We already looked at what's next for 2021's most celebrated directors so let's turn our attention to the actors who received those coveted Oscar nominations. Whatever will they do for encores? Let's start with the winners...
WILL SMITH
Before his long-awaited Oscar win and that unfortunate slap, he'd already completed work on Antoine Fuqua's action film about a runaway slave called Emancipation (due at some point this year) and then Bad Boys 4 thereafter. Because he's a massive star he is attached, as an actor or producer, to another 40+ movies or television projects though obviously most of them won't get made. It's a miracle any projects get made really given how difficult it is for the stars, money, and scheduled to align in Hollywood on anything! People might need a break from Smith after this week of controversy and thinkpieces but they won't get a long one.
TROY KOTSUR
The true test about whether CODA meant anything to Hollywood beyond a chance to feel proud of themselves and inclusive while voting for it, is if they actually take deaf talent seriously thereafter. We hope they do...
Troy, in a new profile with Variety, is very hopeful stating that believing that the awards run for CODA "saved my life, my career, my family". He says in the article he's had offers so we will all have to wait and see if things actually do happen.
Last summer Kotsur signed on to play a coach in a sports drama called Flash Before the Bang about a High School for the Deaf. It was said to be eyeing a spring shooting which would be rightaboutnow. Is it still happening? We haven't yet heard any updates but they should strike while the iron is hot if you will. In the meantime, everyone should watch Audible on Netflix which is also a sports drama (albeit a documentary short) about athletes at a High School for the Deaf.
THE OTHER NOMINEES IN ALPHA ORDER
JAVIER BARDEM
The Spanish Oscar-winner has only one movie due in theaters this year, Lyle Lyle Crocodile, a children's movie arriving for Thanksgiving. In short 2022 is likely to be a quiet year for Javier Bardem. But that's okay. Quiet years are good for stars in between massive projects. 2023 will be a much bigger Bardem Mania time since he'll hit theaters in the summer as King Triton in Disney's live action take on The Little Mermaid and chase that with more action in that spicy desert in Dune Part Two by October. The question is only if he'll squeeze any other films in before the end of 2023.
Doctor Strange returns this summer in "Multiverse of Madness"
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH
We won't have to miss Benedict for long. The 45 year old two-time Oscar nominee is back in movie theaters very shortly with Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (due May 6th) . He also has the titular role in a new Wes Anderson comedy for Netflix based on the book by Roald Dahl called The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. There appear to be no women in it at all (what's that about?) but his co-stars are Ralph Fiennes, Rupert Friend, Ben Kingsley, Richard Ayoade, and Dev Patel as co-stars. After that he's supposed to shoot Justin Kurzel's (Nitram) sci-fi drama Morning with Laura Dern and Noah Jupe which is about a pill that does away with the need to sleep (and nighttime in general). He's got numerous other projects optioned or in development or whatnot including another version of the classic thriller The 39 Steps (in TV miniseries form)
Andrew Garfield in the miniseries "Under the Banner of Heaven"
ANDREW GARFIELD
Another star we won't have a chance to miss at all before he's back onscreen. The 38 year old tick tick BOOM! star is lead of the a new miniseries about a Mormon murder called Under the Banner of Heaven which comes to FX on April 28th. After that though there might be a wait for new Andrew Garfield stuff. He's got only two projects in development, neither of which are in production yet. Both are true story biopics. Black Lion is about a wealthy heir who leaves the good life to become a war correspondent and the other is a biopic about the Dassler brothers and the rivalry between sports brands Adidas and Puma. So clearly he does want that Oscar he's courted twice now; There's no easier way than the biopic route (sigh).
