Who’s our next three-peat champion?

by Cláudio Alves

And just like that, Sean Penn became the eighth actor to win three Oscars.

With One Battle After Another, Sean Penn became the eighth person in Academy Award history to win a third acting Oscar. He follows Supporting Actor king Walter Brennan, most honored thespian ever Katharine Hepburn, Swedish superstar Ingrid Bergman, New Hollywood enfant terrible Jack Nicholson, nomination queen Meryl Streep, method actor extraordinaire Daniel Day-Lewis, and too-cool-for-school Oscar favorite Frances McDormand. This honor comes after a period when Penn was fairly removed from the awards conversation, regularly panned at Cannes for his directorial work while winning the favor of a few critics for underseen performances like those in Daddio and Asphalt City. Indeed, he seems so uninterested in playing the game that he barely campaigned and didn’t even show up to collect his prize.

Disregarding whether he deserves it or not, Penn’s victory leads me to wonder who’s next? Who is closest to joining this exclusive club? There are currently 19 two-time acting Oscar winners alive, each a different case, with some landing in the “just a matter of time” field, while others are surely “not happening.” Join me as I go over these possibilities…

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Oscar Volley: “Best Supporting Actor” is one wild ride!

The Oscar Volleys continue. Today, NATHANIEL R and CLÁUDIO ALVES discuss the volatile Oscar race for Best Supporting Actor. 

Andrew Scott in BLUE MOON | © Sony Pictures Classics

NATHANIEL: So Cláudio, it falls to you and me to discuss Best Supporting Actor, and I will try reeaaaaaaaaly hard not to bring up my broken-record pet peeve about this category because I know readers have heard it a million times.  I don't want to talk about it anymore, so for the duration of this conversation, I'm going to pretend that all the actors are in roles perfectly sized for this particular category. And so we're here to discuss everything else... but not that!

Performance quality-wise, I think this is a good quintet - even if I'm still seriously angry that people wouldn't give Andrew Scott the time of day for Blue Moon since his performance is stronger than Hawke's AND he is giving you so much backstory and giving it so economically and with laser minimalist precision. Such a generous actor - he doesn't steal scenes so much as immerse you in them and what's going on between these characters. Anyway, I just love him, and I had to get that off my chest first. It's been a struggle.

So my opening question to you is struggle-themed. I'm curious who you think had the most difficult role to play here and why...

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One Prize After Another at the BAFTAs

by Nathaniel R

The ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER cast cheers on their auteur winning Best Film

Greetings from blizzard-hit NYC. Over the pond the BAFTA awards were held this weekend. Do they change the Oscar race? Who can say but they do take place right before the Academy votes for their own winners:  February 26 through March 5. During this key voting window we'll also experiene the winners of the newly rechristened "Actor Awards" (SAG ceremony is on March 1). If that weren't enough we'll also see the remainder of the Film Bitch Nominations and Oscar volleys right here which are sure to sway thousands of okay tens of vo --- absolutely no one but they're still fun for us to share! 

One Battle After Another took home six BAFTAs with Frankenstein and Sinners tied for runner up with three each.  After the jump all of the winners and some acceptance speeches, too...

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Guessing Game: The First Roles of Each Oscar Nominee!

by Nathaniel R

Leonardo DiCaprio's debut film "CRITTERS 3"

A spot of guessing game fun today. Some Oscar nominees are movie stars from the jump but most actors have to build their careers up slowly increasing the size and quality of their roles over the years until their awards breakthrough. 5 of our current 20 nominees across Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Supporting Actor kicked off their feature film career with a leading role. Can you guess who they were? Even more difficult can you pair each nominated actor with the name of their first credited feature film character? The answers to this quiz are after the jump but first jot down your guesses and see how many you can get right before looking... 

In Their Feature Film Debut They Played a Character Named...	The Current Oscar Nominees
1) Alex Dwyer	A) Jessie Buckley
2) Ben Crandall (LEAD)	B) Rose Byrne
3) Danny Vance	C) Timothée Chalamet
4) Drug Kingpin	D) Benicio Del Toro
5) Duke the Dog-Faced Boy	E) Leonardo DiCaprio
6) Erik (LEAD)	F) Jacob Elordi
7) Josh	G) Elle Fanning
8) Jules	H) Ethan Hawke
9) Lucy (2 Years)	I) Kate Hudson
10) Moll (LEAD)	J) Michael B Jordan
11) Rafi	K) Inga Ibsdottir Lilleas
12) Rastus Sommers	L) Delroy Lindo
13) Rena	M) Amy Madigan
14) Renate	N) Wunmi Mosaku
15) Rooster	O) Wagner Moura
16) Seema	P) Sean Penn
17) Sigrid Auge (LEAD)	Q) Renate Reinsve
18) Skye Davidson	R) Stellan Skarsgard
19) Teen #2	S) Emma Stone
20) Terry Jean Moore (LEAD)	T) Teyana Taylor

THE ANSWERS ARE AFTER THE JUMP... 

Got your guesses ready? Tell us how you did once you've read the answers...

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Oscar Volley: Is there space for supporting actors in the Best Supporting Actor race?

The Oscar Volleys are back! Tonight, it's time for Eric Blume and Cláudio Alves to discuss Best Supporting Actor...

Stellan Skarsgård in SENTIMENTAL VALUE | © Neon

ERIC: Hi, Cláudio. I'm very excited to tackle this year's Best Supporting Actor race with you! This is often the most boring acting category, but am I naive to think this year might be different? There are a lot of really fantastic performances that are not only nomination-worthy but win-worthy in my opinion. Are we to be disappointed that once the precursors start naming nominees, things will narrow too small too quickly? 

For the moment, it's an open book. I would love to discuss with you the two performances that do seem like locks even at this early stage: Sean Penn for One Battle After Another and Stellan Skarsgård for Sentimental Value…

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