What's next for this season's Oscar-nominated actors?

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...

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"Introducing" Best Supporting Actor debut roles

by Nathaniel R

Kodi Smit-McPhee in his film debut. Getting a foot rub from his first screen mother, Franka Potente

With just a little over a week until Oscar night, we thought it would be fun to look at the official debuts of all the acting nominees. We previously witnessed baby Kirsten Dunst and a 29 year-old Judi Dench as well as the actresses that haven't been working that long in movies but made quick splashes. Today's Best Supporting Actor honorees have all been in the movies for a good while now. Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit McPhee were professional child actors but Ciarán Hinds, Troy Kotsur, and JK Simmons all got their first movie roles well into adulthood. We'll take them in the chronological order of their debuts to see the very first time they appeared on the big screen...

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Best Supporting Actor - "How'd he get nominated?"

by Nathaniel R

The Best Supporting Actor Chart now contains a ton more information and a poll which you can vote on daily. If you fused all these men into one Oscar-Nominee they'd be a 6' tall 49 year-old veteran character actor with 41 films under their belt and experiencing their first career nomination thanks to the help of a female director. Incredibly the majority of this acting lineup was directed by a woman -- an Oscar first...

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Oscar Chart: Best Supporting Actor's potential spoilers

by Nathaniel R

We live in fear of a Jared Leto nomination. Do you?

When we last dove deep into Best Supporting Actor just over a month ago it felt like there were 10-20 contenders still in the conversation. Sadly once the critics began to throw their weight entirely behind just two contender (Kodi Smit-McPhee in The Power of the Dog and Troy Kotsur in CODA) and the Globes and the Critics Choice came up with almost identical lists  (Kodi + Troy + Ciaran Hinds and Jamie Dornan from Belfast) the race began to look unlike a race at all but more of a slow waiting game until the Oscar nominations which are still five weeks away.

Is there reason to hope for the race to widen again? We'd like to think so...

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Review: "Being the Ricardos"

By Ben Miller

Writer/director Aaron Sorkin is no stranger to historical drama and Being the Ricardos adds to the list.  With a deft ensemble and a dynamite lead performance from Nicole Kidman, the film will be an enjoyable time for fans of I Love Lucy and Sorkin fans alike.  Fair warning though: If Sorkin isn't your cup of tea, this film can be hard to swallow.

Lucille Ball (Kidman) is at the height of her powers. Alongside her husband and co-star Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem), their sitcom I Love Lucy is the most popular show on television.  But in 1953, Senator Joseph McCarthy was on the hunt for Communists within the United States.  Word gets out among the CBS executives that Ball was interviewed by his committee. Ball and Arnaz begin to question the viability of the show if this information became public...

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