CIARÁN HINDS
The 69 year old actor is busy which is nice given that he finally received his first Oscar nomination! He's already finished shooting two new movies, Sebastian Lelio's mystery The Wonder (starring Florence Pugh) and Patrick Dickinson's drama Cottontail, which has something to do with children's book author Beatrix Potter but is about a widower from Japan and his son (we don't know who Hinds plays in that story). Hinds also has two TV apperances coming up. He is in a couple episodes of a comedy about staying sober in Dublin called The Dry and he's a series regular in Amazon Prime's western The English which stars Emily Blunt. After those four projects he might be shooting one of those Liam Neeson revenge thrillers (there seem to be at least one or two of those every year now -- it's a whole cottage industry!)
JESSE PLEMONS
The 33 year old star is a new father and a newly minted Oscar nominee. He's always in demand so he's already finished work on two new projects. There's the true story crime drama miniseries Love and Death for HBOMax (costarring Elizabeth Olsen and Patrick Fugit) which doesn't have a release date yet. He's also in Martin Scorsese's historical crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon for Paramount Pictures which is expected toward the end of the year as an Oscar hopeful, naturally. Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, Lily Gladstone, Brendan Fraser, John Lithgow (and many more) are his co-stars there.
J.K. Simmons will be reprising his Commissioner Gordon role from "Justice League" in "Batgirl"
J.K. SIMMONS
The 67 year old Oscar winner coasted to his second nomination for Being the Ricardos but what will he do as a follow up? What won't he do is a better question as he workes a lot. He's already completed four projects and is filming two more this year (at least). Where to begin? On May 20th he has two projects debuting. He's the colead of Amazon Prime's new fantasy series Night Sky alongside Sissy Spacek (!) about a couple who discover that their backward leads to a strange deserted planet. And at theaters on the same day he's one of the flesh and blood actors in the partially animated family film Chip 'n' Dale: Rescure Rangers. He's also in two thrillers without release dates yet, You Can't Run Forever a teen girl hunted by a sociopath, and Glorious (starring Ryan Kwanten) about a man at a remote rest stop who gets into a terrible situation. That's just the projects he's already shot. He's currently in production on Warner Bros Batgirl feature (starring Leslie Grace) as Commissioner Gordon and a drama called Little Brother (starring Daniel Diemer from The Half of It and Philip Ettinger from First Reformed) as a family dealing with a suicide attempt.
KODI SMIT-MCPHEE
The 25 year old is already a veteran of movies having started his professional career at the age of 9 (and often in leading roles as a child). The Power of the Dog will be a tough act to follow given his incredible role and performance. Next up he's got a supporting role in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis biopic (due June 24th). He plays Jimmie Rodgers but here's where that gets confusing. There are actually THREE singers named Jimmie Rodgers who were all connected to Elvis's life and none of them were related to each other!! There was a singer songwriter who was popular at the same time as Elvis (though less successful obviously) whose song "It's Over" Elvis covered in the early 70s. There was also a legendary Country & Blues star who died just before Elvis was born who Elvis considered an influence and Elvis sang some of his songs at events (so it's probably not that Jimmie Rodgers). And then there was Jimmie Rodgers Snow, who was a singer who gave up music to become a pastor who was friends with Elvis. We assume he's playing the latter since he was roughly the same age as Elvis and a friend of his, but who knows!? He's already shot that so next up, filming wise, is the Alfonso Cuarón's TV miniseries Disclaimer about a documentary journalist played by Cate Blanchett. Kevin Kline, HoYeon from Squid Game, and Sacha Baron Cohen are also in the cast. After that there's nothing on Kodi's schedule (at least that's known) so one assumes his team and he are reading a lot of scripts at the moment.
DENZEL WASHINGTON
The 67 year-old icon keeps racking up Oscar nomination but he still needs a few more to reach to unseat Jack Nicholson as king of the male Oscar darlings. Will he get there? Who knows because he's working less onscreen. He tends to divide his time these days between producing, acting, and directing and currently he has none of the latter two lined up at the moment. The only thing in play (at the moment) is a producer role on another August Wilson adaptation, The Piano Lesson. We're very excited about that one but the project no longer lists one of the reasons we were excited about it to begin with (Danielle Brooks) so perhaps it's been delayed?