malek did a few years back, on the emotional wave of an inexplicably beloved crowd-pleaser that warms an audience who doesn't want too much of a challenge. But others might be perplexed and annoyed that Venus and Serena couldn't be the heroes of their own story, and that there's not much to Smith's character.
While many things could change over the next three months, Smith in particular has two extraordinary performances competing against him. On the charisma and star power front, Andrew Garfield has equal wattage with his performance in tick, tick...BOOM! The screen can barely contain Garfield, whose energy is so livewire he ignites verve into each scene.
And Garfield has much more of a scale to play within his own vehicle. While the two 'confrontation' scenes aren't much stronger than the ones in King Richard, Garfield's character has a much larger arc surrounding those explosions. He has so many emotional beats to play, offering up a huge range of flavors from fear, desperation, rage, confusion, selfishness, humor, to inspiration and beyond. Plus, he learned how to sing and does so beautifully. He makes musical theater feel urgent and vital. It's a major performance by a long-loved actor who many felt was robbed of his nomination (and win) for The Social Network a decade ago
Then there's Benedict Cumberbatch. He's winning a lot of the regional critics prizes and there's nobody who has a more complex, textured role on paper in this category this season. Cumberbatch knew what he had, and he found both a series of specificities and a series of ambiguities to anchor this film and give it a deep case of whatthefuckery.
I've always admired Cumberbatch just fine, but I certainly never thought he had a Daniel Day-Lewis performance in him! You can never relax in The Power of the Dog because you have absolutely no idea what Cumberbatch might do next, even though it remains fully in character. Cumberbatch falls into Jane Campion's storytelling style in the same way Holly Hunter did in The Piano... they're so closely in lock-step with the dark recesses of the character that they're able to surprise you by doing the unobvious, but absolutely human, thing at all times. And we know how this ended for Holly Hunter in her collaboration with Campion.
There are, of course, other actors who are also excellent this year who could also surprise with nominations like Joaquin Phoenix, Clifton Collins, Peter Dinklage, Denzel Washington, and Bradley Cooper, but Garfield and Cumberbatch are particularly strong challengers, so maybe this won't be a cakewalk for Smith. Last year, everyone thought it was a done deal for Chadwick Bozeman, but in the end, Anthony Hopkins was... just better.
Actors are the largest voting branch, and like it or not, most actors vote based on how much they wish they had gotten the chance to play the part, and how much they would have loved to have been a part of the film. It's evident to actors how difficult the assignment was for Garfield and Cumberbatch, which could result in a real race this year.
Reader Comments (18)
Don't think Garfield has much of a chance. It's been...awhile...since an actor won for a musical role.
Rooting for Cumberbatch, but the role could have been a SLAM DUNK to win had ADAM DRIVER played it.
Garfield was also wonderful in Eyes of Tammy Faye.
I liked King Richard... and I agree with you Smith's performance is fine, but Oscar????
I did not like "tick... tick...boom", but I thought Garfield did a great job.
For me, right now, I loved Cumberbatch and the whole movie. I would give him the Oscar at this point... although I have to see the rest to really decide.
From what i've seen of those 3 Garfield is leagues ahead plus his past snub and past nomination plus TEOTF seem to me like a good reason to have him out infront.
Smith is good but the accent slips every so often and he is to me unlikeable in the film
Cumberbatch is great in TPOTD but his miscasting is a bit of a problem but the more I think of him in it the more I think that was Campions point in casting him he's as ill at ease as McPhee's character.
The Power of the Dog is one of the best movies of 2021. tick, tick, BOOM! is also a very good movie.
King Richard is that sports-enthusiast-overcomes-society movie you've already seen at least 10 times on TV growing up. And at least 100 times on social media, on a weekly basis, in the form of "just do your best" and all of the other inspirational bullshit. I've already mentioned that Will Smith has undeniable star power but I don't see much of an acting range there (I think DiCaprio has the same problem, actually). His charisma somehow overpowers his attempts to create an interesting character and/or something we haven't seen before.
Garfield is enjoyable in tick, tick, BOOM!, however, he exhausts the emotional palette too quickly and at the very beginning of the story, which renders his reactions somewhat predictable during the more dramatic moments later in the film.
Cumberbatch indeed presents an awesome intensity that I haven't seen from him before.
I'm interested to see what Bradley Cooper has to offer in Nightmare Alley. Some people really praise him.
If I was voting, I would give it to Garfield EASILY this year but both Smith and Cumberbatch are more the Academy's speed. It's a good thing I liked and loved both turns respectively.
In order of preference/probability
Garfield: 5 out of 5 ★
Cumberbatch: 4.5 ★ (don't understand all this talk of miscasting)
[Ahmed: 4.5 ★ (not in the conversation, so not probable)]
[Isaac: 4.5 ★ (not in the conversation, so not probable)]
Cooper: 4.5 ★ (but maybe too noir for the Academy)
Washington: 3.5 ★ (a performance that keeps you at arm's length - typical Denzel, in a different key)
[Driver (Annette): 3.5 ★ (not in the conversation, so not probable)]
Dinklage: 2.5 ★ (his worst big screen performance in...ever?)
Not yet seen:
Ali, Bardem, Cage, Collins, DiCaprio, Hoffman, Phoenix, Rex
Not yet seen, not rushing to see (which is not a good sign, The Blind Side redux)
Smith
Way to ruin an otherwise excellent analysis. The "better-ness" of one performance in relation to another is subjective, and only of the elements that make up an Oscar win (in any category).
Working Stiff, you tell me I “ruined” my own article by claiming acting is subjective, but give you own subjective ranking according to which acting you think is better? Of course there are many factors to an Oscar win, as I hope I’ve made clear here. But I do firmly believe that last year Hopkins won because ultimately many voters just felt his acting was better than Boseman. It was a recurring comment that came up in my circle last year, so I think it’s fair to put out there. Nice to see you root for Ahmed this year…he’s wonderful once again. Peace.
If a movie is hyped as a “crowd pleaser” but doesn’t actually draw crowds, doesn’t that undercut the effectiveness of its claim?
I sometimes wonder if Will Smith wasn’t locked into a position early on, just so that people could be sure of not having another oscars.so.white in this category, and didn’t have to search further.
But there are so many actors of diverse backgrounds who have given beautiful performances this year, that Will Smith is not necessary. It is disheartening to see lists of “front runners” for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor that are inexplicably all white. Look further, appreciate more. Don’t just nominate Will Smith and say, our job is done.
Eric, my ranking above is not in terms of quality, but my personal enjoyment/appreciation of the individual performances, i.e., how they made me feel/think, degree of difficulty etc., and how I think they'll fare in the race, hence the brackets around Ahmed, Isaac and Driver, who I think are out of contention at this point. Re: last year. I personally would have preferred Boseman to win, but I was more than satisfied with Hopkins getting the statue. I thought they were both incredible, but I certainly don't think one was "better" than the other (apples and oranges).
Smith can easily win but this has turned in to a 3 way race between Garfield, Cumberbatch, and Smith. If I had to predict a winner today I would select Cumberbatch. He is winning BAFTA and TPOTD has been more accessible and popular than people imagined.
I don't think Will Smith will win because of a different factor: the constant drip drip news out of his memoir and subsequent interviews about his love life and struggles with fame. The petition to have both he and Jada stop talking about their love life temporarily can't be good press. I haven't seen King Richard yet, but was happy he was previously nominated twice. He'll probably get another nom, but I imagine he'll miss out yet again.
At this point, I don't think any other male performance is as exquisite and worthy winning as Cumberbatch, TPOTD is a masterpiece, Campion, Dunst & Smit-McPhee should all be at least nominated (hoping for a Dunst win). Garfield is a strong nominee for TTB! he's electrifying in it. Personally, I didn't like King Richard and Smith's performance is just okay as is the film as a whole, he wouldn't even rank on my top 5. Washington is doing his thing with his usual panache so he'll be in. Hoping for Dinklage & Hidetoshi Nishijima to be invited as well.
I agree with this. I do not see Smith winning, both because of the issues cited in hte article and, as JDM notes, his recent interviews and memoir do not help his campaign. I think Cumberbatch will be our winner. I, for one, went into Power of the Dog expecting him to be miscast and thought he was magnificent.
In addition, TPOTD is likely to lose Best Picture to West Side Story or Belfast, and I'm not entirely convinced it will win Best Director (especially if WSS becomes a frontrunner), but I do think it will be a top 3 nominee and the Academy will see it as deserving of one of the big prizes.
“Drive My Car” is supposed to be one of the best movies of the year. Doesn’t it follow then, that it’s lead actor, Hidetoshi Nishijima, is worthy for nomination consideration?
“Jockey” with Clifton Collins Jr. won the AFI Fest audience award. Collins, a long time respected Latinx character actor, is said to give a career best performance. Couldn’t he be considered in the top 5 instead of the top 10?
Dev Patel continues to break genre barriers, last year as the lead in Dicken’s period piece “David Copperfield”, this year as the lead in “The Green Knight”.
Denzel Washington, although certainly one of the “usual suspects” does Shakespeare this year, in an innovation production of “The Tragedy Of Macbeth”.
Winston Duke, so good in “The Black Panther” and “Us”, gave a highly praised performance this year in “Nine Days”. Couldn’t we widen the list of African American actors “usual suspects”?
Anthony Ramos gave a cheerful upbeat lead performance in “In the Heights”. This movie was considered disqualified because it didn’t make enough money, but so far has had better box office than “West Side Story”.
“Shang Chi”, an actual crowd pleaser, has charismatic movie star Tony Leung giving a vivid Best Supporting performance.
Delroy Lindo, so close to a Best Actor nomination last year, gives a Best Supporting performance in “The Harder They Fall”.
I hope Andrew Garfield takes it. He's tremendous. Will Smith is fine in a fine film, and he's got the overdue/previous nominations going for him. I don't think Smith would be undeserving, but Garfield gives the more impactful performance.
Smith is fine, but there are better performances in that film. Maybe it struggled for me because Will Smith is Will Smith and the voice wasn't enough to make it anything more. I'd be fine with his winning though.
In my opinión, Andrew Garfield was Acting with capital A. Very little nuance. And Tick Tick Boom reminded me a lot to Cabaret and All that Jazz (it been the ugly sister or poor cousin to those two masterpieces).